IELTS Academic Reading – Task Type 8 – Identification of Writer’s Views/Claims or of Information in a Text

Task Description

What are candidates required to do?
This task type has two variations. The candidate will be given a number of statements and asked

• ‘Do the following statements agree with the views/claims of the writer?’
  
  or
  
  
• ‘Do the following statements agree with the information in the text?’

How are the candidates required to answer?
In the first variation, candidates are asked to write ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘not given’ in the boxes on their answer sheet. In the second variation, candidates are asked to write ‘true’, ‘false’ or ‘not given’.

What skills are tested in this task type?
The first variation of this task type aims to test the candidate’s ability to recognise opinions or ideas, and is thus often used with discursive or argumentative texts. The second variation tests the candidate’s ability to recognise particular points of information conveyed in the passage. It can thus be used with more factual texts.

Understanding the Task

It is important to explain the difference between ‘no’ and ‘not given’ (or ‘false’ and ‘not given’). In the first variation of the task, ‘no’ means that the opinions or claims of the writer explicitly disagree with the statement – i.e., the writer somewhere expresses a view or makes a claim which is opposite to the one given in the question; ‘not given’ means that the view or claim or statement is neither confirmed nor contradicted. (Students need to understand that any knowledge they may bring with them from outside the passage should not play a part when deciding on their answers.)

Similarly, in the second variation, ‘no’ means that the passage states the opposite of the statement in the question; ‘not given’ means that the statement is neither confirmed nor contradicted by the information in the passage.

To see examples of this task type please click on the link below

Examples of Task Type 8

To understand better how candidates need to approach this task, it may help you to do the task yourself and analyse what you had to do to find the right answer.

Look at this Sample Task Type 8. Complete the task, thinking about how you are doing it.

Sample Task Type 8 Task (PDF)
Answers

Things to consider

Now look at these questions about how you approached the task and consider your answers.

1. How did you begin this task?
   
   
2. Did you note key words in the statements that you could check?
   
   
3. Did the key words appear in any part of the passage enabling you to answer the question?
   
   
4. Did the areas containing the answers appear in order in the passage?
   
   
5. What skills did you use to complete this task?
   
   
6. How can you help your students to develop these skills?