Reading for Writing Strategy – IELTS Preparation

This article presents a self-study strategy for students preparaing for the IELTS Writing test by reading about the common topics and studying the language typically used to discuss those subjects. Whilst I intend to do more research into this and publish the results to help my students, the recent advances in AI tools means this is something that students can readily do by themselves.

IDENTIFYING TOPICS

The first step is to identify topics to read about. To identify the most useful topics to include, I searched for ‘most common topics in IETLS Writing test by frequency of occurrence’. I then took the lists of topics generated by the relevant pages that turned up on the first page of search engine results and asked AI to rank the resulting topics according to frequency. I cut this down to create a Top Ten Topics list as follows:

Ranking of Topics by Frequency:

1. 1. Health & Diet: 5
  2. Education: 4
  3. Technology: 4
  4. Environment & Sustainability: 4
  5. Government Spending: 2
  6. Crime & Criminal Justice: 2
  7. Globalisation: 1
  8. Traditional Culture: 1
  9. Public Transport: 1
  10. Social Issues: 1

According to this data, it would be a good idea to prioritise work on the topics health & diet, Education, Technology and environment & sustainability.

Generating Reading Material on the Topic

When I first started using this strategy to guide my teaching in IELTS preparation class, I simply Googled ‘important issues in [topic]’ and used the results to write my own overview of the topic for the students to read and study (one day, I will get around to sharing this work). However, now we have AI, we can easily just ask it to generate reading material safe in the knowledge that it will generate accurate writing.

Below is an example of what AI (https://www.blackbox.ai/chat/) can produce for you, with only minor editing by me, to kick start your study of the topic. The prompt was ‘Please give me a short informative article about the most important current issues in health and diet’.

Key health and diet issues include rising food costs impacting healthy choices, the integration of nutrition into healthcare (Food is Medicine), and the ongoing challenges of access to safe and nutritious food for billions globally. Mental health and substance abuse also remain significant public health concerns.

The first issue is the rising cost of food and its impact on healthy choices. In the USA, lower income Americans and ethnic minorities have reported that the cost of healthy food is their biggest barrier to healthy eating. This trend has been exacerbated by inflation and supply chain disruptions, making it increasingly difficult for individuals to access nutritious options.

The concept of “Food is Medicine” is gaining traction and emphasizing the role of nutrition in preventing and managing chronic diseases. Healthcare providers are increasingly recognizing the importance of dietary interventions as part of treatment plans, promoting healthier eating habits among patients.

Access to safe and nutritious food remains a significant global challenge. Approximately 29% of the world’s population suffers from malnutrition, which is linked to socioeconomic factors such as limited access to healthy foods and rising food prices. Efforts to improve food safety and nutrition are critical, especially in developing countries where foodborne illnesses are prevalent.

There are also serious concerns about the environmental impact on diet. Climate change and environmental pollution are affecting food production and safety. Sustainable practices in agriculture and food distribution are essential to ensure long-term access to healthy food while minimizing environmental harm.

Finally, mental health and substance abuse have been highlighted as important public health concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened mental health issues, leading to increased rates of anxiety and depression. Substance abuse remains a significant challenge, with innovative strategies needed to address the root causes and provide effective support for recovery.

Addressing these current issues in health and diet requires a multifaceted approach, including policy changes, community support, and increased awareness of the importance of nutrition in overall health. Collaborative efforts are essential to create a healthier future for all.

Each paragraph introduces a topic which you could research further to identify more target language frequently used in this topic. You could also adapt the prompt slightly and request another AI response so you can see different ways of expressing the same information.

Generating Frequency-based Vocabulary Lists

Suppose you generate a lot of different pieces of writing on this topic, you could then use online tools to generate vocabulary lists for the topic area. This can be achieved by putting all the writing you generated together in one text file or Word document. Then select all of the text together and copy-paste it into a word frequency tool such as https://www.lextutor.ca/freq/comp/. This tool can also generate lists of frequently used phrases which can be a very useful resource for students aiming to get higher than an IELTS 6.

So, here is an example of vocabulary lists I generated asking the same AI tool to rewrite the response on the same topic four times. This produced 1353 words which I put into the lextutor tool to generate the vocabulary lists below, containing words that occurred three or more times across the four AI responses. Note that the top of the lists will be a lot of ‘grammar’ words – articles, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, etc. which I have removed from this list as it is assumed students are already familair with them.

Words occurring more than twice

Phrases occurring more than once

25 health
23 food
16 dietary
14 choices
14 diet
14 individuals
12 nutrition
10 healthier
10 whole
9 information
9 eating
7 approach
7 diseases
7 essential
7 mental
7 nutritious
6 habits
6 healthy
6 often
6 such
5 access
5 balanced
5 importance
5 informed
5 make
5 overall
5 provide
5 public
5 research
5 rising
4 challenges
4 critical
4 evidence
4 impact
4 increasingly
4 issues
4 lead
4 making
4 options
4 processed
4 significant
4 trends
3 abuse
3 addressing
3 all
3 also
3 anxiety
3 between
3 challenge
3 chronic
3 concerns
3 cost
3 critically
3 crucial
3 diabetes
3 difficult
3 disease
3 environmental
3 fostering
3 fruits
3 future
3 grains
3 healthcare
3 however
3 leading
3 lean
3 life
3 long
3 may
3 misinformation
3 obesity
3 platforms
3 proteins
3 quality
3 related
3 sources
3 studies
3 substance
3 support
3 term
3 unhealthy
3 various
3 vegetables
3 vital

5 dietary information
4 dietary choices
4 for individuals to
4 such as
3 a healthier future
3 about the
3 and nutrition
3 approach
3 as individuals
3 fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins
3 health and diet
3 healthier choices
3 the importance of
3 their quality of life
3 well being
3 whole foods
2 a balanced
2 a holistic approach to
2 a nutritious diet
2 access to healthy
2 access to safe and nutritious food
2 addressing mental health alongside dietary habits is
2 anxiety and depression
2 are essential to
2 by prioritizing
2 can be
2 can empower them to
2 can lead to
2 can lead to confusion
2 can provide
2 can significantly
2 choices the
2 chronic diseases
2 contribute to
2 cost of
2 diseases such as obesity, diabetes and
2 evidence based
2 focus on
2 food and
2 food is medicine
2 has been
2 health and
2 health and diet has
2 health literacy
2 healthier eating habits
2 healthy choices
2 heart disease
2 however the modern food
2 impact of
2 impact on
2 in overall
2 individuals can
2 individuals may
2 influence eating behaviors
2 information available with
2 information from
2 information is
2 informed approach
2 is an
2 is vital
2 it is crucial to
2 it is essential for consumers to
2 lies in
2 linked to
2 long term well being
2 make informed choices
2 media platforms
2 mental health and substance abuse
2 moreover the
2 not all
2 nutritious options
2 of diet related diseases
2 of fresh produce
2 of nutrition in
2 of their
2 of whole foods
2 often characterized by
2 often leading to unhealthy food choices
2 on whole foods understanding the
2 options, making it
2 overall health
2 overall well being
2 processed foods
2 public health concerns
2 reducing the
2 registered dietitians
2 remains a significant
2 research and
2 rising food prices
2 social media
2 the importance of balanced nutrition
2 the overwhelming amount of
2 the rising
2 their dietary
2 their health
2 there is
2 these challenges
2 to adopt
2 to improve
2 to make
2 trends and
2 various media

The more writing that is collected and put into the frequency ranking tool, the more informative the resulting vocabulary lists will be.

A Last Word

I am intending to generate more of this kind of information and eventually will be able to create vocabulary lists generated from a much bigger selection of texts written about a wide range of topics to establish an overall frequency based IELTS Writing word list. Some researchers have already done such work so you could check out, for example, the word bundles listed here: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Twenty-most-common-lexical-bundles-in-IELTS-Writing-simulation-compositions-ranked-by_tbl4_350153589