Should you be using ChatGPT for IELTS?
Unless you have been living under a rock (or not spending every moment on social media) for the last few weeks, you have probably heard about ChatGPT – the new artificial intelligence search engine that can write advertising campaigns, poems, or hundreds of pages of code in milliseconds. Oh, and did I mention that it will deliver these to you as if they had been written by a human? Seriously, the future is now! However, while the launch of ChatGPT is causing people to fear for their jobs (and teachers to fear that homework assignments may now be useless!), what Nick and I want to find out today whether students can use ChatGPT for IELTS.
And, in particular, if an IELTS essay produced by ChatGPT would score highly from the IELTS band descriptors.
Below, you can find a summary of the episode, which includes links to useful materials (including ChatGPT!) 🚀
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What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a sophisticated chatbot that uses natural language processing (NLP) to give you answers to questions in a way that feels “human”. You may be thinking that this sounds very similar to Google, but the difference is that ChatGPT is creates answers that are unique. So, while Google can tell you how many books Shakespeare wrote, or point you towards internet pages that critique his work, ChatGPT could write a rock song in the style of Shakespeare.
You can also ask it to analyse texts, write whole advertising campaigns, and to generate code in many key programming languages (Python, C, Javascript, etc). In fact, the range of tasks that it complete in a way that feels more or less indistinguishable from a human has made it so popular that, today, I had to put my name on a waiting list to spend time interacting with it!
How can you use ChatGPT for IELTS?
Good question! The obvious answer would be to ask ChatGPT to write sample IELTS essays for you. And that is exactly what we did. The site works by responding to instructions that start with “Act like”, so we entered the following instruction:
Act like an IELTS test-taker. Write an essay of no more than 300 words on the following topic: More and more people are watching TV alone. Do the advantages of watching TV alone outweigh the disadvantages?
Now, if you are an expert user, you would know that you could make this instruction much better by telling ChatGPT the “level” that you would like the essay to be (i.e. C2), or specific words that you would like included in the essay, but we stuck to the most simple instruction and were delivered the essay below in seconds.
However, how good is the essay? Would it achieve a 9.0 if it was written by a student in the exam?
Well, let’s look and find out. I would like you to look at the easy now and think about how well it does in terms of the IELTS Band Descriptors. If you are unsure what the four band descriptors are or how they can be satisfied, I strongly recommend that you pause this lesson and download my free e-book “An ex-examiner’s Guide to the Band Descriptors“. It explains how each of the four marking criteria is applied and includes the most common errors made by test-takers.
An essay written by ChatGPT for IELTS
In recent years, it has become increasingly common for people to watch television alone rather than with others. While there are certainly some advantages to this trend, it is important to also consider the potential disadvantages.
One of the main advantages of watching television alone is that it allows for complete control over what is being watched. When watching with others, there may be disagreement over what to watch or when to switch channels. Watching alone eliminates this issue, allowing the individual to choose exactly what they want to watch without interference.
Another advantage is that watching television alone allows for a more personalized viewing experience. The individual can watch at their own pace, pause and rewind as needed, and take breaks without feeling the need to explain themselves to others. This can be especially beneficial for those who have busy schedules or prefer to watch television at unconventional times.
However, there are also some potential disadvantages to watching television alone. One concern is that it may contribute to feelings of loneliness or isolation, especially for those who live alone or have limited social interaction. It is important for individuals to maintain a balance between solitary activities and social activities in order to maintain mental and emotional well-being.
Additionally, watching television alone may limit the opportunity for shared experiences and discussions about the content being watched. These conversations can be a source of enjoyment and connection with others, and may be missed when watching alone.
In conclusion, while there are certainly some advantages to watching television alone, it is important to consider the potential disadvantages as well. It is important for individuals to find a balance between solitary activities and social interactions in order to maintain a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle.
Applying the Band Descriptors to the ChatGPT IELTS Essay
Well, what do you think? At first glance there are definitely some positive things here but, as we all know, the IELTS band descriptors are strict and even well-educated native speakers can fail to maximise their score if they do not hit key criteria. Let’s go through each of the four bands now to see what score this essay would achieve if it was written in the exam.
Task Response: 5.0
This is the area where the essay most clearly fails to satisfy the band descriptors. A key component of Task Response is having a clear and consistent opinion throughout an essay. However, there is absolutely no opinion given in this essay as ChatGPT never once says if the advantages of watching TV alone outweigh the disadvantages. This alone means that the Task Response score is limited to a maximum of 5.0.
However, there are other errors too. First, there are memorised sentences in the introduction and conclusion (eg. While there are certainly some advantages to this trend, it is important to also consider the potential disadvantages.)
Plus, a lot of the argumentation here is “circular”, by which I mean that the same thing is said again and again in different words. Take this paragraph, for example. While the initial idea is good, the way it is developed is poor as the first and third sentences are almost direct paraphrases of one another:
One of the main advantages of watching television alone is that it allows for complete control over what is being watched. When watching with others, there may be disagreement over what to watch or when to switch channels. Watching alone eliminates this issue, allowing the individual to choose exactly what they want to watch without interference.
Finally, there is also a lack of examples throughout the essay, and statements made that are very over-general and have no support (i.e. It is important for individuals to maintain a balance between solitary activities and social activities in order to maintain mental and emotional well-being.)
Verdict
All in all, this is a poor essay in terms of Task Response. No opinion is given at all and the way that ideas are extended and justified is poor. However, there are some good ideas hidden in here. I particularly liked the disadvantage that said watching television alone may limit the opportunity for shared experiences and discussions about the content being watched. Therefore, if a student is able to take the ideas from essays written by ChatGPT and develop them in a better way, it could be a good tool for brainstorming.
Coherence and Cohesion: 6.0
ChatGPT does better in terms of Coherence and Cohesion. Yes, there are far too many paragraphs – there is no need at all to separate the advantages and disadvantages into two paragraphs each, which is the reason for the 6.0 here. And, the circular argumentation means that some paragraphs lack progression. However, other elements of CC are well-controlled. There is accurate use of referencing, in particular the demonstratives “this” and “these”, and transition signals are used to good effect (i.e. not every sentence starts with one).
Verdict
The paragraphing is poor, but this would be a good essay for students to study to learn how to use referencing and carrier nouns effectively.
Lexical Resource: 8.0
Now we move into the territory where ChatGPT could be used as an asset by IELTS test-takers. The lexis in this essay is strong, with a lot of nice topic-specific vocabulary and chunks of language used naturally. Here is a selection of just some of the phrases that I think are used effectively here:
- have complete control over what is being watched
- for a more personalized viewing experience
- feelings of loneliness or isolation
- have limited social interaction
- the opportunity for shared experiences and discussions about the content being watched
- The individual can watch at their own pace, pause and rewind as needed
Verdict
As an IELTS instructor, one of my constant battles is explaining to students that having a high-level of lexical resource does not mean using strange academic words from a thesaurus. It means using words accurately in context. ChatGPT does this well. The language in this essay is clear and concise, and there is definitely a nice amount of topic-specific lexis like pause, rewind, switch channels. Why is it not a 9.0? Well, there is quite a lot repetition here (i.e. the use of “allows for”, “it is important”) and the amount of topic-specific lexis would be higher if the arguments built rather than repeated.
However, this would be a great resource for IELTS test-takers to gather vocabulary for specific essays. Especially if you consider that ChatGPT can be used to create personalised vocabulary lists. All you need to do is enter a list of words and the tool will generate sentences using those words, giving you contextual examples to help you understand the meanings.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: 7.0 / 8.0
In terms of accuracy, ChatGPT does a great job as there are no grammar errors here at all. In term of range, this would be a very achievable essay for students whoa re B2/C1 to write as there are lots of nice complex sentences that use subordinators (while, when, in order to), gerunds and infinitive patterns, relative clauses, and the passive.
However, although there is also a nice participle clause in the second paragraph (allowing the individual to choose exactly what they want to watch without interference.), I am not sure that the range of sentence structures here is wide enough for a clear 8.0, and there is quite a lot of repetition of phrases (allows for / especially / it is important to / One X is that).
Verdict
In terms of helping test-takers, I again think that many students could gain a lot from seeing grammar used accurately and clearly in essays generated by ChatGPS, and they could have confidence in the knowledge that the essay is error-free. However, I think that the role that ChatGPT plays would be purely to show “grammar in action” as I don’t believe that any student will actually be able to learn grammar structures just by reading examples of them.
