The Role of Grammarly in Saudi EFL Writing: Students’ Perceptions of Its Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Overreliance

Abstract

This work explores preliminary-year Saudi students' perceptions of integrating the AI-Grammarly platform into learning. Significantly, the study explores Grammarly's role in writing enhancement through correcting writing errors in mechanics. Due to their willingness, forty-one participants were selected by employing a non-probability convenience sampling technique.  Moreover, a quantitative research method was employed through administering a closed-ended questionnaire to collect the data, which was then analyzed by SPSS.The quantitative findings found out benefits, such as that the students had positive perceptions of integrating (AI) Grammarly platform in learning. Grammarly also has enhanced students' writing by correcting errors in mechanics. Furthermore, the results revealed that the Grammarly platform, by correcting errors in mechanics, saved the students' time and effort. Thus, the saved time empowered the students to easily perform the complicated writing process. However, challenges included that Grammarly could not correct the whole writing unless it was paid for and over-reliance on Grammarly was a challenge, too. The study underscores the necessity for integrating (AI) diverse platforms to promote writing engagement for sustainable learning. The study suggests piloting platforms' controlling methods through responsible use and modifications of instructional policies to address the challenges.