TOEFL iBT Writing for an Academic Discussion Is ability to read and write more important today than in the past? (Revised)

With the advent of digital technology and multimedia forms of communication some argue that the traditional skills of reading and writing are not as essential as they were in the past. Others believe that these foundational skills are even more critical now. Considering the changing ways in which we disseminate and consume information, do you think the ability to read and write is more important today than in the past? Why or why not?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1. Ava believes that today’s information-saturated world requires higher literacy ever. Make an objection.

2. Jacob suggests that videos and podcasts are often more informative than reading materials. Make an objection.

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Agree (Ability to read and write is more important today than in the past in the past.)

1         Literacy is essential in deciding reliability of videos and podcasts, for intelligence depends on literacy. To be intelligent, you must read and write because knowledge of truth humans accumulated for millennia is in writing.

 

2         Unlike two centuries ago, most of our daily tasks involve reading and writing. There is written information everywhere such as signs and scripts on TV screens. Literacy is necessary in our daily lives. Using social media also involves reading and sending texts. People usually exchange information through scripts, e-mails and text messages. To learn the latest information and communicate exactly what you think or feel, you need to be literate.

 

3         Development of technology requires you to be involved in more intellectual tasks than physical tasks. For example, entrance examinations for university include more essays than before. In business, there are more need for research and presentation skills as automatization and robotization proceeds. Also, high-level language skills are crucial in successfully utilizing AI by giving proper commands to it.

 

4         To get the most out of our lives in this age of information, whose main medium is language, literacy is indispensable.

 

 Disagree

1.          Seeing is believing. Videos and podcasts help people understand issues more quickly, easily, and effectively than written media.

 

2.          There are few opportunities to read and write today as a result of technological development. Most tasks are done just by clicking icons. Many people can spell fewer words correctly than before due to predictive text and spell check functions, and they find few problems in their daily lives.

 

3.          Just as the ability to make fire is unnecessary anymore thanks to lighters and power plants, so is the ability to read and write now that we have developed technology for it. We can think and communicate more freely and creatively while machines deal with information effectively for us.

 

4.          There are CEOs who are dyslexic. Reading and writing is just a part of human intellectual activity.

 

 

☆Sample Answer Structure

【Thesis】I believe that the ability to read and write is much more important than before.

【Supporting Details】Development of the modern world won’t happen without written media. New ideas like gender equality and climate justice, for instance, cannot be disseminated without any written text, and our thoughts and ideas keep evolving, necessitating our efforts in reading and writing even more.

【Counterargument-treatment】Jacob is right that people don’t read as much as before, but it doesn’t make reading and writing less important. It is true that audio and visual media make up for drawbacks of written media. Seeing is believing, and narration liberates us, especially those with reading impairment, from the burden of reading. They also have their own attractiveness. However, reading text is one and only action that cannot be replaced by other actions as text directly stimulates our thoughts and feeling. Video, podcasts, or audiobooks interfere this connection between text and our brain. Also, high level of intelligence cannot be maintained without literacy as text mainly deals with abstract ideas.

【Conclusion】As human thoughts have evolved and reside in written media, the content of which relates to a large part of human society, ability to read and write becomes increasingly important unless our civilization is lost. (202 words)

 

 

☆Speech Time

Make a one-minute speech and have a debate on this topic.

TOEFL iBT Writing for an Academic Discussion Which is more beneficial, prioritizing winning or focusing on participation and personal development in P.E classes? (Revised)

In the context of school sports programs, here is often a debate between prioritizing winning and focusing on participation and personal development. Considering the impact on students’ growth, team dynamics, and school culture, do you think it is more beneficial for schools to emphasize winning in sports events, or should the focus be more on participation and personal development?

 

 

 

☆Let’s Think

	Students’ Growth	Team Dynamics	School Culture
Prioritizing Winning In Sports Events
Focusing on Participation And personal Development

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Emphasis on winning sporting events

l  It easily motivates students and effectively contributes to their physical growth because passion for winning is instinctive and contest, or competition, is one of the major elements of sports.

l  It successfully enhances teamwork skills.

l  It corresponds with competitive culture of today’s society, of which school is part of. It helps students get accustomed to losing and make them tough and positive in competition.

 

Emphasis on participation and personal development

l  It makes non-athletic students conscious of their fitness and help them acquire the habits of working out.

l  It develops self-discipline because students compete against themselves.

l  Focusing on winning can promote the “The-end-justifies-the-means” attitude, and this will degrade humanities like losing the spirit of fair play and taking Machiavellian approaches, which is not good for personal development and school culture.

l  Competitiveness is the core mindset of the capitalist society, where the winner takes all while the loser is not taken care of. This will weaken the humanity, while focusing on participation and personal development in P.E. classes nurture more relaxed, merciful mindset and school culture.

 

 

☆Sample Response

【Thesis】If education is to civilize people, it’s to not stimulate instinct, and so physical education should not stimulate urges to win because it is instinctive and barbaric and is often the cause of problems such as hate, discrimination, bullying, and war.

【Supporting Details】The Unites States, which is plagued with these issues, is the case in point. It has dominated as a military power since the end of WWII, oppressing people around the world by all means to stay number one. This urge to win is instilled in its people. Winning, not fair play, is prioritized in sports. The filthy rich, who did not choose the means to their goals, are respected as winners of their capitalist society. This ethos of the American Empire has made the national character that lacks the warmth and delicacy of humanity, and now it has become No. 1 in the developed world in all kinds of problems, including homicide and suicide rates.

【Counterargument-treatment】Olivia’s point that competitive spirit motivates students to excel in anything and this nurtures discipline and perseverance in them could be true in individual sports, but in team sports, each member must grow first and as a result team spirit must be established to get the drive to be the best through good team dynamics.

【Conclusion】Therefore, winning should not be the goal in P.E. classes. It should be taken as a result of good participation and personal growth. (234 words)

 

 

TOEFL iBT Writing for an Academic Discussion The Most Important Subject to Learn in High School (Revised)

Considering the range of disciplines traditionally taught in high schools―such as mathematics, science, history, and English―what do you think is the most important subject for students to learn? Justify your choice by discussing its relevance to students’ personal growth, their role in society, or their future professional lives?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

	Personal Growth	Students’ Role in Society	Future Professional Lives
Mathematics  and Science
Social Studies (History, Geography, and Civics)
Language
Others

 

 

☆Hints for Points

・National Language: Language is thought. (Noam Chomsky)  The level of literacy decides the level of the humanity, and in the end, of the society.

・Mathematics: It nurtures logic and imagination.

・Science: It gives us knowledge of the physical world, which helps us think about where we are from and where we are now. It is also the foundation of engineering.

・History: You can learn why human society is as it is now.

・Geography: You can gain knowledge of how life is in each region on this planet.

・Civics: To build a true democracy, everyone needs to learn civics.

・Home Economics: Regardless of sex, students must learn to be able to be independent, to take care of themselves and their family.

・Second Language: To learn new perspectives, to be well-rounded, and to be useful in the society of diversity in the 21^st century, it is necessary to learn other languages.

 

 

☆Sample Response

【Thesis】I think National Language is the most important subject in high school because it develops brains, which contributes to students’ personal development, role in society, and future job opportunities.

【Supporting Details】Noam Chomsky, who is the Einstein of Linguistics in that he revolutionized this subject in the 20^th century and presented new perspectives about Language and humans, says that Language is not only a means of communication but also our thought itself. Language acquisition forms the wiring of the brain, and so mother tongue acquisition is in line with the formation of the mind and facilitates personal development, which leads to trust and confidence from society. Also, the level of mother tongue proficiency affects performances in other subjects. Not to speak of literature and history, subjects that require high level of syntax and vocabulary to study, science and math depends on the command of the mother tongue in understanding and forming a concept or an image that is neither visible nor tangible. As a result, literacy level will be the key to most professional jobs.

【Counterargument-Treatment】Although an overly pedantic focus on punctuation hinders the growth of literacy, overall training in basic language skills is indispensable for learning because it nurtures critical thinking and the ability to articulate ideas clearly.

【Conclusion】High school years is the last years for individuals to have significant brain development, and therefore, training students’ national language skills and helping them have their highest possible language ability is the most important thing that a school can do to make students’ lives fulfilling and successful. (254 words)

 

 

☆Speech Time

1) Make a speech on this topic. Don’t worry. Everybody speaks at the same time.

2) Have a debate on this topic.

TOEFL iBT Writing for an Academic Discussion The Most Important Subject to Learn in High School (Revised)

Considering the range of disciplines traditionally taught in high schools―such as mathematics, science, history, and English―what do you think is the most important subject for students to learn? Justify your choice by discussing its relevance to students’ personal growth, their role in society, or their future professional lives?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

	Personal Growth	Students’ Role in Society	Future Professional Lives
Mathematics and Science
Social Studies (History, Geography, and Civics)
Language
Others

 

 

☆Hints for Points

・National Language: Language is thought. (Noam Chomsky)  The level of literacy decides the level of the humanity, and in the end, of the society.

・Mathematics: It nurtures logic and imagination.

・Science: It gives us knowledge of the physical world, which helps us think about where we are from and where we are now. It is also the foundation of engineering.

・History: You can learn why human society is as it is now.

・Geography: You can gain knowledge of how life is in each region on this planet.

・Civics: To build a true democracy, everyone needs to learn civics.

・Home Economics: Regardless of sex, students must learn to be able to be independent, to take care of themselves and their family.

・Second Language: To learn new perspectives, to be well-rounded, and to be useful in the society of diversity in the 21^st century, it is necessary to learn other languages.

 

 

☆Sample Response

【Thesis】I think National Language is the most important subject in high school because it develops brains, which contributes to students’ personal development, role in society, and future job opportunities.

【Supporting Details】Noam Chomsky, who is the Einstein of Linguistics in that he revolutionized this subject in the 20^th century and presented new perspectives about Language and humans, says that Language is not only a means of communication but also our thought itself. Language acquisition forms the wiring of the brain, and so mother tongue acquisition is in line with the formation of the mind and facilitates personal development, which leads to trust and confidence from society. Also, the level of mother tongue proficiency affects performances in other subjects. Not to speak of literature and history, subjects that require high level of syntax and vocabulary to study, science and math depends on the command of the mother tongue in understanding and forming a concept or an image that is neither visible nor tangible. As a result, literacy level will be the key to most professional jobs.

【Conclusion】High school years is the last years for individuals to have significant brain development, and therefore, training students’ national language skills and helping them have their highest possible language ability is the most important thing that a school can do to make students’ lives fulfilling and successful. (217 words)

 

 

☆Speech Time

1) Make a speech on this topic. Don’t worry. Everybody speaks at the same time.

2) Have a debate on this topic.

TOEFL iBT Writing for an Academic Discussion Stricter regulations or freedom of speech on the Internet? (Revised)

The internet has become a vital platform for free expression, but it has also been a medium where harmful speech can flourish, including hate speech, misinformation, and cyberbullying. Considering these issues, should there be stricter regulations regarding freedom of speech on the internet?

 

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.       Share cases you know of the three kinds of harmful speech the professor mentions.

・Hate speech     e.g. Online right-wingers amplify hate against an ethnic group.

・Misinformation  e.g. In the first 72 hours after Noto Megaquake that happened on January 1^st, 2024, some politicians wrongly advised that volunteers not go to the affected areas to avoid traffic jam, which never happened. As a result, help was not available for those who were in need.

・Cyberbullying   e.g. Monomanias make hundreds of catfish and obsessively and incessantly send nasty messages to a target individual.

 

2.       Why should freedom of expression be protected?

 

3.       How is the online environment different from the offline environment?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Agree (Stricter Regulations)

1.       Algorithms produce echo chambers, which work in favor of malicious intentions.

2.       Anonymity brings out the worst in the human mind. Misinformation and disinformation increase on the Internet because anyone can send information on it.

3.       The speed at which information spreads on the Internet is exponentially faster than that in the real world. Leaving online communication without regulation is dangerous especially in emergency.

4.       Conventional media has specialist filters, whereas the inclusivity of the Internet makes filtering almost impossible.

5.       The online tattoo ruins the lives of the stigmatized victims, and the incidence is unprecedented.

6.       So far, control has depended on users’ common sense, but moral corruption is happening now.

7.       Fascists are taking advantage of social media to agitate the public to discriminate against a certain group of people to wage war on the country that the people belong to.

8.       The scale of slander and libel on the internet is incomparable. Bullies will mentally harm the target individuals and drive them to commit suicide in the worst-case scenario.

 

Disagree (Freedom of Speech)

1.       The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects any speech, which is a powerful tool against rulers.

2.       Self-regulation by users and platforms has been utilized for further violation.

3.       The media are controlled by the government and big businesses. Restrictions will only be imposed negatively on the public or those in weaker positions.

 

 

☆Sample Body Structure

【Thesis】I cannot totally agree with Matt that restriction of the freedom of speech on the Internet can compromise democracy, because democracy is being lost due to the speed and the algorisms of the Internet.

【Supporting Details】It takes only a few hours for humans to pass around information online and just a few seconds for machines to fake it. By the time the correction is made and the truth is revealed, the damage is done. Lies remain and the victimized individuals have no way to reinstate themselves. Most voters will never know the truth of a bill or a candidate and learn it only after the election is over. Similar cases are found in other areas like healthcare and education. Thus, I think there should be some government intervention regarding the quality control of online information.

【Counterargument-treatment】Matt’s concern about the inviolability of the First Amendment is understandable as it regulates the state power, but the reality is that those who are ill-intentioned are taking advantage of naïve individuals through social media to get political results they want with impunity.

【Conclusion】This situation should be dealt with, and therefore I believe that harder restriction is necessary to prevent destruction of democracy. (197 words)