Enhancing EFL Students’ Writing through Writing Centers: The Strengthening Role of AI Integration

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of university writing centers on enhancing EFL learners’ writing competence. It also explores the extent to which integrating AI technology into these centers can strengthen their impact.  The total number of participants in this study was 117. Data were collected in two phases. In the first phase, 97 students who attended the Arab Open University (AOU) Writing Centers across five campuses received traditional support.  The second phase involved collecting data from a second group in a later semester, with 20 students from the AOU Saudi Arabia campus. This group took the same pre-test and post-test as the first group. They visited the writing centers regularly for two months, but this time the Writing Centers' services incorporated AI tools, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot, for tutoring and task completion. The findings reveal significant improvements in writing skills across all groups from attending the Writing Centers, with the AI-assisted group showing even greater gains. The paper compares the performance of all groups and presents external examiners’ perspectives on the role of writing centers.