The Effect Of Generative Ai Assistance On Indonesian University Students’ Academic Writing

Abstract

The use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in academic writing instruction has increasingly attracted attention because of its potential to support idea generation, paragraph organization, and linguistic accuracy. Despite its growing use, empirical evidence regarding its use in Indonesian EFL higher education remains limited. This study aimed to examine changes in students' academic writing performance following Generative AI-assisted writing instruction. The study employed a pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design involving 25 undergraduate EFL students. Data were collected through an academic writing test and a student perception questionnaire. Since the difference scores were not normally distributed, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test was used to compare the pre-test and post-test scores. The findings revealed a statistically significant improvement in students' academic writing performance following the intervention (Z = –4.374, p < .001). In addition, students reported generally positive perceptions of Generative AI, particularly in generating ideas, organizing arguments, and increasing their confidence in writing. These findings suggest that AI-assisted writing activities may support the development of academic writing skills in Indonesian EFL higher education. However, because this study employed a pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design without a control group, the findings should be interpreted with caution and cannot establish a causal relationship between the intervention and the observed improvement. Future studies involving larger samples, control groups, and longer intervention periods are recommended.