Secondary school English teachers’ application of artificial intelligence-guided chatbot in the provision of feedback on student writing: An activity theory perspective

Abstract

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI)-guided chatbots as supplementary tools for L2 writing instruction has gained attention, yet uncertainties remain about how teachers incorporate such tools into their feedback practices and what factors influence this process. To address these gaps, this study adopted Activity Theory (AT) as the framework and involved 13 secondary school English teachers from two public secondary schools in southern China. The teachers used Kimi, an AI-guided chatbot, to support their feedback provision on student writing. The results revealed differences in the features of Kimi and teacher feedback (i.e., amount, length, foci, and types), as well as a complementary pattern between Kimi’s feedback and teachers’ self-initiated feedback. Additionally, the study identified the key components of the activity system within the context of AI-supported teacher feedback, including the subject, objectives, mediating artefacts, community, rules, and division of labor. This research provides empirical evidence regarding the facilitative role of AI-guided chatbots in supporting the provision of teacher feedback. The findings underscore the potential synergy between AI and teacher feedback, contributing to the enhancement of L2 writing instruction in secondary education.