IELTS FOR
ACADEMIC PURPOSES
TEST 1 (READING)
READING
READING PASSAGE 1
You
should spend about 20 minutes on questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
BILINGUALISM
IN CHILDREN
|
A
|
One misguided
legacy of over a hundred years of writing on bilingualism1 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 monolingual2 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 is said, disrupted
effective thinking. It was argued that having one well-developed language was
superior to having two half-developed languages.
|
B
|
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 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.
|
C
|
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.
|
D
|
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 is
important in everyday functioning and everyday life?
|
E
|
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 organisations 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 behaviour requires a personal value judgement as to
what type of behaviour, and what kind of person is more worth.
|
F
|
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 for 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 as a bird bath, as
a plumb line, as an abstract sculpture in an art exhibition.
|
G
|
Research across
different continents of the world shows that bilinguals tend to be more
fluent, flexible, original and elaborate 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.
|
H
|
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 the words and
more centred 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
monolinguals=using or speaking only one language
|
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.
|
Questions 4-9
Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs,
A-H
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs
B-G from the list of headings below
List of headings
|
|
i
|
No single definition of intelligence
|
ii
|
Faulty
testing, wrong conclusion
|
iii
|
Welsh research supports IQ testing
|
iv
|
Beware,
inadequate for testing intelligence
|
v
|
International research supports bilingualism
|
vi
|
Current
thought on the advantage bilinguals have
|
vii
|
Early beliefs regarding bilingualism
|
viii
|
Monolinguals
ahead of their bilingual peers.
|
ix
|
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
|
____________________
|
Questions 10-13
Do the following statements agree with
the information given in Reading Passage 1?
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
|
10
|
Balanced bilinguals have more permanent than temporary advantages over
monolinguals.
|
_____________
|
11
|
Often bilinguals concentrate more on the way a word sounds than on its
meaning.
|
_____________
|
12
|
Monolinguals
learn to speak at a younger age than bilinguals
|
_____________
|
13
|
Bilinguals just starting school might pick up certain skills faster
than monolinguals.
|
_____________
|
ANSWER
KEY
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