Cambridge IELTS 12, Test 6, Reading Passage 3: The Benefits of Being Bilingual, Solution With Answer Key

The Benefits of Being Bilingual Passage Solution with Answer Key – Cambridge IELTS 12, Test 6: Reading Passage 3. Here we will discuss detailed explanation of all the questions of the passage. Here is step by step Solution with Tips and Strategies. This post is for educational purpose only. If you find difficulties in reading passage to find the right answer in the exam, just read the post carefully. Tips and strategies will help you find the right answer.

 

The Benefits of Being Bilingual

IELTS Reading Passage Solution

 

IELTS Cambridge 12, Test 6, Academic Reading Module, Reading Passage 3

 

PASSAGE 3: The Benefits of Being Bilingual

Question 27-31 (Matching tables; Tests and Findings)

** Tips(link details): How To Solve Notes, Table, Form, Summary, Flow Chart, Diagram in IELTS Reading

Question 27: Observing the _________ of Russian-English bilingual people when asked to select certain objects.

Keywords: Observe, Russian – English bilingual people, select, objects

Now, in IELTS Reading, it’s easier to find names of people and places than most other information. Therefore, we should start by finding location of information about “Russian – English bilingual people”. This information lies in paragraph B, in an example of “studying of eye movements” – “A Russian-English bilingual was asked to ‘pick up a marker’ from a set of objects”. “Studying” refers to “observing”, and “pick up” means “select”. Therefore, the words to fill in the blank are “eye movements”.

Here, Study = observe; Pick up = select;

Answer: eye movements.

Question 28: Bilingual people engage both languages simultaneously: a mechanism known as __________.

Keywords: Bilingual people, simultaneously, mechanism

Now, In paragraph B, where we found the previous question’s answer, there are few words which match with the keywords for this answer. Here, in line 6 and 7, it is said that word recognition is ‘… . . not limited to a single language; auditory input activates corresponding words regardless of the language to which they belong.’ This is synonymous to “Bilingual people engage both languages simultaneously”. A

Here, At the same time = simultaneously; Activation = mechanism;

Answer: language co-activation

Question 29: A test called the _______, focusing on naming colours.

Keywords: a test, naming colours

Now, in paragraph C , line 7, the author mentioned “tasks” and took an example of a classic task in which “people see a word and are asked to name the colour of the word’s font”. It is called “Stroop Task.” Therefore, Stroop Task is the answer.

Here, task = test;

Answer: Stroop Task.

Question 30: Bilingual people are more able to handle tasks involving a skill called ________.

Keywords: bilingual people, more able to, handle, skill

Now, since the questions are in the table with two columns “Test” and “Findings”, so questions in the same row will be closely related to each other. Therefore, their answers are definitely somewhere near the other and we still pay attention to paragraph C in line 6, 7. In this case, the author mentioned the “findings” in the previous sentence – “bilingual people often perform better on tasks that require conflict management”. “Perform better on tasks” has the same meaning with “are more able to handle tasks” and “require” is the same as “involving”. The skill mentioned here is “conflict management”.

Here, perform better = more able to handle;

Answer: conflict management.

Question 30: When changing strategies, bilingual people have superior ________.

Keywords: switching, changing strategies, superior

Now, in paragraph C, line 14 and 15, the writer talks about switching between two tasks. This has a close relationship with the phrase changing strategies in the question. Then the writer says that when bilingual people do such tasks, they reflect better cognitive control (line 17).

Answer: cognitive control

Question 32-36(YES/NO/NOT GIVEN):

** Tips (link details): How To Solve True, False, Not Given in IELTS Reading Module?

Question 32: Attitudes towards bilingualism have changed in recent years.

Keywords: attitudes, bilingualism, changed, recent years.

Now, in paragraph A, the author mentioned something in the past in the line 2 and 3, and the difference “over the past few decades” in the third sentence (using “however” as the conjunction). This means there were changes in recent years. Therefore, we can try finding our answer here. The author claimed “technological advances have allowed researchers to look more deeply at how bilingualism interacts with and changes the cognitive and neurological systems, thereby identifying several clear benefits of being bilingual”. It means they find being bilingual has its own advantages instead of only disadvantages, as people thought in the past. Therefore, attitudes towards bilingualism have changed. The answer is Yes.

Answer: Yes.​

 

Question 33: Bilingual people are better than monolingual people at guessing correctly what words are before they are finished.
Keywords: better than, at guessing correctly, what words, before, finished
Now, in paragraph B talks about the use of words while paragraph C talks about guessing words. But none of them shows any comparison on who is better in guessing correctly a word. There is no clear indication about the statement in the question 33.
Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question 34: Bilingual people consistently name images faster than monolingual people.

Keywords: bilingual, monolingual, name, images, faster

Now, in the second sentence of paragraph C, the author gave an example of the disadvantages of being bilingual – “For instance, knowing more than one language can cause speakers to name pictures more slowly.” “Knowing more than one language” means “bilingual” and “pictures” is the same as “images”. Therefore, bilingual people name images more slowly than monolingual people. The answer is No.

Answer: No.

Question 35: Bilingual people’s brains process single sounds more efficiently than monolingual people in all situations.

Keywords: bilingual people’s brains, process, single sounds, more efficiently, all situations.

Now, in paragraph D, the writer mentioned “When monolingual and bilingual adolescents listen to simple speech sounds without any intervening background noise, they show highly similar brain stem responses”. Hence, there is at least one situation, when there is no intervening background noise, in which the brain processing of these 2 kinds of people is “highly similar”. The above statement is only right “in the presence of background noise”, not “all situations”. Therefore, the answer is No.

Answer: No.

Question 36: Fewer bilingual people than monolingual people suffer from brain disease in old age

Keywords: fewer bilingual people, suffer, brain disease, old age. In terms of issues related to age,

Now, in paragraph F, the author mentioned brain disease in old age. However, he/she only mentioned “bilingual experience may help to keep the cognitive mechanisms sharp”: “Older bilinguals enjoy improved memory relative to monolingual people”, “bilingual patients reported showing initial symptoms of the disease an average of five years later than monolingual patients”, “the bilinguals’ brains had more physical signs of disease than their monolingual”. There is no line which contains information about the number of bilingual people and their monolingual counterparts. We only know that the physical signs of disease in bilinguals are greater than monolinguals, but it is clear that both groups suffer from brain disease. Therefore, the answer is Not given.

Answer: Not given.

Question 37-40 (identifying information):

** Tips(Link Details): How To Solve Information Matching or Locating Paragraph In IELTS Reading Module?

Question 37: An example of how bilingual and monolingual people’s brains respond differently to a certain type of non-verbal auditory
input

Keywords: example, brains, respond, differently, type of non-verbal auditory input.

Now, when doing question 35, we already know that information about brain responses is in paragraph D, so we have to pay attention to this paragraph. “Simple sound” can be considered as “a certain type of non-verbal auditory input” – “When researchers play the same sound to both groups in the presence of background noise, however, the bilingual listeners’ neural response is considerably larger, reflecting better encoding of the sound’s fundamental frequency, a feature of sound closely related to pitch perception.” Therefore, the answer is D.

Answer: D

Question 38: A demonstration of how a bilingual upbringing has benefits even before we learn to speak

Keywords: demonstration, a bilingual upbringing, benefit, before we learn to speak.

Now, in paragraph G, the author gave an example of one study in which “researchers taught seven month-old babies growing up in monolingual or bilingual homes”, then drew the conclusion that “for very young children, as well as for older people, navigating a multilingual environment imparts advantages that transfer far beyond language.” “advantages” is the same as “benefits” and “seven-month- old” is before we learn to speak. Therefore, the answer is G.

Answer: G.

 

Question 39: A description of the process by which people identify words that they hear

Keywords: description, process, identify words that they hear

Now, in paragraph B, the author explained how we hear words and recognize them “When we hear a word, we don’t hear the entire word all at once: the sounds arrive in sequential order.” Therefore, the answer is B.

Here, Word recognition = identify words;

Answer: B.

Question 40: Reference to some negative consequences of being bilingual

Keywords: negative consequences, being bilingual

Now, in the first sentence of paragraph C, the writer claimed “Having to deal with this persistent linguistic competition can result in difficulties, however.” “Deal with this persistent linguistic competition” refers to “knowing more than one language” – or “being bilingual”, and “difficulties” is the same as “negative consequences”. Therefore, the answer is C.

Here, difficulties = negative consequences

Answer: C.

 

 

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Answer Key – The Benefits of Being Bilingual

Cambridge IELTS 12 Test 6 Answer Key, Reading Passage 3

 

The Benefits of Being Bilingual Reading Passage Answers Keys

Passage 3

 

 

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