Exploring feedback engagement in AI-assisted EFL writing instruction

• In Event: AERA Research in Progress Roundtable Session One
  In Invited Roundtable: Research-in-Progress RT021 (Wednesday)

Abstract

This study explores how EFL students engage with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) feedback in a tertiary-level English course. Grounded in sociocultural theory, the study conceptualizes feedback engagement as a dynamic process encompassing behavioral, cognitive, affective, and agentic dimensions. Drawing on screen-recording, think-aloud, and stimulated-recall data from 19 Chinese undergraduates, an exploratory mixed-methods design informed by a microgenetic perspective traces how engagement evolves over a 16-week semester. The data collection has been completed while the analysis is ongoing. Findings are expected to reveal diverse engagement patterns and suggest developmental shifts mediated by individual and contextual factors. The study may provide process-based evidence of AI-mediated feedback engagement and offers implications for fostering reflective and agentic engagement in EFL writing instruction.

Author

• Yangyang Yu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University