Exploring Students’ Perceptions towards the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on their Reading Skills: The Case of S6 Students at the English Language Department

Abstract

Reading is about the process of interpreting and understanding written language. It is a complex process that has attracted a lot of attention from educators, psychologists, and linguists for decades. It presents many difficulties and challenges that might be closely linked to the text or the reader. The rapid development in technology led to the appearance of artificial intelligence (AI), which played a significant role in improving and supporting university students’ reading skill. The main purpose of the current research is to explore participants’ perceptions toward using AI in the reading skill. A WhatsApp group consisting of S6 students studying English at the department of English studies in Ibn Tofail University participated in the study. They were given an online qualitative questionnaire to fill out. The findings denote that the participants have positive attitudes toward the AI because it helps them become more proficient readers who can access and understand texts that are getting harder to understand. This study suggests that teachers should integrate AI into their teaching process and encourage students to use it. It also proposes that the AI detector should be used to encourage students to read instead of cheating while conducting research.