Designing a phonetic script activity using ChatGPT

I work on a range of modules, some of which I would not describe as areas of particular expertise and which therefore demand more of my time. One of these is 'Pronunciation'. So, when I was asked to redesign a multiple choice activity which required the students to identify the correct item from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) I immediately wondered if ChatGPT would be able to help. It wasn't just a case of having the right answer. I also needed to supply credible distractors in each question for the activity to be of any value and for the students to find it useful. So I began as follows:

Me: Can you write in phonetic script?

ChatGPT: Yes, I can write in phonetic script using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Would you like me to demonstrate?

With this encouraging response I continued in trying, with the help of ChatGPT, to produce the activity. I soon discovered it wasn't producing what I wanted. Quite apart from a large number of errors, there was a very uneven distribution of answers with 'A' being the correct response 8 out of 10 times, B being the answer twice and C and D never being correct. I could see that ChatGPT had the potential to be useful but with the interactions not being successful in producing a usable activity I needed to rethink. My initial thought was to give increasingly precise instructions in order to get ChatGPT to produce the activity. However, this was unsuccessful with errors continuing which clearly contradicted my instructions. When I pointed out the errors and ChatGPT apologised, it just continued making similar errors. So, after another rethink and some time experimenting I found a solution that worked in just a few interactions. The first thing was to ensure the 10 words were acceptable.

Me: First I need 10 one syllable words all with different vowel sounds. The standard I want is British English and some of the vowel sounds should be diphthongs.

Specifying the type of English pronunciation and requiring diphthongs helped eliminate duplicate vowel sounds. In fact, without specifying that diphthongs were required, none were produced.

ChatGPT: Sure, here are ten one-syllable words with different vowel sounds in British English, including some diphthongs:

  1. cat (a pronounced as /æ/)
  2. kit (i pronounced as /ɪ/)
  3. cot (o pronounced as /ɒ/)
  4. but (u pronounced as /ʌ/)
  5. put (u pronounced as /ʊ/)
  6. boat (oa pronounced as /əʊ/)
  7. bite (i pronounced as /aɪ/)
  8. bout (ou pronounced as /aʊ/)
  9. beer (ee pronounced as /ɪə/)
  10. bird (ir pronounced as /ɜː/)

With this list of words I was quickly able to establish that there were no errors and that all 10 sounds were different. I could then move on the instruct ChatGPT to produce the questions.

Now write 10 multiple choice questions. The correct answer should be A) 3 times, B) twice, C) twice and D) three times. The question format should be as follows: Which IPA symbol represents the vowel sound in "cat"? A) /aɪ/ B) /ɛ/ C) /æ/ D) /ɪ

ChatGPT: Sure, here are ten multiple choice questions based on the words provided:

  1. Which IPA symbol represents the vowel sound in "cat"? A) /aɪ/ B) /ɛ/ C) /æ/ D) /ɪ/ Answer: C) /æ/

  2. Which IPA symbol represents the vowel sound in "kit"? A) /eɪ/ B) /iː/ C) /ɒ/ D) /ɪ/ Answer: D) /ɪ/

  3. Which IPA symbol represents the vowel sound in "cot"? A) /ɔɪ/ B) /ɛ/ C) /ɒ/ D) /ʊ/ Answer: C) /ɒ/

  4. Which IPA symbol represents the vowel sound in "but"? A) /aʊ/ B) /uː/ C) /ʌ/ D) /ɪ/ Answer: C) /ʌ/

  5. Which IPA symbol represents the vowel sound in "put"? A) /ʊ/ B) /uː/ C) /əʊ/ D) /e/ Answer: A) /ʊ/

  6. Which IPA symbol represents the diphthong vowel sound in "boat"? A) /eɪ/ B) /ɑː/ C) /əʊ/ D) /ɪə/ Answer: C) /əʊ/

  7. Which IPA symbol represents the diphthong vowel sound in "bite"? A) /aɪ/ B) /ɪ/ C) /ɔɪ/ D) /eɪ/ Answer: A) /aɪ/

  8. Which IPA symbol represents the diphthong vowel sound in "bout"? A) /aʊ/ B) /əʊ/ C) /ɜː/ D) /e/ Answer: A) /aʊ/

  9. Which IPA symbol represents the diphthong vowel sound in "beer"? A) /eə/ B) /ɔɪ/ C) /ɑː/ D) /ɪə/ Answer: D) /ɪə/

  10. Which IPA symbol represents the vowel sound in "bird"? A) /ɪə/ B) /ɜː/ C) /aɪ/ D) /ɔɪ/ Answer: B) /ɜː/


So, while the experimentation lasted for over an hour, once I had established this process I was able to produce similar exercises with other sounds in less than 5 minutes.

With some of the activities I also integrated them into a Google Form and embedded short YouTube clips of the sounds in the feedback. These can then be used independently by students as practice activities in future iterations of the module.

doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.22339534.v4






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