Abstract
While existing research has largely focused on students' perceptions of GenAI tools, there remains limited empirical evidence of how EFL university students engage with these tools during real-time writing processes, particularly within Asian higher education contexts. Addressing this gap, the present study investigates how Vietnamese EFL university students use GenAI tools when completing academic essay tasks and examines the functions these tools serve across different stages of writing. Drawing on 39 screen-recorded writing sessions from students enrolled in academic English courses, the study adopts a qualitative, process-oriented approach to analyse GenAI use during composition. The analysis showed that students used GenAI across three interrelated domains of writing: content construction, where GenAI supported idea generation, summarisation, and content development; language mediation, where it assisted with vocabulary, translation, paraphrasing, and proofreading; and process regulation, where it provided feedback, explanations, and guidance during drafting and revision. The findings further revealed several pedagogical and ethical issues, including uneven evaluative engagement with GenAI output, blurred authorship boundaries, and ethical ambiguity when GenAI was used to generate or shape writing content and structure. While some students engaged with GenAI reflectively, others incorporated generated, translated, or paraphrased content with limited visible transformation, raising questions about authorial control, acceptable assistance, and students' engagement with core writing processes.
Keywords: Generative AI, EFL learners, academic integrity, Vietnam, writing