IELTS VIP Podcast: Why Are IELTS Writing Scores Always Lower Than The Other Skills?
Summary
TLDRIn this IELTS VIP podcast, Chris addresses the common concern that writing scores are typically lower than other IELTS bands. He dismisses popular misconceptions like IELTS conspiracies to lower scores and emphasizes the real issue: lack of writing practice. Chris suggests that the disparity in scores stems from the significant time spent on reading and listening versus the minimal practice in writing academic English. He proposes a learning cycle of understanding, doing, feedback, and improvement to enhance writing skills and announces a free IELTS essay builder course for further assistance.
Takeaways
- 📊 The IELTS writing scores are generally lower than reading, listening, and speaking scores across all countries.
- 🧐 Common misconceptions include IELTS intentionally lowering writing scores, subjectivity in scoring, and the existence of secret tricks to improve scores.
- 🏫 The actual reason for lower writing scores is the lack of practice in academic writing, compared to the extensive practice in reading and listening.
- 👨🏫 Teachers often avoid teaching writing due to its perceived lack of excitement and students' resistance to the quiet, focused nature of the task.
- 📝 The importance of practice in improving writing skills is emphasized, as writing, like any other skill, improves with use.
- 🔁 A cycle of learning, doing, feedback, and improvement is suggested for enhancing writing abilities.
- 📈 The speaker proposes that the ratio of time spent writing to time spent on other English skills is significantly lower, leading to weaker writing proficiency.
- 📚 A free course called 'IELTS Essay Builder' is offered to help students improve their writing skills through structured lessons and feedback.
- 🗓️ The 'IELTS Essay Builder' course is scheduled to start on the 19th of November 2018 and is limited to 15,000 participants.
- 🌐 The speaker encourages engagement and feedback from students on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and the IELTS Advantage website.
Q & A
Why do IELTS writing scores tend to be lower compared to reading and listening scores?
-IELTS writing scores are often lower because writing is a skill that requires practice, and most students do not write as much as they read or listen. The lack of practice in academic writing, combined with the fact that many English teachers avoid teaching writing due to its perceived lack of excitement, leads to lower scores.
What are some common misconceptions about why IELTS writing scores are lower?
-Some common misconceptions include the idea that IELTS purposely lowers writing scores to make money from retakes, that the subjectivity of writing exams inherently leads to lower scores, and that there are secret tricks or tips to improve writing scores that are being withheld.
Why is the conspiracy theory about IELTS lowering writing scores considered false?
-The conspiracy theory is false because there is no real evidence to support it. The organizations behind IELTS, such as the British Council and the University of Cambridge, are reputable and not involved in criminal activities. The idea that thousands of people worldwide would conspire without any evidence being revealed is implausible.
How does the speaker suggest improving IELTS writing scores?
-The speaker suggests improving writing scores through a cycle of learning, doing, feedback, and improvement. This involves understanding what is required for the writing task, practicing it, receiving feedback on the practice, and then using that feedback to improve.
What role does the amount of practice have on IELTS scores according to the speaker?
-The amount of practice has a significant impact on IELTS scores. The speaker argues that the more you practice a skill, the better you become at it. Since students typically have more exposure to reading and listening than writing, their scores in the former areas tend to be higher.
What is the communicative approach mentioned in the script, and how does it affect writing practice?
-The communicative approach is a dominant method in English teaching that focuses on getting students to talk and interact with each other. This approach often results in less writing practice, as classroom activities prioritize speaking over writing, leading to less development of writing skills.
Why do some English teachers avoid teaching writing according to the script?
-Some English teachers avoid teaching writing because it is often seen as less exciting and more challenging to engage students in. Writing requires silence and focused work, which can lead to less interactive and lively classroom environments compared to speaking activities.
What is the 'IELTS essay builder' course mentioned in the script, and how can one access it?
-The 'IELTS essay builder' is a free 5-day course offered by IELTS VIP that includes lessons, tasks, and feedback sessions focused on improving IELTS writing skills. Interested individuals can access it by searching for 'IELTS essay builder' on Google before the course start date.
How does the speaker suggest students approach the idea of conspiracy theories regarding IELTS scores?
-The speaker suggests that instead of focusing on conspiracy theories, students should concentrate on practical steps to improve their writing skills. Engaging in debates about theories does not help in improving scores, so it's better to focus on learning and practicing writing.
What is the importance of feedback in the process of improving IELTS writing scores as per the script?
-Feedback is crucial in the process of improving IELTS writing scores because it helps students understand where they are going wrong and how to correct their mistakes. Without feedback, students may not realize their errors or know how to improve their writing effectively.
Outlines
📊 Understanding IELTS Score Trends
Chris from IELTS VIP podcast addresses a common concern among IELTS test-takers: the tendency for writing scores to be lower than reading, listening, and speaking scores. He notes that this pattern is consistent across different countries, as seen in IELTS statistics. Chris dispels common misconceptions such as a deliberate lowering of writing scores by IELTS to increase test retakes and revenue. He emphasizes the implausibility of such a conspiracy involving thousands of IELTS staff worldwide and the reputable organizations behind IELTS, like the British Council and the University of Cambridge.
🗣️ Debunking Myths About Subjectivity in IELTS
Chris challenges the belief that subjectivity in scoring leads to lower writing scores, pointing out that the speaking test, which is equally subjective, does not suffer the same low scores. He dismisses the idea of hidden tricks or secrets to scoring high on the writing test, often peddled by those selling courses or services. Instead, he encourages listeners to focus on improving their writing skills rather than entertaining unfounded theories.
✍️ The Real Reason Behind Lower Writing Scores
Chris proposes the real reason for lower writing scores: a lack of practice. He contrasts the extensive hours spent on reading and listening in English with the minimal time dedicated to writing, especially in academic contexts. He explains that writing, like any skill, improves with practice, and most students have not had enough opportunity to practice writing academic essays or reports, which are required in the IELTS test. Chris also touches on the reluctance of teachers to teach writing due to its perceived lack of excitement and the difficulty in teaching it effectively.
🔄 The Learning Cycle for Improving Writing Skills
Chris outlines a learning cycle to improve writing skills: learn, do, feedback, and improvement. He stresses the importance of understanding what needs to be done, attempting the task, receiving feedback, and then using that feedback to improve. He uses paraphrasing as an example to illustrate this cycle. Chris encourages students to engage in this cycle repeatedly to master various writing components and improve their overall writing ability.
🆓 Free IELTS Essay Builder Course
Chris announces a free course called IELTS Essay Builder, which includes lessons, tasks, and feedback sessions focused on improving essay writing skills. The course is designed to help students learn how to write introductions, main body paragraphs, and conclusions effectively. He invites interested students to join before the course starts and mentions that it's open to a limited number of participants. Chris also thanks the audience for their support and encourages them to engage with the IELTS VIP community on various platforms.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡IELTS
💡Writing Scores
💡Reading and Listening Scores
💡Speaking Scores
💡Conspiracy Theory
💡Subjectivity
💡Academic Essay
💡Practice
💡Feedback
💡IELTS Essay Builder
Highlights
IELTS writing scores tend to be lower than reading, listening, and speaking scores.
The average reading and listening scores are around 8, while speaking averages around 7.5 and writing around 6.
IELTS data shows a consistent pattern of higher listening and reading scores compared to speaking and writing across countries.
A common misconception is that IELTS deliberately lowers writing scores to increase test retakes and revenue.
The idea of a global conspiracy to lower writing scores is debunked due to lack of evidence and the reputable organizations behind IELTS.
The subjectivity of examiners is not the cause of lower writing scores, as speaking is equally subjective yet scores are higher.
The myth of secret tricks to improve writing scores is dismissed as marketing tactics by some IELTS centers.
The real reason for lower writing scores is the lack of practice in writing, especially academic writing.
Students have spent significantly more time on listening and reading compared to writing in English.
The communicative approach in English teaching prioritizes speaking over writing, leading to less writing practice.
Many English teachers avoid teaching writing due to its perceived lack of excitement and student resistance.
Writing is a skill that requires practice, similar to physical activities like sports, and is often neglected.
A systematic approach of learn-do-feedback-improve is suggested for improving writing skills.
The importance of feedback from a good teacher is emphasized for identifying and correcting mistakes in writing.
A free 5-day IELTS essay builder course is announced to help students improve their writing with structured lessons and feedback.
The course includes lessons on writing introductions, main body paragraphs, and conclusions, with tasks and feedback sessions.
Encouragement for students to engage with the IELTS VIP community on social media for updates and support.
Transcripts
hi everyone Chris here from IELTS VIP
podcast and welcome to the IELTS VIP
podcast thank you very much for your
today's session what we're going to do
is we're going to look at a question
that one of our VIP students asked which
is something that many of you might have
been thinking as well whyare I'll try
ting scores almost always lower than the
other three so normally what you'll see
is quite high reading and listening
scores and then slightly lower speaking
scores and then lower again writing
scores so the students that we normally
work with are I'd say the average for
reading and listening is is around an
eighth like actually quite high and then
the the speaking the average when they
first come to us is maybe seven six
point five something like that but the
the writing is always lower it's like
six point five six or even five point
five and if you actually look at the the
the the data from IELTS I also spoke a
lot of data if you go on to IELTS org
and or if you google IELTS statistics or
IELTS data and you'll find a lot of
information and the one of the things
that they publish is like the mean
average score for each country and in
every single country the listening and
reading scores are always higher than
the speaking and writing scores and the
writing scores are always the lowest so
why is that so what we're going to talk
about in this podcast are some common
things that a lot of people believe is
are the reasons which are actually not
true and then we're going to look at a
very very simple real reason that the
actual reason and I will shock you a
simple this is and I'm not I haven't
heard anyone talking about this I
haven't heard anyone coming up with this
explanation and when you when you think
about it it does become very very
apparent that this is the real reason
and then what I'm gonna do is talk about
what you can do to actually improve your
writing scores because at the end of the
day we're not going to spend a lot of
time you know worrying about why this is
or you know it might be this reason or
that reason at the end of the day if
you're listening to this podcast what
you want to do is improve your writing
score so we're going to help you write
without so anytime that shouldn't see
this and and if you are if you have been
doing Lyle
for a long time like many of our
students have before they come to us
they might have been doing the test like
five or six times and every time they
get high reading listening scores and
lower writing scores what tends to
happen is students start to blame things
and without really having enough
information to to come to that
conclusion so let's talk about some of
these alcohol and conspiracy theories so
there's the the one that you'll hear
regularly is the conspiracy theory that
IELTS purposely lower your writing score
so that you'll have to repeat the test
and then they'll make lots of money
all right let us think about this for a
second so what you're saying is that
thousands of people literally thousands
of people that work in IELTS all over
the world working in hundreds of
different locations are all in on this
scam because it is a criminal scam if
this is true and in what how many years
has this been going on and there's not
one single piece of evidence real
evidence for it there's a lot of
circumstantial evidence but there's not
like a memo or any training or a single
member of staff has ever come out so
it's kind of like the JFK assassination
conspiracy or man didn't land on the
moon conspiracy like it sounds tempting
to believe that but it's just simply not
true when when you think about it
logically and myself I know quite a few
IELTS examiner's and we you know I
haven't heard anything like this where
they purposely put the the scores done
and on the fact that the people that own
IELTS are the British government but the
British Council partly owned by the
British and British government or its a
quasi and governmental body at the
University of Cambridge I DP which is
associated with many many very reputable
universities all over the world
including a lot of Australian
universities do you think they all are
entering into a criminal conspiracy to
get your $200 like I don't think anyone
want
wants to risk jail time over this so
that one even though many people will
still believe that they're the type of
people that believe that you know man
didn't go to the moon or the earth is
flat and the other reason that you hear
quite a lot is that because writing is
that it's it's examiner is looking at
your your essay or your task one
response because they are subjective
that that would lead to automatically to
lower scores I don't think that's true
either because you have to remember that
the speaking test is just as subjective
as a writing test if that's your
position so why is the speaking test not
as low as the writing test so that you
know again applying logic to a
conspiracy I kind of you know it builds
out out of the water and if that were
true then if people were being really
really subjective that wouldn't normally
lead to always lower scores and if you
look at the mean or look at the averages
the writing scores are always lower than
the reading and listening scores and the
the main ones and they and the average
ones so if someone was just being really
really subjective that would bring in a
lot of randomness so I wouldn't really
put too much talking and not theory
either the third thing that you'll hear
a lot normally from people trying to
sell you courses or people trying to get
you to join their and their IELTS Center
or Language Center or a review Center
whatever it is that there's some kind of
tips or tricks or secrets that they have
and you just have to learn these secrets
you just have to learn these tricks and
you'll be able to get a high score and
there's some like special way of doing
the writing test to test the writing
task one test again that's nonsense it's
just marketing and it's just them trying
to say that because they don't actually
know how to teach the test they don't
actually know what to do themselves so
they're more interested in taking your
money than actually helping you so I
wouldn't believe people who tell you
that either that there's some special
thing that you need to do so those are
the three most common reasons if you're
watching on YouTube
what are the other reasons that you
think and let me know in the comments
and be interesting to see what what
people think about that I think those
are the three most common things but
let's look at the real reason okay so
and if you disagree with me tell me like
if I would Martin I don't mind entering
and do debate with you and you know I
always apply logic to the debate so I
don't mind doing that but here's what I
think is happening so what I want you to
do is think about the number of
collective number of hours you have
spent reading and listening in English
so think about the number of hours
you've spent listening to English TV -
to movies - radio and when you're in
class listening to your teacher when
you're in class talking to other
students all of that input that's going
into your brain try and have a rough
guess of how many hours that is could be
a hundred hours could be 500 hours could
even be thousands of hours if you have
like my son the first four years no
first two years of his life he was in
Vietnam Vietnam is not an
english-speaking country but he was
surrounded by English because he was
watching English TV he was looking at
YouTube clips of like any time he left
the house he would hear English on the
street by people you know people
speaking it or in restaurants or when he
was going on it's a huge amount of
information that's going in and every
time you're doing that you're practicing
your and you're listening also think
about reading how many hours have you
spent reading in English even just small
things like going outside and reading
signs or reading a book or reading a
menu or in class you're reading your
textbook or whatever that is or you know
even watching YouTube right now
I'm reading some subtitles or something
like that again a huge number of hours
could be hundreds could even be
thousands of hours then think about how
long you spend speaking so anytime you
go into a classroom especially people
who've gone to a school like the British
console or
International House or one of them and
any place where you're practicing your
English what is the main way that the
teacher gets you to practice your
English they get you to read they get
you to listen and then they get you to
chat about it 95% of the time when you
are producing language in a classroom
you're not writing you're speaking so
what and this is very common because of
something called the the communicative
approach in that's the dominant approach
for for English teaching is get students
to talk and get them to interact with
each other so then compare that with in
the amount of time that you have spent
with a pen in your hand writing English
on a piece of paper then compare that
with take out all the texting that
you're doing take out all the just
typing a little email and think about
the amount of time that you've spent
writing an essay writing an academic
essay in English or writing an academic
report or writing a letter the things
that you have to do in the IELTS test
the the ratio between writing and
listening is going to be massive it
might be hundreds to one even thousand a
thousand to one for every hundred hours
or even a thousand hours that you spent
listening you might do one or two hours
of writing so why are writing scores
lower than listening and reading and
speaking because you just don't write
that much all right it's a skill like
imagine I played cricket for 1,000 hours
tennis for 700 hours then basketball for
500 hours and then I spent 50 hours
boxing would I be a good boxer no I'd be
a terrible boxer but I'd be pretty good
at all the other ones because I
practiced it writing is a skill reading
is a skill listening is a skill speaking
as a skill the more you do them the
better you become very very rarely if at
all do you practice writing in English
and especially not writing an academic
essay or a report so on many
native english-speakers would actually
struggle with the writing test because
it requires not only your ability to to
use English grammar and vocabulary and
all of these things but you have to know
how to structure and write an effective
argument and organize your writing
paragraphing all of these basic things
and it seemed basic to someone like me
who you know all day every day I'm
writing and teaching people writing but
to most people that doesn't come very
naturally so and it also comes down to
the fact that a lot of English teachers
shy away from teaching writing and
because students don't like it alright
so any time I was teaching like in in
the British console or any other school
and I would have a writing lesson most
of the most the students are we just
want to chat to each other we just want
to play games we just want to do silly
things we don't want to sit down and
write because the the classroom is
silent for her forty-five minutes either
the out of the hour or if it's a
two-hour lesson like an hour and a half
is just you sitting there and writing or
me telling you what you're doing up with
the board and so it's not the most
exciting class in the world and a lot of
teachers don't like that because they
don't like for their students to be
unhappy with them they want to you know
please the crowd and so students don't
get that much practice in class either
and so it's just never taught and even
when it is taught it's not really taught
properly because many of the people
teaching it don't know how to write
either so it is a something that's just
not practiced not taught well and not
taught often so is it any surprise why
the average writing score in the world
is like 5.5 when when these things are
happening it's not for me to do with
conspiracy theories there's nothing to
do with the test being subjective it's
nothing to do with any tricks or secrets
or anything like that and if you
disagree with me tell me feel free to
tell me and I'd love to engage with you
and find out what you think about that
and just go onto our YouTube channel if
you're listening to the
Podcast we publish these podcasts on our
youtube channel go on there and you'll
find this podcast and video format you
can comment below and let me know what
you think about that but there's it's
kind of a waste of time though to debate
these things so anytime that I have a
student who is constantly asking
questions and debating this with me I
will debate it with them for it for a
little while but then at the end at the
end of the day I'll say to them is this
helping you become a better writer is
this helping you improve your IELTS
writing scores that kind of like no it's
actually not okay how about instead of
debating this topic we just find out how
to get you better writing scores they go
okay so let me tell you how to do that
so think about this as a a cycle so if
you're listening to the podcast think
about what the things are gonna say is
part of a cycle that is going to help
you improve so the first stage is you
need to learn all right you need to
learn what to do so one of the things
that we do with our VIP students is the
first thing is a show that we have a
twenty-four module course on hot on
IELTS writing like twelve modules for
task 1 well watch it for toss to let me
start off with the beginning more like
these are the different types of
questions these are the skills these are
this is how to write an introduction a
main body paragraph conclusion here are
all the different things you need to
know so you need that data you need that
that know-how and before you can move
forward and then the next stage the next
part of the cycle is you're going to
have to do those things so you're going
to have to learn what to do and then
attempt to do those things and you will
fail at them but that's all part of the
process it's like learning how to write
write a bike you your dad or your mom
can show you what to do or your brother
or your sister you know should big
brother or big sister showing you what
to do but you're going to have to fall
off your bike a few times alright that's
a natural part of learning how to ride a
bike or put a helmet on it it'll make
sure you're okay but you're going to
have to fall a couple of times same with
a baby a toddler learning
how to to walk you have to learn how to
crawl first and then when you start to
walk you're gonna fall over a couple of
times you're gonna bang your head a few
times my son
certainly did or a toddler like a four
year old my little boy right now he's
learning how to perfect his English and
perfect his Vietnamese and it's not
perfect he's constantly making mistakes
but he doesn't care about those mistakes
he's him he's getting better all the
time so learn what to do then do it
unsuccessfully because you can't go from
you know you can't go from crawling on
the floor to sprinting immediately so
learn what to do then do it and do it
unsuccessfully do it as best as you can
but you'll do it unsuccessfully all
right if you stop there you're not going
to learn anything the next part of the
cycle so learn do in the next part of
the cycle is feedback all right so
you're gonna need someone to tell you
where you're going wrong because you
might be doing it unsuccessfully but you
have no idea that you are doing it on
successfully like many people if you
think that you are right all the time
and you have no idea that you were wrong
and or you might just know that you're
doing something wrong but you don't know
where or you don't know how you're doing
it so you need feedback on your work and
for many of you what you need to do is
find a really really good teacher to
help you with that you're not going to
help you're not going to be able to
learn something as specific as writing
an essay from by just figuring it
figuring it out yourself very few people
can do that and like like anything why
do we have teachers why do we have
coaches principally to give feedback to
people and show people the way so that's
the the third part of the cycle the last
part of the cycle is improvement knowing
how to do it so and that's the final
part of the cycle and then you go to the
you go around again to learn what what
do I need to learn know then to do then
to feedback and to improvement then back
to learn so let's think of an example
something that you're going to need to
learn how to do will be paraphrasing
so what you need to do is learn what
paraphrasing is learn how to paraphrase
theoretically you learn the theory
behind it and then try and paraphrase
you'll mess it up but then you get a
teacher to give you feedback on that and
say okay you're doing this right that's
great this you need to fix this a little
bit that's terrible don't don't do that
again you need to do a lot of work on
this like give showing you where you're
going right where you're going wrong
then you'll do it again and you will
improve then you go to the next thing
okay I've mastered that no no no I need
to know how to write an introduction
okay within an introduction what what do
I need to know how to do main body
paragraph okay I need to know how to
write a topic sentence let's learn not
let's write a topic sentence let's get
feedback on it let's improve it
next explanations how do I do that boom
boom boom so doing it in a very very
systematic illogical way I'm a very
logical person and and that's why my
brain works but it it is a very very
good way to learn something and that's
how you improve your writing obviously
you're going to need that input you're
going to need to learn what to do you're
going to need those lessons you're going
to need practice activities you're going
to need feedback on your work obviously
I can't help everybody I'm just one
person and there's quite a few people
watching this video right now I weave
over a million people and on our on our
Facebook page alone for example however
what we're doing at the moment is so
today is the 15th of November 2018 is
that correct
I wrote 2019 the other day for some
reason and but normally at the beginning
of 2019
I write 2018 anyway so what we were
going to do on Monday Monday the 19th is
it on the 19th so if you're watching
this before the 19th we're going to do a
new free course called IELTS essay
builder and what we're gonna do in that
is it's a 5 day course and we're going
to have three lessons three tasks and
three feet three feedback sessions so
it's going to be a lesson on how to read
an introduction how to read the main
body part
graph on how to write a conclusion
there's going to be a task I'll write an
introduction write a main body paragraph
write a conclusion and then three
feedback sessions giving you feedback on
your work it's totally free and normally
we charge hundreds of dollars for
something like this but we're doing it
for free this month and if you're
interested if you're watching the
podcast just Google IELTS essay builder
so if you just google IELTS essay
builder and it'll be the first option
you'd but you have to join before the
19th because it starts on the 19th we've
if you're listening after the 19th
November 2018 you might be listening to
this 2020 it hopefully I won't be
teaching I out there but if it's for the
19th to November 2018 then by all means
join we currently have 12,000 people who
have joined already we're gonna close it
at 15,000 so and get in there it's free
we've done it before and it's always
been really really successful and so get
in there if you want to improve let me
know what you think about that it's
always interesting to to see different
perspectives on on everything and
especially why you think those scores
are lower and what can be done about it
and if you're on YouTube let me know in
the comments and that's pretty much it
for today and thank you very much to
everyone who has rated the podcast five
stars we've had nothing but five-star
ratings and so far thank you very much
thank you to everybody who has
subscribed and to the podcast this
subscribing to the podcast and rating
the podcast and and giving us reviews
that does really encourage us to create
more and unrealistic thank you very much
guys and if you need anything else go to
our website and IELTS advantage com so
if you just Google i/os advantage you'll
find a lot of information on our website
we also have our Facebook page or
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check us out there and subscribe or like
it and you'll get all our updates and
everything thank you very much guys I
hope you enjoyed our podcast let me know
if you did and look forward to hearing
from you bye bye
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