Technology and AI Usage Behaviors and Attitudes Toward English Writing Among English Major Students at Rajabhat Mahasarakham University

บทคัดย่อ

This research consists purposes were 1. to investigate the usage behaviors of technology-supported writing tools among English major students at Rajabhat Mahasarakham University (RMU) 2. to explore student attitudes toward technology-supported writing tools used in their writing assignments and 3. to examine challenges encountered in using technology-supported writing tools. This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. The research instruments were an online survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview protocol. The sample group consisted of 75 English major students at RMU, Thailand, selected through convenience sampling. The quantitative data collected from the questionnaire was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages. The qualitative data were gathered with semi-structured interviews from 5 purposively selected participants and then analyzed using thematic analysis with frequency counts. The research results found that 1) Google Translate (92%), ChatGPT (89.3%) and Gemini (68%) were the most frequently used tools. Students mainly used these tools for vocabulary translation and grammar checking (65.3%) and full-text translation (57.3%). Tools usage was applied in every writing stage such as content revision, language improvement and grammar editing. 2) Moreover, the most influential factors in accepting tool suggestions were alignment with personal writing style and assignment relevance (58.7%) and suggestion accuracy (53.3%). Challenges of using tools were over-reliance on tools (65.3%) and academic integrity concerns (42.7%). Interview data further revealed three attitudinal themes: selective reliance and self-awareness, viewing AI as an assistant rather than an author and increased confidence and writing efficiency.