Bilingualism in Children Reading Answers

Dec 22, 2022

Bilingualism in Children Reading Answers has 13 questions that need to be answered in 20 minutes. The article Bilingualism in Children Reading Answers comprises three types of IELTS questions. They are Sentence Completion, Matching headings, and True/False/Not Given. Candidates need to read the passage efficiently, skim through the passage for keywords and find the answer. Candidates will be shown various question types with clear instructions in this IELTS Reading Section. Bilingualism in Children Reading Answers is a passage extracted from IELTS for Academic Purposes Practice Test with Audio Cd. IELTS reading samples come with a detailed explanation of each question in this passage. These samples ensure good IELTS reading practice for all the test-takers.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Bilingualism in Children Reading Answers

One misguided legacy of over a hundred years of writing on bilingualism is that children’s intelligence will suffer if they are bilingual. Some of the earliest research into bilingualism examined whether bilingual children were ahead or behind monolingual children on IQ tests. From the 1920s through to the 1960s, the tendency was to find monolingual children ahead of bilinguals on IQ tests. The conclusion was that bilingual children were mentally confused. Having two languages in the brain, it was said, disrupted effective thinking. It was argued that having one well-developed language was superior to having two half-developed languages.
The idea that bilinguals may have a lower IQ still exists among many people, particularly monolinguals. However, we now know that this early research was misconceived and incorrect. First, such research often gave bilinguals an IQ test in their weaker language – usually English. Had bilinguals been tested in Welsh or Spanish or Hebrew, a different result may have been found. The testing of bilinguals was thus unfair. Second, like was not compared with like. Bilinguals tended to come from, for example, impoverished New York or rural Welsh backgrounds. The monolinguals tended to come from a more middle-class, urban families. Working-class bilinguals were often compared with middle-class monolinguals. So the results were more likely to be due to social class differences than language differences. The comparison of monolinguals and bilinguals was unfair.
The most recent research from Canada, the United States, and Wales suggests that bilinguals are, at least, equal to monolinguals on IQ tests. When bilinguals have two well-developed languages (in the research literature called balanced bilinguals), bilinguals tend to show a slight superiority in IQ tests compared with monolinguals. This is the received psychological wisdom of the moment and is good news for raising bilingual children. Take, for example, a child who can operate in either language in the curriculum in the school. That child is likely to be ahead on IQ tests compared with similar (same gender, social class, and age) monolinguals. Far from making people mentally confused, bilingualism is now associated with a mild degree of intellectual superiority.
One note of caution needs to be sounded. IQ tests probably do not measure intelligence. IQ tests measure a small sample of the broadest concept of intelligence. IQ tests are simply paper and pencil tests where only ‘right and wrong’ answers are allowed. Is all intelligence summed up in such right and wrong, pencil and paper tests? Isn’t there a wider variety of intelligence that are important in everyday functioning and everyday life?
Many questions need answering. Do we only define an intelligent person as somebody who obtains a high score on an IQ test? Are the only intelligent people those who belong to high IQ organizations such as MENSA? Is there social intelligence, musical intelligence, military intelligence, marketing intelligence, motoring intelligence, political intelligence? Are all, or indeed any, of these forms of intelligence measured by a simple pencil and paper IQ test which demands a single, acceptable, correct solution to each question? Defining what constitutes intelligent behavior requires a personal value judgment as to what type of behavior, and what kind of person is of more worth.
The current state of psychological wisdom about bilingual children is that, where two languages are relatively well developed, bilinguals have thinking advantages over monolinguals. Take an example. A child is asked a simple question: How many uses can you think of to offer a brick? Some children give two or three answers only. They can think of building walls, building a house and perhaps that is all. Another child scribbles away, pouring out ideas one after the other: blocking up a rabbit hole, breaking a window, using it as a birdbath, as a plumb line, as an abstract sculpture in an art exhibition.
Research across different continents of the world shows that bilinguals tend to be more fluent, flexible, original and elaborate in their answers to this type of open-ended question. The person who can think of a few answers tends to be termed a convergent thinker. They converge onto a few acceptable conventional answers. People who think of lots of different uses for unusual items (e.g. a brick, tin can, cardboard box) are called Divergers. Divergers like a variety of answers to a question and are imaginative and fluent in their thinking.
There are other dimensions in thinking where approximately ‘balanced’ bilinguals may have temporary and occasionally permanent advantages over monolinguals: increased sensitivity to communication, a slightly speedier movement through the stages of cognitive development, and being less fixed on the sounds of words and more centered on the meaning of words. Such ability to move away from the sound of words and fix on the meaning of words tends to be a (temporary) advantage for bilinguals around the ages four to six This advantage may mean an initial head start in learning to read and learning to think about language.

1 bilingualism: the ability to speak two languages
2 monolingual: using or speaking only one language

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-3

Complete the sentences.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1 For more than____________, books and articles were wrong about

the intelligence of bilingual children.

2 For approximately 40 years, there was a mistaken belief that children who spoke two

languages were_____________.

3 It was commonly thought that people with a single _________ were more effective thinkers.

Question 1.

Answer: a hundred years/100 years
Supporting Sentence: One misguided legacy of over a hundred years of writing on bilingualism is that children’s intelligence will suffer if they are bilingual.
Keywords: Legacy, Bilingualism
Keyword Location: Section A, 1st Line
Explanation: The author states that there was a misconception that children's intelligence will suffer if they are bilingual. This is because of the misguided legacy of writing on bilingualism which lasted for over 100 years. Hence, a decade is the correct answer.

Question 2.

Answer: mentally confused/behind monolingual children
Supporting Sentence: The conclusion was that bilingual children were mentally confused.
Keywords: Monolingual, IQ tests, Bilingual
Keyword Location: Section A, 4th and 5th line
Explanation: The author states that the focus was to find monolingual children ahead of bilinguals by conducting IQ tests. But the result says that bilingual children are mentally confused. Hence, it is the correct answer.

Question 3.

Answer: (well-developed) language
Supporting sentence: It was argued that having one well-developed language was superior to having two half-developed languages.
Keywords: Language, Superior
Keyword Location: Section A, 7th line
Explanation: The author tells that children who knew one developed language were superior to those who knew half-developed languages. This was a well-debated topic. As per the question, language fits the blank perfectly.

Questions 4-9

Reading Passage has eight paragraphs, A-H.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.

List of Headings
No single definition of intelligence
Faulty testing, a wrong conclusion
Welsh research supports IQ testing
Beware: inadequate for Selling intelligence
International research supports bilingualism
Current thought on the advantage bilinguals have
Early beliefs regarding bilingualism
Monolinguals ahead of their bilingual peers
Exemplifying the bilingual advantage

Example	Paragraph A	vii
4	Paragraph B	-
5	Paragraph C	-
6	Paragraph D	-
7	Paragraph E	-
8	Paragraph F	-
9	Paragraph G	-

Question 4. Paragraph B

Answer: II
Supporting Sentence: However, we now know that this early research was misconceived and incorrect.
Keywords: Incorrect, Bilinguals
Keyword Location: Section B, 2nd and 3rd line
Explanation: The early research on IQ tests resulted in incorrect and faulty outcomes. This early research could have tested other languages other than English. If bilinguals were tested in Welsh or Spanish or Hebrew, a different result may have been found. Hence, it was faulty testing with an incorrect conclusion.

Question 5. Paragraph C

Answer: VI
Supporting Sentence: Far from making people mentally confused, bilingualism is now associated with a mild degree of intellectual superiority.
Keywords: monolinguals, intellectual superiority
Keyword Location: Section C, 7th and 8th line
Explanation: The author states that bilingualism does not make people mentally confused. Bilingualism is now connected with a smooth level of intellectual superiority. This is similar to option VI, which makes it correct.

Question 6. Paragraph D

Answer: IV
Supporting Sentence: Is all intelligence summed up in such right and wrong, pencil and paper tests? Isn’t there a wider variety of intelligence that are important in everyday functioning and everyday life?
Keywords: Intelligence, Functioning
Keyword Location: Section D, 4th and 5th line
Explanation: The author asks questions if Intelligence can be summed up in pencil and paper tests. The answer is obvious which is No. There are a variety of functions that are important for intelligence. Hence, inadequate selling for intelligence is the correct answer.

Question 7. Paragraph E

Answer: I
Supporting Sentence: Do we only define an intelligent person as somebody who obtains a high score on an IQ test?
Keywords: Define, Intelligent, IQ test
Keyword Location: Section E, 1st and 2nd line
Explanation: As per the author there are multiple definitions of intelligence. The intelligence level can only be identified by high scores in IQ tests. Do intelligent people only belong to top IQ companies like MENSA? Hence, the first option is the correct one for paragraph E.

Question 8. Paragraph F

Answer: IX
Supporting Sentence: A child is asked a simple question: How many uses can you think of to offer a brick? Some children give two or three answers only. They can think of building walls, building a house, and perhaps that is all.
Keywords: Example, Children
Keyword Location: Section F, 3rd and 4th line
Explanation: The author shared examples of bilingualism. The best example of bilingualism is when a child was asked for purpose of using a brick. Some children answered two or three purposes i.e. it can be used for building walls, houses, etc. Another child said about blocking up a rabbit hole, breaking a window, and using a birdbath. This makes Exemplifying the bilingual advantage, the correct answer.

Question 9. Paragraph G

Answer: V
Supporting Sentence: Research across different continents of the world shows that bilinguals tend to be more fluent, flexible, original and elaborate in their answers to this type of open-ended question.
Keywords: Continent, Fluent
Keyword Location: Section G, 1st and 2nd line
Explanation: As per the passage, most research from different continents of the world proved that bilinguals are more fluent, flexible, and elaborate. They are also original in their ideas and answers to every type of open-ended question. This means that International research supports bilingualism.

Questions 10-13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage? Write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

Question 10. Balanced bilinguals have more permanent than temporary advantages over monolinguals.

Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence: There are other dimensions in thinking where approximately ’balanced’ bilinguals may have temporary and occasionally permanent advantages over monolinguals.
Keywords: Dimensions, Bilinguals
Keyword Location: Section H, 1st line
Explanation: The author in the supporting sentence talks about balanced bilinguals having temporary and occasionally permanent advantages over monolinguals. Hence, the statement is false.

Question 11. Often bilinguals concentrate more on the way a word sounds than on its meaning.

Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence: being less fixed on the sounds of words and more centred on the meaning of words.
Keywords: Sounds, Words
Keyword Location: Section H, 4th line
Explanation: The passage states that bilinguals focus more on the meaning of the words rather than focusing on the sounds of the words. Hence, the answer is False.

Question 12. Monolinguals learn to speak at a younger age than bilinguals.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: Monolinguals are born from middle-class and urban families. There is no information about speaking languages before bilinguals.

Question 13. Bilinguals just starting school might pick up certain skills faster than monolinguals.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: This advantage may mean an initial head start in learning to read and learning to think about language.
Keywords: Advantage, Learning
Keyword Location: Section H, 7th line
Explanation: Bilinguals use the advantage of reading and learning skills of a language faster than monolinguals.

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