LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 26:1 January 2026
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Selvi M. Bunce, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate
         Nathan Mulder Bunce, M.A., Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Honorary Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Celebrate India!
Unity in Diversity!!

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

Poetic Encounter
Available in https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09TT86S4T

Poems
Naked: the honest musings of two brown women
Available in https://www.amazon.in

Decrees
Available in https://www.amazon.com

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2025
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

The Impact of AI as a Mediational Tool on Academic and Creative Writing of Qatari EFL University Students: An Exploratory Study

Dr. Abdulghani Al-Shuaibi
Dr. Abdulmohsin A. Alshehri
Dr. Mohammed A. Alrashed and
Dr. Maram Othman Almaneea

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT and Grammarly, on the academic and creative writing performance of Qatari EFL university students. Anchored in Sociocultural Theory (SCT), the research adopts a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design involving 120 undergraduate EFL students across two major Qatari universities. Participants completed both traditional and AI-assisted writing tasks, which were evaluated using an SCT-aligned rubric. Quantitative findings reveal significant improvements in overall writing performance with AI use, particularly in creativity, lexical sophistication, and coherence. Qualitative data from student and instructor interviews indicate that AI tools served as semiotic mediators, supporting idea generation, stylistic experimentation, and real-time feedback. However, concerns about voice dilution and over-reliance were also reported. Theoretically, the study reconceptualizes AI as a mediational artifact operating within learners' Zones of Proximal Development (ZPD), fostering internalization and agency. Pedagogically, it highlights the value of integrating reflective AI use into L2 writing curricula in Qatar, while advocating for process-based assessment models that reward creativity and learner autonomy. The study contributes to SLA literature by situating AI use within a theory-driven framework and by addressing contextual gaps in Gulf-based research. It concludes that AI, when used dialogically, can enhance both performance and creative engagement in EFL writing-repositioning AI not as a threat to authorship but as a catalyst for linguistic development in monolingual, assessment-focused contexts.

Keywords:Artificial intelligence, EFL writing, creativity, sociocultural theory, Qatar, SLA, higher education.

Introduction

The rapid emergence and proliferation of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have significantly redefined the landscape of higher education and second language acquisition (SLA), particularly in the domains of academic writing and creativity. Tools such as ChatGPT, GrammarlyGO, and Quillbot are increasingly being integrated into student writing processes, enabling real-time feedback, enhanced fluency, and error correction. While such technologies offer novel opportunities for language learning, they simultaneously raise critical questions regarding originality, overreliance, authorship, and pedagogical relevance – especially in monolingual English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts such as Qatar (Fadlelmula & Qadhi, 2024; Malik et al., 2025).

Within the broader framework of Qatar's National Vision 2030, digital transformation is positioned as a cornerstone of educational reform, emphasizing the incorporation of AI-driven learning tools in classroom settings. Higher education institutions in Qatar, including national universities and branch campuses, are progressively experimenting with these technologies as part of broader e-learning strategies (Abulibdeh et al., 2025). However, while institutional adoption is accelerating, empirical investigations into how Qatari students actually engage with generative AI for academic and creative writing remain remarkably scarce.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. Abdulghani Al-Shuaibi
English Language Division
The National University of Malaysia, Lusail City, State of Qatar
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8998-5962
drgani2010@gmail.com

Dr. Abdulmohsin A. Alshehri
Department of Languages and Translation
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Taibah University, Medina, Saudi Arabia
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5459-4295
aashehri@taibahu.edu.sa

Dr. Mohammed A. Alrashed
Department of English Language and Literature
College of Languages and Translation
Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9900-1437
maalrashed@imamu.edu.sa
&
Dr. Maram Othman Almaneea
Vice Dean of Academic Affairs
English Language Institute
Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Saudi Arabia
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1616-5611
maram.al.maneea@gmail.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.