Abstract
Many studies have explored the affordances of ChatGPT for English language learning. However, these have overlooked its use in academic literacy courses in higher education institutions. Therefore, in this paper, I aim to explore the affordances and limitations of ChatGPT when used to explain features of academic writing, compose academic expository essays, and give feedback on draft essays in South Africa. The data was derived from conducting the usability testing activity, during which I interacted with the ChatGPT tool to respond to questions guiding this paper. The findings were interpreted from the perspective of critical pedagogy. The findings reveal that ChatGPT can do more than what it is unable to do; it can generate content that meets the requirements of an academic literacy course and produce a well-written expository essay that adheres to many of the conventions of academic writing. Findings further reveal that ChatGPT can provide valuable personalised feedback on draft sections of academic essays. These findings suggest that, depending on how it is used, ChatGPT can act as a knowledge depositor, reinforcing the banking model of education or can support a more dialogic, empowering form of learning. I argue that the Eurocentric education currently in practice is likely to foster students' overreliance on ChatGPT, thereby reinforcing the banking model of education rather than the dialogic problem-posing approach.