READ THE PASSAGE AND DO THE TASKS THAT FOLLOW.A. ONE MISGUIDED L...

Section 3: Read the passage and do the tasks that follow.

A. One misguided legacy 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 of monolingual children on IQ

tests. From the 1920s 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.

B. The idea that the 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 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 tend to come from, for example, impoverished New York or rural Welsh

backgrounds. The monolinguals tend 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 monolinguals (same gender, social class,

and age). 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 included in such right and wrong, pencil and paper tests? Isn't there a wider variety

of intelligences that are 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 tests. 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 judgement as to what type of behavior, and what

kind of person is of 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 or 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 in their answers to this type of open-ended question.

The person who can think of a few answers tend 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 call 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 in the sounds of 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.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage to complete the sentences.

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.

4. It was unfair to compare bilinguals and monolinguals by using _________________ in

English.

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

i

No single definition of intelligence

Faulty setting, wrong conclusion

ii

Welsh research supports IQ testing

iii

iv

Beware: inadequate of testing intelligence

v

International research support bilingualism

Current thought on the advantage bilinguals have

vi

vii

Early beliefs regarding bilingualism

viii

Monolinguals ahead of their bilingual peers

ix

Exemplifying the bilingual advantage

Example paragraph A ____ vii ____

5 paragraph B __________

6 paragraph C __________

7 paragraph D __________

8 paragraph E __________

9 paragraph F __________

10 paragraph G __________

Write T (true), F (false) or NG (not given) for the following statements.

__________ 11. Balanced bilinguals have more permanent than temporary advantages over

monolinguals.

__________ 12. Often bilinguals concentrate more on the way a word sounds than its

meaning.

__________ 13. Monolinguals learn to speak at a younger age than bilinguals.

__________ 14. Bilinguals just starting school might pick up certain skills faster than

15. What is the most suitable title for the passage?

A. Types of intelligence

B. The use of IQ tests

C. Bilingualism and intelligence in children

D. A new discovery in bilingualism

Your answers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

PART IV: WRITING (6 points)