Exploring Students’ Perception Of Grammarly Usage In English Thesis Writing: A Qualitative Research At State Islamic University Sultan Aji Muhammad Idris Samarinda In Academic Year 2024/2025

Writing is an essential skill in language learning, especially in academic settings, where students are expected to produce well-structured and grammatically accurate texts. However, many students struggle with writing their undergraduate thesis due to difficulties in grammar, word choice, and idea organization. Previous studies by O'Neill & Russell, Kaur & Singh, and Shao et al. have highlighted these challenges. To address these issues, many students use AI-powered grammar-checking tools like Grammarly, which provides real-time feedback on writing errors. This research aims to explore the perceptions of English students at the State Islamic University of Sultan Aji Muhammad Idris Samarinda regarding using Grammarly in thesis writing and to find out the role of Grammarly on the grammatical accuracy and sentence structure of student thesis writing. This research employs a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with five students from the English Education Department. Thematic analysis is applied to identify key themes from the collected data. The findings indicate that students generally perceive Grammarly as a beneficial tool in their thesis writing process. It helps enhance grammatical accuracy, clarity, and overall academic writing quality. The grammar-checking feature is the most frequently used, allowing students to identify and correct errors efficiently. However, students also recognize Grammarly's limitations, such as its lack of contextual understanding, dependency on AI-generated suggestions, and restricted features in the free version. Despite these drawbacks, most students reported increased confidence in their writing due to Grammarly's feedback. This research concludes that Grammarly is crucial in helping students' academic writing. However, its use should be complemented by manual revision and guidance from academic supervisors to ensure contextual appropriateness.