Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-29

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The charts below show the number of French adults whose parents spoke a French regional language to them when they were children and the number who speak a French regional language to their own children.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information below.

Number of adults (in thousands) whose parents spoke a regional language to them in childhood

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The bar charts illustrates the data about the number of french grownups whose parents spoke a regional language to them, while the accompanying chart shows how many adults in return spoke a regional language to their children.

Overall, it can be seen that most parents spoke Occitan occasionally to their children, while Alsatian was mostly spoken language habitually. In contrast, Corsican was the least spoken regional language in both categories (occasionally and habitually). On the other hand most adults spoke Alsatian to their children.

Alsatian and Occitan was spoken by 600k parents habitually to adults in their childhood years, while breton was spoken by 270k parents. Moreover, the figure for Creole and Corsican was at 100k and 90k respectively.

1.07 miilion parents spoke Occitan occasionally to the adults in their childhood. In comparision, only 230K parents spoke Alsatian occasionally. The number for Corsican was much lower at 100k.

Alsatian was the most spoken regional language by adults to their children, with the figure standing at 400 thousand, significantly higher than other languages. Occitan was the second most common language spoken to children, with 350k adults speaking it. The number for Breton, Creole, and Corsican was at 99k, 97k, and 60k respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response covers all parts of the task by addressing both charts and identifying key trends and comparisons. The overview captures the main features well, noting Occitan and Alsatian as prominent languages and Corsican as the least spoken. However, there are some inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, the student states that Alsatian and Occitan were spoken by 600k parents habitually, whereas the chart shows Alsatian at 600k and Occitan at 620k, while Breton was 260k rather than 270k. Similarly, Occitan occasional speakers are noted as 1.07 million (close to the chart's 1,065), but Alsatian occasional is misstated as 230k instead of 240k. Despite these minor data transcription inaccuracies, the core comparisons are clear and the task is adequately addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The report features a clear overall arrangement with logical paragraphing, separating the introduction, overview, and specific body paragraphs for habitual, occasional, and intergenerational usage. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader, such as 'Overall', 'In contrast', and 'Moreover'. However, referencing and cohesion occasionally feel slightly mechanical or repetitive in structure (e.g., beginning multiple sentences with 'Alsatian was...' or 'The number for...'). Paragraph transitions could be smoother, but the logical progression from general to specific data is well maintained throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common phrases such as 'habitually', 'intergenerational' (implied), and 'significantly higher'. However, there are several word choice and spelling errors, such as 'french' (uncapitalized), 'grownups' (too informal for an academic report, instead of 'adults'), 'breton' (uncapitalized), 'miilion' (spelling error), and 'In comparision' (spelling error). While these vocabulary errors and informalities are noticeable, they do not impede overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and comparative structures effectively (e.g., 'while the accompanying chart shows how many adults in return spoke...'). However, there are several grammatical errors in subject-verb agreement and punctuation. For example, 'The bar charts illustrates' contains a plural-singular disagreement, and 'Alsatian and Occitan was spoken' uses a singular verb for a plural compound subject. Punctuation and capitalization are also inconsistent in places. These errors persist throughout the text, though they rarely impede communication.

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