Several languages are in danger of extinction because they are spoken by very small numbers of people. Some people say that governments should spend public money on saving these languages, while others believe that would be a waste of money. Discuss both these views and give your opinion.
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Sample Response
It is often argued that minority languageslanaguages facing extinction deserve state funding, while others maintain that such expenditure cannot be justified. Although I accept that public budgets are limited, I believe that preserving endangered lanaguages is a worthwhile investmentinvestments.
On the one hand, supporterssupports of government funding emphasis the cultural value of languagelanaguage. A languagelanaguage is not merely a tool of communication, but a repository of a community's history, oral traditions and ecological knowledge; onceOnce it disappears, this heritage is lost irreversibly. State subsidiessubsides could also finance bilingual education, community lanaguage programmes and digital archives, all of which help small groups pass their mother tongue on to the next generation. From this perspective, spending on lanaguage preservationperservation is comparable to funding museums or historical buildings, since both protect a nation's cultural identity.
On the other hand, criticscrities argue that the money would be better spent elsewhere. In their view, governments face competing priorities such as healthcare, education and infrastructure, and using taxpayers' money to sustain a lanaguage spoken by only a few hundred people benefits very few citizenscitizans. They also point out that lanaguage shift is a naturalnational consequence of globalisation: as people migrate to cities and adopt dominant lanaguages for work, smaller tonguestogues inevitably decline, and no numberamount of people can reverse this trend.
In my opinion, both arguments have meritmerits, but the cultural loss is too significant to ignore. Funding does not have to be enormous, relatively modest grants for recording and teaching endangered lanaguages could preserve them for future research and for communities themselves. This is a matter of cultural diversity rather than nostalgiaa nostalgia.
In conclusion, although opponents reasonably highlight the financial burden, I believe that governments should allocate at least some public money to protecting endangered lanaguages, because their extinction is irreversiblebecause of their extinction is irreversible.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The essay presents a well-structured argument that thoroughly addresses both sides of the debate while maintaining a clear personal stance. The main strength lies in the logical organization and well-developed ideas supporting each view. To achieve a higher score, the writer should focus on careful proofreading to eliminate recurring spelling mistakes and minor grammatical slips.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response fully addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both viewpoints logically and presenting a consistent opinion throughout.
Maintain this level of thorough development while ensuring that all minor counterarguments are directly tied back to your primary thesis.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information and ideas are organized logically with clear progression and effective paragraphing throughout the essay.
Continue using a variety of cohesive devices while ensuring punctuation between linked clauses remains strictly accurate.
Lexical Resource
A wide range of sophisticated vocabulary is used appropriately, though frequent spelling errors reduce precision.
Focus on proofreading high-frequency topic words to ensure consistent spelling accuracy across the text.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A good variety of complex structures is displayed with high overall clarity, despite a few minor grammatical and capitalization slips.
Double-check complex sentence connections to prevent preposition errors and capitalization mistakes after semicolons.