Implementation of AI tools to improve English writing skills in the secondary schools in Hong Kong: Effects on student participation and writing quality

<p data-start="346" data-end="448">This study investigated the effects of AI-based tools, including Grammarly, ChatGPT, and Quillbot, on writing quality and student engagement among secondary school students in Hong Kong. The Mix method experimental design was used, whereby 100 secondary school students were randomly divided into an experimental group where they applied AI tools and a control group where they received the traditional teacher feedback. To evaluate the improvement of the quality of writing, pre- and post-intervention writing tasks were analyzed. The findings indicated that the students in the experimental group improved significantly in their writing where the mean post-test score improved by 16.2 points (p < 0.0001), as opposed to 4.5-point improvement by the students in the control group (p = 0.02). There is a higher improvement of all the writing subscales, such as grammar (6.5 points), vocabulary (4.8 points) coherence (2.9 points), and structure (2.0 points) of the experimental group. Students in the experimental group indicated an increased engagement and motivation as well, with 92 % of them saying they were more motivated to work on their writing skills than 68 percent in the control group. The results indicate that AI tools have a strong positive effect on the quality of writing, student participation, and engagement in writing activities. Nevertheless, AI tools are capable of correction on the surface, but not the depth that teacher feedback delivers. These findings indicate that AI tools can be used alongside conventional teaching models in order to create a more interactive and engaging learning process.</p>