IELTS Writing Task 1 | Popular Languages

IELTS Writing Task 1 | Popular Languages

IELTS Writing Task 1 | Popular Languages

Instructions:

Visual data adopted from https://www.ielts-exam.net/

The table below offers us some information about the most popular languages with the most native speakers. 

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main points. You could make comparisons when necessary.

LELB Student: Karim

The table indicates six favorite languages (mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, English and Arabic) spoken the most in the world as a native speakers and as an additional language speakers.
The Mandarin Chinese has the most number of native speakers (900million speakers) while English has the most number of speakers as an additional language (603million speakers) among these six languages.
The lowest use of language in both form (native and additional language speakers) belong to Portuguese (203 million and 10 million speakers respectively) so Portuguese has the lowest uses in sum of speakers.
English is only language that number of speakers as an additional language is more than number of native speakers. This shows us that English is the most favorite language that people tend to learn in the world.
After Mandarin Chinese, the Hindi has more uses as a native language (370 million speakers) and after English, the Mandarin Chinese has more uses as an additional language (190 million speakers). Number of native speakers for Spanish and English are 350 million and 339 million respectively. The most sum of speakers belong to Mandarin Chinese speakers (1.09 billion speakers) and English has second portion among these 6 languages (942 million speakers).

Examiner’s Notes:

• Paragraph 1:
  • You did not mention Portuguese among the 6 languages.
  • “Mandarin” should be capitalized.
  • Favorite languages :arrow: popular languages
  • Line 1-2: … with the highest number of native and non-native speakers
• Paragraph 2:
  • Line 1: It’s better to say :arrow: the highest number of
  • 900 million (consider a space)
• Paragraph 3:
  • Line 1: form :arrow: forms
  • The lowest number of language speakers
  • Belong :arrow: belongs (in response to “the number of”)
  • Line 2: … has the lowest number of language speakers, overall.
• Paragraph 4:
  • Line 1: English is the only language whose non-native speakers outnumber its native speakers.
• Paragraph 5:
  • Line 1: … has the most native speakers
  • Line 2: the numbers of native speakers
  • Line 3: … and English fills / holds the second position
• Visual Data Analysis:
  • In IELTS Writing Task 1, you should not summarize all the pictorial data. Instead, you need to specify the most significant visual data.
  • The whole report is composed of short paragraphs. Your report had better consist of 3 main paragraphs.
  • You could say: The number of English non-native speakers is roughly twice more than its native speakers, which has placed this international language in the second position among the most popular languages right below Mandarin Chinese. On the contrary, the number of Portuguese non-native speakers is notoriously 5% of the entire population of its native speakers, indicating that foreigners are not inclined to learn this language.
• Choice of Words (Diction): You need to use more academic words.
• Coherence: Not coherent enough!
• Cohesion: Your summary sounds like some short paragraphs in a disintegrated fashion. Hence, it lacks adequate cohesion. Besides, you need to use more conjunctions.
• Grammar: Understandable, yet you should work on your grammar.
• Reasoning: Good
• Word Count: “200” Great!

General Information

• You have 20 minutes for this task.
• Your summary should consist of at least 150 words.
• The 

  IELTS

  The International English Language Testing System or IELTS /ˈaɪ.ɛlts/, is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers. It is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment, and was established in 1989. IELTS is one of the major English-language tests in the world, others being the TOEFL, TOEIC and OPI/OPIc.

  IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training are designed to cover the full range of ability from non-user to expert user. The Academic version is for test takers who want to study at tertiary level in an English-speaking country or seek professional registration. The General Training version is for test takers who want to work, train, study at a secondary school or migrate to an English-speaking country.

   “>IELTS Writing Task 1 is an information transfer task, which requires you to write an accurate account of some information presented in graphic form, for example, a graph, table, or some form of a pictorial representation of Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/

  group noun [U]

  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:

  The data was/were collected by various researchers.

  “>data.

• Your addressee is a university lecturer.
• It is important to read the instructions closely to specify the main focus of your report.

Planning Your Task

• Make sure to spend around 2 to 3 minutes planning and organizing your answer. That is to say, do NOT start writing immediately. During this pre-writing time, try to analyze the delineated Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/

  group noun [U]

  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:

  The data was/were collected by various researchers.

  “>data carefully.

• In the exam, you can write notes on the illustration and in a clearly defined space on the front of your answer paper.
• Your notes could be in abbreviated forms in order to save time. Remember that your notes are personal and won’t be assessed.
• During planning, decide which significant details will be discussed to reflect the task requirements. For example:
  • The apex (high points) or base (low points)
  • Steady pace or rate of changes
  • Fluctuation in the rate of changes
• While planning your task, you should determine the time period so that the correct tense is used.

How to Start Writing?

• It is recommended that you start your 

  IELTS

  The International English Language Testing System or IELTS /ˈaɪ.ɛlts/, is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers. It is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment, and was established in 1989. IELTS is one of the major English-language tests in the world, others being the TOEFL, TOEIC and OPI/OPIc.

  IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training are designed to cover the full range of ability from non-user to expert user. The Academic version is for test takers who want to study at tertiary level in an English-speaking country or seek professional registration. The General Training version is for test takers who want to work, train, study at a secondary school or migrate to an English-speaking country.

   “>IELTS Writing Task 1 with a restatement of the keywords in the instructions. In so doing, you will give a brief description of the details in the pictorial form.

• You should write one clear sentence to introduce the illustration.
• After your general description, you should write one or two sentences to indicate the relationships between the Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/

  group noun [U]

  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:

  The data was/were collected by various researchers.

  “>data or demonstrate a trend.

• Write more sentences to Provide: Verb

  /prəˈvaɪd/

  verb [T]

  to give someone something that they need:

  This booklet provides useful information about local services.

  All meals are provided throughout the course.

  The author provides no documentary references to support her assertions.

  “>provide a more in-depth account of the Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/

  group noun [U]

  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:

  The data was/were collected by various researchers.

  “>data that transcends your general statement.

How to Analyze the Graph?

• In your second paragraph, you should give a detailed account of the visual Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/
  group noun [U]
  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:
  The data was/were collected by various researchers.“>data reflected in the graph or chart.

• Do not try to describe the graph in a linear or sequential order. Instead, you must develop a nonlinear and profound understanding of the Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/

  group noun [U]

  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:

  The data was/were collected by various researchers.

  “>data.

Providing an Overview

• Since the Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/

  group noun [U]

  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:

  The data was/were collected by various researchers.

  “>data with a pictorial form are not accessible to your addressee, who is a university lecturer, you ought to Provide: Verb

  /prəˈvaɪd/
  verb [T]
  to give someone something that they need:
  This booklet provides useful information about local services.
  All meals are provided throughout the course.
  The author provides no documentary references to support her assertions.“>provide a brief overview of the general trends and patterns to make sense of the whole Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/

  group noun [U]

  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:

  The data was/were collected by various researchers.

  “>data. Remember that IELTS Writing Task 1 is NOT an essay. Instead, it’s just a summary of some visual Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/
  group noun [U]
  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:
  The data was/were collected by various researchers.“>data. Accordingly, the existence of a conclusion is not necessary; however, it is strongly recommended to give an overall overview of the Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/
  group noun [U]
  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:
  The data was/were collected by various researchers.“>data.

Important Tips

• You can write your summary Either: Determiner / Conjunction

  /ˈaɪ.ðəʳ/ /ˈiː-/ US /-ðɚ/
  determiner
  both:
  Unfortunately I was sitting at the table with smokers on either side of me.
  either (CHOICE) /ˈaɪ.ðəʳ/ /ˈiː-/ US /-ðɚ/
  determiner, pronoun, conjunction
  used when referring to a choice between two possibilities:
  Either candidate would be ideal for the job.
  "Do you prefer pork or beef?" "I don’t like either."
  "Would you like the metal or plastic one?" "Either will do."
  You can get there by train or bus – either way/in either case it’ll take an hour.
  We can either eat now or after the show – it’s up to you.
  Either you leave now or I call the police!

  either (ALSO) /ˈaɪ.ðəʳ/ /ˈiː-/ US /-ðɚ/
  adverb
  used in negative sentences instead of ‘also’ or ‘too’:
  I don’t eat meat and my husband doesn’t either.
  "I’ve never been to the States." "I haven’t either."
  They do really good food at that restaurant and it’s not very expensive either.“>either in British or American English style, but you need to be consistent throughout your summary.

• As it is Typical: Adjective

  /ˈtɪp.ɪ.kəl/ adjective

  1. showing all the characteristics that you would usually expect from a particular group of things:

  I must look like the typical tourist with my shorts and my camera.

  2. DISAPPROVING showing all the bad characteristics that you expect from someone or something, often in a way that is annoying:

  It’s just typical of Ian to spend all that money on the equipment and then lose interest half way through the course.

  “>typical of any writing task, it is strongly recommended that you proofread your own report for Possible: Adjective

  /ˈpɒs.ə.bļ/ US /ˈpɑː.sə-/
  adjective [+ (that)]
  that might or might not happen:
  It’s possible (that) Mira might turn up tonight.
  "Do you think he’ll end up in prison?" "It’s very possible."
  That’s one possible solution to the problem.“>possible mistakes.

Recognizing Similarities and Differences

• Mention the actual Data: Noun

  /ˈdeɪ.tə/ US /-ţə/
  group noun [U]
  information, especially facts or numbers, collected for examination and consideration and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and processed by a computer:
  The data was/were collected by various researchers.“>data (numbers, percentages, dates, units, etc.) in your comparison as long as the statistics are in line with the point you are trying to make.

Verbs to Describe the Data

1. Decline ⬇️
2. Decrease: Verb

   /dɪˈkriːs/ US /ˈdiː.kriːs/
   verb [I or T]
   to become less, or to make something become less:
   Our share of the market has decreased sharply this year.
   We have decreased our involvement in children’s books.
   decrease /ˈdiː.kriːs/
   noun [C or U]
   There has been a steady decrease in the number of visitors.
   I haven’t noticed much decrease in interest.“>Decrease ⬇️

3. Fall ⬇️
4. Grow ⬆️
5. Increase ⬆️
6. Plummet ⬇️
7. Rise ⬆️

Intensifiers to Describe the Data

1. Considerably
2. Dramatically
3. Gradually
4. In the same way (making comparisons)
5. Moderately
6. Noticeably
7. Rapidly
8. Similarly (making comparisons)
9. Sharply
10. Slightly
11. Slowly
12. Steadily

Another Dominant Structure

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