Résumé:
nspired by the potential of ChatGPT 3.5, the present study attempts to investigate its impact
as a didactic tool on first year students’ participation in the EFL oral class. The study also aims
to explore the tasks the experimental group employs ChatGPT 3.5 for during the preparation
for the oral task and their perceptions about using such a tool. Therefore, it was hypothesized
that using ChatGPT 3.5 as an assisting tool within the EFL oral class has an impact on
students’ participation. To meet the research objectives, this study adopted a quantitative
approach through a quasi-experimental design, which involved two groups with 13
participants in each group and was carried out over four weeks during the second semester of
the 2023-2024 academic year at the Department of English of Jijel University. The researchers
evaluated the participation of a control group compared to that of an experimental group
during various debates over six sessions. Finally, a post-questionnaire was administered to the
experimental group to gather insights about the tasks they used ChatGPT 3.5 for during the
preparation for the oral task as well as their attitudes towards the use of ChatGPT 3.5 as a
didactic tool within the oral class. The findings indicate that ChatGPT 3.5 has a positive
impact on student participation in EFL oral classes, enhancing both the participation quantity
and its linguistic quality. However, a noted downside is the use of ChatGPT 3.5 appears to
hinder students’ creativity. Students predominantly utilized ChatGPT 3.5 for different tasks,
such as idea generation and pronunciation checking. Overall, they expressed positive attitudes
toward the use of ChatGPT 3.5 due to its effectiveness in simplifying and expediting
preparation processes. Some recommendations were made, such as combining ChatGPT
assistance with personal knowledge and efforts
