Measuring How Students Rely on Generative AI in Academic Writing: Development and Multi-Source Validation of the Generative AI Reliance Types Scale (GenAI-RTS)

arXiv cs.CL · 6 hours ago

Researchers developed and validated the GenAI Reliance Types Scale (GenAI-RTS), a 20-item instrument measuring four types of student reliance on generative AI in academic writing: Strategic, Instrumental, Dependent, and Dialogic. The scale was tested with 382 undergraduates at a U.S. Minority-Serving Institution and 14 interviewed students, achieving confirmatory factor analysis results of CFI = .92 and RMSEA = .08, with subscale reliability ranging from omega = .75 to .88 across five factors. The instrument enables researchers and educators to identify how students depend on AI tools and develop targeted interventions for AI literacy based on reliance profiles.