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Answer the question below in a text of AT LEAST 300 words. 

(#163) Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? Why or why not? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Important tips

  1. Use NO MORE than 30 minutes to answer the question. Paste the text in the COMMENTS box.
  2. Use the following format to structure your answer. The text should have at least 4 paragraphs:

Introduction: Say if you think the skill of reading and writing is more important today than in the past and mention the REASONS for your view (think of TWO reasons, minimum)

Paragraph 2: Talk about one of the reasons and give examples or ideas to support this reason

Paragraph 3: Talk about ANOTHER reason and give examples or ideas to support it

Conclusion: Summarize the main points you discussed in the text and restate your original view.  



Comments on: "Independent Writing Preview task – The ability to read and write" (9)

  1. Aline leite Ferreira said:

    Nowadays is important to develop the skills to read and write well more than in the past because the information is coming to fast and the world demands you to keep more information that you can if you want to be an integrated person. Moreover, if you can read and transmit what you read by writing you have the gift to communicate and this is essential for success.
    The world is changed, it’s not the same that it was few years ago and with technology help, all kind of information comes from many places in the world and you have to read, understand what you read and notice other people about what happens. Furthermore, organize your ideas and put the words in the paper correctly is very important to transmit information to another person and thereby be part of today’s world.
    Read and write are also important ability to make you a success person because if you want this for your life, you have to know how to communicate well. In a world where you can find any report you need to know and where almost everyone has access to information, you have to make difference reading fast and writing clearly all things you noticed. These features give you communication skills what is essential to get a good job and it is the key to success.
    In conclusion, if you want to be integrated with the modern world where you can access many information easily, you have to seek the maximum information you get, not only in your country but around the world and make good use of this information. Besides, it is possible to take advantages of this globalization like get a better job, improve your salary, developing your skills to read and write so much more than in the past.

  2. Carolina de Oliveira said:

    I believe that the ability to read and write is not more important today than in the past because since the human kind had discovered how to write and to read they have been had this ability in evolution and past experiences made people cleverest. As a result, today we have communication and information technology and the Internet.

    Today, the use of internet and technologies for communication obey people think faster than they used to, consequently, the ability to read and write have to be fast too. So, I think that what is important is the velocity that someone can do both actions. For example, to read 10 pages of a report and send a summary to your boss by Twitter in 15 min.

    Sometimes, these kinds of techno tools or apps push you for a reflection about what is wrong with your ability to read and write. But the point is: why do we need to read and write so much and in a high speed nowadays? Is it possible a person to know about everything? Maybe for a genius! But for ordinary people to read and write about main things it’s enough. For example, if you have to read 50 articles about 50 different subjects that there´s no link between them than write about all, certainly some subject will be missed.

    In conclusion, the ability to read and write was always important, in the past and in the present, but today we have to do it faster than ever because of the volume of information we should know for good results, especially at work. The Communication and information technology and the Internet are the main responsible for this situation, which means people will need improve their skills of reading and writing as fast as they could do. So, in the future everyone will be gold medal in Read and Write match.

  3. Rennan Setti said:

    Yes, I think the ability to read and write is more important today than in the past. As literacy rate rises among world’s population and while Internet – which still features mainly written content – spreads its presence over our daily life, those skills cited above become assets increasingly crucial for social interaction in contemporary days.

    We observe these times the hugest social ascension trend in human history. A significant amount of people living in the so-called emerging countries is moving from rural areas to cities, average income in these places is surging, and global investment on education is also rising. All of these factors lead literacy indicators to soar, presenting to hundreds of millions of people the world of written word. So, the ability to interpret and express using tools belonging to this new universe is as indispensable to modern urban citizens as understanding weather signals was for men living in the essentially rural pre-industrial age. Indeed, today’s economy requires each time more intellectual skilled workers while even low-paid jobs aren’t anymore fitted to illiterate blue collars.

    Moreover, we live in the information age and a just born Internet already plays an almost ubiquitous role in society. Despite it provides support for audio and video contents and these are actually growing in popularity among users, Internet is still a platform where communication is based upon written word. Indeed, it is said to have rescued text’s prestige from the decaying 20th century second half days, when television overshadowed print media. Twitter, a short-written message feed, is one of the most popular social networks available. Technology specialists often say that even with broadband spreading and becoming cheaper, text will probably always performs an essential part of digital communications. Therefore, reading and writing are useful skills for people who uses to have contact with Internet – group that, by the way, may include almost anyone who has a job today.

    Because all of these reasons, nowadays citizens must dominate with more urgency the tools of written word universe than its past counterparts. The latter lived in a world where literacy was luxury in most of the countries and Internet was not even a dream. The former face a world where even the poorest places are being touched by social and digital inclusion trends and illiteracy is more obviously a mark of exclusion.

  4. Janio da Silva Mororo said:

    The ability to read and write always is important in the man life, principally the man started to live in society, but were more important after the evolution of the universities and the internet. Nowadays the persons should read and write more because of the use of internet, principally the internet 2,0, and because of the society should know their rights.

    Actually, the dissemination of the internet has been fast, and much information arrives in different populations and places. It´s so important for the person know the comportment of different populations, and respect them, but it’s necessary the persons has the ability to read the information and give a critics for it, and don’t believe in any opinions and responses. Different information’s, like science, politics, technology, has arrive in distance places more fast, because of the internet, and this tool optimize the relation between space and time.

    Another important reason for the persons read more than in the past is because the persons should knows their rights in different places and moments: at the society, at the job, at the school, at the politics etc. For example, in the politician the population should understand the obligations of the politics, what they need to do by the population: like decrease the numbers of child kill, increase the education, and because of it the population should “regulate” the politics, and to do it, it’s important the population knows the laws and read so much.

    Some researchers said that the largest difference in the evolution between monkeys and humans was the capacity of write and read, to pass this information to the next generations. However this capacity of write and read were important every time in the evolution of the human, principally with the birth of the internet and with the necessity to understand our rights to live in community. The capable to express with the speech and write is so important in different populations, including to try to decrease the problems of relation and increase the respect between the nations.

  5. Aline Pereira Alves said:

    Reading and writing are becoming increasingly important. Because of the technological innovations, the world has become interconnected globally. Furthermore the ability to read and to write has fundamental importance. The two aforementioned skills have been the most influential when evaluating someone’ education and intelligence. Those abilities and other educational skills tend to be important to succeed.
    First of all, the world is interdependent. In the same manner, the ability to read makes everyone up-to-date, since information is exchanged electronically quickly. For instance, is possible to reduce damages in case of a storm, or interfere in others country decisions like did the United States and South Korea against a nuclear test that North Korea made recently.
    On the other hand, since there is so much information to read, a new challenge emerged to decide what is necessary to read, develop conclusions, and develop solutions.
    In addition, the ability to write has equal importance. Nowadays, through internet, geographical barrier has been eliminated. People can apply for jobs abroad, without be necessary to travel and sometimes is possible to work without leave their homes. Along with, is possible change experiences from different countries just by changing emails or creating websites.
    Although, in the past, the communication only was possible face-to-face or through mail, what made everything more slowly.
    As a result, since the world became more integrated, the ability to read and to write have become more important than it once was. It has been mandatory for everyone to know what is happening across the world. The interdependence of the world has created new challenges although it solved some. The main idea is to remember that information should be organized so that it can be efficiently consumed.

  6. It is difficult to say if read and writes is more important today than the past. The language and people are in constantly development and some skills changed, mainly considering technology revolution with internet, blogs and social networks. Read is not a simple read and write could be doing in many ways.
    First of all, we should considering that the 21st century people don’t read books or news in common ways like books hardcover or in a journal. “Read news”, for example, isn’t a good verb to express this kind of action. Nowadays, follow is more common that express de dynamism of news
    Other fact is that Internet Revolution in 1990’s provides a large the quantity of information disposed. Anyone can write something on internet and hundred millions of people can access. On the other hands, this phenomenon create a large of terabytes of incomprehensible texts and hundreds poor articles which not motivate people read.
    The world and the language are in developing. Read and writes following this tendency. We should considering all this revolutions to say if turn more important than the past. In my opinion it is just different.

  7. Nowadays I think that the ability to write and read is necessary, but not more important than in the past. Like in the past, who know write and read have the best jobs but we can do a lot of things without read and write.

    If we go back in our history, the people have the necessity to communicate whit other civilization, drawing in the cave’s wall and writing on rocks and papers. Today we only know the history of the primary people because we found this drawings and writings. Like in the past, isn’t everyone that know read and write and who know have the best opportunities, the best jobs, like the lawyers and the farmers. Today, if you don’t know how write and read we will be a cleaner, a fix man, will have jobs that don’t pay so much. It’s exactly equal in the past.

    Today, with the technology and the internet we can find many books and journals online and if you don’t know read you can find the same text but with a person reading for you. All the news we have in the internet or paper journal, we can find in the TV journal, so to know the news around the world we don’t need read.

    So many people nowadays know read and write but have difficult that people who don’t have this ability, don’t have. One simple example is this. The “smart” people know how why the machines works, know the physics behind the technology. If the plug machine burns, they will know why it burn and will read the manual and write an email to the support explains why the plug burn, but will not fix the plug. In the other hand, people who don’t know why the plug burn, will know how to fix the plug without the fabricant support. And what is more important: know fix or know why the plug burn?

    So, based on these examples I think the ability to read and write nowadays has the same importance than in the past. Who know this skills have the same privilege and opportunities than in the past.

  8. Actually, to know express is so important in all the aspects of the word means: even in a professional or private life, to be in communicating with other people make you a social person in the society. But, this simple idea is more complicated in the practice.
    In fact, the abilities reading, writing and speaking are mutual necessary.

    If we know only one or two of them, we are not completed; and this is not good at all. So, there is no ability MORE important, because all of them are necessary if you want to keep a clearly communication. This topic remembered me a situation who a friend of mine passed recently in the process to be hiring in a Chinese company. He told me that to work there it is not required to know mandarin, but, English language is mandatory. The first contact with him was by phone, it was a short interview with simple questions like his name, address and why he chose that company.

    My friend didn´t find big problems and he passed easily by the first challenge. The second task was writing about the Chinese economic. He passed by the second challenge. The last challenge was an interview with three managers. But, his good English in the writing test was not successful speaking.

    He couldn’t speak fluently English face a face with the managers, and the result is that he was cut off. That´s bad, but a cruel reality. So, for this reasons and by for this example, it´s important to practice as much as you can all the abilities which involves the process of communication. To improve it can be hard in first moment but for sure it´s a good thing as a long-term investment.

  9. Nowadays, technology has been developed and people should be able to familiar with the sophisticated technology likewise, to be a competitive people must be build up the reading and writing ability. Thus, I agree with the statement that ability to read and write become a more important than past because to compete with the dynamic global environment, to be a more knowledgeable, and to make a family strong.

    To begin with, today’s changing global environment needs a qualitative person to lead and familiar with this scenario. For instance, to compete in the officer level job we have to have a read and write about a certain specific field. Thus, to achieve the goal effectively and efficiently person should be educated or he/ she should have certain knowledge.

    In addition, be become a wise and knowledgeable person in the life we should be able to read and write more and more. Without continuing and observing the different kind of books and different country’s policy, planning, strategy, it is really hard to be a smart and competitive person in the life. Furthermore, to compete with this changeable global environment, person’s should have caliber to analysis the strength, weaknesses, opportunity and threats and able to grab the chances and remove the challenges.

    Last but not the least, read and write is more important today than past because, to make our family strong and capable for the future. For example, my grandfather had no academic education but one of my friend’s families was educated, when I was in school she never wanted to become my friend because she thought we are uneducated family and she will not learned any good things from me and my family. Thus, if we read and write we will be educated and our family will be more educated as a result, our community and country will be successful in the world. If we read and write and become a highly educated person our family and child will not be dominated by their friends.

    In conclusion, to become a knowledgeable, to make a good and strong family, being a perfect strategy manager and to become a successful candidate in the global market competition intensive reading and writing is necessary. This is not the world of 16th century, this is the 21st century, we have to have knowledge and we have to be first in the competition to make our life and family happy.

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