EFFECTIVENESS OF CHATGPT-ASSISTED LEARNING IN ENHANCING ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS OF PAKISTANI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21261848Keywords:
Academic Writing, Artificial Intelligence in Education, ChatGPT, ESL, Pakistani University Students, Sociocultural Theory, Zone of Proximal DevelopmentAbstract
Academic writing proficiency remains a significant challenge for Pakistani ESL university students, who struggle with grammatical accuracy, lexical diversity, and textual coherence due to traditional teacher-centered pedagogies. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT offer personalized writing support, but experimental research in the Pakistani higher education context is limited. This mixed-methods study examines a structured ChatGPT-assisted writing intervention on essay writing skills of 30 undergraduate ESL students at the University of Gujrat and Government College University Sialkot. A quasi-experimental one-group pre-test-post-test design was used, with writing performance measured analytically. Quantitative results showed statistically significant improvements from pre-test (M=50.30, SD=10.86) to post-test (M=76.40, SD=8.93), mean gain of 26.10 (t=9.86, df=29, p<.001), with very large effect sizes (d=1.96–2.35). Survey data indicated strongly positive perceptions (96.7% recommending ChatGPT). Qualitative thematic analysis revealed four themes: digital scaffolding within the ZPD, enhanced writing confidence and reduced anxiety, specific linguistic improvements, and concerns about over-reliance and critical evaluation. The findings provide empirical evidence that systematic ChatGPT-assisted instruction significantly improves academic writing skills among Pakistani ESL students, with implications for pedagogy, curriculum design, and educational technology implementation.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Syeda Mubeen Zahra, Muhammad Nadeem Anwar (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
