Hi. Today Im talking about IELTS writing task 2. There are three basic types of question for IELTS writing task 2, and you need to understand which type you’re answering so that you can use the right format for that type of approach. The first I’m going to discuss is called, is where you have to discuss both these views. If you are given a question where the instruction says “Discuss both these views and give your own opinion,” the examiner is expecting to see what they call the traditional or argument-led approach. If this is your instruction, the format is to discuss the question in your introduction and state that there are two sides to the question. These you will offer in your essay, and you will give your opinion in the conclusion. So that’s the basic approach, really. So having prepared your introduction and told the examiner that you’re going to discuss both the views, you then lead on to the body. In the body of an argument-led approach, you have to discuss advantages or good points of the question, and depending on how many points you want to mention, you would write one paragraph if you’re only going to discuss one advantage or two paragraphs if you want to talk about two advantages. Having done that, you then introduce the opposite side of the argument, and so you would talk about the bad points of the question or the disadvantages of the question. Again you need to decide how many points you’re going to mention, bearing in mind that you have a time restriction. And so you might again write one paragraph or two more paragraphs. So after that, you’ve got a paragraph or two with good points, then you’ve got a paragraph or two with bad points, and then you have to lead into the conclusion. In the argument-led approach, you shouldn’t really mention your own opinion until you get to the conclusion. That’s really the basis of the format. So in the conclusion you would say something like “Having discussed both points of view”—in the argument-led approach, though, you don’t say that—you then review what you’ve discussed, and finally, you give your own opinion about the question.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 17:19:06 +0000