Issue WI 1

WI 1: Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

This writing instruction is the most popular in the issue pool with 54 issue statements assigned to it. The test takers are asked to “Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take.” The first pair of relevant elements in Knowledge Framework relevant here are choice-evaluation, as the test takers have to make a choice over whether to agree or disagree with the statement. Furthermore, the test takers are expected to “consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.” It is noteworthy that the test takers are not expected to take a simple stance on the issue statement, i.e. to agree or disagree. Instead, they need to consider the multiple sides of the issue and develop a more nuanced and complex position. Wingate (2012) also discussed this practice as a requirement of writing argumentative essays at university level. Nevertheless, the writing instruction is not clear about in what ways the issue statement should be considered, a critical decision the test takers have to make when writing the essays. As will be seen in the analysis of specific issue statements, the test takers may have a number of choices on the ways in which the issue statements may be considered.