Until you’ve been dwelling underneath a rock (or not spending each second on social media) for the previous couple of weeks, you’ve most likely heard about ChatGPT – the brand new synthetic intelligence search engine that may write promoting campaigns, poems, or a whole bunch of pages of code in milliseconds. Oh, and did I point out that it’ll ship these to you as if they’d been written by a human? Critically, the longer term is now! Nevertheless, whereas the launch of ChatGPT is inflicting folks to concern for his or her jobs (and lecturers to concern that homework assignments could now be ineffective!), what Nick and I need to discover out at the moment whether or not college students can use ChatGPT for IELTS.
And, particularly, if an IELTS essay produced by ChatGPT would rating extremely from the IELTS band descriptors.
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What’s ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a classy chatbot that makes use of pure language processing (NLP) to present you solutions to questions in a method that feels “human”. You might be pondering that this sounds similar to Google, however the distinction is that ChatGPT is creates solutions which are distinctive. So, whereas Google can inform you what number of books Shakespeare wrote, or level you in direction of web pages that critique his work, ChatGPT might write a rock music within the type of Shakespeare.
You too can ask it to analyse texts, write entire promoting campaigns, and to generate code in lots of key programming languages (Python, C, Javascript, and so forth). In truth, the vary of duties that it full in a method that feels roughly indistinguishable from a human has made it so standard that, at the moment, I needed to put my title on a ready checklist to spend time interacting with it!
How will you use ChatGPT for IELTS?
Good query! The apparent reply can be to ask ChatGPT to put in writing pattern IELTS essays for you. And that’s precisely what we did. The positioning works by responding to directions that begin with “Act like”, so we entered the next instruction:
Act like an IELTS test-taker. Write an essay of not more than 300 phrases on the next subject: An increasing number of individuals are watching TV alone. Do some great benefits of watching TV alone outweigh the disadvantages?
Now, in case you are an professional person, you’d know that you can make this instruction a lot better by telling ChatGPT the “stage” that you want to the essay to be (i.e. C2), or particular phrases that you want to included within the essay, however we caught to the most straightforward instruction and had been delivered the essay under in seconds.
Nevertheless, how good is the essay? Would it not obtain a 9.0 if it was written by a scholar within the examination?
Effectively, let’s look and discover out. I would really like you to have a look at the simple now and take into consideration how properly it does when it comes to the IELTS Band Descriptors. In case you are uncertain what the 4 band descriptors are or how they are often glad, I strongly advocate that you just pause this lesson and obtain my free e-book “An ex-examiner’s Information to the Band Descriptors“. It explains how every of the 4 marking standards is utilized and contains the most typical errors made by test-takers.
An essay written by ChatGPT for IELTS
In recent times, it has develop into more and more frequent for folks to observe tv alone reasonably than with others. Whereas there are definitely some benefits to this development, it is very important additionally take into account the potential disadvantages.
One of many principal benefits of watching tv alone is that it permits for full management over what’s being watched. When watching with others, there could also be disagreement over what to observe or when to modify channels. Watching alone eliminates this concern, permitting the person to decide on precisely what they need to watch with out interference.
One other benefit is that watching tv alone permits for a extra personalised viewing expertise. The person can watch at their very own tempo, pause and rewind as wanted, and take breaks with out feeling the necessity to clarify themselves to others. This may be particularly useful for many who have busy schedules or favor to observe tv at unconventional occasions.
Nevertheless, there are additionally some potential disadvantages to watching tv alone. One concern is that it could contribute to emotions of loneliness or isolation, particularly for many who reside alone or have restricted social interplay. It is necessary for people to take care of a steadiness between solitary actions and social actions with a view to preserve psychological and emotional well-being.
Moreover, watching tv alone could restrict the chance for shared experiences and discussions concerning the content material being watched. These conversations is usually a supply of enjoyment and reference to others, and could also be missed when watching alone.
In conclusion, whereas there are definitely some benefits to watching tv alone, it is very important take into account the potential disadvantages as properly. It is necessary for people to discover a steadiness between solitary actions and social interactions with a view to preserve a wholesome and fulfilling life-style.
Making use of the Band Descriptors to the ChatGPT IELTS Essay
Effectively, what do you suppose? At first look there are positively some optimistic issues right here however, as everyone knows, the IELTS band descriptors are strict and even well-educated native audio system can fail to maximise their rating if they don’t hit key standards. Let’s undergo every of the 4 bands now to see what rating this essay would obtain if it was written within the examination.
Activity Response: 5.0
That is the world the place the essay most clearly fails to fulfill the band descriptors. A key element of Activity Response is having a transparent and constant opinion all through an essay. Nevertheless, there may be completely no opinion given on this essay as ChatGPT by no means as soon as says if some great benefits of watching TV alone outweigh the disadvantages. This alone implies that the Activity Response rating is restricted to a most of 5.0.
Nevertheless, there are different errors too. First, there are memorised sentences within the introduction and conclusion (eg. Whereas there are definitely some benefits to this development, it is very important additionally take into account the potential disadvantages.)
Plus, lots of the argumentation right here is “round”, by which I imply that the identical factor is alleged many times in several phrases. Take this paragraph, for instance. Whereas the preliminary concept is sweet, the best way it’s developed is poor as the primary and third sentences are virtually direct paraphrases of each other:
One of many principal benefits of watching tv alone is that it permits for full management over what’s being watched. When watching with others, there could also be disagreement over what to observe or when to modify channels. Watching alone eliminates this concern, permitting the person to decide on precisely what they need to watch with out interference.
Lastly, there may be additionally a scarcity of examples all through the essay, and statements made which are very over-general and haven’t any help (i.e. It is necessary for people to take care of a steadiness between solitary actions and social actions with a view to preserve psychological and emotional well-being.)
Verdict
All in all, it is a poor essay when it comes to Activity Response. No opinion is given in any respect and the best way that concepts are prolonged and justified is poor. Nevertheless, there are some good concepts hidden in right here. I significantly favored the drawback that mentioned watching tv alone could restrict the chance for shared experiences and discussions concerning the content material being watched. Due to this fact, if a scholar is ready to take the concepts from essays written by ChatGPT and develop them in a greater method, it may very well be a superb software for brainstorming.
Coherence and Cohesion: 6.0
ChatGPT does higher when it comes to Coherence and Cohesion. Sure, there are far too many paragraphs – there isn’t any want in any respect to separate the benefits and downsides into two paragraphs every, which is the rationale for the 6.0 right here. And, the round argumentation implies that some paragraphs lack development. Nevertheless, different components of CC are well-controlled. There’s correct use of referencing, particularly the demonstratives “this” and “these”, and transition indicators are used to good impact (i.e. not each sentence begins with one).
Verdict
The paragraphing is poor, however this may be a superb essay for college students to check to learn to use referencing and service nouns successfully.
Lexical Useful resource: 8.0
Now we transfer into the territory the place ChatGPT may very well be used as an asset by IELTS test-takers. The lexis on this essay is robust, with lots of good topic-specific vocabulary and chunks of language used naturally. Here’s a number of simply a few of the phrases that I believe are used successfully right here:
- have full management over what’s being watched
- for a extra personalised viewing expertise
- emotions of loneliness or isolation
- have restricted social interplay
- the chance for shared experiences and discussions concerning the content material being watched
- The person can watch at their very own tempo, pause and rewind as wanted
Verdict
As an IELTS teacher, one among my fixed battles is explaining to college students that having a high-level of lexical useful resource doesn’t imply utilizing unusual tutorial phrases from a thesaurus. It means utilizing phrases precisely in context. ChatGPT does this properly. The language on this essay is evident and concise, and there may be positively a pleasant quantity of topic-specific lexis like pause, rewind, swap channels. Why is it not a 9.0? Effectively, there may be quite a bit repetition right here (i.e. the usage of “permits for”, “it will be important”) and the quantity of topic-specific lexis can be larger if the arguments constructed reasonably than repeated.
Nevertheless, this may be an amazing useful resource for IELTS test-takers to collect vocabulary for particular essays. Particularly if you happen to take into account that ChatGPT can be utilized to create personalised vocabulary lists. All you want to do is enter an inventory of phrases and the software will generate sentences utilizing these phrases, supplying you with contextual examples that can assist you perceive the meanings.
Grammatical Vary and Accuracy: 7.0 / 8.0
When it comes to accuracy, ChatGPT does an amazing job as there aren’t any grammar errors right here in any respect. In time period of vary, this may be a really achievable essay for college students whoa re B2/C1 to put in writing as there are many good complicated sentences that use subordinators (whereas, when, with a view to), gerunds and infinitive patterns, relative clauses, and the passive.
Nevertheless, though there may be additionally a pleasant participle clause within the second paragraph (permitting the person to decide on precisely what they need to watch with out interference.), I’m not certain that the vary of sentence buildings right here is extensive sufficient for a transparent 8.0, and there may be various repetition of phrases (permits for / particularly / it is very important / One X is that).
Verdict
When it comes to serving to test-takers, I once more suppose that many college students might achieve so much from seeing grammar used precisely and clearly in essays generated by ChatGPS, they usually might believe within the data that the essay is error-free. Nevertheless, I believe that the function that ChatGPT performs can be purely to indicate “grammar in motion” as I don’t imagine that any scholar will truly be capable to study grammar buildings simply by studying examples of them.