Résumé: The study investigates the impact of vocabulary shortage on EFL learners’ writing skills. Its main objective is to find out to what extent the lack of vocabulary affects the students’ writing abilities. Therefore, we collected data via a questionnaire which was administered to 42 first year students in the department of English at Badji Mokhtar University of Annaba aiming at exploring their vocabulary and writing problems and finding solutions for them. The results showed that the participants do really suffer from vocabulary competence handicaps ranging from recognizing the word’s part of speech, and word usage, to word memorization. This hinders their writing achievements and complicates their writing productions. First year students are struggling to expand their vocabulary store in order to come up with good writing pieces. Based on these findings, the study recommends a warm and friendly atmosphere in the classroom with a diverse tasks and interesting topics, raising the learners’ awareness about vocabulary learning strategies, and activating their background knowledge about the topics under discussion through the prewriting activities for better teaching vocabulary, and thus ameliorating the students’ writing productions.

Résumé: In Algerian higher education, where assessment is already challenged by structural and pedagogical constraints, the integration of Artificial Intelligence offers both opportunities and risks that shape the realities of current and future academic evaluation. AI has brought vast opportunities for teachers, learners, and researchers by enhancing teaching and research experiences. However, the integration of AI into academia has raised serious concerns regarding academic integrity and the authenticity of students’ work. The challenge lies in maintaining fair evaluation and defining what constitutes “original work” in the age of AI. Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, AI-generated content has transformed how students complete assignments, making traditional assessment methods less reliable. Teachers now face the need to rethink how they evaluate students’ performance. This study explores the potential use of AI to improve assessment practices in higher education, highlighting both challenges and opportunities and digital divide. It reviewed published research on English language assessment in Algeria, particularly those related to technology integration in language assessment. The analysis of the existing literature revealed that the growing dependence on AI in Algerian universities presents real challenges. Some teachers believe that restricting AI use and returning to traditional methods is the safest solution. However, instead of resisting change, adopting innovative, ethical, and AI-aware assessment practices may better prepare both teachers and students for the realities of modern higher education. Consequently, this study proposes several directions for further research.