IELTS task 2: Will artificial intelligence replace teacher in classrooms.

Topic:

Artificial intelligence will soon replace teachers in the classroom.

Do you agree or disagree? What is an alternative to traditional face-to-face teaching?

There is opinion that traditional teachers will be replaced by artificial intelligence. I disagree with this viewpoint as a software program does not have the sensitivity of a teacher. The appropriate alternative to traditional education is online teaching as it offers more flexibility than teaching in classroom.

Artificial intelligence cannot replace a teacher as it does not have the empathy of a human being. Teaching requires not only knowledge and skills but also the ability to understand and deal with factors affecting a learners' performance such as their psychological state, characteristic and family background. Real teacher can handle these issues while A.I. cannot. For example, a student may have a family problem that lead to mental breakdown, making him unable to handle his assignment on time. Computer cannot take this into consideration but teachers can find out the underlying problem and give their students valuable mental support to overcome the obstacle.

While A.I. cannot totally replace traditional teaching method, education via internet is a good alternative. Studying online offers student the flexibility in term of time and pace that teaching in classroom cannot. At the same time, learners still get support from their teachers and classmates via online community and email. As a working mother, my hectic schedule does not allow me to enroll in English class. However, joining online courses gave me a perfect solution as I can learn whenever I have time and focus on the parts that I need improvement. I emailed my teacher to ask questions and join online community for discussion. My English improved a great deal after the course.

In conclusion, artificial intelligence will never replace real teachers as it lack the empathy and sympathy of a human being. However, online education is the future method of teaching as it brought about more flexibility and authority to learners.

I would appreciate all your comments on my essay above. I also have a question: I am always reluctant to use personal experience as an example as I think that one single case that is true does not prove that something is is true in general so it is not a strong proof. However, in this essay, I used my personal experience as an example as I think it can prove my point well. I also wrote another supporting paragraph with the example be generalised. I would appreciate your idea on which is the better way to develop my idea and how risky it is to put personal experience as example on IELTS essay.

While A.I. cannot totally replace traditional teaching method, education via internet is a good alternative. Studying online offers student the flexibility in term of time and pace that teaching in classroom cannot. At the same time, learners still get support from their teachers and classmates via online community and email. Many people have hectic working schedule that does not allow them to enroll in English classes. In this case, joining online courses is the perfect solution. They can learn whenever they have free time and focus on the parts that need improvement so that they can progress faster. Meanwhile, learners can also get all the support that they can get from traditional classes by emailing educators their questions and join online community for discussion.

It is never risky to place your personal experience as an example in the IELTS test. In fact, it is a requirement. More than one essay discussion asks the students to provide information based on general knowledge, information, or personal experience. There is a reason for this. You are not allowed to use the computer at the testing center (if you are taking the computer based test) for external internet based research. An IELTS test is an academic essay, but does not require academic research in its completion.

One of the main purposes of the test is to prove your English comprehension skills. That means, you should be able to prove that you actually understood the discussion question and how it applies to current events or academic life. By using your personal experience and knowledge as an example, provided it fully relates to the discussion, then you will have accomplished the most important task of proving your English comprehension skills to the examiner. Using commonly known current events also has the same effect. However, I would caution about using current events in the essays because sometimes, it comes across as researched or memorized information instead of personal knowledge or experience. Be careful with how you word current events references in your essay to avoid such misconceptions on the examiners part. Life experience + being well read using international sources of information / newspapers will definitely help you with writing your examples and supporting reference information.

You don't need to use your first person pronouns in the presentation, you can use any of the references in your examples. However, when the prompt clearly indicates what kind of pronouns to use, then make sure to use it. In this case the main pronoun to be used is first person singular because it asks "Do YOU agree or disagree?" If it asks "Do WE agree with it?" Then use first person plural pronouns. The clues are always in the original prompt. No need to fear when using personal examples. You can't go wrong.

@Holt
Thank you very much for your respond. It clear out many doubt that I have.