Student Engagement with ChatGPT and Teacher Feedback in L2 Writing

The emergence of ChatGPT has stimulated interest in its application to second language writing in higher education. While previous studies have compared ChatGPT feedback with that of teachers and examined student engagement with automated, teacher, and peer feedback, little attention has been paid to student engagement specifically with ChatGPT feedback. This study explores student engagement with both ChatGPT and teacher feedback in a college EFL (English as foreign language) argumentative writing class. The participants were 46 second-year English majors who completed two writing tasks. One essay received feedback from ChatGPT, generated with prompts related to both content and language, while the other received teacher feedback. Students revised their essays based on these two feedback types. Analysis of students’ revisions, questionnaire responses, and interview data indicated that students actively engaged with both forms of feedback. Interviews further revealed that students found both ChatGPT and teacher feedback to be understandable and acceptable. In light of these findings, the study suggests that teachers can effectively integrate ChatGPT feedback into teacher feedback in L2 writing classrooms to enhance student engagement and writing proficiency.