The Problems Faced by High/Low Proficient Iranian EFL Learners in English Academic Writing: A Comparison between Human and AI Raters

Academic writing among Iranian EFL learners is a widely studied topic often focusing on challenges, strategies, and pedagogical approaches. Moreover, these days Artificial Intelligent (AI) plays a special role in different arenas of people's lives including education, for example, learning English skills like academic writing. This study aimed to compare the writing problems faced by Iranian (high/low proficient) learners in academic writing with an AI tool, namely, Copilot, with the problems mentioned by human raters. The research involved ۳۰ low proficient and ۳۰ high proficient learners studying at Islamic Azad University selected through non-random convenience sampling. To pursue the goals of the research, writing problems questionnaire (Annan, ۲۰۱۹) was administered among the participants. In addition, the questionnaire items were asked from the Copilot. The participants were asked to investigate the academic writing problems in terms of writing sub-components including plagiarism, grammatical errors, lexical challenges, and lack of planning. The results of a Pearson Correlation test revealed a highly significant correlation between the high-proficient EFL learners' opinions and the opinions derived from Copilot, while the low proficient learners' opinions were moderately correlated those opinions by Copilot as an AI tool. Moreover, the results testified the usefulness of Copilot as a writing assisting tool. The findings of the study, can have implications for the teachers and curriculum designers to fit in AI tools either in EFL classrooms or as an assisting tool for learners writing assignments outside classrooms.

کلیدواژه ها:

Artificial intelligence ، Copilot ، writing problems ، plagiarism ، lexical difficulty ، grammatical problems ، lack of planning