The Correlation Between ChatGPT Usage and University Students' Writing Proficiency

Abstract

Technological advancements have made academic tasks more efficient for university students. One such innovation is ChatGPT, an AI based tool that helps generate text, suggest sentences, and correct grammar. However, the use of ChatGPT also raises considerations regarding its correlation with students’ writing proficiency. This study aims to find out the correlation between the usage of ChatGPT and students’ university writing proficiency in English. The study used a quantitative approach with a correlational design. A total of 25 students from the English Education study program who had used ChatGPT in academic writing tasks participated in this research. Data were collected through questionnaires and writing scores. The questionnaire explored how often students used ChatGPT, for what purposes, and what benefits they experienced. The writing scores were taken from the Essay Writing course, reflecting students’ academic essay writing proficiency as assessed by the lecturer. The result of this study shows that there is no significant correlation between the frequency of ChatGPT usage and students’ writing proficiency. The Spearman correlation coefficient was r = 0.017 with a significance level of p = 0.936 (p > 0.05), indicating a very weak and statistically insignificant correlation. This suggests that using ChatGPT more often does not necessarily improve writing performance. ChatGPT may support the writing process, but its impact depends on how it is used.