Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Parents are the best teachers. You should
Sample Response
Teaching is believed to be the toughest profession in the world. Not because they are in a physically challenging job or a hostile work environment but because they have a responsibility to shape the behaviour and the thought-process of children. Children have extremely fragile mindsets and tend to emulate the behaviour of people surrounding them. Given the situation, they are extremely prone to behave as their parents whom they observe on a daily basis. Hence, in a way, parents are also teachers on a full-time job.
However, I do not agree with the statement that parents are the best teachers. Different children have different cognitive abilities and hence different learning styles. Research also proves that in order to maximise the learning experience of any individual, it is important to facilitate the learning process as per the learning style. Teachers are professionally qualified and experienced to do this job better. They have both the skills and knowledge to excel in this as compared to parents.
Parents, on the other hand, are not trained to understand the learning style of their children. They usually use positive reinforcement in way of rewards and negative reinforcements in the manner of punishments to teach their children. In this way, they may unknowingly end up hampering the development of their children by enforcing a particular way of learning.
I believe if parents could be coached on different ways in which their children could be taught, they would be the best teachers.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use precise wording Original: extremely fragile mindsets Suggested revision: highly impressionable minds Why it matters: The revision expresses children's tendency to be influenced more precisely and naturally.
- 2. Use natural phrasing Original: surrounding Suggested revision: around Why it matters: “People around them” is the idiomatic expression in this context.
- 3. Clarify the comparison Original: prone to behave as their parents Suggested revision: likely to imitate their parents Why it matters: The revision accurately expresses copying parental behaviour and removes the faulty “behave as” construction.
- 4. Fix the expression Original: teachers on a full-time job Suggested revision: full-time teachers Why it matters: “Full-time teachers” is the natural noun phrase for the intended idea.
- 5. Use precise reference Original: as per the learning style Suggested revision: according to each individual's learning style Why it matters: The revision avoids bureaucratic wording and clarifies whose learning style is meant.
- 6. Fix the complement Original: experienced to do this job better Suggested revision: experienced in doing this job well Why it matters: The adjective “experienced” takes “in” followed by a gerund in this construction.
- 7. Fix the preposition Original: in way of rewards Suggested revision: through rewards Why it matters: “Through” correctly expresses the means by which positive reinforcement is provided.
- 8. Use the right verb Original: enforcing Suggested revision: imposing Why it matters: “Imposing” accurately describes requiring a child to follow one method.
- 9. Qualify the claim Original: the toughest profession in the world Suggested revision: one of the toughest professions in the world Why it matters: The qualified wording makes the broad opening claim more defensible without changing its direction.
- 10. Use concise wording Original: on a daily basis Suggested revision: every day Why it matters: The concise phrase conveys the same frequency more naturally.
- 11. Avoid overclaiming evidence Original: proves Suggested revision: suggests Why it matters: “Suggests” is a more appropriately cautious reporting verb for a general research claim.
- 12. Use concise possession Original: learning experience of any individual Suggested revision: each individual's learning experience Why it matters: The possessive construction is more concise and preserves the general reference.
Suggested Rewrites
- extremely fragile mindsets highly impressionable minds
- surrounding around
- prone to behave as their parents likely to imitate their parents
- teachers on a full-time job full-time teachers
- as per the learning style according to each individual's learning style
- experienced to do this job better experienced in doing this job well
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response takes a clear, nuanced position and develops a coherent comparison between professionally trained teachers and untrained parents, using learning styles and reinforcement as relevant support. Its main limitation is that several claims remain general and the brief conclusion can appear to reverse the position unless its condition is read carefully; the slight underlength also limits depth. Add one specific example and restate the qualified disagreement unambiguously.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay gives a clear disagreement and relevant reasons, while the conditional final claim adds nuance but needs fuller clarification and support.
Add a specific example of trained teaching adapting to a child and explicitly conclude that parents are not currently the best teachers without coaching.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically through parental influence, teacher expertise, and parental limitations, with generally clear paragraphing and linking.
Turn the final one-sentence paragraph into a concise conclusion that synthesises the comparison and preserves the qualified position.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a good range of topic-specific vocabulary, including cognitive abilities, learning styles, reinforcement, and development, despite occasional awkward collocations.
Refine phrases such as behave as their parents and teachers on a full-time job into more natural academic wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are varied and meaning remains clear, but fragments, pronoun reference, articles, and prepositional constructions show recurring lapses.
Rewrite the opening fragment as a complete sentence and check articles and pronouns in every comparison between teachers, parents, and children.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Parents are the best teachers. You should
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.