# Declining Standards of Literacy: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 2, Test 4, Reading Passage 2

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 2, Test 4, Reading Passage 2. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 14 | D | Even if a child is able to read aloud fluently, he or she may not be able to understand much of it: this is called 'barking at text'. |
| 15 | B | pictures affected speed and accuracy and the closer the pictures were to the words, the slower and more inaccurate the child's reading became. |
| 16 | D | The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge recently held joint conferences to discuss the noticeably rapid decline in literacy among their undergraduates. |
| 17 | C | those who seemed to ignore the pictures and pointed at the words learnt more words than the children who pointed at the pictures ... then the pictures are unnecessary and distracting |
| 18 | NO | When teachers use picture books, they are simply continuing a long-established tradition that is accepted without question. |
| 19 | YES | to develop not only the ability to recognise words, but the skills necessary to understand what these words mean |
| 20 | YES | As they grow older, many children turn aside from books without pictures ... It is hard to wean children off picture books |
| 21 | NOT GIVEN | recently held joint conferences to discuss the noticeably rapid decline in literacy |
| 22 | F | The least intelligent are most vulnerable, but tests show that even intelligent children are being affected. ... even at senior levels |
| 23 | C | Amazingly, there is virtually no empirical evidence to support the use of illustrations in teaching reading. ... Despite this, from North America to the Antipodes |
| 24 | J | those who seemed to ignore the pictures and pointed at the words learnt more words |
| 25 | I | they may well be misled by aspects of the pictures which are not closely related to the meaning of the word |
| 26 | C | a great deal of empirical evidence shows that pictures interfere in a damaging way with all aspects of learning to read. ... cite experiments which demonstrate how detrimental pictures are for beginner readers |

## Why these answers are right

**14. D.** The question asks what barking at text means. Paragraph D says a child may read aloud fluently yet not understand much of it, and that this is called barking at text, so it describes difficulty grasping meaning, option D; reading loudly is not the issue.

**15. B.** You need the claim the text makes about pictures. Willows found that pictures affected speed and accuracy, and the closer they were to the words, the slower and less accurate reading became, so pictures can slow down reading progress, B.

**16. D.** This asks why university academics are worried. Oxford and Cambridge held joint conferences to discuss the noticeably rapid decline in literacy among their undergraduates, which is a significant change in student literacy, option D; the passage says nothing about interest in higher education falling.

The why and the trap for questions 17 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/declining-standards-of-literacy/answers).

[Practice Declining Standards of Literacy](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/declining-standards-of-literacy)