• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

IELTS with Fiona

IELTS Made Easier

Members Academy
Log in

  • Home
  • IELTS Resources
    • Writing Task 1 Academic
    • Writing Task 1 General Training
    • Writing Task 2
    • Listening
    • Reading
    • Speaking
  • Freee IELTS Lessons
  • IELTS courses
  • FAQs
  • About me
  • What’s New
You are here: Home / IELTS Reading / IELTS Reading: How comparisons can help solve Yes, No, Not Given

IELTS Reading: How comparisons can help solve Yes, No, Not Given

By ieltsetc on February 20, 2019 0

IELTS Reading The benefits of being bilingual

28-Day Planner: Day 5

The text below gives examples of how comparisons are used in Yes/No/Not Given questions.

This is an Academic Passage 3, so it is difficult.

Listen to the full text and explanations here:

The Benefits of Being Bilingual

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

  • 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
  1. Attitudes towards bilingualism have changed in recent years. 

According to the latest figures, the majority of the world’s population is now bilingual or multilingual, having grown up speaking two or more languages. In the past, such children were considered to be at a disadvantage compared with their monolingual peers. Over the past few decades, however, 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.

  1. Bilingual people are better than monolingual people at guessing correctly what words are before they are finished. 

Research shows that when a bilingual person uses one language, the other is active at the same time. When we hear a word, we don’t hear the entire word all at once: the sounds arrive in sequential order. Long before the word is finished, the brain’s language system begins to guess what that word might be. If you hear ‘can’, you will likely activate words like ‘candy’ and ‘candle’ as well, at least during the earlier stages of word recognition.

  1. Bilingual people consistently name images faster than monolingual people. 

Having to deal with this persistent linguistic competition can result in difficulties, however. For instance, knowing more than one language can cause speakers to name pictures more slowly,…

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

It also seems that the neurological roots of the bilingual advantage extend to brain areas more traditionally associated with sensory processing. When monolingual and bilingual adolescents listen to simple speech sounds without any intervening background noise, they show highly similar (not more efficient) brain stem responses. When researchers play the same sound to both groups in the presence of background noise, however (= not ALL situations) 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.

  1. Fewer bilingual people than monolingual people suffer from brain disease in old age.

Research also indicates that bilingual experience may help to keep the cognitive mechanisms sharp by recruiting alternate brain networks to compensate for those that become damaged during aging. Older bilinguals enjoy improved memory relative to monolingual people, which can lead to real-world health benefits. In a study of over 200 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative brain disease, bilingual patients reported showing initial symptoms of the disease an average of five years later than monolingual patients. In a follow-up study, researchers compared the brains of bilingual and monolingual patients matched on the severity of Alzheimer’s symptoms. Surprisingly, the bilinguals’ brains had more physical signs of disease than their monolingual counterparts, even though their outward behaviour and abilities were the same. If the brain is an engine, bilingualism may help it to go farther on the same amount of fuel.

Answers

Answers:

32 Yes

33. Not Given

34. No

35. No

36. Not Given

33. Bilingual people are better than monolingual people at guessing correctly what words are before they are finished. NOT GIVEN

There is no comparison about who is better at guessing.

PARA B
Research shows that when a bilingual person uses one language, the other is active at the same time. When we hear a word, we don’t hear the entire word all at once: the sounds arrive in sequential order. Long before the word is finished, the brain’s language system begins to guess what that word might be. If you hear ‘can’, you will likely activate words like ‘candy’ and ‘candle’ as well, at least during the earlier stages of word recognition.

36. Fewer bilingual people than monolingual people suffer from brain disease in old age. NOT GIVEN

The text compares the timing (=how early) and severity (-how serious) of brain disease but there is no comparison between the number (=how many) of bilingual and monolingual people who suffer from brain disease in old age.

PARA F

Research also indicates that bilingual experience may help to keep the cognitive mechanisms sharp by recruiting alternate brain networks to compensate for those that become damaged during aging. Older bilinguals enjoy improved memory relative to monolingual people, which can lead to real-world health benefits. In a study of over 200 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative brain disease, bilingual patients reported showing initial symptoms of the disease an average of five years later than monolingual patients. In a follow-up study, researchers compared the brains of bilingual and monolingual patients matched on the severity of Alzheimer’s symptoms. Surprisingly, the bilinguals’ brains had more physical signs of disease than their monolingual counterparts, even though their outward behaviour and abilities were the same. If the brain is an engine, bilingualism may help it to go farther on the same amount of fuel.

***Comparisons are often NOT GIVEN in the IELTS Reading Test.***

Get more Reading practice here.

Get the full printable worksheet for every Reading and Listening in the Members Academy

Want to know what’s new?

If you want to hear all about my new lessons, podcasts, YouTube videos, challenges and courses, get your name on my email list (oh you’ll also get my free 28-Day Planner).

Sign up for the free 28-Day Planner.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Would you like to support my website?

In order to make sure you get a fantastic experience on my website I don’t use any advertising, and all the costs are paid for out of my own pocket.

If you’d like to help me keep these materials free for everyone, you are more than welcome to buy me a coffee! Many many thanks in advance.

Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

RSS My latest podcasts

  • IELTS Reading: What is exploration? April 11, 2021
  • IELTS Listening: 'Street Play Scheme' ⛹️‍♂️⛹🏻‍♀️🚗 March 29, 2021
  • IELTS Writing: 9️⃣ tips for a Band 9️⃣ essay March 14, 2021

Categories

  • Academic Writing Task 1
  • Grammar
  • GT Writing Task 1
  • IELTS Advice
  • IELTS General Training
  • IELTS Listening
  • IELTS Reading
  • IELTS Speaking
  • IELTS Vocabulary
  • IELTS Writing Task 2

Tags

Academic Reading P1 Academic Reading P2 Academic Reading P3 academic task 2 Agriculture Animals Buildings choosing from list Civilisation Crime education Finance gap-fill listening gap fill reading Gap Fill with answers grammar GT letters GT Reading GT Task 1 Health History ielts tips informal writing Inventions labelling a diagram Matching Headings matching people Matching Statements multiple choice listening multiple choice reading Nature Research Speaking Tables Technology TFNG The Arts The environment The Future Transport travel Water work writing task 2 YNNG

Work out your current score

IELTS Band Score Calculator

Recent posts

  • What is a band 9 model essay?
  • IELTS Writing Band 9 Task 2 model essay
  • 15 Conditional Grammar tips you’ll never forget
  • How to use ‘willing to’ vs ‘want to’
  • How to use ‘It’s (not) worth it’

Come and see what’s going on

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Products

  • IELTS Writing Feedback IELTS Writing and Speaking Assessment $99.00
  • IELTS Writing Feedback, Assessment and Correction Get 8 IELTS Writing Feedback Videos $200.00
  • IELTS Speaking Course syllabus Speaking Course and Mock Test $99.00
  • IELTS WRITING FEEDBACK IELTS Writing Assessment and Feedback Task 1 and Task 2 $50.00

Looking for something specific?

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube
  • About me
  • Contact me
  • IELTS Band Score Calculator
  • IELTS Test 28-Day planner
  • IELTS Resources
  • IELTS 10-minute lessons

Copyright © 2021 — IELTS Exam Training Courses • Privacy Policy • Disclaimer • All rights reserved

This site uses cookies: Find out more.