VietTESOL International Convention 2026

This study investigates EFL students’ practices, perceptions, and support needs regarding the use of AI chatbots for self-regulated writing. A mixed-methods approach was employed with 243 EFL students completing an online survey, followed by semi-structured interviews with 11 participants from a public university in central Vietnam. The findings reveal that most students commonly used AI chatbots in their self-regulated writing, with ChatGPT and Gemini being the most popular tools. Students reported utilizing AI chatbots for various writing purposes during the writing process, especially the pre-writing and post-writing stages. Perceived benefits include boosting learning productivity, fostering language and writing development, personalizing learning experience, increasing learning motivation, and supporting self-regulation strategies. However, reported concerns involve AI-generated response quality, overreliance risks, ethical concerns, and insufficient technical support. Based on these findings, the study recommends that institutions and instructors provide proper guidance to help students integrate AI chatbots effectively into their self-regulated learning process.