The finding comes from a study by E Hanis Nurwidati, Farida Nugrahani, Agata Margareti, Prih Haryati, Tubandi, and Anom Wija Pratama of Universitas Veteran Bangun Nusantara, Sukoharjo. Conducted in 2025, the study examined Indonesian Language teachers’ perceptions of ChatGPT use in writing instruction during the digital literacy era.
The findings show that teachers generally accept the presence of generative artificial intelligence in education. However, they emphasize that ChatGPT should function as a tool to support students’ thinking rather than as a “replacement writer” that completes the entire writing process for them.
ChatGPT Is Changing How Students Begin Writing
The emergence of ChatGPT has brought significant changes to writing instruction. Students can now use artificial intelligence to generate ideas, develop outlines, receive feedback on drafts, and improve the structure and language of their writing through simple conversations with an AI system.
However, this convenience also creates new challenges for teachers. Writing instruction is not only about producing a final text. It involves finding ideas, organizing information, developing arguments, drafting, evaluating, and revising.
For this reason, directly using ChatGPT to produce an entire essay may reduce students’ involvement in the thinking process. The teachers involved in the study viewed the central issue not simply as whether students use AI, but how the technology is used during learning.
The teachers’ general view was clear: ChatGPT should be a tool that remains under the control of students and teachers, rather than a technology that takes over the entire thinking process.
Three Teachers Showed Different Levels of Understanding
The study involved three Indonesian Language teachers as primary informants. They had different levels of teaching experience and technological knowledge, providing diverse perspectives on the acceptance of ChatGPT in schools.
The teacher with the highest level of AI knowledge viewed ChatGPT as a “virtual writing assistant” that could support brainstorming and idea development. However, students still needed to remain in control of the writing process.
Another teacher used ChatGPT as a comparison tool. Students were asked to compare their own writing with text generated by ChatGPT. Through this activity, students could identify differences in structure, argument quality, word choice, and weaknesses in their own writing.
Meanwhile, a teacher with less experience using AI acknowledged the need to continue learning. Nevertheless, all three teachers shared the same basic view: ChatGPT should not become a shortcut that allows students to avoid the learning process.
The findings indicate that teachers’ understanding of ChatGPT is largely functional and practical. Rather than focusing on the technical details of artificial intelligence algorithms, teachers are more concerned with the benefits and risks of AI in classroom learning.
Saving Time During Pre-Writing Is the Main Benefit
One of the most important benefits of ChatGPT identified by teachers is its ability to accelerate the pre-writing stage.
Before using AI assistance, students may spend considerable time choosing a topic, finding ideas, or developing a writing outline. With appropriate guidance, ChatGPT can help generate alternative ideas and provide an initial structure for writing.
In the study, time efficiency during the pre-writing stage received the highest perception score of 4.4. Teachers believed that the technology could reduce the time students typically spend searching for ideas and organizing their initial thoughts.
As a result, more classroom time can be devoted to developing arguments, deepening the content of writing, and revising drafts.
Another major benefit is the availability of immediate feedback. Teachers can ask students to use ChatGPT to obtain initial comments on a paragraph or draft. Students are then expected to evaluate the suggestions rather than automatically accepting everything generated by AI.
This approach positions ChatGPT as a support tool for revision rather than the final authority on the quality of student writing.
Student Dependency Is the Biggest Concern
Despite its benefits, teachers also identified several risks. Student dependency was the most dominant concern, accounting for 32 percent of the reported challenges.
Teachers worried that students could lose the ability to begin writing independently. If every writing task starts with asking AI to generate text, students may lose valuable opportunities to practice developing ideas and overcoming the difficulties involved in writing.
The second major concern was teachers’ own limited digital literacy, accounting for 24 percent. Some teachers still face difficulties in determining appropriate boundaries for AI use and assessing whether students’ writing genuinely reflects their own abilities.
Internet infrastructure was another challenge, accounting for 18 percent. Inconsistent connectivity can affect the reliability and continuity of AI-supported learning.
Academic integrity was also identified as an important issue. Because ChatGPT can produce text quickly, students may be tempted to submit writing that does not fully reflect their own thinking and effort.
Four Strategies to Ensure AI Does Not Replace Students
To address these risks, teachers developed four main strategies for using ChatGPT in writing instruction.
First, guided prompting. Teachers prepare specific prompts that are aligned with learning objectives. Instead of simply asking AI to write an entire text, students use carefully designed instructions to obtain targeted assistance.
Second, comparative writing. Students compare their own writing with text generated by ChatGPT. This activity helps them identify the strengths and weaknesses of different versions of a text.
Third, error analysis. Students are asked to identify errors in AI-generated text. This strategy is important because ChatGPT does not always produce accurate information, logical arguments, or perfect language structures.
Fourth, reflective journaling. Students document how they use ChatGPT during the writing process. They can explain why they used AI, what assistance they received, and what decisions they made while drafting and revising their work.
These four strategies show that the use of AI in education does not necessarily require a total ban on the technology. Instead, teachers can guide students to use AI critically, transparently, and responsibly.
Teachers Recommend AI for Ideas and Revision
The study also found a difference between how teachers recommend ChatGPT should be used and how students tend to use it in practice.
Teachers recommended the highest level of ChatGPT use during the pre-writing or brainstorming stage, with a score of 4.5, and during revision and editing, with a score of 4.3. By contrast, the recommended use of ChatGPT during the finalization stage was lower, at 2.8.
Students, however, tended to use ChatGPT more intensively during the drafting stage, with a score of 3.9. This difference suggests that some students still use AI to produce text directly, while teachers prefer AI to function as a thinking partner.
According to the researchers from Universitas Veteran Bangun Nusantara, this gap highlights the importance of teachers in designing AI-supported learning activities. The same technology can produce different educational outcomes depending on how classroom tasks and rules are designed.
Implications for Education in the AI Era
The findings have important implications for schools and education policymakers. Integrating AI into writing instruction requires more than simply providing access to technology.
Teachers need training that goes beyond learning how to operate ChatGPT. They also need to learn how to design AI-supported learning activities, develop effective prompts, evaluate AI-generated content, teach information verification, and protect academic integrity.
Schools also need clear guidelines on when and how AI may be used in writing assignments. Students must understand that using ChatGPT comes with academic responsibility and should not eliminate independent thinking.
For Indonesian Language instruction, ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for expanding students’ opportunities to develop ideas and receive feedback. However, its benefits can only be achieved when students remain the primary actors in the writing process.
The central message of the study is clear: ChatGPT should help students think better, not think instead of them.
Author Profile
The study was written by E Hanis Nurwidati, Farida Nugrahani, Agata Margareti, Prih Haryati, Tubandi, and Anom Wija Pratama from Universitas Veteran Bangun Nusantara, Sukoharjo. Their academic interests include education, Indonesian Language instruction, digital literacy, educational technology, and the integration of artificial intelligence into learning.
Research Source
The article is based on the study titled “Indonesian Language Teachers' Perceptions of ChatGPT Use in Writing Instruction in the Digital Literacy Era”, also published in Indonesian as “Persepsi Guru Bahasa Indonesia terhadap Penggunaan ChatGPT dalam Pembelajaran Menulis di Era Literasi Digital.”
The article was published in 2026 in the Asian Journal of Applied Education (AJAE).
DOI: 10.55927/ajae.v5i3.16815
Official journal website: https://journal.formosapublisher.org/index.php/ajae
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