ANALYSIS STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE ON THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) TECHNOLOGY IN PARAGRAPH WRITING CLASS

The field of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been overgrown, and this has
had a substantial impact on the educational, particularly in the context of
developing writing skills. However, there have been debates on whether AI
technology could be beneficial to students’ learning or not and wether the AI
technology is suitable for use as a learning medium or not. One way to see this
issue is from the perspectives of the students. Hence, this study aims to analyze
students' perspectives on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology,
specifically ChatGPT, in paragraph writing classes and to analyze the impact of
ChatGPT usage on the writing ability of 4th-semester students. The research
method used is qualitative descriptive with data collection techniques through
structured interviews and documentation. The research participants were 10
fourth-semester students of the English language education study program at
Muhammadiyah University of Tangerang. The results show that the majority of
students have a positive perspective on the use of ChatGPT in learning paragraph
writing. Students consider ChatGPT useful (perceived usefulness) in terms of
information completeness, energy saving, time saving, and providing beneficial
information. They also perceive ChatGPT as easy to use (perceived ease of use) in
terms of easy navigation, quick response, good and fitting interface, and
accessibility anywhere and anytime. The use of ChatGPT in paragraph writing
classes have a positive impact on students' speed, creativity, quality and
engagement in writing. This is evident from the students' average mid-term exam
score of 79.1. These positive impacts include increasing speed in producing writing,
increasing creativity through providing new ideas, input and suggestions that help
improve writing skills, as well as increasing student involvement in the writing
process, resulting in more focused and structured student writing. However, its use
must be balanced with the development of basic writing skills and in-depth
understanding of the topic by students, and for further research, it is expected to
conduct more thorough research regarding the long-term impact of using ChatGPT
in English language learning and can focus on potential weaknesses or limitations
of AI in language learning to provide a more comprehensive understanding of its
impact.