Developing Critical AI Literacy in Iranian TEFL Postgraduate Academic Writing: Addressing Academic Dishonesty, Fabricated Citations, and Over-Reliance

The increasing rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the field of higher education has raised opportunities and challenges for academic writing at postgraduate levels. In the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), the role of AI tools is to facilitate the processes of idea development, language improvement, and enhancing the writing process. At the same time, several ethical issues, such as academic dishonesty, false citations, and AI hallucinations arise due to the use of AI tools. In this setting, critical AI literacy becomes essential in teaching students to use AI tools appropriately. The current paper is a narrative literature review focused on the role of critical AI literacy in preventing the risks of using the aforementioned technologies by Iranian TEFL postgraduate students. The study uses theoretical and empirical studies published between ۲۰۲۲ and ۲۰۲۶ to reveal the topics linked to the ethical aspects of AI tools in academic writing. The research shows that, although AI tools are useful in the writing process, being skilled with technology is not sufficient for effective use of these tools. Apart from that, students should be able to evaluate the information produced by AI and critical make conclusions about the accuracy of the information provided by AI tools. Thus, the research demonstrates great potential of critical AI literacy in promoting academic integrity among students. The author advocates the incorporation of critical AI literacy training into TEFL postgraduate writing education.

کلیدواژه ها:

critical AI literacy ، academic writing ، academic dishonesty ، fabricated citations ، over-reliance on AI ، generative AI