ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF GRAMMARLY’S FEEDBACK IN PARAGRAPH WRITING

Abstract

The growing use of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered writing assistants has transformed English writing instruction by providing learners with immediate and automated feedback. Among these tools, Grammarly has gained widespread popularity in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts; however, limited research has explored English-majored students’ perceptions of its feedback in paragraph writing. This mixed-methods study investigated students’ perceptions of Grammarly’s usability, correction accuracy, impact on confidence and writing development, perceived strengths, and perceived limitations. Quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire administered to 123 English-majored students at Nam Can Tho University, while qualitative data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with ten students. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were employed to analyze the data. The findings indicated that participants held highly positive perceptions of Grammarly (overall M = 4.24). Students particularly valued its usability, immediate feedback, grammatical accuracy, and support for self-editing and autonomous learning. Interview findings further revealed that Grammarly enhanced learners’ confidence, reduced writing anxiety, and encouraged independent revision. Nevertheless, participants acknowledged that Grammarly was less effective in addressing higher-order writing concerns, including idea development, coherence, and organization, and emphasized that it could not replace teacher feedback. The study concludes that Grammarly is a valuable supplementary tool for EFL paragraph writing and is most effective when integrated with teacher guidance to support both linguistic accuracy and overall writing development.