From Troy to AI: Decoding the Language of Creativity

Abstract

The study aims to examine the effects of artificial intelligence AI-powered creative writing practices on students' written expression and creativity levels. The study was conducted with 10 foreign undergraduate students studying at a state university in Türkiye, and the participants were asked to guess and write a letter containing a secret that they found at the Troy excavation site. During the data collection process, the students produced texts after researching the story of Troy, first without AI support and then with AI support, and then the students' feedback on the process of writing with AI was collected. The data obtained were evaluated using the content analysis method. The study analyses include examining the texts in terms of content, theme, message, grammar, syntactic structure, historical accuracy, symbolic expression, and the students' feedback on the process of writing with AI. The study data were analyzed using MAXQDA 2024 qualitative analysis software. The findings show that AI-powered creative writing applications are effective in increasing students' written expression skills and original thinking levels. Moreover, it was concluded that these technologies not only support grammatical accuracy in the learning process, but also encourage students' active participation, critical thinking, and creative production skills.