The pie charts below show responses by teachers of foreign languages in Britain to a survey concerning why their students are learning a foreign language. The first chart shows the main reason for learning a foreign language. The second chart shows how many teachers felt that there has been a recent change in the reason.
Sample Response
The first pie chart outlines the primary reasons for pupilsthe pupil to learn a second language while the second pie chart shows the reported recent increases in these reasonschanges in these purposes based on the responses of language teachers in Britain. Generally speaking, travel, job and business are the primary objectives for students to learn a foreign language and property purchasing and maintaining social contacts are two aims which inspired an increasing number of students to learn a second language. The first pie chart reveals that almost one-third of foreign language learners in Britain learned a foreign languageenrolled in second language learning classes to be able to travel. Just over one-quarter of them learned oneone-quarter of them learn it for professional purposes. Interestingly, 19% of them learned one19% of them learn it to buy property overseas. Only one out of 20 students reported general interestshowed general interests while 14% of them aim for skill development and to maintain social contacts. The smallest proportionThe least percentage, 3% to be exact, was attributed to learning a foreign languagewere motivated to learn a foreign language because of their foreign partners. The second pie chart presents the proportions reporting recent increasesratio of a recent increase in foreign language learners in Britain and it is obvious that buying property overseasproperty-owning and business/workcareer objective were the two primary reasons for the reported increasethis surge. 19% escalation was noted for both of these purposes. Foreign partners, self-development, travel, general interests each accounted for reported increases of 3% to 6%contributed to 3 to 6 per cent proliferation while social interaction contributed to a 15% reported increase in foreign-language learningincrease of foreign language learners according to the teachers.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response is well organised and uses a suitably varied vocabulary to describe both charts, with a clear overview of the main motives. Its main limitation is data accuracy: buying property accounts for 34% of reported increases, not 19%, and the 15% reporting no change is omitted. Prioritise checking every figure against the visual and distinguishing proportions of motives from proportions reporting recent increases.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A clear overview and broad coverage are provided, but the second chart's leading 34% figure is misreported as 19% and the no-change category is omitted.
Check each percentage against the correct chart and explicitly include the largest value and any important unchanged category.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from an overview to separate descriptions of the two charts, with generally effective linking.
Make comparisons within the second-chart paragraph more direct so the relative size of the changes is immediately clear.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and topic-appropriate, although phrases such as 'ratio of a recent increase' and 'per cent proliferation' are imprecise or unnatural.
Prefer conventional chart language such as 'the proportion reporting an increase' and 'rose by' to improve precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A good range of complex structures is used with mostly clear control, despite occasional agreement, article, and number errors.
Proofread noun phrases and subject-verb agreement, especially forms such as 'general interest' and 'the smallest percentage was'.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The pie charts below show responses by teachers of foreign languages in Britain to a survey concerning why their students are learning a foreign language. The first chart shows the main reason for learning a foreign language. The second chart shows how many teachers felt that there has been a recent change in the reason.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.