🔄 First Visit: Redirecting automatically to original journal site...
⏸️ STOP REDIRECT & STAY ON PAGENAVIGATING AI-MEDIATED WRITING ENVIRONMENTS: DIGITAL LITERACY, GENERATIVE TOOLS, AND AUTHORIAL DEVELOPMENT AMONG ESL POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS
Abstract
Abstract
This study investigates how ESL postgraduate students engage with generative AI writing tools within the contextof academic literacy development, drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as its guiding framework. SDT'sthree core psychological needs — autonomy, competence, and relatedness — provide a lens through which toexamine how AI-assisted writing environments either support or undermine students' intrinsic motivation, senseof ownership over their writing, and long-term academic skill development. As AI tools such as ChatGPT,automated grammar checkers, paraphrasers, and citation generators become increasingly embedded in universitywriting practices, critical questions arise regarding their role in shaping digital literacy competencies,disciplinary voice, and ethical decision-making in academic contexts (Bender et al., 2021; Cope & Kalantzis,2022).The study employs a qualitative longitudinal design, gathering data through reflective writing journals, in-depthsemi-structured interviews, discourse analysis of student drafts, and instructor observations across multiplestages of the writing process. Particular attention is directed toward whether AI engagement fosters or constrainscompetence-building in argumentation, vocabulary development, cohesion, and citation literacy (Flowerdew &Li, 2020; Lantolf et al., 2023). The research also examines how students construct and maintain authorial identitywhen AI co-produces textual content, and how they navigate the ethical boundaries that define responsibleacademic writing. Findings are expected to contribute to scholarship in digital literacy education, second language writing, and AIinformed pedagogy. Practically, the study aims to inform the design of writing curricula and institutional AIpolicies that cultivate autonomous, critically digitally literate writers while preserving academic integrity andgenuine student authorship (Ryan & Deci, 2020; Weigle, 2021).
This study investigates how ESL postgraduate students engage with generative AI writing tools within the contextof academic literacy development, drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as its guiding framework. SDT'sthree core psychological needs — autonomy, competence, and relatedness — provide a lens through which toexamine how AI-assisted writing environments either support or undermine students' intrinsic motivation, senseof ownership over their writing, and long-term academic skill development. As AI tools such as ChatGPT,automated grammar checkers, paraphrasers, and citation generators become increasingly embedded in universitywriting practices, critical questions arise regarding their role in shaping digital literacy competencies,disciplinary voice, and ethical decision-making in academic contexts (Bender et al., 2021; Cope & Kalantzis,2022).The study employs a qualitative longitudinal design, gathering data through reflective writing journals, in-depthsemi-structured interviews, discourse analysis of student drafts, and instructor observations across multiplestages of the writing process. Particular attention is directed toward whether AI engagement fosters or constrainscompetence-building in argumentation, vocabulary development, cohesion, and citation literacy (Flowerdew &Li, 2020; Lantolf et al., 2023). The research also examines how students construct and maintain authorial identitywhen AI co-produces textual content, and how they navigate the ethical boundaries that define responsibleacademic writing. Findings are expected to contribute to scholarship in digital literacy education, second language writing, and AIinformed pedagogy. Practically, the study aims to inform the design of writing curricula and institutional AIpolicies that cultivate autonomous, critically digitally literate writers while preserving academic integrity andgenuine student authorship (Ryan & Deci, 2020; Weigle, 2021).