NAVIGATING AI-MEDIATED WRITING ENVIRONMENTS: DIGITAL LITERACY, GENERATIVE TOOLS, AND AUTHORIAL DEVELOPMENT AMONG ESL POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS

Abstract

This study investigates how ESL postgraduate students engage with generative AI writing tools within the context of academic literacy development, drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as its guiding framework. SDT's three core psychological needs — autonomy, competence, and relatedness — provide a lens through which to examine how AI-assisted writing environments either support or undermine students' intrinsic motivation, sense of ownership over their writing, and long-term academic skill development. As AI tools such as ChatGPT, automated grammar checkers, paraphrasers, and citation generators become increasingly embedded in university writing practices, critical questions arise regarding their role in shaping digital literacy competencies, disciplinary voice, and ethical decision-making in academic contexts (Bender et al., 2021; Cope & Kalantzis, 2022).

The study employs a qualitative longitudinal design, gathering data through reflective writing journals, in-depth semi-structured interviews, discourse analysis of student drafts, and instructor observations across multiple stages of the writing process. Particular attention is directed toward whether AI engagement fosters or constrains competence-building in argumentation, vocabulary development, cohesion, and citation literacy (Flowerdew & Li, 2020; Lantolf et al., 2023). The research also examines how students construct and maintain authorial identity when AI co-produces textual content, and how they navigate the ethical boundaries that define responsible academic writing.

Findings are expected to contribute to scholarship in digital literacy education, second language writing, and AI-informed pedagogy. Practically, the study aims to inform the design of writing curricula and institutional AI policies that cultivate autonomous, critically digitally literate writers while preserving academic integrity and genuine student authorship (Ryan & Deci, 2020; Weigle, 2021).