PrepTest 132, Section 2, Question 1
In a recent study, a group of young(37 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AWhen young children(24 more words not shown)
- BYoung children best(15 more words not shown)
- CThe earlier in(26 more words not shown)
- DYoung children who(26 more words not shown)
- EYoung children best(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What are the children learning: the name of the stairs, or the name for going up and down?
They hear “stairs” while using the stairs. That could connect the new word with the movement. We don't always teach words that way: we could talk about baseball without playing it. Here, the children experience the object and its use together.
Then they see someone climbing a ladder and call that “stairs” too. I can see a possible connection. Both objects let someone go up and down. Maybe the children have attached the word to that shared use instead of learning which object it names. Or perhaps they're excited about a new word and are calling everything stairs, including their mother. We haven't been told why they make the mistake.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for a principle illustrated by what happened. So keep our guesses separate from the observation. Children learned a word while using one object, then applied it to a different object used similarly. That shows an imperfect grasp of the word; it doesn't show that they deliberately misunderstood or weren't paying attention.
Working the answers
- A
The children did see the object. They were walking on the stairs while learning the word. A describes hearing a word without seeing what it names, which is a different situation. We also aren't told how many times they heard it.
- B
Best compared with what? We saw one way of teaching a word, followed by a mistake. We didn't compare that method with other ways of teaching. The study cannot establish which method works best.
- C
There is no comparison between learning the word earlier and learning it later. All we know is what these young children did. C adds a claim about how the age of first exposure affects later understanding.
- DCorrect
The children learned “stairs” while seeing how stairs are used, then applied the word to a ladder, another object used to climb. D stays with that observed pattern. It doesn't require us to settle exactly what the children were thinking or claim that all children make this mistake.
- E
Again, we cannot identify the best teaching method from this one example. We also aren't told that no other objects were present. The study describes a word being applied too broadly; it doesn't establish the ideal setting for teaching vocabulary.
More Must Be True questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Must Be True questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.