Abstract
The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into language education has garnered increasing academic interest, especially concerning how learners interact with and react to feedback on their writing. Although a significant amount of quantitative research has shown enhancements in writing performance, due to AI-mediated feedback, there is much less understanding of the actual experiences of learners who engage with this feedback in real classroom settings. This study aims to fill a gap by employing a phenomenological approach to explore the perceptions and interpretations of personalized AI feedback on writing quality among intermediate-level EFL students in Uzbekistan. Thirty students engaged in an eight-week intervention where they received iterative AI feedback on a variety of academic writing tasks. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and reflective journals, and analyzed thematically to capture the essence of learners’ experiences. The analysis uncovered four interconnected themes: (1) exploring a new ecology of feedback, (2) building trust and understanding with AI, (3) rebuilding writing confidence and agency, and (4) addressing challenges in human–AI mediation. Learners frequently characterized AI feedback as prompt, comprehensive, and encouraging, in stark contrast to the often delayed and generalized feedback usually given by teachers. Simultaneously, they conveyed uncertainty regarding the authority of AI, often verifying its recommendations with teachers to guarantee accuracy and relevance to the context. Personalized AI feedback was notably experienced as empowering, allowing learners to take on greater responsibility for revisions and to view themselves as more capable writers. However, worries also arose about dependence on AI, societal norms surrounding teacher authority, and the sporadic insensitivity to context and rhetorical suitability in suggestions produced by AI. This study enhances our understanding of the phenomenological aspects of personalized AI feedback in EFL writing by emphasizing the perspectives of learners.
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