English major sophomores’ perceptions of quillbot utilization in self study to learn english writing at hong duc university

ABSTRACT With the advancement of technology, the challenges of self-study to learn English writing can be alleviated by using different educational digital tools using artificial intelli

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the research titled “English-major sophomores’ perceptions of Quillbot Utilization in self-study to learn English writing at Hong Duc University” is the result of my own research at Faculty of Foreign languages at

Hong Duc University and the substance of the thesis has been submitted neither as a whole nor in part for any degree at any other universities or tertiary institutions

Thanh Hoa, May 2023 Supervisor

(Signature, full name)

Hoang Thi Minh

Student

(Signature, full name)

Do Ngoc Anh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I am indebted to my supervisor Hoang Thi Minh, M.A, for her great understanding and wholehearted support throughout the process Without her valuable time, professional guidance and critical feedback for every minor detail, I would not have been able to complete my work

My special gratitude is also to be expressed to all the lecturers, teachers, and students in class K24A of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hong Duc University They are those who have directly participated in my own research I would like to send my big thanks to all of them for their valuable support, instruction, assistance and materials during my study and investigation at the university

Along the way, I owe my deep gratitude to my beloved family and friends who always provided tremendous support an encouragement when I was in the process of completing this study

Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all those who supported me in any aspect during the implementation of the study Without them, I could hardly have had enough bravery to deal with difficulties and keep going on with my research

ABSTRACT

With the advancement of technology, the challenges of self-study to learn English writing can be alleviated by using different educational digital tools using artificial intelligent (AI) – one of the most popular applications that many students have been using is Quillbot However, the research on using Quillbot in students‟ writing is still limited, and little is known about how students perceive it That is the reason why the writer conducted this study namely “English-major sophomores‟ perceptions of Quillbot Utilization in self-study to learn English writing at Hong Duc University” to

know more about English-major students habits of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing, and their perceptions about the advantagesand difficulties in using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing The result from quantitative and

qualitative data gathered from survey questionnaires with 38 English majored sophomores in class K24A and interviews with 5 students reveal that sophomores in this study responded positively to using Quillbot to assist them in improving the quality of their writing and also enhancing positive attitude in writing This study implies that AI-power technology like Quillbot in writing has a significant role in supporting students‟ self-study and creating high-quality writing for students

LIST OF ABBRIVIATION vii

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES viii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 3

3 Research questions 3

4 Methods of the study 3

5 Scope of the study 4

6 Design of the study 4

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1.1 Students‟ perception 6

1.1.1 Definition of perception 6

1.1.2 Basic principles of perception 6

1.1.3 The role of perception 7

1.2 Self-study 8

1.2.1 Definition of self-study 8

1.2.2 Self-study methods 9

1.2.3 The role of self-study in learning 9

1.2.4 Benefits and challenges of self-study 10

1.3 Learning English writing skills 11

1.3.1 Definitions 11

1.3.2 The importance of writing skills 13

1.3.3 Writing quality 14

1.3.4 Difficulties in learning English writing 14

1.4 Quillbot 15

1.4.1 Overview of Quillbot 15

1.4.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of using Quillbot in learning English writing 22

1.5 Related previous studies 24

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 26

2.1 Design and approaches 26

2.2 Context and participants 26

2.3 Data collection instruments 27

2.3.1 Survey questionnaires (Appendix A) 27

2.3.2 Interviews (Appendix B) 29

2.4 Data analysis methods 29

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31

3.1 Habits of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing 31

3.2 The perceptions of the advantages of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English

APPENDIX B: TRANSCRIPTS INTERVIEWS 61

APPENDIX C : EKA YUNI KURNIATI & RAHMAH FITHRIANI‟S (2022) QUESTIONNAIRES AND INTERVIEWS 62

LIST OF ABBRIVIATION

AI: Artificial Intelligence

ESL: English as a Second Language EFL: English as foreign language

NLP + NLU: Natural language processing + Natural language understanding

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 3.1 Sophomores‟ accessibility with Quillbot application 27

Figure 3.2 The frequency of students‟ using Quillbot 28

Figure 3.3 Sophomores‟ Quillbot usage time in self-study to learn English writing 30

Figure 3.4 The frequency of students‟ features usage on Quillbot application 31

Table 3.1 Benefits in enhancing students‟ positive attitude in writing 32

Table 3.2 Benefits in providing a variety of user-friendly writing features 34

Table 3.3 Benefits in Quillbot usage to improve writing skills 37

Table 3.4 Willingness to continue using Quillbot 40

Figure 3.5 The difficulties of using Quillbot 41

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale

Nobody can dispute the significance of writing when teaching and learning English, along with the other skills Obviously, writing is a productive skill which helps language learners to stimulate thinking and organize their ideas It also increases learners‟ ability to summarize, analyze, and criticize (Rao, 2007) Production of an effective piece of writing depends upon careful consideration of a number of basic constituents of writing, namely: content, organization, lexical resources, grammar and mechanics which need to be integrated into writing basic paragraph and essay Therefore, spending time on self-study and practice is an essential part of how learners can improve their writing skills Self-study can not only improve standardized test scores but also help learners excel in their extracurricular activities But at the same time, the problem of methods and tools to support self-study to learn English writing is a specific problem that need to be solved

With the proliferation of technology, the aforementioned challenges in learning English writing at home can be alleviated through its utilization As a result of the development of modern technology, almost all learning processes now incorporate technology (Fithriani, 2018) and the study of digital technology in the learning process becomes more crucial Software developers are compelled to design and create computer-based applications As a consequence of the high demand for technology, beginning with automated writing evaluation, automated essay scoring, and automated written corrective feedback, the development of these technologies has been accelerated (Nazari et al., 2021) Currently, it is possible to combine all three computer-based applications into a single application known as a digital tool that offers artificial intelligence (AI) (Koltovskaia, 2020) Surely, when talking about AI in education, many people will think that it is a great achievement that is not easy for people to access However, the applications of AI in education are always designed to be easy to use, especially for students The term AI refers to a machine that replicates and traces human intelligence processes such as learning, reasoning, and self-correction through the combination of multiple applications such as automated writing evaluation, automated essay scoring, and automated written corrective feedback

(Popenici & Kerr, 2017) that allow students to edit, check and organize their writing within an application

One popular digital tool aided by AI is Quillbot There have been so far many researches on this issue in the world and in Vietnam Those researchers show effectiveness from the Quillbot application such as paraphrasing English writing manually, having a good knowledge of vocabulary and understanding of English grammar, enhancing attitude in writing and so on Nurmayanti & Suryadi (2023) studied about “The effectiveness of using Quillbot in improving writing for students of English education study program” This study indicated some students still haven‟t learned the best method for paraphrasing These skills can be honed through regular reading or by making use of various online tools, both free and paid In addition, with the study of Adams & Chuah (2022), the authors showed popular AI-tool for language was Quillbot, which was known as an “intelligent” paraphrasing and it was capable of paraphrasing sentences provided into different styles Another study about AI based digital writing assistant for teachers in writing scentific articles, Khabib (2022) asserted that “Quillbot can not only help to avoid plagiarism but also save time For instance, this tool helps me shorten the time spent writing”

Moreover, there is the thesis about students‟ awareness about learners ownership in learning English (Tran Quoc Thao and Chu Le The Hoang, 2023), the authors show the results that students perceive their positive role in the process of learning English and believe in mastery in learning because they actively participate in English learning thanks to their positive attitude towards, good personality and specialized English learning skills

However, there have not been many studies on students‟ perception of using Quillbot in learning English writing at home

Therefore, the researcher carried out the thesis “English-major sophomores’ perceptions of Quillbot Utilization in self-study to learn English writing at Hong Duc University (HDU)” with the aims to understand sophomores‟ perception of its

usage and value

2 Aims of the study

The present study is conducted with three aims:

1 Understanding HDU English-major sophomores‟ habits of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing

2 Understanding HDU English-major sophomores‟ perceptions of the advantages of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing

3 Understanding HDU English-major sophomores‟ perceptions of the difficulties in using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing

3 Research questions

To fulfill the above aims, this study intends to answer the following questions:

1 What are HDU English-major sophomores’ habits of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing?

2 What are HDU English-major sophomores’ perceptions of the advantages of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing?

3 What are HDU English-major sophomores’ perceptions of the difficulties in using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing?

4 Methods of the study

This is a survey research which use both quantitative and qualitative method by gathering and analyzing data from a survey questionnaires and interviews

- A survey questionnaires will investigate and gather information about sophomores‟ perceptions following to the research questions It is about habits of using Quillbot, the advantages and difficulties of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing

- Interviews: Questions for interviews based on the questionnaire responses The purpose of the in-depth interview was to dig for additional information regarding the

respondents‟ questionnaire responses 5 Scope of the study

The thesis's focus is only on a small subset of students and a narrow area of study due to time, expertise, and experience constraints More specifically, 38 university sophomores majoring in English from K24A –English Teacher Education contributed to the research

With the content of Reading and Writing 4, students will learn about writing a description of a graph/chart/table and writing a 5-paragraph essay (about analyzing steps, analyzing causes and effects and classifying strategies)

6 Design of the study

This study includes three main parts:

 Part I: Introduction In this part, there will be an overview about information

about the thesis including the rationales, aims, research questions, the methods and the

scope of the study In addition, the researcher also presents the design of the study  Part II: Development – the pivotal core of the study It is divided into three

chapters:

 Chapter 1 – “Literature review”: the scientific basic of the research problem

(Theoretical background and Practical basis) reviews background knowledge and some basis concepts related to students‟ perception and self-study in English writing In addition, this chapter reviews related studies on Quillbot application – a digital tool to support self-study in English writing

 Chapter 2 – “Methodology” shows detailed explanation of the methodology

It includes details on the research design and approaches, context and participants, data collection instruments, and data analysis methods to conduct the study

 Chapter 3 – “Findings and Discussion” analyzes and discusses the results

based on the data collected, analyzed, surveyed and compiled in chapter 2

 Part III: Conclusion and Recommmendation In this part, the researcher

summarizes the main content of the thesis, and present limitations of the current paper as well as suggestions for further study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Students’ perception

1.1.1 Definition of perception

Perception is man's primary form of cognitive contact with the world around him As all conceptual knowledge is based upon or derived from this primary form of awareness, the study of perception has always had a unique significance for philosophy and science Unfortunately, the exact nature of perception has never been adequately defined or conceptualized, with the result that those who attempt to study disorders of cognitive function do not always know whether a disturbance of cognition is due to a defect in a sensory, perceptual or onceptual process (Efron, 1969, p.137)

Perception is one of the most important psychological aspects because by perception we know about the kinds of phenomenon which exist in our environment People have different perceptions on an object It can be positive or negative ways Perception is automatically related to certain nature of human being, which his or her psychological features Perception is a process which starts from the sense of organ That is a process related to acceptance of information by human brain that is said that during the process a person continually interacts with his or her environment (Slameto, 2010, p.102) While Mulyana (2007, p.179) stated that perception is internal process enable us to choose, organize, and interpret the stimuli from environment, those process can influence our manner Moreover, perception is the impression of a person to a particular object which is influenced by internal factors, such as behavior under the control of personal and external factors, such as behavior influenced by circumstances outside (Depdiknas, 2003)

In the present study, the researcher construes perception related to self-study writing as personal knowledge and judgment value about self-learning English writing issues In other words, perception is ideas that students hold and think that they are true about self-study English writing

1.1.2 Basic principles of perception

Kurniawan (2015) indicated that there are many basic principles that should be known in learning English so the exchange between teachers and students will be effective, those are:

a Perception is relative not absolute

It means that perception of someone or group is different from others The perception sometimes will be different even though they talk about the same things The teacher can predict students‟ perception better in the next lesson by knowing this from previous lesson being taught

b Perception is selective

It means that perception that is given by someone or group come based on their attention It depends on their brain or motivation about the object

c Perception has arrangement

It means that perception of someone is an arrangement about an object It is influenced by their brain, motivation, experience, and etc For example, someone maybe will have negative perception toward English lesson because of their bad experience before related to English itself In other words, the arrangement of the object can give influence toward the perception about that object

d Perception is influenced by hope and readiness

Hope and readiness of a person will determine which messages will be selected for admission, laid out, and how the message will be interpreted

1.1.3 The role of perception

Definitely, students are the main and the most important resource in the teaching and learning process Students can learn from teachers, friends and even self-study All of the learning process always begins with perception

Students‟ perception is the process of preferential treatment of students toward information they get from an object, in this study is applying digital tool usage in the self-study English writing for students- sophomores Through experience with their application using, students can give their perceptions about it

It is important to understand students‟ perceptions of how they perceive about using online digital tool in self-study writing Those perceptions reflect students‟ satisfaction to apply digital tool

In addition, (Jenwitthayayot and Saowaluck, 2016) with their study revealed that it also seemed that students‟ attitudes, together with their self-efficacy and their opinions about benefits, influenced their self-study learning Of concern should be problems experienced while learning

James; Bradley and Peggy (2007) researched about the thesis “Students‟ perceptions of the value of a self-study writing assignments” The results suggested that students had an overall positive evaluation of the assignments The majority of students indicated that the assignment increased their self-understanding, understanding of course concepts, and their ability to apply those concepts Students believed the assignments made the course more meaningful

1.2 Self-study

1.2.1 Definition of self-study

Al-Amri (2020, p.77) affirmed that self-study is often interpreted as studying by oneself It refers to inquiries conducted by individual student teachers or groups of teachers working collaboratively to clearly understand the problems of teaching practice Self-study has become popular in teacher education to encourage and advance student learning In his research, Interview data was compiled to reveal three representative themes of students‟ self-study experience: conducting self-study, sharing self-study with others, and learning from self-study findings

In other words, self-study plays an important role in how students take responsibility for their own with particular regard to learning English as a foreign language (Benson, 2001; Hyland, 2004) There are several definitions of this term in the literature Brookfield (2009) defines self-study as a process where individual students form the concept, design a study plan, perform and evaluate learning outcomes on their own, and by doing so, this learning approach serves as a tool to supplement and reinforce knowledge learned in class-like a new skill Others view self-study as a learning method where students direct their own study outside the classroom without direct guidance, supervision or instruction (Bonilla et al., 2021; Grade Power Learning, 2018) Taken these perspectives together, this suggests the idea that self-study is related to a process of learning in which students obtain knowledge of a given field of study by their own endeavors and energy and as a result, develop their ways to achieve their personal or professional learning goals

1.2.2 Self-study methods

According to Bowen (2008), there are 5 popular methods to help people in self-study in foreign language: (1) the vocabulary-based approach learning words with pictures, specific subjects (2) Double translation includes combining reading

books and dictionaries, then rewriting translations (3) The grammar-based approach is memorizing grammar and do practice exercises (4) The communicative approach is communicating with foreigners, friends, etc (5) the immersion method consists of listening to music, watching radio, watching TV programs, movies, traveling, and so on

In summary, studies have demonstrated that learning strategies are tools that predict how learning tasks are performed and what difficulties learners have during language learning If language learners use a variety of learning strategies, their language skills will be enhanced Thus, as learners develop skills in the cognitive, metacognitive, social, and affective aspects, they are in control of their learning

1.2.3 The role of self-study in learning

Self-study helps learners understand any problem deeply, expand, consolidate and remember lessons firmly thanks to the ability to self-analyze and synthesize documents, thereby being able to apply learned knowledge to solving problems or new learning tasks

Self-study has important contributions to make in these times for documenting the experiences and insights that come from radical educational change As a methodology, self-study of teacher education practises aims to understand situated human activity from the perspectives of those engaged in it

Cynthia, Galman and Kosnik asserted that engaging in conducting self-studies, serving as co-editors of the Castle Proceedings (Kosnik, Freese, & Samaras, 2002), developing the primer (Samaras & Freese, 2006), and working with our doctoral students (Samaras et al., 2007; Freeese & Strong, 2008 & Mittapalli & Samaras, 20008), helped them come to a rich understanding of its multiplicity Their undertanding of self-study deepened through our ongoing discussions and collaboration with our self-study colleagues and students They realized that their students learned about self-study best through doing it By initiating a research question students were passionate about, they were able to move to a better understanding of the process of self-study research They gained an enhanced understanding and appreciation for the impact self-study had on their practice and to the field at large The authors have found there is a self-discovery aspect of self-study that necessitates inquiring and engaging with others The result is that the authors

socially construct their understanding and gain new insights through others perspectives

1.2.4 Benefits and challenges of self-study

If learners are to start learning by themselves, they will be surely competent to learn to and the effectiveness of the learning process be determined by the content used in Self-study helps the learners to broaden their thinking level, freedom of learning without any restriction Self-learning would enable the learner to limit the number of interests undertaken Students tend to build a sense of responsibility and they start accepting responsibility Moreover, self-learning means that learners can read different interesting new books, rather than boring notes by teachers or textbooks and they tend to retain more naturally when they do work themselves, as compared to the regular teaching where teacher‟s spoon feed the information into them Lastly, learners perform well tests because they are already used to tackling problems on their own, which increases their confidence

Self-study is an important aspect of effective learning Even studying with conventional teaching methods, it is very important for a student to have a clear vision and understanding of every

Three challenges will be highlighted with studying: (1) the challenge of self-critical nature of one‟s own work and practice, (2) the requirement for quality, and (3) the tensions between efficiency and understanding (Kare Hauge, 2021)

Being able to ask seriously critical questions about own actions and existing interpretations and assumptions is difficult when exploring and investigating own practice and experiences

Another challenge, according to the study of Vanassche and Keltchermans (2016), it is related to the tensions between the relevance of self-study and methodological rigor In other words, a question of quality and what requirements are placed on quality for a self-study Self-studies are inevitable in this field of tensions and it is a direct consequence of its dual research agenda One the one hand, the requirements to contribute to professional development of a public and accessible knowledge base in teacher education

The final challenge is the tension between efficiency and understanding that is described by several as a demanding balance Although the framework and mindset

within self-study has an agenda among other things adopt a critical view to education policy that in many countries has promoted a rather narrow and instrumentalist view of practice, learning and knowledge development in teacher education and in schools (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012)

1.3 Learning English writing skills 1.3.1 Definitions

Writing is a form of communication where the writer has normally someone other than himself or herself to whom he or she intends to communicate If the writers cannot convey the message, then there will be no communication According to (Reid, 1994) stated that writing helps communication Native language speaking students should develop an understanding of the basic requirement which is the knowledge that there must be common understanding between the writer and the reader when they attempt writing in English The awareness of who the audience is and for what purpose the task is being done can help writing and help become successful writers Telugu-speaking high school students lack the control over their writing in English because they are in the process of gaining data as much as possible from the teacher in the early stages of learning a foreign language Even the teachers of English need guidance while writing

Writing is a way of communicating between the writer and the reader for the message to go through Writing skills are the skills you use to compose clearly and efficiently A good writer can make their point to their audience without using excessive filler and in a manner that the reader can understand Writing skills go beyond just being able to write Writing requires a variety of skills, including organization, investigation, planning and outlining, editing, revision, and spelling and grammar

This has also been the case that Bailey (2006) observed that those students who are not native speakers of English often find the written demands of their courses very challenging Therefore, to the lecturers of English non-major writing course for post-graduate candidates, they have to clearly understand their learners „challenges in order to help them finish the course successfully Production of an effective piece of writing depends upon careful consideration of a number of basic constituents of writing, namely: content, organization, language use, vocabulary, grammar and mechanics

which need to be integrated into writing basic paragraph and essay types Nguyen Hoang Ho Thuy (2010) mentioned that although writing checklists in different textbooks have various items, learners just need to focus on the two following ones: content and organization First, content deals with ideas that are contained in a piece of writing Second, organization works with how to arrange the ideas in a logical order In addition, Tribble (1996) as cited by Arslan (2013) also mentioned that the organization of a written text is therefore related to the layout, or physical organization on the page, of conventional texts, the ways in which texts are organized as a result of the social functions they fulfill relationships between clauses and clause complexes within written texts, irrespective of the purpose for which they were written

1.3.2 The importance of writing skills

According to the article “The important of Writing skills” by Kurt Wise, the author pointed out that there is no doubt writing is an essential public relations skill The Report of the Commission on Public Relations Education (1999) listed "informative and persuasive writing" among the skills necessary to enter the field (p 4) The Commission listed a "public relations writing and production" course as one of the courses in an ideal public relations program (p 4), and the use of public relations writing textbooks (Treadwell & Treadwell, 2004; Bivins, 2005; Newsom & Haynes, 2005; Wilcox, 2005) is common

Writing skills are a crucial component of conversation When compared to speaking to someone directly or over the phone, writing effectively enables you to convey your message to a much larger population Poor writing abilities give off bad first impressions, and many readers will respond negatively right away if they find a spelling or grammar error For instance, a spelling error on a commercial website could make customers question the organization's and website's trustworthiness

In written interactions, proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling are essential Errors are likely to cause readers to have a negative image of you as the author because they will affect both the content and presentation If you're still not persuaded of the value of accurate writing, consider the indicators we use to spot spam emails, "phishing" websites, and fake goods: bad grammar and spelling

Since it is likely that there will be mistakes, it is advisable to proofread all written messages before sending them to print or sending them via email Not all

errors will be caught by spellcheckers and grammar checkers, as many incorrect words can be spelled properly (such as when "their" is used instead of "there" or "principle" is used instead of "principal") or entire words may be missing Even if you are familiar with grammar and spelling conventions, you should still double-check your work or, even better, have someone else proofread it If at all feasible, use online grammar and spelling checking tools Accidental typographical errors (typos) invariably occur because our brains process information more quickly than our fingers can write

1.3.3 Writing quality

According to Mc Namara (2010), linguistic indicators including lexical diversity, word frequency, and acceptable language can be used to judge an essay's standard quality Another prerequisite for writing of a high caliber is language complexity, and in order to increase this, learners must be taught to develop writing techniques and critical thinking Fowler (2007) asserted that the writer's perspective and exploration of their own environment through the use of language can be significant in producing successful writing, which is in line with the topic above The writer must take into account many processes, including brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, and editing, in order to produce a quality piece of writing It should be clear that while the first two steps - brainstorming and outlining - can be completed orally, the latter two - revising and editing - would require the assistance of peers or instructors Giving feedback on coherence, cohesion, writing styles, grammatical mistakes, accuracy, and word complexity are all included in this revision As a result, there ought to be a tool to make teachers or peers' jobs easier at this point

1.3.4 Difficulties in learning English writing

On the difficulty of writing skills, Abu (2006) stated that writing is a difficult skill for native speakers and non-native speakers alike because writers must balance multiple issues such as content, organization, purpose, audience, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling and mechanics

Additionally, Abu (2006) explained that much higher standard of language are normally demanded in writing than in speech: more careful construction, more precise and varied vocabulary, and more correctness of expressions in general He further states that writing is a mess business which requires passing through a number of untidy drafts before reaching a final version

In addition to, Gao (2007), in her study, attempted to address the major problems of college English writing: a heavy emphasis on linguistic accuracy; overlooking the development of students writing ability; over-emphasis on the product; lack of input of genre knowledge; and a lack of variety of assessment Based on the discussion of current approaches to teaching writing, three implications are introduced to improve Chinese college English writing instruction as well as enhance effective learning: implementing diverse types of feedback; extending genre-variety process writing practice; and balancing forms and language use

In a research of the author Wa Thai Nhu Phuong (2021), the author asserted that writing plays an important role in studying a foreign language, especially English Students have faced a lot of difficulties in learning English writing such as difficulties with vocabulary, problems with grammar, problems with prior knowledge, troubles with organizing ideas, problems with allotted time, difficulties with teacher and mother tongue Among these difficulties, “allotted time” caused the most difficulty to the students

1.4 Quillbot

1.4.1 Overview of Quillbot

QuillBot is an affordable paraphrasing tool available on the market that uses the state-of-the-art AI to paraphrase any piece of content The main purpose of the tool is to rephrase the content by changing the structure of the sentences and replacing words with their synonym, while preserving the meaning of the original content

It was founded by three computer science students, Rohit Gupta, Anil Jason, and David Silin back in 2017 Since then, they are continuously adding new features and improving the quality of the product every day In addition to the paraphrasing tool, QuillBot also provides a summarizing and grammar checking tool under one roof There are 10 million users across the world, including students, professionals, writers are using QuillBot to write content effectively Earlier, QuillBot used to offer five quill-modes for content quilling, but now they have added two new quill-modes and Summarizer features, which we have discussed below

Quillbot is one of the most popular applications known as a paraphrasing tool Quillbot offers a product that uses AI to suggest paraphrases, grammatical checkers, summarizing, and even plagiarism detectors (Dale, 2020)

The term AI refers to a machine that replicates and traces human intelligence processes such as learning, reasoning, and self-correction through the combination of multiple applications such as automated writing evaluation, automated essay scoring, and automated written corrective feedback (Popenici & Kerr, 2017) that allow students to edit, check and organize their writing within an application With assistance by AI, Quillbot had combined many outstanding functions as paraphrasing tool, grammar checker, plagiarism checker, citation generator, co-writer, summarizer and translator

Fitria (2022) with the analysis shows that several ways QuillBot in paraphrasing includes changing the word/phrase/ clause order, using synonyms, changing the sentence structure from active to passive voice, and vice versa, also separating the information into separate sentences QuillBot Premium contains different modes of paraphrasing depending on writing needs, such as Standard, Fluency, Formal, Simple, Creative, Expand, and Shorten Standard mode rewrites text reliably to maintain meaning, Fluency mode sure text is readable and free of errors; Formal mode presents the text in a more sophisticated and professional way; Simple mode makes writing more readable and accessible; Creative mode presents the text in a way most people can understand; Expand mode adds more detail and depth to increase sentence length; and Shorten mode strips away extra words to provide a clear message QuillBot can be used by students to rewrite any writings or as an alternative tool when they cannot paraphrase manually However, the site is a product of technology Of course, human

intelligence remains the main Students need to understand in-depth and re-check their writing to get better or higher-quality paraphrasing

With the function about grammar checker, users will be able to craft sentences in paraphraser, summarize text they‟re reviewing, and double check their own work for any possible errors Quillbot uses AI to automatically check text for any grammatical, punctuation, or spelling errors, highlighting them and allowing users to fix them individually or all at once with the click of a button Users can also edit text as they go and paraphrase it at any time This has been a highly requested feature by users

Nowadays, when you write about a text, paragraph or article, etc., it is inevitable to check for plagiarism Even if it's not your intention to plagiarize, accidents do

happen (that's why there's an entire category called "accidental plagiarism") While this can seem both daunting and unfair, you'll have nothing to worry about if you take this one major precaution after your drafting process Therefore, QuillBot's plagiarism checker checks your work against trillions of websites, thousands of academic journals, and over 1 million internal documents, not to mention it can scan text in over 100 languages If any duplicate content is found, the plagiarism checker will flag it so you know that it needs a source The last thing you want to do is unintentionally take credit for someone else's work, right? Because the tool is able to identify plagiarism, this is a really easy, simple step you can take to ensure your academic integrity remains intact

Quillbot AI Summarizer is an excellent online summarizing tool that can help you summarize pretty much anything you feed into it And the tool is free so there‟s really no reason not to use it Learners can summarize content with Quillbot Summarizer in two ways First, you can condense text in paragraphs Second, you can condense text into bullet text

The content limit you can summarize with Quillbot Summarizer is 1200 words This is quite a lot if you think about it as most blog articles have fewer than 1200 words This word limit is also practical because Quillbot is not good at summarizing huge blocks of text, and you go paragraph by paragraph for the best results Quillbot uses its proprietary combination of Natural language processing + Natural language understanding (NLP+NLU) technology to understand the text before summarizing it

That way the meaning of the summarized text is preserved The content Quillbot Summarizer spits out is grammatically correct How could it not be since Quillbot has a grammar-checking app in its suite of tools?

A next tool integrated in the Quillbot application is QuillBot‟s Translator which supports 30 different languages, providing writers with a way to utilize text from their non-native language(s) The research and writing will not be confined to one language; rather, the knowledge and information that exists across languages will be available at the click of a button

QuillBot‟s Translator boasts the following: 30 languages

AI-powered translation technology Ad-free experience

Mobile-friendly interface

5000-character allowance per translation

Integration with the rest of the QuillBot writing suite

A special function in Quillbot is Co-Writer which is an all-in-one writing space that combines all of QuillBot‟s tools in one location, allowing you to paraphrase, summarize, create citations, and write your essay without having to shift between products Additionally, we‟ve included online research capabilities, note-taking, and AI-assisted autocomplete to give users a seamless writing and research experience without ever having to leave the page Moreover, you can import your existing documents/PDFs into the Co-Writer When you create a new project, click on the “Upload Doc” button within the editor You can then choose the document you wish to import

QuillBot‟s citation generator is the function to help you research, draft, and polish your work faster and more efficiently than ever before From quickly reviewing and comparing potential sources with the summarizer, to perfectly articulating your ideas and arguments with the paraphraser, to low-energy editing with the grammar checker, the citation generator now let‟s you effortlessly generate in-text and full citations to further streamline your process

1.4.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of using Quillbot in learning English writing

There were studies on Quillbot showed its aspects when users, especially those who consider English as a second language which they experienced and gave evaluations They also find QuillBot beneficial for three reasons; first, it helps improve the content or argument; second, it minimizes grammatical errors, and third, it enhances the language used in their manuscripts (Mufida Syahnaz and Rahmah Fithriani, 2023) The author implied that integrating artificial intelligence such as online paraphrasing tools helps English as foreign language (EFL) students overcome some difficulties encountered in writing academic papers, and consequently improve their writing products

With the study about the effectiveness of using Quillbot in improving writing for students of English education study program, Mayanti and Suryadi (2023) asserted that students were able to take advantage of the software and find it useful to prephrase text without changing its meaning, according to survey findings submitted via google

forms; however, students need to reread the tool to ensure that the meaning of the cited articles remains consistent

Rakhmanina and Serasi (2022) emphasized that writing is obviously important because it is used to communicate with people all around the world However, its significance cannot be separated from the fact that writing is one of the most difficult components of language competency With the thesis “Utilizing quillbot paraphraser to minimize plagiarism in students' scientific writing”, the researchers showed the issue of plagiarism in writing remains a trending topic, as its existence is harmful to a writer whose work is copied without proper citation In this instance, both lecturers and researchers identify instances of plagiarism in student writing (Choi, 2012) Some people, especially internet-based people, are careless with their copy-paste work

Quillbot provides a solution by helping paraphrase when teachers and students do not have the idea to paraphrase writing manually (Kusuma, 2020) The use of this tool is simple Quillbot rewrites texts after we write or paste the texts and then press the Paraphrase button (Kinga & Gupta, 2021) Not only that, Quillbot also provides automated writing evaluation (AWE) on the grammar checker features This application has been trusted to help students, writers, bloggers, teaching staff, etc (Chapelle & Sauro, 2019)

Fitria (2021) researched about QuillBot as an online tool which students‟ alternative in paraphrasing and rewriting of English writing and asserted that QuillBot is an online application to paraphrase writing, avoid plagiarism, summarize long sentences and improve grammar to be more precise and look professional The objective of this research is to review the QuillBot as AI tool system for students‟ in paraphrasing and rewriting English writing both in the free and premium versions This research applies descriptive qualitative The data used is an English abstract article The results show that QuillBot paraphrasing tools use several ways to paraphrase the text: 1) paraphrasing by using equations or synonyms, 2) paraphrasing by changing the form of the word, 3) paraphrasing by using active or passive sentences, and 4) paraphrasing by changing the order of words in sentences This paraphrasing uses Standard Mode, which serves to balance changes to the text when users input them but still keeps them from changing the actual (original) meaning of the text, also making the result look more original QuillBot is one of the

paraphrasings and summarizing tools that can be used by students for rewriting any content based on a state-of-the-art AI system This tool can be the students‟ alternative which provides a solution by helping paraphrase when students do not have the idea to paraphrase English writing manually However, a good knowledge of vocabulary and understanding of English grammar, of course, will help students or other users (s) both in using online or manual paraphrasing to be better or the best quality

According to Ho Chui Chui (2022), the use of automated written corrective feedback applications in the writing classroom has been widely researched However, as the QuillBot grammar checker was newly launched, no studies had been conducted on its accuracy and usability among English as a second language (ESL) student writers To address this gap, a small-scale sentence- and paragraph-level test was carried out to determine whether it would be a useful tool for ESL students to obtain feedback in real-time instead of waiting for teacher corrective feedback The new, freely available grammar checker was tested along with the free version of two other popular grammar checking tools, Grammarly and Ginger Actual writing samples from second-year diploma students were used The results indicate that the QuillBot grammar checker outperformed the other two softwares However, this tool is not perfect and users will still have to manually check for undetected errors and decide if suggestions should be accepted or ignored Therefore, it is recommended that QuillBot should be used to supplement and not replace teacher feedback With students using the QuillBot grammar checker in their writing tasks, teachers do not only save time on checking language errors but also have more time to provide feedback regarding global writing concerns, namely, content and organization

1.5 Related previous studies

Regarding students‟ perceptions of Quillbot utilization, Eka Yuni Kurniati & Rahmah Fithriani (2022), with data gathered from the research twenty postgraduate students of magister level majoring in English education at a state university in North Sumatra with using Quillbot, reveal both their perceptions with using Quillbot According to their study, the majority of post-graduate students utilized Quillbot as an effective digital tool to assist them with academic research writing In other words, the post-graduate students had a favourable view of the Quillbot application as a digital aid for producing high-quality academic writing This study recommends that EFL

writing instructors incorporate this tool into their English language instruction, specifically within the writing classroom

To complete and present the above research results, the authors used set of questions about students‟ demographics including 12 questions with 2 questions about experience of digital tool and the frequency of participants‟ using Quillbot; and 10 questions investigated students‟ perceptions about the merits of Quillbot usage Regarding the students‟ perceptions of the use of Quillbot as digital tools in academic writing, the researchers identified three significant themes related to the benefits of using Quillbot in academic writing for post-graduate students, namely: (1) enhancing students‟ positive attitude in writing, (2) providing a variety of user-friendly writing features and (3) assisting the students‟ language development However, with ten questions divided into 3 themes, I realise that the author‟s arrangement of questions is not appropriate Many questions are also repeated in content Moreover, in that study, theme number 3 is not suitable with the topic of the study

Therefore, the researcher editted and expanded more about some information in questionnaires and interviews The questionnaires includes 28 questions with content following general information, the habits of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing, the advantages of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing, the difficulties in using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing and willing needs of Quillbot usage in self-study to learn English writing

In this study, the author studied 38 second-year language major students and understanded about their perceptions of Quillbot usage in self-study to learning English writing

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Design and approaches

The present study is a survey research, which is asserted to be very valuable tool for assessing thoughts, beliefs, feelings and behaviors (Mitchell & Jolley, 2012, p.276) Moreover, survey research is to gather and describe the characteristics, attitudes, views, opinions, perceptions and so forth of students - sophomores who are important to a study It adopts mixed-methods approach in which the data collection involves gathering both numeric and text information so that the final database represents both quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (interview) information (Creswell, 2003, p.20)

This research employed a qualitative case study approach Baxter & Jack (2008) define qualitative case studies as a research method that facilitates the exploration of a phenomenon in its context through the use of multiple data sources, ensuring that the problem is not explored from a single perspective but from multiple perspectives, which will reveal the phenomenon's many facets It is consistent with the purpose of the study, which is to investigate the perceptions of sophomores regarding the use of Quillbot as a self-study English writing aid

2.2 Context and participants

This research was conducted at K24A- English teacher education in Hong Duc University 38 sophomores (2 males and 36 females) of majoring in English education were recruited to participate in this study With 90 percent students in total 38 students, they have used smartphone and laptop In accordance with the study's objective, participants were selected using a purposive sampling technique In this case, the criterion that the selected participants needed to fulfil was their using experience and familiarity with using Quillbot to support in self-study to learn English writing

2.3 Data collection instruments

This study‟s data came from two sources: questionnaires and semi-structured interviews

At the beginning of the course, the researcher asked the teacher who taught Reading and Writing 4 in class K24A - English Teacher Education to introduce Quillbot and some online digital tools that support self-study to learn writing The

students are encouraged to use Quillbot under the instruction of the teacher Then, the researcher administered a survey questionnaire about sophomores' perceptions about Quillbot usage

Further data were then accumulated qualitatively through some interviews for more specific information about the issues Questions for interview are based on the questionnaire responses The purpose of the in-depth interview was to dig for additional information regarding the respondents‟ questionnaire responses Five participants participated in the formal interview session The information were then transcribed verbatim prior to the data analysis phase

2.3.1 Survey questionnaires (Appendix A)

The survey questionnaire (Appendix A) not only explored statistics but also searched qualitative information The questionnaire was distributed through a Google form that consists of 28 closed-ended questions using the four-Likert scale (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree) and multiple choices

The first 3 questions are about students‟ general information including their

gender, their age and the digital tools they have learnt English

The next 4 questions (question 4-7) are about sophomores‟ habits of using

Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing Question 4 is is about students‟

accessibility with Quillbot application before taking Reading and Writing 4; question 5 is about the frequency of students‟ using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing; question 6 is about how much time students spend using Quillbot application to learn English writing; question 7 is about features which students usually use on Quillbot to learn English writing at home

Question number 8 uses the four-Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree) and is divided into 20 statements to ask about sophomores‟

perceptions of the advantages of using Quillbot in self-study to learn English writing

The statements from 8.1 to 8.3 are about sophomores‟ positive attitude in using Quillbot in learning writing The statements from 8.4 to 8.11 are about students‟ perception about a variety of user-friendly writing features The statements from 8.12 to 8.18 are about students‟ perception about writing skills that Quillbot helps students improve The statement 8.19 and 8.20 are about students‟ perceptions about the willingness to continue using Quillbot

The last question is about sophomores‟ perceptions of the difficulties in using Quillbot self-study to learn English writing

The content of the questionnaire is partly adapted and supplemented from the previous research related to post students' perceptions of Quillbot usage by Kurniati & Fithriani (2022) for some reasons Firstly, they just took account of 3 aspects: various digital tools can be used to assist writing, the frequency of using Quillbot and students‟ perceptions of Quillbot usage; but the present study investigates 3 new aspects: students‟ habits of using Quillbot, students‟ perceptions about advantages and difficulties of using Quillbot Secondly, their ten statements in students‟ perception are only about advantages of features/functions and satisfaction of Quillbot application to students The statements in the present study are to have additional information form of Quillbot Thirdly, ten statements in Kurniati & Fithriani‟s study are repeated or to have the same contents and unsuitable arrangement following to their themes, therefore, the statements rearrange and rewrite to be suitable for each theme in this present study Furthermore, this study also more clearly referred to features of Quillbot for students yet (Paraphrasing tool, Grammar Checker, Plagiarism, Summarizer, Translator, Co-writer, Critation generator) Moreover, the researcher wanted to know more about difficulties that students faced when using Quillbot in writing apart from

the advantages it may bring Finally, the expectation after using English learning

applications in general and Quillbot applications in particular for students is

indispensable

2.3.2 Interviews (Appendix B)

Based on the questionnaire results, the researcher contacted five participants for interviews to have a deeper and wider individual view about their perceptions of Quillbot usage in self-study to learn English writing (interview transcripts were in Appendix B) These five students are chosen based on their willingness to take the interview The findings from the interviews will be broken down into individual themes, each of which will be backed by an annotated response from a participant

Regarding the students‟ perceptions of Quillbot usage as digital tools in learning English writing at home, the researcher identified four significant themes to understand more about their perceptions in self-study to learn English writing, namely: