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ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE ESSAYS

1. Food for thought

We will start our lesson today by watching a video in which a host of a TV show brings up a critical question as to
whether the UK government should pass the policy of vaccine passports for a businessman and a female university
lecturer to discuss. Watch this video and fill the missing information in the table below:

Standpoint Reason
Who supports this policy enactment? What are his/her reasons for this support?
(1)……………………………………….. (2) …………………………………………..
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
Who is skeptical about the plausibility of this policy? What are the grounds for his/her concern?
(3)……………………………………….. (4) …………………………………………..
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
Now in your assigned group, discuss which standpoint you are more inclined towards. Please generate more reasons
to support your stance.

It is clear from the show above that the businessman and the university lecturer are discussing the advantages and
disadvantages of passing a law related to vaccine passports with a view to substantiating the (in)plausibility of this law
enactment. Such a discussion is, in fact, relatively popular in the academic context. Thus, it is not surprising to help
university students to develop relevant skills for this type of discussion both in the spoken and written language. In the
lesson today, we are going to focus on the latter – the written discussion of the advantages and the disadvantages of
a critical social issue.

2. Purpose

As we can see from the above section, this writing genre aims to discuss both the positive and the negative side of a
social issue with a view to drawing relevant implications from this discussion. This genre is quite common in some
standardized tests of English language proficiency such as IELTS or TOEFL. Below are some examples of the test
prompts that target at this type of essays.

Examples of IELTS test prompts

In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and
starting university studies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decide to do this.
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Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary schools rather than
secondary school. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?
A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income. Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source
of problems if it is not managed correctly. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern
world. Do you think that benefits of tourism outweigh its drawbacks?
Apparently, these writing tasks not only require you to discuss both good and bad points of a social phenomenon but
also make a conclusion about whether the former outweigh the latter (i.e., one common implication from the above
discussion).

3. Rhetorical organization

Game on: Scrambled texts

Work in groups and put the following paragraphs in an appropriate order. Do not forget to explain why you arrange
these paragraphs in that way.

Scrambled Texts Your

Arrangement
Essay 1
A. But tourism also has some major disadvantages like destruction of popular tourist destinations C, D, A, B
and development of illegal economic activities. Ancient buildings, temples and monuments
struggle to cope with a vast amount of visitor’s traffic and get damaged. Also, the large number of
tourists can cause environmental problems. For instance, when places of interest are
overcrowded, natural resources often become overexploited. What’s more, the presence of a
considerable number of tourists with a lot of money to spend, and often carrying valuables such
as cameras and jewelry, increases the attraction for criminals and brings with it activities like
robbery and drug dealing. However, proper hospitality management and correct usage of tourism
revenue by the local government can eliminate these disadvantages.
B. To conclude, although tourism can have certain negative effects like destructive impact and
growth of crime rate, it has an extremely positive influence on country’s economy and provides a
large number of new jobs for the local people. I believe that these benefits of tourism outweigh its
drawbacks.
C. Nowadays tourism generates a significant portion of national income for many countries, but it
has certain drawbacks too. This essay will examine the advantages and disadvantages of tourism
and provide a logical conclusion.
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D. The two main advantages of developed tourism industry are boost in country’s economy and
a large number of new job openings for the local people. Firstly, tourists spend money on a wide
range of services, including hotels, amusements, transportation, food and medical services. This
way, tourism yields an additional income, greatly supporting the country’s economy. Secondly,
tourism increases the level of employment by bringing new jobs. For instance, the influx of tourists
results in a larger demand in restaurant workers, tour guides, hotel staff and employees of retail
services, exhorting business owners to hire more people for these positions.
Essay 2
A. Before embarking on college many young people are advised that a year working or travelling
A, C, B, D
may be a good option. This essay will suggest that experience gained and money saved are the
biggest advantages of this, but delaying careers and reducing motivation to study are the primary
disadvantages.
B. Despite these advantages, students lose a year that could have been used to advance their
future careers and they often get used to working or travelling and don’t want to return to a life of
study. As job markets are very competitive, an extra year of experience can make a massive
difference when applying for jobs, and those who took a gap year are at a disadvantage.
Moreover, some decide to bypass university altogether and go straight into a job that is beneath
their capabilities or may not offer the same prospects their future career might have done. For
instance, a recent survey by the British Government found that 26% of students who take a gap-
year never enter tertiary education.
C. The main advantages of a gap year are learning more about the world and earning money. For
students who have just finished secondary school, working or travelling for a year will allow them
to learn what life is like outside of the education system. Also, third level education is very
expensive and a lot of students decide to work for 12 months and save up money before they
begin their studies. The Times recently reported that the average student at a UK university
requires over $12,000 per annum just to survive and many drop out because they cannot afford
to stay.
D. In conclusion, taking a break from studies can be advantageous if it allows people to
accumulate savings or learn more about the world. However, they should also be careful that it
does not delay the start of their careers and lead to disillusionment with education.
Essay 3
A. On balance, the fact that early foreign language learning leads to higher fluency and improved D, B, C, A

brain function clearly outweighs the flawed argument that it impairs uptake of native languages.
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B. The main reason to start kids off with foreign languages early is that this increases the likelihood
they will achieve fluency in adulthood. That is to say that they will have far more years to perfect
their skills and it will seem perfectly normal to speak bilingually. For example, in countries such as
Holland and Norway where English is taught from a very young age, more than 95% of adults
speak it at an advanced level. Learning a second language also helps to improve overall cognitive
abilities. In other words, it benefits the overall development of a child’s brain. A recent survey by
Cambridge University found that children who studied a new language before the age of 5 were
significantly more likely to score higher in Mathematics and Science.
C. Those opposed to this say that it causes the child to become confused between their mother
tongue and the other language. However, there is actually no evidence to support this view and
children from bilingual families do just as well in both languages. My own son was brought up
speaking both Vietnamese and English and outperforms most of his classmates in both.
D. Some authorities think that it is more favorable for pupils to begin studying languages at primary
school instead of secondary school. This essay will argue that the advantages of this outweigh
the drawbacks. The essay will first demonstrate that the earlier someone learns an additional
language the more likely they are to master it and that it brings added cognitive benefits, followed
by an analysis of how the primary disadvantage, namely confusion with their native tongue, is not
valid.
From the game above, we can see that this writing genre often has a four-paragraph structure, including the
introduction, the advantage paragraph, the disadvantage paragraph and the conclusion.

3.1 Introduction

Read the following introductory paragraph and identify the rhetorical purpose of each sentence or each cluster of
sentences. Which sentences are our must-have and which ones might be optional?

Desperate to return to pre-pandemic normality, many countries where vaccination campaigns Introduce writing
topic
for Covid-19 are in full swing are considering endorsing “vaccine passports” to reignite
international travel and reopen economies.
A week ago, the UK government, for example, ruled out plans for such passports – with Give further
background
vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi calling them “discriminatory” – but on Sunday, the foreign
secretary, Dominic Raab, said the documents were still “under consideration”.
So what are the pros and cons of such “immunity certificates”? This paper aims to answer Purpose of writing
(And hidden
this critical question with a view to substantiating the necessity of putting these documents opinion)

into use as soon as possible.

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Thus, in the introduction of this type of essays, we might need to (a) introduce the writing topic, (b) give further
background information to this topic, and (c) state the writing purpose along with the key points that we are going to
analyze.

Now watch the following video about the merits and demerits of space exploration and then write the relevant
introduction paragraph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8WojbS1_ww.

3.2 Supporting paragraphs

Read the following paragraphs and then match them to their appropriate headings.

1. They [vaccine passports] could serve as a powerful motivation for people to get A. Fraud
vaccinated. However, David Archard, the chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, B. Discrimination
argues that they are not necessarily a proportionate way to achieve vaccine
C. Travel
compliance, which can be better secured by providing greater and more accurate
D. Privacy
information to people. G
2. By getting a certificate, some individuals who have been deprived of access to E. Variants
certain work opportunities by the pandemic could benefit. “And that’s important,” says F. Opportunities
Archard. “After all, what we’ve dealt with for the last year are considerable restrictions G. Incentive
on the freedoms of the population, and here’s one way in which individuals might now H. Science
be able to get back those basic freedoms that are greatly valuable to them.” F
3. The passports could also offer value in terms of international travel – being
vaccinated means you will be unlikely to suffer from severe Covid-19 disease that
might require hospitalization abroad. Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the
University of East Anglia, says that if a country’s hospitals are already grappling with
high levels of Covid-19, “they don’t want people coming out on holiday from Britain,
and then going down with Covid and adding to the burden on their health services. [If
you are vaccinated,] you are unlikely to get sick with Covid-19 while you are there,
either [because] you brought it into the country or [because] you picked it up in the
first week of the holiday.” C
4. While the vaccines being deployed have shown to have impressive efficacy in
reducing the risk of hospitalization and death for symptomatic Covid-19, at this point
there is no concrete evidence that they can thwart transmission, scientists say. “So
there is a danger of simply assuming because you’ve been vaccinated, you don’t then
spread Covid-19, and that would not be a good scientific basis for a policy of
passports,” Archard says. H
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5. Most countries are in the early stages of the vaccine rollout, and given concerns
about the impact of existing variants – in particular the one discovered in South Africa
– on the ability of vaccines to offer protection, it would be premature to introduce the
passport system, says Archard. “I think we’re about halfway through the first half, and
we don’t want to start introducing red and yellow cards quite yet. We want to head on
into the second half and see if we can see how it’s working.” E
6. Such passports will be used to give people who are vaccinated and presumed to
have immunity the ability to do things that others cannot. Given that the vaccine rollout
is based on a priority system, some people will be vaccinated before others. Others
who choose not to get vaccinated despite being offered the vaccine may also lose
out on opportunities. There is a danger of stigmatizing individuals who lack
=discriminating
certification, and Archard suggests you may also penalize people who are already at
a disadvantage because of certain inequalities. B
7. The passports could encourage people who have not been vaccinated yet or have
chosen not to be vaccinated to get certification on the black market, according to
Hunter. So if passports are adopted, he says, “it has to be done in a way that is not
subject to fraud”. A
8. Typically, health information such as vaccination records is stored by the NHS.
These passports could mean that data is shared with outside companies, says
Archard. “Could it be used in ways that are unfair, that are stigmatizing, and that are
prejudicial to the interests of individuals? Exactly how it is put into practical effect
would also raise reasonable ethical concerns that would need to be addressed.” D
In groups, discuss what structure patterns the above paragraphs share. It is clear that all these paragraphs have a
claim (which is normally the main idea), its relevant evidence and sometimes a warrant that links the evidence back to
the claim. See the example below:

Such passports will be used to give people who are vaccinated and presumed to have immunity the ability to do things
that others cannot (CLAIM: Main idea). Given that the vaccine rollout is based on a priority system, some people will
be vaccinated before others. Others who choose not to get vaccinated despite being offered the vaccine may also lose
out on opportunities (EVIDENCE: Logical explanation). There is a danger of stigmatizing individuals who lack
certification, and Archard suggests you may also penalize people who are already at a disadvantage because of certain
inequalities (WARRANT).

Now please identify these components (if any) in the following paragraphs:
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4. While the vaccines being deployed have shown to have impressive efficacy in
Claim:
Main idea reducing the risk of hospitalization and death for symptomatic Covid-19, at this point
there is no concrete evidence that they can thwart transmission, scientists say. “So

Evidence:
there is a danger of simply assuming because you’ve been vaccinated, you don’t then
Quotes spread Covid-19, and that would not be a good scientific basis for a policy of
passports,” Archard says.
5. Most countries are in the early stages of the vaccine rollout, and given concerns
Claim:
Main idea about the impact of existing variants – in particular the one discovered in South Africa
– on the ability of vaccines to offer protection, it would be premature to introduce the
Evidence:
Logical Exp. passport system, says Archard. “I think we’re about halfway through the first half, and
Warrant we don’t want to start introducing red and yellow cards quite yet. We want to head on
into the second half and see if we can see how it’s working.”

Please, provide a set of relevant evidence and warrant to the following claim: The findings from space exploration can
help us to solve some burning problems on Earth.

3.3 Conclusion

In groups, suggest a structure for the conclusion paragraph of this writing genre and then compare your suggested
structure with the followings:

A. To conclude, although tourism can have certain negative effects like destructive impact and growth of crime rate,
it has an extremely positive influence on country’s economy and provides a large number of new jobs for the local
people. I believe that these benefits of tourism outweigh its drawbacks.
B. On balance, the fact that early foreign language learning leads to higher fluency and improved brain function
clearly outweighs the flawed argument that it impairs uptake of native languages.
C. In conclusion, taking a break from studies can be advantageous if it allows people to accumulate savings or learn
more about the world. However, they should also be careful that it does not delay the start of their careers and lead
to disillusionment with education.
Out of three examples above, which one do you like the most and why? In short, the conclusion in an advantage-and-
disadvantage essay often has three main parts, including (a) a summary of the key points that have been discussed in
the body section, (b) a relevant implication from this discussion (e.g., whether the merits outweigh the demerits) and
(c) a final comment on the issue (which can be either a suggestion or a prediction).
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4. Language in focus

Pros Cons
Advantage Disadvantage
Strength Weakness
Benefit Drawback
Positive Negative
Opportunity Obstacle
Gain Loss
Asset Liability
Positive effect Negative effect
Highlight Challenge
Plus Minus
Supporting argument Opposing argument
Merit Demerit
Argument for Argument against
Positive aspect/feature/characteristic Negative aspect/feature/characteristic
Praiseworthy/favorable aspect/feature/characteristic Unfavorable aspect/feature/characteristic
Shortcoming
Pitfall
Setback
Loss
Tradeoff
Can you first find the synonyms of these words/phrases in the above reading passages? Select a word/phrase that you
like the most and write a novel sentence for it.

5. Self-assessment log

Can you sum up the key points of the lesson today?