Computers and modems have made it possible for office workers to do much of their work from home instead of working in offices every day. Working from home should be encouraged as it is good for workers and employers. Do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
In recent years the vast expansion of information and communicationcommunications technology has made teleworking much more practical. Although in many cases office workers could be enabled to work independently of locationmade geographically independent by using modems, faxes and cell phones, few companies or employees take full advantage of this possibility.
There are a number of strong arguments in favor of allowing workers to work from home. Firstly, costsFirstly costs for employers would be reduced because businesses would require less office space, which is often situated in the center of large cities. Secondly, workers’ livesworker’s lives would be improved in a variety of ways. For example, they would not need to travel to get to work, which would give them more free time. Also, they could combine their work with their family life, which is a major advantage if they are parents of young children or they have older relativesold people to look aft er. On the other hand, commuting to a central workplacetraveling to a centralized workplace also has a number of advantagespoints in its favor. The first is that many employees would miss the social aspect of work such as seeing colleagues and meeting customers. A further point is that employers would need to be able to trust their workers to work toat a high standard and finish their work on time, since supervising teleworkers is even more complicated than supervising workers in the same office.
Finally, working from home might inhibit teamwork and creative work and is therefore perhaps only really suitableand so perhaps so only really suitable for people doing routine office work.
In conclusion, I believe that while many workers welcome the opportunity to go out to work, others would find the chance to work from home very convenient. Where possible, I think workers should be offered the choice, but not forced to work from home unless they wish to.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response presents a clear, nuanced position and supports both the benefits and limitations of home working with relevant, well-explained points. Its main weakness is organization: opposing arguments are crowded into one long paragraph, while the teamwork point is isolated and only briefly developed. Reorganizing the discussion into focused paragraphs and extending the final limitation with a specific explanation would make the argument more persuasive and easier to follow.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response addresses the proposition fully through a qualified position and relevant discussion of benefits and drawbacks.
Develop the teamwork limitation beyond a brief assertion so that every main point is equally persuasive.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically and cohesive devices are generally effective, although paragraph boundaries do not consistently reflect shifts in argument.
Separate the benefits and drawbacks into focused paragraphs and integrate the isolated teamwork sentence into the relevant discussion.
Lexical Resource
A flexible and precise range, including terms such as geographically independent and inhibit teamwork, conveys the argument effectively.
Refine occasional awkward or imprecise phrasing to make the already strong vocabulary sound consistently natural.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is used with generally strong control, despite several localized agreement, possessive, and sentence-construction errors.
Proofread complex sentences for omitted words and duplicated connectors, particularly in the sentence about teamwork and creative work.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
Computers and modems have made it possible for office workers to do much of their work from home instead of working in offices every day. Working from home should be encouraged as it is good for workers and employers. Do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.