Literate Women Make Better Mothers? Reading Answers
Literate Women Make Better Mothers? Reading Answers contain 14 questions that have to be answered by the candidates. Literate Women Make Better Mothers? Reading Answers comprises three types of questions: Yes, No, Not Given, choose two letters, complete the summary. For the Yes, No and Not Given, candidates must read the IELTS passage and understand the statement provided. They should then select Yes or No if the statement is True or False or the information is not given in the passage. In choose the correct letter, candidates must select 2 options which are correct as per the passage.
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Section 1
Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions
Literate Women Make Better Mothers? Reading Answers
- Children in developing countries are healthier and more likely to survive past the age of five when their mothers can read and write. Experts in public health accepted this idea decades ago, but until now no one has been able to show that a woman’s ability to read in itself improves her children’s chances of survival.
- Most literate women learnt to read in primary school, and the fact that a woman has had an education may simply indicate her family’s wealth or that it values its children more highly. Now a long-term study carried out in Nicaragua has eliminated these factors by showing that teaching reading to poor adult women, who would otherwise have remained illiterate, has a direct effect on their children’s health and survival.
- In 1979, the government of Nicaragua established a number of social programmes, including a National Literacy Crusade. By 1985, about 300,000 illiterate adults from all over the country, many of whom had never attended primary school, had learnt how to read, write and use numbers.
- During this period, researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Central American Institute of Health in Nicaragua, the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua and the Costa Rican Institute of Health interviewed nearly 3,000 women, some of whom had learnt to read as children, some during the literacy crusade and some who had never learnt at all. The women were asked how many children they had given birth to and how many of them had died in infancy. The research teams also examined the surviving children to find out how well-nourished they were.
- The investigators’ findings were striking. In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point in their lives, Those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level of child mortality(105/1000).For women educated in primary school, however, the infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand.
In 1985, after the National Literacy Crusade had ended, the infant mortality figures for those who remained illiterate and for those educated in primary school remained more or less unchanged. For those women who learnt to read through the campaign, the infant mortality rate was 84 per thousand, an impressive 21 points lower than for those women who were still illiterate. The children of the newly-literate mothers were also better nourished than those of women who could not read.
- Why are the children of literate mothers better off? According to Peter Sandiford of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, no one knows for certain. Child health was not on the curriculum during the women’s lessons, so he and his colleagues are looking at other factors. They are working with the same group of 3,000 women, to try to find out whether reading mothers make better use of hospitals and clinics, opt for smaller families, exert more control at home, learn modem childcare techniques more quickly, or whether they merely have more respect for themselves and their children.
- The Nicaraguan study may have important implications for governments and aid agencies that need to know where to direct their resources. Sandiford says that there is increasing evidence that female education, at any age, is ‘an important health intervention in its own right’ .The results of the study lend support to the World Bank’s recommendation that education budgets in developing countries should be increased, not just to help their economies, but also to improve child health. ‘We’ve known for a long time that maternal education is important,’ says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. ‘But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, we’d have to wait a generation for the pay-off. The Nicaraguan study suggests we may be able to bypass that.’
- Cleland warns that the Nicaraguan crusade was special in many ways, and similar campaigns elsewhere might not work as well. It is notoriously difficult to teach adults skills that do not have an immediate impact on their everyday lives, and many literacy campaigns in other countries have been much less successful. ‘The crusade was part of a larger effort to bring a better life to the people,’ says Cleland. Replicating these conditions in other countries will be a major challenge for development workers.
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Section 2
Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-5
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-J, below.
Write the correct letters, A-J, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
The Nicaraguan National Literacy Crusade aimed to teach large numbers of illiterate......(1)............ to read and write. Public health experts have known for many years that there is a connection between child health and .......(2)........... However, it has not previously been known whether these two factors were directly linked or not. This question has been investigated by .......(3)............. in Nicaragua. As a result, factors such as .....(4)................. and attitudes to children have been eliminated, the audit has shown that ......(5).......... can in itself improve infant health and survival.
List of words provided:
- Child literacy
- Men and women
- An international research team
- Medical care
- Mortality
- Maternal literacy
- Adults and children
- Paternal literacy
- A National literacy crusades
- Family wealth
Question 1:
Answer: B (men and women)
Supporting Sentence: In 1979, the government of Nicaragua established a number of social programs, including a National Literacy Crusade. By 1985, about 300,000 Illiterate adults from all over the country, many of whom had never attended primary school, had learnt how to read, write and use numbers.
Keywords: literacy crusade, illiterate
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, second line
Explanation: The passage states that the national literacy crusade initiated in 1979, by the government of Nicaragua, was successful in educating 3,00,000 adults all over the country. The word adults is a broad-spectrum word referring to both men and women.
Question 2:
Answer: F (maternal literacy)
Supporting Sentence: Children in developing countries are healthier and more likely to survive past the age of five when their mothers can read and write. Experts In public health accepted this idea decades ago, but until now no one has been able to show that a woman's ability to read in Itself Improves her children’s chances of survival.
Keywords: Public health, children, health
Keyword Location: Paragraph A
Explanation: Education is the key to a healthier and more successful life. The educated women who become mothers are aware of the several diseases and infections that might affect their kids. As a result, they would be efficient in taking care of their children in a better way as compared to illiterate mothers. This literacy among mothers would ensure the good health and safety of the children.
Question 3:
Answer: C (an international research team)
Supporting Sentence: The Investigators' findings were striking. In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of Illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point In their lives, those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level Of child mortality (105/1000). For women educated in primary school, however, the Infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand.
Keywords: Researchers, illiterate, literate, Found
Keyword Location: Paragraph E
Explanation: To determine the relationship between educated mothers and child health, an extensive study was carried out by the researchers of the different organizations on 3,000 women. The results depicted that the fatality ratio of the literate women’s kids is way less as compared to that of illiterate women, thus proving that maternal literacy and child health goes hand in hand.
Question 4:
Answer: J (Family wealth)
Supporting Sentence: Most literate women learnt to read in primary school, and the fact that a woman has had an education may simply indicate her family’s wealth or that it values its children more highly.
Keywords: wealth, values
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, line 2
Explanation: This paragraph explains that the woman’s literacy was used to judge the family’s wealth and values. But now everything has changed and all these factors are now eliminated.
Question 5:
Answer: F (Maternal literacy)
Supporting Sentence: We’ve known for a long time that maternal education is important,’ says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Keywords: maternal, education
Keyword Location: Paragraph G, line 6
Explanation: This paragraph states that educating women is very important not just to help economies, but also to improve child health.
Questions 6-11:
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 6-11 on your answer sheet, write:
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
- About a thousand of the women interviewed by the researchers had learnt to read when they were children.
- Before the National Literacy Crusade, illiterate women had approximately the same levels of infant mortality as those who had learnt to read in primary school.
- Before and after the National Literacy Crusade, the child mortality rate for illiterate women stayed at about 110 deaths for every thousand live births.
- The women who had learnt to read through the National Literacy Crusade showed the greatest change in infant mortality levels.
- The women who had learnt to read through the National Literacy Crusade had the lowest rates of child mortality.
- After the National Literacy Crusade, the children of the women who remained illiterate were found to be severely malnourished.
Question 6:
Answer: Not given
Supporting Sentence: During this period, the researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Central American Institute of Health in Nicaragua, the National Autonomous University in Nicaragua, and the Costa Rican Institute of Health interviews nearly, 3,000 women, some of whom had learned to read as a child, some during the literacy crusade, and some who had never learned.
Keywords: Women, learn, children, researchers, thousands
Keyword Location: Paragraph D
Explanation: During the extensive study, the researchers had a pool of women, both literate and illiterate. And, as a result of the research, they found out how the health of the children is correlated to the literacy of their mother.
Question 7:
Answer: No
Supporting Sentence: In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of Illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point In their lives, those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level Of child mortality (105/1000). For women educated in primary school, however, the Infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand.
Keywords: Mortality rate, literate, illiterate
Keyword Location: Paragraph E
Explanation: Paragraph E explains that the infant mortality rate for the mothers who went on to learn to read were similar to children of Illiterate mothers.
Question 8:
Answer: Yes
Supporting Sentence: In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of Illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point In their lives, those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level Of child mortality (105/1000).
Keywords: Children mortality rate, 110 deaths
Keyword Location: Paragraph E
Explanation: The literacy crusade was started in 1977, before this in the 1970s the mortality rate of the children was at least 110 out of a thousand kids.
Question 9:
Answer: Yes
Supporting Sentence: ‘The Costa Rican Institute of Health interviewed nearly 3,000 women, some of whom had learnt to read as children, some during the literacy crusade and some who had never learnt at all.’
Keywords: literacy, crusade
Keyword Location: Paragraph d, line 4
Explanation: This paragraph tells about research done by various institutes. They interviewed over 3000 women and the outcome showed that some of them learnt to read as children and some had never learnt at all.
Question 10:
Answer: No
Supporting Sentence: For women educated in primary school, however, the infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand.
Keywords: lower, mortality
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, line 4
Explanation: This paragraph tells us that those women who learnt to read through the National Literacy Crusade had the lowest rates of child mortality.
Question 11:
Supporting Sentence: The children of the newly-literate mothers were also better nourished than those of women who could not read.
Keywords: children, mother,
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, last line
Explanation: The paragraph says that the children of the newly-literate mothers were also better nourished than those of women who could not read. However, it does not say that they were malnourished. Hence, the answer is Not Given.
Questions 12 and 13
Choose two letters, from A to E, which justify the implications drawn from the Nicaraguan Study mentioned in the passage
Write the correct letters in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.
- It is better to educate mature women than young girls
- Similar campaigns in other countries would be equally successful.
- The effects of maternal literacy programs can be seen very quickly
- Improving child health can quickly affect a country's economy.
- Money spent on female education will improve child health.
Question 12:
Answers: C, E both are correct
For statement C:
Supporting Sentence: 'We’ve known for a long time that maternal education is important,’ says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. ‘But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, we'd have to wait for a generation for the payoff. The Nicaraguan study suggests we may be able to bypass that.
Keywords: Bypass
Keyword Location: Paragraph I
Explanation: The word bypass in the statement indicates a quicker result shown by educating women.
Question 13:
For statement E:
Supporting Sentence: The Nicaraguan study may have important implications for governments and aid agencies that need to know where to direct their resources.
Sandiford says that there is increasing evidence that female education, at any age, is "an important health intervention in its own right’. The results of the study lend support to the World Bank's recommendation that education budgets in developing countries should be increased, not just to help their economies, but also to improve child health.
Keywords: Budgets
Keyword Location: Paragraph H
Explanation: The results of the study carried out by the researchers justify the fact that more money should be spent on educating women, to ensure child health and a successful world.
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