Efl Students’ Attitudes Towards The Use Of Grammarly In Writing

Abstract

Over the past decade, various technological innovations have emerged to aid writing, leading to a need for language students to incorporate such tools for writing development. Automated written corrective feedback (AWCF) is one such software that can improve writing by providing grammar corrections, satisfying students' needs for corrective feedback and fostering autonomous learning. As the use of AWCF in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts to improve writing accuracy has increased in recent years, Grammarly has become one of the most commonly used and developed examples of AWCF. However, research on students' attitudes towards the use of Grammarly has produced mixed results. While some students have shown positive attitudes and overall satisfaction towards Grammarly, others have shown negative attitudes towards the program. Yet, few studies have done in-depth explorations of students’ attitudes towards the use of this software in EFL contexts. Based on the tripartite theory of attitudes, this study used qualitative data from stimulated recall and semi-structured interviews to investigate EFL students’ attitudes in the use of Grammarly for writing. The findings suggest that students who have a lower level of language proficiency may not be able to use Grammarly efficiently due to their inadequate linguistic knowledge and competence, which hinders their ability to comprehend AWCF effectively. This research is of interest to EFL scholars and educators seeking to incorporate technology to support students’ writing development in language learning.