EAP 5 AT2: RESEARCH ESSAY (Individual)

ENGLISH
VUE TEACHER VU ID CLASS # DATE FIRST NAME FAMILY NAME
NAME
Mark Thomas 4651748 4 22/4/2022 Zihao Song Leo

Chinese Translation
Rename the document with these details Word 文档重新命名细节：
 Your class number (C1 to C18)  班级 (按 1 班到 13 班命名为”C1”到”C18”)
 Your in-class number according to the register roll (e.g.  点名册上的班内序号 (01 到 38)
01 to 38)  拼音姓名 (请不要用汉字，外教老师不认
 Your Chinese name in Pinyin (no Chinese characters, the 识!)
teacher may not be able to read it!)  AT2 (以便我们知道是哪项测评)
 Your English name
 AT2 (so we know which assessment it is)
For example: C7.23 – Chen Haoran Ben AT2 例如：C7.23 – Chen Haoran Ben AT2
C9.20 – Li Lin Lynn AT2 C9.20 – Li Lin Lynn AT2

TYPE YOUR ESSAY HERE: 

TITLE: Assessment Task 2 Research Essay

The problem of hunger has been plaguing the world. According to the World Department of
Economic and Social Affairs, “The number of people experiencing hunger has been on the rise
since 2014, and malnutrition stunts the growth of millions of children” (2019). In addition, the
United Nations has identified other problems that hunger can cause, such as disease, stunting and
the collapse of agriculture. There is no doubt that the world can achieve sustainable development
only if the problem of malnutrition caused by hunger is solved. Therefore, the United Nations has
set up Sustainable Development Goal 2 to achieve zero hunger. This paper will discuss the issues
in SDG 2 and contrast China's progress towards achieving the SDG with Eastern and
Southeastern Asia. The report will begin with a summary of some common causes and impacts
related to Goal 2, followed by a search and analysis of available United Nations data.

Epidemics, natural disasters and conflict are three main causes of worsening hunger. First, a
pandemic can affect the level of agricultural production in an area. For example, the epidemic will
make many farmers sick and stop agricultural production (Gregorio & Ancog 2020). Second,
natural disasters can hurt production. For instance, agriculture in Southeast Asian countries is
often destroyed by floods (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 2018).
Finally, conflicts between regions can halt agricultural production. A country threatened by war will
not be able to produce food properly (Welsh 2022). Hunger caused by these three problems can
cause people to suffer from diseases such as malnutrition. For example, lack of nutrition in young
children leads to diseases and inability to farm as adults, which could lead to the failure of previous
hunger reduction efforts. As noted above, the proportion of undernourished people in Southeastern
Asia rose from 2.7 percent in 2019 to 2.9 percent in 2020, offsetting gains made since 2017
(United Nations 2021). Even in a safe and stable country like China, further reductions in
malnutrition rates will also be difficult. A common example is that in China, even a small outbreak
of the disease severely affects the production and marketing of agricultural products, so it does not
increase food production.

With economic and social development, hunger and undernourishment are gradually being
resolved. Chart 1 below shows the proportion and changes of undernourished people in China and
Eastern and Southeastern Asia in 2015 and 2020 respectively. More than 3.3 percent of the
population of East and Southeast Asia was undernourished in 2015, according to the United
Nations. By comparison, China's malnutrition rate was below 2.5percent, lower than in Eastern
and Southeastern Asia. By 2020, the proportion of undernourished people in China remained
stable at around 2.5 percent, while in Eastern and Southeastern Asia, it dropped 0.4 percent to 2.9
percent. Overall, malnutrition has been reduced in China and Eastern and Southeastern Asia by
2020. But as a result of the pandemic, malnutrition rates in Eastern and Southeastern Asia have
fluctuated between 2.7 percent and 2.9 percent. However, undernourishment rates of
Southeastern Asia were still very high, at 7.3 percent. Indeed, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition
shows “by 2030, the pandemic will be a major challenge in eradicating hunger” (2022). Besides,
hunger can lead to other problems, such as social disorder and lack of education, making it harder
to solve the problem.

Chart 1
Indicator 2.1.1: Proportion of population with
prevalence of undernourishment
3.50% 3.30%
2.90%
3.00%
2.50% 2.50%
2.50%
2.00%
1.50%
1.00%
0.50%
0.00%
Eastern and South-Eastern Asia China

2015 2020
source: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/dataportal/database.
To sum up, while China and East and Southeast Asia have made progress towards SDG 2, they
still face significant difficulties. In 2019, nearly 97.5 percent of the population in China and 97.3
percent of the population in Eastern and Southeastern Asia were lifted from undernourishment.
Unfortunately, the latest data for 2020 showed that the proportion of undernourished people in
Eastern and Southeastern Asia was back to 2.9 percent in 2017. It is clear that COVID-19 has
dealt a major blow to progress in tackling malnutrition in Eastern and South-eastern Asia. Thus,
China and the rest of the world need to work hard to address this issue in order to achieve the
SDG 2 targets.
Reference List:
Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2019, SDG indicators, United Nations, viewed 19 April
2022, <https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-02/>.

Gregorio, GB & Ancog, RC 2020, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on agriculture production in

southeast Asia: reinforcing transformative change in agricultural food systems - SEARCA,
SEARCA, viewed 19 April 2022, <https://www.searca.org/pubs/briefs-notes?pid=468>.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 2018, Managing weather-related

disasters in southeast Asian agriculture, OECD-Library, viewed 19 April 2022, <https://www.oecd-
ilibrary.org/sites/9789264123533-6-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/9789264123533-6-
en>.

United Nations 2021, 2021 SDG report, United Nations Statistics Division, viewed 19 April 2022,
<https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/goal-02/>.

U.S. Global Leadership Coalition 2022, COVID-19 brief: impact on food security, USGLC, viewed
20 April 2022, <https://www.usglc.org/coronavirus/global-hunger/>.

Welsh, C 2022, Agriculture and food security: casualties of the war in Ukraine, CSIS, viewed 19
April 2022, <https://www.csis.org/analysis/agriculture-and-food-security-casualties-war-ukraine>.
TEACHER USE ONLY

ASSESSMENT TASK 2: RESEARCH ESSAY

EAP5 (UPPER INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED)
Course Code: VNEAP
Course name: English for Academic Purposes
Unit Code: VNUEAP5B
Unit Title: EAP

EAP5 AT2: FEEDBACK & RESULT

TOTA
ELEMENTS COLUMN A BASIC PASS COLUMN B
L
STRUCTURE & CONTENT
Includes all elements in logical
Introduction A Includes elements 2, 4 & 5 in logical order 2 3
order
Includes 2BPs beginning with topic
B 2
sentences
C Describes 1 main cause 1 Describes 2 2
Accurately describes 1 or more
Attempts to describe an effect related to the
Body Paragraphs D 1 effects related to the stated 2
stated cause(s)
(BPs) cause(s)
E Illustrates extent of SDG issue with a chart 1
Includes commentary on the data, which
AND a majority of the
F attempts to compare/contrast China with the 2 3
comments are relevant
other regions
Conclusion G Includes all elements in logical order 2
Attempts to engage with ideas & material - Strong engagement with ideas
Critical
H demonstrates a reasonable understanding of 4 & material - critical or 4
understanding
the issues evaluative thinking is evident
COHESION
There is a clear development of ideas in at
Development of
I least 1 BP with no more than 1 instance of 5 …in at least 2 BPs 5
ideas
repetition

Includes 8 or more appropriate5 transition

Transitions J words, phrases or clauses to link ideas 4
within & between paragraphs

LANGUAGE

K Includes at least 4 complex sentences 4 AND 2 or more are error free 6

AND attempts more complex

L No more than 10 basic tense errors 3 4
Grammar tenses
Errors of the following type rarely affect
understanding: word category, word order, Errors have no effect on
M 4 5
wrong word, missing word, singular/plural, understanding
or article errors
Spelling & There are no more than 10 spelling or
N 3 No more than 5 3
Punctuation punctuation errors
Register O No more than 2 errors 1
Competent use of basic vocabulary - some Broad range of vocabulary used
Vocabulary P 3 3
effective use of less common vocabulary appropriately
USE OF EXTERNAL SOURCES
And attempts to paraphrase
Direct quotes &
Q Essay includes 3 direct quotes 3 or summarise at least 2 expert 4
paraphrasing
opinions
 Sources used in the essay are correctly
In-text citation R cited in-text (no more than 2 citation 2 1 citation error only 3
errors)
All (& only ) in – text citations are
Reference list S included in the reference list (no more 3 No more than 1 citation error 3
than 2 citation errors)
DEDUCTIONS - DEDUCTIONS -
BASIC TOTAL ESSAY TOTAL
50 100

KEY: < 50% = RESUBMIT 50 - 59% = Basic Pass 60 – 69% = Good 70 – 79% = Very Good 80 –
100% = Excellent

DEDUCTIONS: -5 points for not meeting word limit

Plagiarism: Remember to PARAPHRASE or use DIRECT QUOTES. If you have copied from another source
without referencing it, you will be flagged for plagiarism. There are severe penalties for plagiarism.

TEACHER COMMENTS: Resubmit?  or X for final score of _________

Teacher Name: