Investigating Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives about using QuillBot in Writing Master Dissertations.

Abstract

The spread of artificial intelligence (AI) in several domains, including education, has resulted in a significant transformation. AI-powered tools like QuillBot are gaining popularity among students who aim to enhance their writing abilities. The extent to which QuillBot improves writing competence is a subject that is becoming more important in the current digital age; however, it remains largely unexplored. This study aims to investigate and understand students' and teachers' perceptions of artificial intelligence tools, specifically QuillBot, in academic writing. To meet these aims, the following questions arise: Are students familiar with the use of artificial intelligence tools like QuillBot as writing tools? What are QuillBot's most frequently used features among students? What are students' and teachers' perceptions about using QuillBot when writing a master's dissertation? What are the potential benefits and shortcomings of using artificial intelligence tools like QuillBot? In order to answer these questions, two questionnaires have been designed and distributed to 62 Masters students and 11 teachers at the Department of Foreign Languages at Mila University Centre. The results demonstrated that both students and teachers positively perceive and recognize QuillBot’s transformative impact on enhancing the writing proficiency of the EFL Master’s dissertation. Both of them acknowledge QuillBot as beneficial for paraphrasing, vocabulary enrichment, improving sentence formulation, and, most importantly, as a time-saving tool.