Teaching IELTS

Writing
The British Council, HCMC
Presenter: Tim Moore

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Workshop Content – IELTS Writing Paper
• What do candidates have to do?
• What are the examiners looking for?
• What skills and language do our students need?
• How can we help our students with these skills
and language areas?

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What do you know about IELTS writing?

1. How many parts are in the writing test?

2. How long is the writing test?
3. What do the candidates write for each part? Is it the same for
General Training and Academic?
4. How many words do candidates write?
5. How long should they spend on each part of the writing test?
6. Is it a good idea to write more than the minimum number of
words?
7. What happens if they write less than the minimum number?
8. What happens if a candidate’s handwriting isn’t clear?

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 An Overview Of IELTS Writing
Task 1 Academic:
In this part candidates describe information from a
chart or graph. Less commonly, they may have to
describe how a process or machine works from a
diagram.

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Task 1 General Training:

In this part candidates write a letter based on a

situation they are given. For example: ‘Write to the
head of your college explaining that you will need time
off from the course’ or ‘Write to a language school
asking for information about their courses’.

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 Task 2 Academic and General Training:
Candidates write an essay giving an opinion on a topic. This is normally an
‘advantages/disadvantages’ or ‘to what extent do you agree with this opinion’
type of essay.

Example Question: Should wealthy nations be required to share their wealth

among poorer nations by providing such things as food and education? Or is
the responsibility of the governments of poorer nations to look after their
citizens themselves? You should write at least 250 words. Use your own ideas,
knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and
relevant evidence.

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 What are the examiners looking for?

Content and Ideas – how fully is the question answered?

In Task 1 - how effectively the candidate identifies key features and gives an overview.
In Task 2, how effectively the candidate analyses the argument and presents an opinion.
Also, relevance and length.

Organisation
Is the writing organised into paragraphs? Does it follow logical stages? Are sentences
fluently linked?

Vocabulary
Is the vocabulary used accurately? Is there a wide range or is there repetition of the
same items? Can the candidate use less common vocabulary appropriately?

Grammar
Are the structures accurate and appropriate? Is there flexibility and range?

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Example of Writing Task One
The table below shows the consumer durables (telephone, refrigerator,
etc.) owned in Britain from 1972 to 1983. Write a report for a university
lecturer describing the information.

Consumer 1972 1974 1976 1978 1979 1981 1982 1983

Durables
Percentage of
households with:
Central Heating 37 43 48 52 55 59 60 64
Television 93 95 96 96 97 97 97 98
Video - - - - - - - 18
Vacuum Cleaner 87 89 92 92 93 94 95 -
Refrigerator 73 81 88 91 92 93 93 94
Washing Machine 66 68 71 75 74 78 79 80
Dishwasher - - - 3 3 4 4 5
Telephone 42 50 54 60 67 75 76 77

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Question from Cambridge IELTS Practice Tests Book 2 page 27.

The table gives information on how ownership of consumer goods changed in Britain
in the period between 1972 and 1983.

The most important feature shown by the data is that ownership of all of the types of
consumer durables increased steadily over the period, with the slight exception of
washing machine ownership, where there was a very small decrease in 1979 before
the overall upward trend continued.

However, the figure for all of the items did not change at the same rate. The
percentage of homes with central heating showed the greatest growth, coming fairly
close to doubling in the period. Similarly, we can see a marked rise in ownership of
dishwashers and telephones. In contrast, the smallest change can be seen in the
percentages for televisions and vacuum cleaners.

Televisions remained the most commonly owned consumer durable in Britain, with
more than 90% of households owning one during the period shown. Dishwashers
were the least common appliance, with only 3 percent of households owning one in
1972 and 5 percent in 1983.
173 words.

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• What skills do students need for task one?
• What kind of language do they need?

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Skills for Task One:
Analysing quickly - overall trends, can the data be
put into groups, what are the extremes, what are
the exceptions?
Editing – judging how much to include,organising
into paragraphs,giving an overview.
Proof Reading – correcting accuracy mistakes,
looking for repetition of language.

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Some Language areas for Task One.
• Paraphrasing – the opening sentence needs to paraphrase the
question.
• Describing Trends – the figure rose, there was a slight fall, it levelled
off.
• Comparatives,superlatives and other ways of contrasting – higher
than, the most significant change, it didn’t change to the same
extent as…
• Discourse Markers – However…,Similarly…, In contrast…,turning
now to the figures for the UK…, overall we can see that…, in
conclusion…
• A range of vocabulary to avoid repetition. E.g. The data shows, this
amount demonstrates, the total number represents.

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 Activities to help candidates with Part 1.
Analysing model answers and using them as a basis for exercises.
Paraphrasing the question.
Identifying key points from charts, graphs etc.
Organising – jumbled paragraphs of model answers.
List of statements. Students have to say if they are major points, minor
points or irrelevant. Should they be included or not?
Matching vocabulary of the same meaning e.g. ..a significant
increase…….a sharp rise.
Two graphs. Students have a list of sentences and have to match them to the
correct graph.
Focus and error correction on a certain area, e.g. linkers, correct tenses.
Process writing using OHTs and peer discussion of writing.

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Example Task Two.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Present a written argument or case to an educated reader with no
specialist knowledge of the following topic.

In order to reduce the environmental problems caused by our

reliance on cars, governments should encourage alternative
forms of transport and laws should be passed to control car
ownership and use.
To what extent do you agree with this statement?

You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and
support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.

You should write at least 250 words.

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• What skills do students need for task two?
• What kind of language do they need?

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Skills for Task Two
• Understanding the question to avoid irrelevant or
tangential answers
• Brainstorming ideas and examples quickly
• Selecting and organising main points
• Writing enough in the time (underlength answers
relatively common in Vietnam)
• Writing short intros and conclusions
• Proof reading and self correction
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Some language areas for Task Two
• Cohesive markers – firstly, secondly, however, another advantage is…, on
the other hand, the main argument against x is…
• Using relative clauses and other clauses to avoid predominantly simple
sentences.
• Widening the range of grammar and vocabulary to avoid repeating the same
language. A good knowledge of antonyms and synonyms can help with this.
• Correct use of language for Addition (also, in addition, furthermore),
Contrast (however, nevertheless, even though) and Result/Consequence
(so, therefore, leading to…)
• Collocations – particularly prepositions (involved in –ing, prevent from –ing,
responsible for/to)
• Agreement of singular/plural. ‘The kind of parent who tells his children not to
do things and then do it himself..’ (This example of a very common type of
mistake is copyright of one of my students). 

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 Activities to help candidates with part 2
Practice brainstorming topics and selecting best points.
Reading to widen content and vocab knowledge of topics
that may be unfamiliar.
Organising - cut up paragraphs and reorder model answer.
Analysing model answers for language.
Work on cohesive devices e.g. gap fills.
Antonyms and synonyms activities.
Prepositions and verb collocation activities.
Self correction and peer correction activities.

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 Resources
Cambridge ESOL. Good site with examples and FAQs.
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teach/ielts/academic_writing/index.htm

IELTS-Exam site by Rad Danesh. Some good information and sample materials.
http://www.ielts-exam.net/IELTS-Writing-Samples/ielts-writing.htm

One Stop English. Free materials for teachers on IELTS and many other areas.
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?sectionType=listsummary&catid=58071

Using English for Academic Purposes by Andy Gillett, University of Herfordshire.

This site for university assignments not IELTS but contains a lot of useful exercises.
http://www.uefap.com/
 
Language and Linguistics Area Studies (EAP Section). A bank of materials, including video
and listening, for EAP teachers.
http://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/bankbytheme.aspx?catid=1&keyid=670

Hong Kong Polytechnic. A lot of useful EAP materials and advice.

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/cill/eap/

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Questions?

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Please contact:

Mr Binh Le

IELTS Business Development Manager, Vietnam

T: 08 38232862 ext 2402

E: [email protected]

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