Evaluating the Use of Grammarly to Improve Academic Writing: A Dual Assessment among ICT Students

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-563-8_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Academic Writing; Grammarly; ICT Students; IELTS

Abstract

Academic writing remains a persistent challenge for students in vocational ICT programs, particularly in balancing technical content with linguistic accuracy. This study evaluates the effectiveness of Grammarly as an AI-based writing support tool by employing a dual-assessment approach that combines automated scoring and human evaluation. Seventeen third-year ICT students enrolled in an English Proficiency Test Preparation course completed two IELTS-style Writing Task 2 essays in a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test design. Each writing sample was assessed using Grammarly’s automated score and the IELTS Writing Task 2 Band Descriptors applied by three independent English raters. The results indicate a modest improvement in Grammarly scores (mean gain: + 3.8) and a slight increase in IELTS overall band scores (mean gain: + 0.1), with the most notable improvement observed in Grammatical Range and Accuracy. However, discrepancies between automated and human scores were identified, and minor score variations occurred when identical texts were resubmitted to Grammarly, raising concerns regarding scoring stability. These findings suggest that while Grammarly is effective in enhancing surface-level linguistic accuracy, its contribution to overall writing quality remains limited. Consequently, Grammarly should be integrated as a supplementary pedagogical tool rather than a standalone assessment method. Future research may further explore learners’ engagement with automated feedback and the pedagogical integration of AI-based writing tools 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  - Ratna Widya Iswara
AU  - Fitria Nugrahani
AU  - Dewi Kurniawati
AU  - Wafana Mumtaza Dzauqiyah
AU  - Ahmad Dandy Dwi Nugroho
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/04/28
TI  - Evaluating the Use of Grammarly to Improve Academic Writing: A Dual Assessment among ICT Students
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of Research on Language 2025 (IROLE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 27
EP  - 35
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-563-8_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-563-8_4
ID  - Iswara2026
ER  -