Exploring the Effects of Generative AI Assistance on Writing Self-Efficacy

TL;DR

This study examines how different configurations of generative AI support influence undergraduate students' writing self-efficacy, revealing that the intervention's locus impacts confidence and ownership in writing tasks.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how specific levels of AI assistance affect self-efficacy and learner agency in academic writing.

Findings

Full AI support yields high but stable self-efficacy with reduced ownership.

Sentence-level AI support causes a decline in self-efficacy.

Ideation-level AI support enhances self-efficacy and promotes positive change.

Abstract

Generative AI (GenAI) is increasingly used in academic writing, yet its effects on students' writing self-efficacy remain contingent on how assistance is configured. This pilot study investigates how ideation-level, sentence-level, full-process, and no AI support differentially shape undergraduate writers' self-efficacy using a 2 by 2 experimental design with Korean undergraduates completing argumentative writing tasks. Results indicate that AI assistance does not uniformly enhance self-efficacy full AI support produced high but stable self-efficacy alongside signs of reduced ownership, sentence-level AI support led to consistent self-efficacy decline, and ideation-level AI support was associated with both high self-efficacy and positive longitudinal change. These findings suggest that the locus of AI intervention, rather than the amount of assistance, is critical in fostering writing self-efficacy while preserving learner agency.