THE IMPACT OF CHATGPT ON MORPHO-SYNTACTIC AWARENESS AMONG GENERATION-Z ESL LEARNERS IN PAKISTAN: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become a part of education, revolutionizing language learning by offering interactive, personalized and instant linguistic help to students. One AI-powered tool that has garnered a lot of attention recently is ChatGPT, which can help with English as a Second Language (ESL) learning, especially in grammar. But, empirical research about its effect on learners' morpho-syntactic awareness is limited particularly in the context of Pakistan. The present study aimed to examine the effects of ChatGPT on the morpho-syntactic awareness of Generation-Z ESL learners in Pakistan employing a quantitative quasi-experimental pre and post-test control group design. The total number of samples were 80 undergraduate students of ESL and consequently 40 students were assigned to experimental group and 40 students were assigned to control group using convenience sampling. The experimental group participated in the grammar learning using ChatGPT for six weeks, while the control group were taught the grammar in a traditional manner. The experimental group was given six weeks of grammar instruction that involved ChatGPT while the control group was given six weeks of traditional grammar instruction. The data were collected by using researcher developed morpho-syntactic awareness test and a structured questionnaire. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-tests, and independent-samples t-tests in SPSS and the responses on the questionnaires were summarized using descriptive analysis. The results showed that the morpheo-syntactic awareness of learners who used Chat-GPT was statistically significantly better than that of learners who were taught by the traditional method. The participants also had positive perceptions of the usefulness, prompt feedback, and helping them with grammar of ChatGPT, but they also mentioned some concerns about becoming dependent on ChatGPT and not being able to do this alone. The study finds that ChatGPT can be used as a useful additional teaching aid to enhance the grammatical ability of students when used in pedagogically guided learning environment. The results build on a body of research on using generative AI for language learning and have implications for both ESL teachers and curriculum designers and policymakers who want to facilitate responsible use of generative AI in language learning.