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Improve in IELTS academic writing by reading online articles on IELTS topics

  • Foto del escritor: Pete Pozner
    Pete Pozner
  • 21 oct 2019
  • 2 Min. de lectura











In order to improve your IELTS academic writing, it is vital that you regularly read articles on IELTS topics so that you can learn from expert writers how to use English in context, as well as developing ideas and opinions on current issues.


You should search online news and current affairs sites on a variety of typical IELTS topics, such as the environment, technology, health and work, especially choosing ones that you are interested in since this will aid motivation and learning. Here is a list of links to such websites, recommended by Charles Cornelius (MA in education and IELTS teacher):



The more you read about IELTS-style topics, the more you will become familiar with natural language that you can use in your IELTS writing tasks, and you can help to activate this language knowledge by trying to notice useful topic vocabulary and grammatical structures before noting them down in the meaningful context in which you found them, and underlining the target language, like in the following examples.


And according to the UN, one million species are currently facing extinction (https://www.popsci.com/biodiversity-reshuffling-climate-change/).


Exercise can help to reduce the body’s response to stress by boosting serotonin levels in the brain (https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/how-does-physical-exercise-help-reduce-stress/).


In both examples above, the target language (underlined) is recorded in context. On the one hand, in the first example, it is a collocation from the topic area of the environment while in the second case, it is one use of the verb-ing (when a preposition is followed by a verb, the verb takes ing) taken from an article in the area of health.


The other reason why you should read these types of articles is that they help train you to plan and write well-developed and coherent task responses. This is because you will gain exposure of diverse ideas and opinions on different topics, which along with the language that you internalise, help you to form your own extended and coherent ideas and opinions in the target language.


To sum up, in order to become proficient at IELTS writing tasks, it's necessary to immerse yourself, through reading IELTS-style texts, in relevant language and diverse points of view so that you develop ideas and the tools to express them.



If you found this article useful, and would like more help in your IELTS preparation, you can download my free e-book, 12 tips for scoring high in IELTS writing task 2, as well as getting feedback and corrections on your IELTS writing tasks. Also, you can book an online IELTS lesson or a trial first. Click on the following links.







 
 
 

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