UPM-CALC/CEL2103 WRITING ACADEMIC TEXTS/SEM 2 2019-20

SCL WORKSHEET WEEK 1

SCL WORKSHEET WEEK 1

This is an individual activity for you to carry out.

The activities should be completed and submitted on EDMODO by the due date.

Read the texts below and decide if they are argumentative (A) or non-argumentative (NA) texts
by ticking on the appropriate box.

No
Text A NA
.

1 The advanced technology has made smartphone as indispensable as the 

working computer. Nowadays, many educational institutions have encouraged
their students to use smartphone in class to increase their learning performance.
However, some academicians view this differently. They believe that
smartphone will only distract students from giving their full attention during
classroom learning.

2 One of the major concerns involving students who are active in sports is the 
amount of time they have for their studies, not to mention the stress they have to
cope with when participating in national or international tournaments. Often,
these student athletes try to balance sports with their studies; however, in most
cases they find that this is rather difficult to accomplish. Nevertheless, a study by
Hymes (2002) and Thomson (2016) revealed that participating in sports actually
helped improve academic scores.

3 Humans have been manipulating plant life since the beginning of history. Before
genetic engineering, farmers would often use heavy amounts of herbicides or 
pesticides to maximise their yields. In fact, with modern scientific practices,
farmers can also ensure that they practice safe agricultural approach.
Previously, farmers spent countless hours in the fields, often without skin
protection, removing threats by hand. Genetic engineering just increases the
speed at which this progress can be completed safely.
 UPM-CALC/CEL2103 WRITING ACADEMIC TEXTS/SEM 2 2019-20
SCL WORKSHEET WEEK 1

No Text A NA
.

4 One point in favour of mothers working is that the family will greatly benefit from 
the extra income as the father’s salary alone might not be enough to pay for the
household’s expenses. However, this extra income may not be able to increase
the family’s nutritional intake as a large proportion of the money will be spent on
childcare.

5 Homeschooling is a practical alternative for many students and families who 

wish to opt out of traditional public schools. Regardless of a family’s reasons for
homeschooling, the universal principle of homeschoolers is that the parents
should be best equipped with sufficient knowledge to make the educational
decisions that affect their children.

6 One of the important features of information technology in comparison with other 

educational tools is that computer programmes are mainly designed for
individual learning as it helps students to understand new knowledge and skills
on their own, at their own pace. The flexibility offered by information technology
helps students to optimise their learning as they can choose the level
appropriate to their mental, psychological and physiological capabilities.
Therefore, information technology is a promising platform for students to
increase their cognitive capabilities as students will independently obtain the
necessary information through technological devices and by doing so, they will
indirectly practice the students centered learning approach.

7 Today, the whole essence of socialism has been transformed into a tiny device. 
The reason behind the tremendous growth in mobile phones is the way mobile
phones change the way the society communicates with each other. Mobile
phones enable rapid communication in all forms and have made communication
become flexible. As a result, people are not longer separated from each other as
they used to be. However, many argued that these changes have negative
effects on the society. People have become over dependent on mobile phones
that they no longer value the actual face-to-face conversation with their family
members, friends and neighbours.