Students’ Voices in Academic Writing Instruction: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Literacy and Challenges in a Cross-Cultural Setting of Indonesia and Timor-Leste

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-543-0_13How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Artificial Intelligence; academic writing; AI literacy; cross-cultural study; Indonesia; Timor-Leste; higher education

Abstract

The rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into higher education has significantly influenced academic writing instruction. This study explores students’ voices regarding AI literacy and the challenges of using AI-based writing tools in academic writing within a cross-cultural context of Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Employing a quantitative descriptive research design, data were collected through a closed-ended questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale. The instrument examined students’ understanding of AI concepts, familiarity with AI writing tools, and perceived challenges in AI-supported academic writing practices. The findings reveal that most students demonstrate strong basic AI literacy and high familiarity with tools such as ChatGPT and Grammarly. However, students reported lower confidence in distinguishing AI-generated texts from human-written texts and expressed considerable uncertainty in critically evaluating AI outputs. The results also show cross-cultural differences, where Indonesian students exhibited higher confidence in conceptual AI knowledge, while students from Timor-Leste expressed greater difficulty in integrating AI feedback while maintaining their authorial voice. Additionally, students in both contexts reported challenges in interpreting AI-generated feedback and determining when to rely on AI versus their own academic judgment. This study concludes that while AI tools offer substantial benefits in supporting academic writing, significant challenges remain in developing students’ critical AI literacy. The findings suggest the need for structured pedagogical frameworks and institutional guidelines to promote ethical and effective AI use in academic writing instruction.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ngasbun Egar
AU  - Siti Musarokah
AU  - Alfiah Alfiah
AU  - Marcos Taec Abi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/26
TI  - Students’ Voices in Academic Writing Instruction: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Literacy and Challenges in a Cross-Cultural Setting of Indonesia and Timor-Leste
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Education and Social Science Research (ICESRE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 130
EP  - 141
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-543-0_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-543-0_13
ID  - Egar2026
ER  -