The academic version of IELTS: Writing Tasks 1 and 2

Sam McCarter

4 November 2015

Abstract

The aim of the presentation is to give teachers fresh ideas for

the writing component of the academic version of the IELTS

exam, namely Writing Tasks 1 and 2. The focus will be on

techniques that teachers can use to help B2 level students on

short courses increase their organizational skills, and increase

accuracy at the same time. The talk will present suggestions

for students to help make use of the 60 minutes they have

for the writing component through: the creation of ideas, the

organisation and planning related to the different question

types, including examples of plans; the building and

development of ideas and relevant grammar and vocabulary

students need to focus on.

General introduction

Writing Task 1

Writing Task2

Stages

Rubric:

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the

main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

1 Introduction

2 Overview

3 Data to prove overview

Principles: General/ Specific

Plan

Task Achievement/ Coherence and cohesion

Public Marking Scores Task 1

Task 1 Language features checklist

Simple Present/ Past/ Present Perfect/ Simple Future/ Future Perfect

Comparison

Complex sentences: conjunctions/ adverbs

Verbs of rise/ fall

Introductions/ Trends

Noun phrases – nominalization

synonyms/ paraphrases

Singular/ plural

Active/ passive

General v specific

Essential features

Transformation and transfer

Adverbs: … rose more slowly/ erratically/ steadily than

Adjectives: Greater numbers of … attended …

the numbers of … were greater than …

Nouns: There was a greater increase/ fall …/ The increase in

…. was greater … than

… accounted for a greater proportion of … than

More young people …

Phrases/ Chunks: This is in (sharp) contrast with/ to …

Adverbs/ Conjunctions: By contrast/ By comparison/ while

whereas

Comparison

Nominalization vs verbalization

Abstract rather than personal

Noun vs. verb

Examples:

Overview

Overall, it is clear that there is a rise/ increase/ fall/ drop/

trend/ change in/ difference / correlation/ relationship

between …

Evidence/Data

By comparison, there was a steady rise in car sales from … to

…./ with an increase form

Summarizing

Vocabulary

Pie charts

Features

Maps/ plans

StreetplanA

StapleRoadp

HighRoad

TennisStreet BridgeStreet

BondWay HattonAvenue

School

Student Level

Writing Task 2

Basic Rubrics

Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Some think this will have little effect and other measures …

What are the causes …? What measures/

What are the advantages and disadvantages of …?

Do

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from

your own knowledge or experience.

Writing Task 2 Question Type

13

The creation of ideas

Presentation heading | Date Month Year

Not a lack of ideas

A lack of ability to organise and link ideas and possibly to

categorise ideas

Writing Task 2

Ideas

Categorizing

Pre-writing

A

1 2 3 4 5

Frame

Pre-writing

Perspectives

Adjectives/ nouns

Pre-writing

cultural

environmental

Perspectives

Planning 4

Personal to abstract

personal

familial

social

local

regional

national

international

Technological/ growth

Technological/ health

Technological/ communication

Technological/ education

Technological/ design

Connections/ Links/ Associations Simple and familiar

Question and organization

The volume of e-waste, or electronic waste, around the world

is now greater than ever before.

What are the causes of this? What measures can be effective

in dealing with the situation?

Writing Task 2

Introduction of the problem and focus of the essay:

Cause/ solution

Cause/ solution

Cause/ solution

Conclusion

Introduction of the problem and focus of the essay:

Causes

Solution1

Solution 2

Conclusion

Plan

Noticing organization in a paragraph

Find functions/ elements

1 General

Topic sentence

2 Specific

1Example

2 Cause

3 Example

4 Effect

5 Cause and effect chain

Extract

Education can play an

important role in [reducing

poverty]. For example, if

[young people have a good

education, especially using

modern technology, they can

[earn money and improve

their lives].

Learning a new skill/ leaning a new language

Writing Task 2

Introduction analysis 1

The volume of e-waste, or electronic waste, around the world is

now greater than ever before.

What are the causes of this? What measures can be effective in

dealing with the situation?

Accuracy

Example Introduction

Each year, increasing amount of e-waste is been thrown. The increasing amount is result of various factor, but there are many approaches can be taken to tackel it.

Example Introduction - Key

Each year, an increasing amount of e-waste is being thrown away. This situation is the result of various factors, but there are many approaches that can be taken to tackle the problem.

Reduction of errors: global to specific

Models and samples

Map a paragraph according to perspective(s)

Map according to time sequence

Map according to functions

Rewrite according to a different perspective

Paraphrase the text

Flowchart

Checking

Further reading

Website: www.internationalenglishlab.com

Thank you

For more information Please contact

Sam McCarter

Author

BACK PAGE

Please add the Macmillan Education logo and any additional logos to the logo strip at the bottom of this page as required.

http://ow.ly/Uc8r9