“AI Can, but Can You?” Analysing the Impact of Text Generative AI on Students’ Creativity in the EFL Writing Classroom

Abstract

How can students preserve their creativity and critical thinking in the ubiquitous and unstoppable, rapidly advancing age of Text Generative Artificial Intelligence (TGAI) tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek, among others? It has become a significant instrument for English writing in an English as a Foreign Language/English as a Second Language (EFL/ESL) classroom. TGAI is pervasive and noticeable in the world of English Language Teaching (ELT), influencing the variety of ways teachers teach and the innumerable ways in which students learn from the application of various writing software and applications (apps) available online. It has been observed that there is a significant improvement in the grammar/sentence structures of the writing tasks after students use TGAI. Students appear to even learn from the considerable transformation their essays undergo once TGAI technologies have reformed their writings. Now, teachers need to ensure that students use their own creativity while applying the technology at their disposal, rather than blindly handing over the TGAI-altered output to the teacher. This research implements the rubrics to analyse the quantitative findings, along with observations, attitudinal and interview data of the stakeholders, the students, to better understand the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and suggest strategies to employ for writing assignments. To this effect, the paper elucidates several recommendations that could be adopted and executed by educators to investigate and create positive pathways for the application of TGAI in writing, keeping in view the predominant possible downsides, namely, lack of creativity/critical thinking skills development and ways of avoiding the damaging possibility of simply copy-pasting material from the script writing software available. The student-centred scenario in this research, supports the integration of TGAI as an effective and engaging tool to incentivize the writing assignments in an EFL/ESL classroom, provided certain strategies to overcome the shortcomings are adhered to. The outcome of this study was the development of various recommendations made through class observations, interviews and tests by the facilitators and by the users of the TGAI technology, the students themselves. These recommendations and ideas can be implemented by educators when assigning writing projects to learners. A noteworthy outcome of this research was the opportunity presented to the students and teachers, to make an estimated projection of the writing final examination scores because of the use/overuse of AI during class writing tasks. The scores received in the writing assignment during the study, corresponded largely with the final exam scores, thereby making this study a reliable predictor to help in timely alerting the teacher and the student to prepare for the final examination. This analytical study goes on to develop strategies for the effective and practical implementation of TGAI when teaching/learning writing in the EFL/ESL classroom, while encouraging students to rely on their own creativity instead of depending solely on AI.