Using Ai Tools in IELTS Essay Writing: Applications, Challenges and Limitations

This study was conducted to discover the applications of AI tools such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, Google Translate, Turnitin, and CorpusMate in IELTS essay writing and the challenges of using those tools. The participants were 45 IELTS learners, aged between 13 and 19 at a foreign language center in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The findings indicated that young IELTS learners did not fully recognize the assistance of those AI tools in writing their essays. Moreover, in terms of their challenges and limitations, they stated that they did not know many useful AI tools; and, they found it hard to instruct properly when using an AI tool. This study gives the readers a rather different view of the applications of AI tools in English language teaching and learning field.