Students’ Reflections on Grammarly as a Tool for Academic Writing Support: Perceived Knowledge and Challenges in Higher Education

Abstract

The advancement of technology has led to the widespread use of AI-based tools in education, enhancing learning processes across various skills. While AI is being integrated into many areas, its application in the assessment of writing skills, such as through Grammarly, is still emerging, offering more accurate and efficient evaluations. This study explores students' perceived knowledge of the use of Grammarly in academic writing, it aims to provide an overview of academic writing skills including its challenges.  Employing a qualitative research approach with a survey design, the study involved 120 English Department students of private who enrolled Writing course using the premium version of Grammarly. Data collection methods included online closed-ended questionnaires and online semi-structured interviews to ensure a comprehensive range of responses. The findings indicate that most students believe Grammarly helps them independently correct their academic writing. The most frequently used feature is 'correctness,' primarily for grammar and spelling corrections, while the least used is 'plagiarism detection.' However, several features, including writing context, punctuation, spelling, passive voice, and plagiarism detection, were found to be occasionally inaccurate. To address these inaccuracies, students employed strategies such as proofreading, consulting dictionaries, using Google or other applications, seeking help from peers and lecturers, and reading suggestion descriptions carefully. Despite these limitations, students reported gaining knowledge in writing mechanics, vocabulary enhancement, self-awareness, and self-confidence through Grammarly. They found that feedback from lecturers, peers, and Grammarly complemented each other in writing classes. It is important to monitor students' attitudes towards using Grammarly for automatic corrections, highlighting the need for self-assessment to recognize their writing mistakes. This study suggests that integrating technology, specifically AI, into English language teaching (ELT) can significantly benefit writing classes. Further research should examine the impact of incorporating Grammarly into the academic writing process to understand its collaborative role in writing instruction.