Substantive results of modern school education should include the students' understanding of cause-effect and other relations and interdependence of objects, their objective significance, as well as the skill and ability on the basis of the skills and knowledge to navigate the world of social, intellectual, moral and aesthetic values. The student must also be able to apply the acquired skills and knowledge to solve various typical life situations, as well as problems related to the implementation of typical human social roles.
One of the essential skills the students should acquire is the ability to translate verbal information into nonverbal and vice versa. This transition involves systematizing the tables, construction of graphs or diagrams as well as the description of the graphs, tables, charts and diagrams. This is a necessary skill for the future actively and critically thinking citizen. Students should be able to identify key idea, see patterns and try to explain some data on the basis of their knowledge and experience and to structure their own research. Here is useful language and a set of exercises that can help to develop the skill of describing visual aids.
There are different types of diagrams.
| A pie chart displays the size of each part as a percentage of a whole. |  |
| A flow chart is a diagram showing the stages of a process or activity from the beginning to the end |  |
| A (vertical or horizontal) bar chart is used to compare unlike items |  |
| A line graph depicts changes over a period of time, showing data and trends |  |
| A table shows large amount of data in a small space |  |
Presenting a diagram.
| Introduction | Topic | Circumstances |
| This graph shows ... | the results of our products ... | over 10 years. |
| The diagram outlines ... | rates of economic growth ... | between 1990 and 1996. |
| This table lists ... | the top ten agencies ... | in the industrial world. |
| This pie chart represents... | the company's turnover ... | for this year in our sector. |
| This line chart depicts ... | the changes in sales ... | over the past year. |
Strategy of describing Pie Charts
Step1
Describe what sort of chart it is and what it is about.
Step 2
Describe the sections of the graph starting with the biggest and working your way down.
Step 3
Write a short conclusion giving an overall view of what the chart is about.
Task1.
The table shows the results of a survey among students who were asked about what they use the Internet to. Draw a pie chart. Write a short description of the pie-chart.
| Purpose | % |
| Be entertained | 10 |
| Communicate professionally | 7 |
| Communicate socially | 42 |
| Engage in work for classes | 38 |
| Other | 2 |
Suggested Answer
Рис. 1
The graph describes (gives information on) the purposes of using the Internet among students. Overall, they use the Internet for personal reasons. More than one third/ (42%) of their time students communicate socially. The second purpose is to engage in work for classes. It takes 38% of their time. Almost 10% of the time is devoted to the entertainment. The other purpose for using the Internet (7%) is communicating professionally. Finally, other reasons, when students couldn’t say what they use the Internet to, account for 2%. In conclusion, (as can be seen) students use the Internet for a variety of purposes, but communicating and working are the main ones.
Describing Bar Charts.
These types of charts are usually used for comparison purposes (unlike line charts, which describe change).
Step 1.
Look first at the Chart Title. This tells you what information the chart displays and you can use this information in your description.
Step 2.
Look at the X and Y axes. The titles of these axes sometimes give you information you can use in your description. It is important also to look at the units
Step3.
Describe similarities and differences. To make comparisons, you need to know the comparatives and superlatives of common adjectives.
Step 4.
Try to explain why there are differences in the indexes.
Task2. Describe the following chart :
Рис.2
Suggested Answer
This chart shows the populations of some European countries in 2007. The country with the largest population is Germany, with over 80 million people whereas Estonia has the smallest population, at little more than a million. Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia and Ireland all have populations or ten million or less, while Greece has a population of about eleven million. Apart from Germany, the largest countries are Spain, France and Italy with populations ranging from about forty-four to sixty-three million. Together, the four largest countries account for over eighty per cent of the population of the countries shown.
Describing Graphics.
There are four basic trends (tendencies)
- upward movement
- downward movement
- no movement
- change in direction
Expressing movement: nouns and verbs
For each trend there are a number of verbs and nouns to express the movement. We can use a verb of change or we can use a related noun, for example: Unemployment levels fell
There was a fall in unemployment levels
| Direction | Verbs | Nouns |
 |
Rose (to) Increased (to) Climbed (to Went up (to) Boomed | A rise An increase An upward trend Growth A boom (a dramatic rise) |
 |
Fell (to) Declined (to) Decreased (to) Dropped (to) Slumped (to) Reduced (to) | A fall A decline A decrease A drop A slump (a dramatic fall) A reduction |
 |
Levelled out (at) Did not change Remained stable (at) Remained steady (at) Stayed constant (at) | A levelling out No change |
 |
Fluctuated (around) Peaked (at) | A fluctuation Reached a peak (of) |
Describing the movement: adjectives and adverbs
Sometimes we need to give more information about a trend as follows:
There has been a slight increase in the value of the dollar (degree of change)
Unemployment fell rapidly last year (the speed of change)
Remember that a noun is modified with an adjective (a slight increase) and a verb with an adverb (to increase slightly).
| Describing the degree of change | Describing the speed of change | ||
| Adjectives | Adverbs | Adjectives | Adverbs |
| Dramatic sharp huge enormous steep substantial considerable significant moderate slight minimal |
dramatically sharply hugely enormously steeply substantially considerably significantly moderately slightly minimally |
rapid quick swift sudden steady gradual slow |
rapidly quickly swiftly suddenly steadily gradually slowly |
Expressing approximation
We use words to express approximation when the point we are trying to describe is between milestones on the graph.
- just under
- just over
- well under
- well over
- roughly nearly
- approximately
- around about
Task 3.
Describing trends.
Write the phrases in the box under the correct graph lines a to f
Task 4.
Describing Graphs
My work graph
Example
Example sentences:
1. My work increased sharply on Monday because I had two classes.
2. My work decreased sharply on Wednesday because I had no classes.
3. It stayed the same on Thursday because I had no classes.
4. It increased sharply again on Friday because I had two classes again.
5. It decreased slightly on Saturday because I had one class.
Look at the example “My work graph” above. Choose a topic (or think of your own topic) about your life from the “Possible topics” and draw your own graph. Then write five sentences about your graph.
Laziness Happiness Problems Weight Work Money
Free time Sleep
Task 5.
Look at the graph and complete the text with words from the box. (Use the correct form of the verbs)
MOBILE PHONES SALES
| downturn increase peak shoot up steadily drop level off pick up stable substantial |
Mobile phones’ sales rose (1)_______ in January and February and then(2)______ dramatically in March. They (3) ____ at 9,000 units at the beginning of April and then decreased gradually before (4) ______ around the 8,000 mark during May and June. July saw a (5) ______ decrease but sales (6) ______ a little in August. They (7) -____ again in September but remained (8) ______ throughout October. There was another (9) _____ in November but in the run-up to Christmas sales were healthy, with a steady (10) _______to 6,000 units by the end of the year.
Task 6.
Look at the graph. Describe the way the number of students attending fitness club changed over the year.
The number of students attending fitness club fell slightly in January and then ...
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Useful Tips for Describing Diagrams
- The Introduction should describe the purpose of your report and say what overall trends you see.
- The Body should describe the most important trends, while all information is summarized to avoid unnecessary details.
- Notice how many distinctive features the diagram has and divide information into paragraphs, one paragraph per feature. You should link the paragraphs by sentences that logically connect them to one another.
- Remember, summarizing doesn’t mean throwing away information. The secret here is to select what’s important, organize it, compare and contrast.
- The Conclusion should sum up the global trends shown in the diagram and compare them if possible.
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