Phần 2: Cách trả lời bài thi Viết

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1) Clip 1: Writing Task Response

2) Clip 2: Vocabulary Exercise

3) Printable Documents

a) Notes for Study

IELTS Tips

It is good practice to spend approximately 3-4 minutes analysing and brainstorming the topic before you start writing your essay.

Remember to state your position on the topic in the introduction or conclusion.

Practise writing 150 and 250 words within the times allotted, so you become familiar with the time constraints for Task1 and Task 2.

WRITING TASK RESPONSE

It is important when answering an IELTS Writing Task 2 to address all parts of the question and write at least 250 words.

Your ideas must be relevant to the topic and appropriately developed and supported in the body of your essay. You will need to state your own position or view on the topic. The introduction and conclusion need to be clear and relevant to the topic. These are the features that will be assessed under the criterion Task Response.

Analysing the Task

Analysing the writing task will help you understand what the requirements are so that you focus on all parts of the task.

IELTS Writing Task 2 questions are presented in the following format.

IELTS WRITING TASK 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic.

Question Topic:

The ageing populations of more developed countries are going to cause social and economic problems for society in the future, especially for the younger generation.

Question Task:

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

This is one of the questions analysed in the Study English, Series 3, Episode Two. Follow the strategies below when analysing Writing Task 2 IELTS questions.

Strategies for Analysing Writing Task 2
i	Read the question topic and question task carefully.
ii	Identify the key words in the question topic. Think of synonyms and other word forms of these key words. This begins the process of paraphrasing and helps you get started with the writing, especially the introductory paragraph.
iii	Identify viewpoints expressed in the question topic. These can be paraphrased as follows: The younger generation will experience social and economic difficulties because people are living longer.
iv	Identify the stakeholders, i.e. the people, group or organisation who or which are directly relevant to, or affected by the issue or topic you will be writing about.
v	Identify the question task key words, i.e. what you will need to write about and how many parts.

Introduction

The purpose of the introductory paragraph is to provide some background information on the topic and state the purpose of the essay, i.e. what you will be writing about.

Here is a sample introduction answering the above task.

In the modern world today, people are expected to live longer because of better health care resources, the availability of better quality foods and the higher standards of living. While the changing age structure of society might be problematic, it should not always be viewed as something threatening.

The first sentence provides background information, leading into the subject of the essay and referring back to the main stakeholder – the ageing populations – which is paraphrased as ‘people are expected to live longer’.

The second sentence provides the purpose of the essay and refers back to the two parts in the question task: agree and disagree.

Agree: While the changing age structure of society might be problematic …

Disagree: …it should not always be viewed as something threatening.

Guidelines for Writing the Introduction

• The background information must be relevant to the topic.

• The statement of purpose should relate to the question task.

• Main ideas should not be previewed in the introduction.

• It is sufficient to write 2-3 sentences for an introduction.

Presenting two sides of an issue

The question task requires you to present two sides of an issue: agree and disagree.

You will need to consider ideas on both sides and present a balanced argument.

Issue

The younger generation will experience social and economic difficulties because people are living longer.

Agree

Disagree

Brainstorming

You should spend about 2-3 minutes brainstorming the main points. They will form the body of your essay. There are two sides to this issue, so your essay will consist of two body paragraphs:

BP1	Body Paragraph 1: reasons why you agree and include supporting examples
BP2	Body Paragraph 2: reasons why you disagree and include supporting examples

Here are two body paragraphs answering the task.

BP1

There is no denying that constraints of time, money and space are placed on modern industrial societies with growing aged populations and declining birth rates.

The most obvious would be the costs associated with caring for the elderly, funding their retirement pensions and providing residential care accommodation.

Governments cannot be expected to carry this burden alone. They would need to impose additional taxes on the younger population and shift some of the caring responsibilities onto the extended families.

BP2

However, the valuable contributions that active and healthy aged individuals can make should not be overlooked. Firstly, these retired individuals could take on the role of carers for their grandchildren, allowing both parents to work longer hours and save on day care expenses. The extra earnings and savings could be used to improve the family’s living standards. Secondly, the retirees could volunteer their services as drivers for the very old and sick. For example, they could deliver meals directly to those who are very elderly and infirm or assist with transportation to and from specialist appointments or hospital.

Body Paragraph 1 presents arguments agreeing with the topic. This is clearly indicated in the topic sentence of the paragraph.

There is no denying that constraints of time, money and space are placed on modern industrial societies with growing aged populations and declining birth rates.

Body Paragraph 2 presents arguments disagreeing with the topic. This is clearly stated in the topic sentence of the paragraph.

However, the valuable contributions that active and healthy aged individuals can make should not be overlooked.

Conclusion

The purpose of the concluding paragraph is to provide a summary of the main points made in the body of the essay and to state what your position or view on the topic is.

The conclusion should give the reader a clear understanding of what the essay was about.

You can also state your position as part of your introduction, but be careful that your view doesn’t change later in your essay and contradict what you have said.

Here is a sample conclusion answering the question.

In conclusion, there are both positive and negative issues associated with ageing populations. It is best to take a balanced approach. People need to work together and recognise that all members of society contribute in many diverse ways to the well-being of the whole community.

Position

You need to take a position and state it clearly. This writer’s position is to take a balanced approach, i.e. recognising the contributions that both ageing populations and the younger generations make. The last sentence states this in the form of a recommendation.

People need to work together and recognise that all members of society contribute in many diverse ways to the well-being of the whole community.

Remember: The concluding paragraph should never introduce new information.

Use the sample Writing Answer Sheets at:

http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teach/ielts/academic_writing/data/Pages%20from%20ielts_specimats_80_83_test.pdf to practise your writing.

b) Learning Activities

Practise and consolidate your learning about how to respond to the Writing Task by completing our activities. The answers for all activities are on the last page.

ACTIVITY 1

In the two body paragraphs below identify the stakeholders used to write about the topic of ageing populations. The first one has been highlighted for you.

BP1

There is no denying that constraints of time, money and space are placed on modern industrial societies with growing aged populations and declining birth rates. The most obvious would be the costs associated with caring for the elderly, funding their retirement pensions and providing residential care accommodation. Governments cannot be expected to carry this burden alone. They would need to impose additional taxes on the younger population and shift some of the caring responsibilities onto the extended families.

BP2

ACTIVITY 2

In the two body paragraphs below there are 4 words or phrases which are synonymous with the main stakeholder ageing populations. Write them in the spaces below.

1. ________________________

2. ________________________

3. ________________________

4. ________________________

BP1

BP2

ACTIVITY 3

Complete the table by identifying the key points (KP) for each side of the issue on ageing populations, the supporting (SI) and developing ideas (DI) in the two body paragraphs given below. The first point and supporting idea are listed.

Issue: The younger generation will experience social and economic difficulties because people are living longer.
Agree	Disagree
KP constraints of time, money and space	KP
SI costs associated with caring	SI₁
DI_1.1	DI_1.1
DI_1.2	SI₂
	DI_2.1

BP1

BP2

ACTIVITY 1 ANSWERS

BP1

BP2

ACTIVITY 2 ANSWERS

1. aged populations

2. the elderly

3. retired individuals

4. the retirees

BP1

BP2

ACTIVITY 3 ANSWERS

Issue: The younger generation will experience social and economic difficulties because people are living longer.
Agree	Disagree
KP constraints of time, money and space	KP valuable contributions of active and healthy aged individuals
SI costs associated with caring	SI₁ role of carers
DI_1.1 governments can’t carry burden	DI_1.1 extra earnings and savings
DI_1.2 impose taxes and shift caring responsibilities	SI₂ volunteer services
	DI_2.1 deliver meals or assist with transportation

c) Transcript

Hello, and welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation. I’m Margot Politis.

Today we’ll look at the Writing Task in the essay section of both the general and academic IELTS tests.

IELTS essay topics are of general interest and relate to current issues in society.

You can expect to be asked about:

The Media… Education… Environment… Health… Communication… Technology… and Society.

Being familiar with issues in these general areas is important.

Listening to English language media will help you develop a bank of ideas on topics like this.

An issue in health could be about children eating too much and not exercising enough. You could be asked to discuss a statement such as:

Children’s eating habits and lifestyles today are more likely to be harmful than beneficial.

You should know the essay instructions. These tell you how much time you have and how much you need to write.

You are instructed to spend about 40 minutes writing the essay, which has to be at least 250 words.

With practice you’ll know without counting what your 250 words look like.

You will also be asked to give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

This is one of the instructions, so you need to follow it.

Reasons are saying why you think something is true or not. You could write:

An increasing number of children are becoming obese because they are eating too much junk food.

Reasons are supported by examples, like this:

For example, aggressive marketing of such foods towards children is one of the contributing factors.

Relevant examples are examples like this that are clearly connected to the question.

Now let’s look at an essay question, and how to analyse it before you write your answer. How well you do this will help with your task response, which is one of the criteria used to assess the essay.

Let’s look at a question topic. Here’s a typical statement:

The ageing populations of more developed countries are going to cause social and economic problems for society in the future, especially for the younger generation.

With this is something called the question task:

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

The essay question is always presented in this way as a statement followed by the question task.

First, let’s look at the statement. Read it carefully.

The ageing populations of more developed countries are going to cause social and economic problems for society in the future, especially for the younger generation.

You should ask yourself ‘who or what must I write about?’ Here, you have to say something about ageing populations, developed countries, society in the future and the younger generation.

Highlight these and any other key phrases, such as ‘cause social and economic problems’.

Think about what these phrases mean. Thinking of synonyms or words that mean something similar can help you do this. And you will need these synonyms later in your essay.

Synonyms for ageing populations are: the elderly, retired people, the aged and pensioners. They’re the people living longer or ageing.

Developed countries - refers to modern industrial societies that have to financially support retired people. Synonyms are: western countries, first world countries and advanced economies.

Social and economic problems are two kinds of problems. Social problems are problems that affect people, perhaps in areas such as health and education.

Economic problems are problems to do with the economy of a country and its ability to pay for the services it provides.

Society in the future means the country or nation or state in the future.

And the younger generation are younger people or people who work. They’re the people who are not yet part of the ageing population. So you can rephrase or paraphrase the question like this:

The younger generation will experience social and economic difficulties because people are living longer.

The next thing to look at is the question task:

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

‘To what extent’ means by how much.

Here you’re being asked to give your opinion about the statement. You might agree with it or you might think it is wrong.

It’s a good idea to reword this type of question into a ‘yes/no’ question like this:

Do you agree that the younger generation will experience social and economic difficulties because people are living longer?

Yes or no?

You could think, yes, I agree completely or perhaps yes, I agree with some of this, but disagree with other parts of it.

But keep in mind that asking how much you agree or disagree tests your ability to look at 2 sides of an issue and present a balanced argument. Even if you say yes and agree completely, you still have to look at the other side of the argument and think about why someone would disagree.

You would need to write two body paragraphs in an essay of this type, one saying what you agree with and one saying what you disagree with.

In the conclusion of your essay you would state your position on the topic.

Let’s look at another question.

Internet access should be under government control to avoid any potential harm to children.

Who or what must you write about? The internet, government and children. Now highlight other key phrases – under government control, avoid any potential harm.

Let’s think of synonyms.

We know what the internet is, but what other words can we use? – The net, the web, online, cyberspace.

Under government control means controlled by the government. Other words for government are the state or the administration.

Potential harm means bad things that might happen. Synonyms for potential are possible or likely. And other words for harm are: damage and hurt.

So we could paraphrase this statement as:

The state should control access to the web to avoid possible damage to children.

The same question task we looked at earlier can be used:

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

You are being asked for your opinion. What you need to do here is say what you think.

The state should control access to the web to avoid possible damage to children. Yes or no?

Now you should think about reasons for your point of view and why you don’t agree with the opposite view.

So, to recap.

The way you respond to the question and the instructions is part of what you are being marked on. The examiners call it task response.

Make sure you follow the instructions and write the correct number of words.

That’s all for now.

Don’t forget to visit our website at: australianetwork.com/studyenglish for more.

I’ll see you next time on Study English.

(Nguồn UTS: Insearch and Australia Network)

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