Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-28

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that the only reason for learning a foreign language is in order to travel to or work in a foreign country. Others say that these are not the only reasons why someone should learn a foreign language.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

When topic is about learning foreign language, there are divided opinions. Some people are believe that reason behind learning foreign language is only to work and travel there, while others argue that these are not the only reasons to learn a foreign language. Meanwhile, both views and my opinion will be explained below.

Discussing the first view, the foremost argument supporters would put forward is that foreign language is only important for students who intend to live or work overseas. To justify it further, local language enable to individuals to communicate effectively with residents, colleagues, and clients. For instance, student who study in germany university, for them local language helps to communicate with local people. Furthermore, another supporting reason to their belief is that language skills can make international travel considerably more convenient. To be more precise, language helps to people who travel overseas in communicate with hotel staff.

However, the latter view has its own claim. The most significant argument is that some people learn foreign language for know about their culture. To be more specific, foreign language helps to more concentration and improve memory. For example, learning german improves concentration and demands more understanding. In addition, another reason is that foreign language skills help in pronounces some difficult words in easy way. Therefore, some people believe that learning foreign language is not only for travel or work in another country.

To conclude and offer my viewpoint, I strongly support to first viewpoint because foreign language enable to individuals to communicate effectively and second reason is that local language understanding helps in travel and ask some local people in their local language about direction and communicate with staff.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on why people learn foreign languages and providing their own opinion. In the introduction, the writer states, 'Meanwhile, both views and my opinion will be explained below,' and later concludes by supporting the first view. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the arguments for the first view rely heavily on basic travel and work scenarios without deep extension. The counter-arguments regarding culture, memory, and pronunciation are underdeveloped and lack clear elaboration. While the student's position is clear, the supporting examples and explanations remain simple and generalized, keeping the response at a Band 6 level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement with standard paragraphing, dividing the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion logically. Cohesive devices are used to signal transitions, such as 'Discussing the first view,' 'However, the latter view has its own claim,' and 'To conclude and offer my viewpoint.' However, cohesion is frequently mechanical and sometimes faulty. For example, referencing and pronoun use are awkward in sentences like 'local language enable to individuals' and 'language helps to people who travel.' Paragraph internal progression is occasionally disrupted by repetitive phrasing and simple connectors, aligning the organizational quality with Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for the task, successfully using topic-related terms such as 'foreign language,' 'international travel,' 'overseas,' and 'residents.' However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices throughout the text, such as 'Some people are believe,' 'for know about their culture,' and 'help in pronounces some difficult words in easy way.' The range is limited, and attempts to use less common vocabulary are constrained by frequent collocation and word-formation errors. While communication is not severely impeded, the density of lexical inaccuracies prevents the response from reaching Band 6.5 or 7.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory phrases. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors such as subject-verb agreement issues ('Some people are believe'), missing articles ('study in germany university'), and incorrect verb forms following prepositions ('help in pronounces'). Additionally, structural awkwardness appears in phrases like 'local language enable to individuals.' While the reader can still understand the core message, the frequency of basic grammatical errors means that error-free sentences are not in the majority, placing this performance firmly in the Band 5 category.

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