Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
3rd International ILTERG Conference, Nevşehir, Türkiye, 02 Haziran 2023, cilt.1, ss.1
With the advancements in technology and natural language processing (NLP), the methods of language instruction have also been evolving. ChatGPT, the phenomenal chatbot developed by OpenAI, has already proven to be useful in quite a wide range of areas such as coding, content generation, solving problems, translating texts, developing creative ideas for businesses, summarizing articles, building CVs, writing essays and even telling jokes and poems. In this research, the impact of ChatGPT on students’ writing proficiency and learner autonomy was examined. A total number of 30 students (i.e. 15 in the control group, and 15 in the experimental group) who are studying at a preparatory program of a state university in Türkiye participated in the research. In the first part of the investigation, a pretest-treatmentposttest quasi-experimental design was followed. In the second part, to further elaborate on the results of the research, a structured interview was carried out with volunteering students from the experimental group. Preliminary analysis of the data revealed that ChatGPT did not have a significant effect on students’ writing proficiencies. On the other hand, it was found that there is a discrepancy between the statements of the students and the findings of the research. While they reported the benefits of ChatGPT in developing their proficiency and fostering autonomy, no significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores was found.
Keywords: ChatGPT, Writing proficiency, Learner autonomy, Artificial intelligence