Some people are of the opinion that children should be rewarded for good behaviour. Others think they should be punished for bad behaviour. Discuss both views and give your personal opinion and reasons.
Sample Response
The debate over a child’s moral education is difficult due to the different viewpointsvarious view points each party holds. The question of discipline is exceptionally important, moreover whether to treat good behaviour with a neutral attitude or to just focus on correcting incorrect actions.
My personal opinion is that any positive actionactions ought to be immediately recognised by the parent and vice versa for negative conduct. This balanced approach makes for a more positive outcome for both the child and the familyboth the child and family.
Firstly, rewardingFirstly rewarding a good act immediately signals a positive reaction in the child’s brain which should encourage the child to want to behave similarlysimilar in the future. Failure to recognise such behaviour leaves the child with the same feelingsame emotional feeling as if they had done nothing. Therefore, rewardingTherefore rewarding the child regularly for good behaviour reinforcesenforces the action making the child more likely to repeat itit more likely to repeat itself in the future.
Secondly, punishingSecondly punishing the son or daughter is also necessary; failureis also necessary, failure to discipline could have serious consequences in the future. For example, ifFor example if a child has no clear concept of respect for elders or authority the child may encounter more serious problems later in lifeit is quite possible to encounter more serious problems later in life.
This lack of disciplineThis pattern is prevalent in marginal neighbourhoods throughout the world. Therefore it is essential to immediately discipline the child whenever they witnesswhenever witnessing an unruly act to reinforce appropriate behaviourso as to enforce the correct behaviour from an early age.
To conclude both bad and good actions need to be recognised and dealt with immediately to correct or encourage the future actions. Failure to do either of these could result in a less fortunate life or a youth who rarely performs any good acts for anyone. Therefore it is critical that both types of behaviour are recognised and dealt withare recognised dealt with accordingly for the benefit of the child in the future.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response takes a clear, balanced position and supports both rewarding good behaviour and disciplining misconduct with relevant explanations. Its main limitation is that several points remain general or asserted rather than fully demonstrated, while awkward collocations and recurring punctuation errors reduce precision. Develop each side with a more specific consequence or example, and revise sentence boundaries and word combinations to make the argument more polished and convincing.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response addresses both views, states a clear balanced opinion, and develops relevant reasons for rewarding and punishing behaviour.
Strengthen each side with a specific, credible example and explain more precisely why the proposed response changes a child's conduct.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument progresses logically through a clear position, two main points, and a consistent conclusion, although linking is sometimes mechanical.
Combine closely related paragraphs and vary transitions so that ideas flow through meaning rather than repeated sequencing words.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the topic, but several awkward collocations and imprecise choices reduce naturalness.
Replace combinations such as 'behave similar' and 'enforces the action' with precise, idiomatic expressions.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex structures communicates meaning clearly, despite recurring punctuation, article, and clause-boundary errors.
Proofread for comma splices, missing commas after introductory phrases, and complete coordination between clauses.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people are of the opinion that children should be rewarded for good behaviour. Others think they should be punished for bad behaviour. Discuss both views and give your personal opinion and reasons.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.