Error gravity analysis of IELTS students’ academic writing task 2

This study aimed to explore language areas where students need support, practice, and feedback in their IELTS academic Task 2 writing. To fulfill the purpose of the study, a convenient sample of 200 IELTS candidates (N=200) at Amir Kabir University of Technology were invited to write an IELTS academic task 2 essay. Two certified IELTS examiners rated the essays based on the following criteria: Task Achievement (TA), Cohesion and Coherence (CC), Lexical Resource (LR), and Grammar Range and Accuracy (GRA). The results revealed that students need more training, practice, and feedback on Task Achievement in comparison with the other three writing task rubrics. Following TA stood CC, LR, and GRA. This study suggests that writing instructors in general, and IELTS teachers in specific, introduce the writing assessment rubrics (IELTS writing band descriptor for IELTS candidates) to students fully and analyze some sample writings in their classrooms for the students to familiarize them with IELTS examiners’ expectations. It was concluded that teachers should spend more quality time on providing students with task achievement feedback as it tops the error gravity list.