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Role-play: Defending an Argument in a Tutorial
Speaking
Role-play
You are a postgraduate student in a university tutorial. Your tutor, Dr Lee, has challenged the main claim in your essay that cities should limit tourist numbers in historic centres.
Partner: "Your essay is well researched, but I'm not convinced by your central claim. Isn't restricting visitors rather elitist?"
Your turn: Concede that the charge has some force but defend your position by distinguishing access from overcrowding.
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Model answer: I take the point, and it's a risk I tried to address. But I'd distinguish between restricting access and managing overcrowding. Limiting numbers at peak times need not exclude anyone; it simply spreads visits out so that the place remains worth visiting.
Partner: "Hmm. But who decides what counts as too many? Isn't that somewhat arbitrary?"
Your turn: Admit there is some arbitrariness but argue that evidence such as the strain on infrastructure can guide limits.
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Model answer: There's certainly an element of judgement, I won't deny it. But the thresholds needn't be plucked from the air. Pressure on infrastructure, damage to buildings and residents' own experience can all be measured, and those data give us a reasonable basis for setting limits.
Partner: "You cite Venice as your main example. Do you think one city can bear the weight of a general argument?"
Your turn: Accept that a single case is limiting and say you would compare it with smaller towns in different countries.
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Model answer: Fair challenge. Venice is an extreme case, and I'd be wary of generalising from it alone. If I revised the essay, I'd bring in smaller towns elsewhere, where the scale and the economics are quite different, to see whether the same principles hold.
Partner: "Good. Where do you think the argument is weakest, then?"
Your turn: Honestly name the weakest point, such as the lack of evidence about local residents' own views, and propose how to fix it.
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Model answer: Probably in my treatment of residents. I've assumed they'd welcome limits, without much evidence. Interviews or survey data would strengthen that section considerably, and might well complicate my conclusion in interesting ways.
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