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‘I want the text to still be me’

Foregrounding ChatGPT’s impact on L2 voice

ORCiD logo with link | University of Antwerp | North-West University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Antwerp.

Published online: 20 January 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/etc.25001.pre
Abstract
This study foregrounds the potential impact of ChatGPT usage on second language (L2) learners’ voice. L2 learners’ perceptions of ChatGPT’s interference with their self-representation in writing and the relationship of these perceptions with future intentions to use ChatGPT are investigated. Following a mixed-methods approach, questionnaire data from undergraduate students (N = 162) after two English for academic purposes courses, where they used ChatGPT as L2 academic writing support, were collected and analysed. About half of the participants were ambivalent; the remaining half were divided equally in their perceptions of ChatGPT as (not) a threat. The more threatening ChatGPT was perceived to be, the less inclined participants were to use it again. Ambivalence is influenced by usage, genre and GenAI advancements. Over-reliance, homogenisation and devaluation of human voice relate to the perception of? ChatGPT as a threat. A lack of perceived threat derives from ChatGPT’s mechanical voice, human agency, and different standards for acceptable convergence.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The use of GenAI for language learning
  • 3.Voice, EAP and ChatGPT
  • 4.Theoretical framework: Communication accommodation theory
  • 5.Methods
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Context and the intervention
    • 5.3Instrument
    • 5.4Data collection procedure
    • 5.5Data analysis
    • 5.6Ethics
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Proportion of respondents perceiving ChatGPT as threat to voice
    • 6.2Relationship between perceptions and future intentions
    • 6.3Themes: ChatGPT’s potential to threaten voice
      • 6.3.1Ambivalence
      • 6.3.2Threat
      • 6.3.3No threat
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Implications
  • 9.Conclusion
  • Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process
  • References
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