In a digital age where artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of communication, a new study from the University of East Anglia (UK) has delivered a surprising verdict: when it comes to essay writing, human students still outperform ChatGPT.
Published in the journal Written Communication, the research compared 145 university student essays with 145 AI-generated essays crafted by ChatGPT. While the AI delivered fluent, grammatically sound content, it lacked one critical element — a human touch.
“ChatGPT essays were coherent and followed academic norms,” said Professor Ken Hyland from UEA’s School of Education and Lifelong Learning. “But they failed to engage readers in the way real students do.”
The study focused on “engagement markers” — features like rhetorical questions, personal asides, and direct appeals to the reader — that make writing interactive and persuasive. Student essays were rich with these devices, displaying clarity, personality, and critical thinking. In contrast, ChatGPT’s output, though technically accurate, was often flat, impersonal, and devoid of a clear stance.
This gap, the researchers say, stems from how AI is trained — prioritising coherence and statistical patterns over nuance and reader interaction.
The findings carry important implications for educators increasingly concerned about AI-facilitated cheating. “This study helps us understand how to spot machine-generated work,” said Prof Hyland. “But more importantly, it reinforces why teaching writing is about more than just producing text — it’s about developing thought.”
Far from dismissing AI, the authors suggest embracing it as a tool to support — not replace — student learning. “We should use ChatGPT to enhance teaching, not undermine it,” Prof Hyland said. “Students come to us not just to write, but to learn how to think. That’s something no machine can replicate.”
The study was conducted in collaboration with Professor Kevin Jiang from Jilin University, China.
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