  English as foreign language_EFL_students' use of text generated from
artificial intelligence_AI_natural language generation_NLG_tools may improve
their writing quality. However, it remains unclear to what extent AI-generated
text in these students' writing might lead to higher-quality writing. We
explored 23 Hong Kong secondary school students' attempts to write stories
comprising their own words and AI-generated text. Human experts scored the
stories for dimensions of content, language and organization. We analyzed the
basic organization and structure and syntactic complexity of the stories'
AI-generated text and performed multiple linear regression and cluster
analyses. The results show the number of human words and the number of
AI-generated words contribute significantly to scores. Besides, students can be
grouped into competent and less competent writers who use more AI-generated
text or less AI-generated text compared to their peers. Comparisons of clusters
reveal some benefit of AI-generated text in improving the quality of both
high-scoring students' and low-scoring students' writing. The findings can
inform pedagogical strategies to use AI-generated text for EFL students'
writing and to address digital divides. This study contributes designs of NLG
tools and writing activities to implement AI-generated text in schools.
