SCHOLARSHIP / SELECTIVE SCHOOL TRIAL TEST

Y8 Written Expression Test Week 35 (Unit 18)

Time Allowed: 15 min

All students in high school should be required to take

at least two different foreign languages. Support your

point of view with reasons.

Copyright: Edu-Kingdom College

The sheet that you have in front of you asks you a specific question. It asks:
All students in high school should be required to take at least two
different foreign languages. Support your point of view with reasons.
The key word here is two. In order to learn two languages in high school
will be time consuming and it may interfere with other school subjects.
Remember, writing is little more than thinking in a logical and coherent
manner. So before putting pen to paper we need to ask a number of
questions in order to formulate a reasonable and well constructed argument.
So, firstly we need to consider the following points:

• Learning two languages will be difficult due to the time restrictions

and may interfere with the learning of other school subjects.
• Many students have not fully required the skills of mastering the
language of their new homeland.
• Speaking more than one language is genuinely beneficial and has
the potential to help one grow as an individual.
• The difficulties, however, in implementing this into schools is not
genuinely feasible.

I now have enough information to begin my essay. Looking at the above

points that I have jotted down quickly I now attempt to put these ideas into
a coherent and meaningful introduction. My introduction may therefore
look something along the following lines:

The ability to master more than three languages is an admirable feat, and
should definitely be encouraged. The reality, however, is that to force high
school students to learn two languages is fraught with difficulties. The
implementation of learning two languages will inevitably interfere with the
study of other subjects. Furthermore, a large number of students are
struggling with the language of their new homeland and to require them to
learn another language will be detrimental to the learning process.

Now that we have our introduction the remainder of the essay becomes
easy. Remember, you only have 15 minutes to complete the piece of
writing. I will therefore have only two body paragraphs for this essay. My
first topic sentence will be along these lines:

Copyright: Edu-Kingdom College

Learning two languages will ultimately disrupt the study of other school
subjects and therefore the learning process.
My second topic sentence would be along the following lines:
Many students in high school are presently struggling to understand the
language of their adopted country, and to force them to learn two more
languages will create more problems that it will solve.
My conclusion will merely summarise my central points of view. So, we
have answered the question clearly and fluently. With have an introduction
that paves the way for what we are going to argue. We have a topic
sentence for each of our body paragraphs. Once we have inserted the
examples and the detail to support those topic sentences then we have a
competent and sound piece of written English.
Let me add to the second body paragraph some examples and detail to
make it perfectly clear what I mean:
Many students in high school are presently struggling to understand the
language of their adopted country, and to force them to learn two more
languages will create more problems that it will solve. The number of ESL
(English as a Second Language) students is increasing each year and these
students often need specialised ESL teachers to help them understand the
requirements of written English. To require these students to study two
more languages will be highly detrimental to their learning. Furthermore,
time will be taken out of their normal classes in order to fit the new
language course into the curriculum. The supposed benefits will be negated
by the loss, or shortening of other academic classes.
I have now expanded upon the topic sentence. Notice that I do not
introduce any irrelevant material into the body paragraph. It all directly
relates to the topic sentence. Consider the meaning of the topic sentence.

Writing a topic sentence

In an argument paragraph, your topic sentence is a proposition. The
proposition states your position on an issue. The proposition must
• Be arguable – in other words, an idea you can support with reasons
• Be an opinion, but not simply a matter of personal taste (that is, an
ability to enjoy or judge something)
• Deal with a single point

Be limited enough to be discussed in one paragraph

Copyright: Edu-Kingdom College