Guide to English Writing

Vocational/Technical School or College/University
ocationa T c n ca
: practical & concrete knowledge, ready to be employed after graduation, 
marketable skills, learn trades and crafts (carpentry, mechanics, graphic design, bookkeeping, 
etc.), instructors have real-world experience, laypersons, hands-on training, experts from the 
field, cheaper tuition, certificates and diplomas, 6 months to tow years (depending on program), 
college/university students often attend after their degree studies in order to gain employable 
skills, more accessible, local, easier admissions process and requirements, leads to lower salary 
positions, offer more strict schedule but also night school, offers courses based on market 
demands, increasingly popular as more practical
o
n
: theoretical knowledge, abstract studies, professional studies (medicine, 
engineering, law, etc.), B.A. seen as increasingly meaningless in many countries, degree studies 
are much more expensive (tuition, textbooks, fees, equipment, etc.), academic professors (often 
have less real-world experience), ivory tower, highly educated scholars (write articles, books), 
4+ years of studies, often graduate without employable skills and need training in something 
practical, leads to postgraduate studies in a specialty, can teach in college, certain professions 
must have degrees, more professional network, peers are driven and hard-working, selective 
admission (top tier candidates), college experience (social life, pressures, etc.), more facilities
other:
@IELTS_Council

---

Education u o c
21
Learning a Foreign Language
n
: more access to global employment (marketable skill), wider variety of available 
positions, can make more friends, diverse international experiences, can travel, can read foreign 
books and see foreign movies, more access to diverse cultures, stronger brain is healthier brain 
(help fight diseases such as dementia)
a n
: levels: (low-, high-) beginner, intermediate, advanced, fluent, native-like, near-
native), takes time and energy and often money (though with self-discipline and effort can be 
done for free), cultural connections to language (e.g., can’t understand jokes even if understand 
the language), finding people to practice with, frustrations, requires a high level of patience
Byproduct
: 
positive
: culture sharing, influence, foreign ideas and concepts, integration, global 
networking, employable skill, global mobility, international trade and cooperation, personal 
relationships (friends, partners, etc.) 
negative
: culture loss, assimilation, loss of identity
a n n
: native vs. nonnative speaker, textbooks vs. real-life situations, immersion (learn the 
language in the place it’s spoken), practice, online forums & courses, language school, elementary 
school, online videos, the younger the better to start learning, good brain exercise for older 
students
other: