为什么要在雅思写作中引入价值判断这一概念，在雅思写作教学过程中，为了提升教学质量，引入一些关键的概念是非常有必要的，比如“利弊分析”，“具象化”等。恰当地使用这些抽象概念，教师可以用一种具有高度概括性的方式将解题方法予授学生，学生借助这些概念，其实质是高度概括的方，就可以少走弯路，举一反三，避免在反复的零碎的写作实践中不断试错，甚至反复出错。
如果完全抛弃这些抽象概念， 讲解过程将变得低效。这是主要是因为没有这些方的帮助，教师只能做一道题，讲一道题，完全无法总结出具有普遍性的解题方法。题目是做不完的，而且还处于不断的变化之中，因此，这种完全抛弃方的教学思路无异捞针，其结果必然是事倍功半。
当然，过多地使用抽象概念也会导致教学效率低下，更加会增加学生的记忆负担。所以，在引入抽象概念的时候一定要把握好分寸。
再者，一个有价值的／值得引入的抽象概念一定是具有指导意义的。而且，作为教师，自身一定要首先能够透彻地理解这一概念，否则就会事与愿违，甚至误人子弟。
为什么要在雅思写作中引入价值判断这一概念
一章
什么是价值判断
IELTS Writing Task 2 measures your ability to do two things: 1) to evaluate other people’s opinion; 2) to defend your own opinion.
As a matter of fact, evaluating others’ opinion is equivalent of defending your own. They are the same. This is because when you agree with others’ opinion, you take it as your own opinion. In this case, to defend their opinion is to defend yours; if you disagree with others’ opinion, you take the opposite position. In this case, to challenge their opinion, you have to defend yours as well.
So, either way, you have to present an opinion and defend yourself. This is the nature of IELTS Writing task 2. It is also this very nature that warrants the introduction of the concept of value judgment.
To understand that, you have to understand what an opinion is in the first place.
What is an opinion?
There are two types of opinion that you might hold or encounter in IELTS Writing Task 2: 1) a value judgment; 2) factual analysis.
When you are making a decision about whether something should or should not be done; whether something is necessary or unnecessary; whether something is beneficial or harmful; whether something is useful or useless; whether something is important or unimportant; whether something is good or bad etc. you are making a value judgment. You are making this judgment based on your analysis of the pros and cons of something (the subject of your consideration). To go one step further, it is called value judgment, different from factual analysis, because this judgment is made with the consideration of your own interests or the interests of humanity, not an object, not an animal, not a plant, not the objective world, but human beings.
For example, when you say environmental protection is necessary, you are making a value judgment. The reason why you would deem that environmental protection is necessary or important is that environmental protection benefits you and the entire humanity. Conversely, environmental problems are “problems” only because they create a menace to the health and development of human race. If environmental problems are harmless to human beings, we wouldn’t call them “problems” any more.

In many cases, the IELTS Writing Topics would contain someone’s opinion. And you will be required to either support or challenge this opinion. For example,
(1) Some say criminal punishments should be fixed, whereas others argue that criminal punishment should be flexible and the circumstances and motives must be considered.
(2) Some say all governments should prioritize environmental protection over economic development.
(3) Some say arts cannot improve the quality of living directly, so the public money should be spent in other fields of the society.
(4) Some say it is unnecessary to travel to other places to learn about the local culture, because we can learn as much from the internet, books and films.
The opinions given in the above writing topics are all value judgments which are based on the analysis of the pros and cons of the subject.
It is because value judgments have to be based on the analysis of the pros and cons of the subject that you must conduct an analysis of the pros and cons of the subject in order to form a value judgment or to evaluate one. And the analysis of the pros and cons of the subject is a type of factual analysis.