Abstract

Scaffolded generative AI (GenAI) in higher education academic writing has attracted growing scholarly attention, yet empirical evidence remains limited regarding its effects on self-regulated intercultural learning (SRIL). This exploratory mixed-methods quasi-experimental study examined how scaffolded integration of a generative AI tool (QuillBot) influenced SRIL among first-year university EFL students. Ninety-two learners participated in a six-week academic writing intervention comparing a scaffolded-AI instructional condition with a non-AI control condition.

Pre-intervention quantitative data indicated widespread familiarity with GenAI tools but predominantly performance-centered engagement, characterized by intensive use during drafting and revising, high cognitive offloading, and only moderate self-regulation, intercultural engagement, and ethical–integrity AI engagement (EIAE). Qualitative analyses of interviews, reflective worksheets, writing artefacts, and instructor fieldnotes demonstrated that scaffolded AI mediation supported deeper planning, strategic feedback integration, reflective revision, intercultural interpretation, and ethical judgement. Learners in the scaffolded-AI condition produced denser and more nuanced evidence of SRIL than those receiving traditional instruction.

The results indicate that GenAI supports SRIL not through availability alone, but through instructional mediation that transforms AI use from procedural reliance into regulated, reflective, and ethically grounded academic writing practice. The study contributes empirical grounding for SRIL as an integrative pedagogical framework linking self-regulated learning (SRL), intercultural competence (IC), ethical AI engagement, and cognitive offloading, and highlights the central role of scaffolded instructional design in AI-mediated higher education writing contexts.

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