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)
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