Here are the official How could multilingualism benefit India’s poorest schoolchildren? IELTS Reading answers, covering every one of Questions 14–26. This passage is taken from Cambridge IELTS 21, Academic Test 4, Reading Passage 2 (Questions 14–26). The page gives you the complete passage, all thirteen questions and the official answer key, with an explanation for every answer that quotes the supporting sentence.

The passage reports a Cambridge University study of 1,000 primary schoolchildren in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bihar, and asks why multilingualism brings Indian children so few of the benefits seen in Europe. Questions 14–19 are summary completion, Questions 20–23 are Yes/No/Not Given and Questions 24–26 are multiple choice. Work through the paper once under exam timing before looking at any answer, then check your total on the Cambridge IELTS 21 Academic Reading Test 4 answers page, or finish the paper with the Passage 3 walkthrough.

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

How could multilingualism benefit India’s poorest schoolchildren?

The crowded and bustling streets of Delhi teem with life. Stop to listen and, above the din of rickshaws and buses, you’ll hear a multitude of languages, as more than 20 million people go about their daily lives. Many were born and raised here, and many millions more have recently made India’s capital their home, having moved from surrounding neighbourhoods, cities and states or across the country, often in the hope of gaining better jobs and a better life. Some arrive speaking fluent Hindi, the dominant language in Delhi (and the official language of government), but many arrive speaking any number of India’s 22 officially recognised languages, let alone the hundreds of regional languages in a country of more than 1.3 billion people.

A team of researchers led by Professor Ianthi Tsimpli of Cambridge University is currently working on a project collecting data on 1,000 primary-age children in Delhi and the cities of Hyderabad and Bihar. The overriding aim of the four-year project, called ‘Multilingualism and Multiliteracy’, is to find out why in a country where multilingualism is so common (more than 255 million people in India speak at least two languages, and nearly 90 million speak three or more languages), the many benefits of speaking more than one language, observed in schools in Europe for instance, do not apply to many of India’s schoolchildren.

‘Each year across India, 600,000 children are tested, and year after year over 50% of children in Standard 5 [ten-year-olds] cannot read a Standard 2 [seven-year-olds] task fluently, and just under 50% of them cannot solve a Standard 2 subtraction task,’ says Tsimpli. She explains that low educational achievement can lead to many of these students dropping out of school – a problem disproportionately affecting female students.

Tsimpli and her colleagues are investigating whether these low learning outcomes could be caused by an Indian school system where the language that children are taught in often differs from the language used at home. The research project, which focuses on 8 to 11-year-old schoolchildren in rural and urban areas, collects data on whether the schoolchildren live in slum* or non-slum areas. Many of the children have moved from remote, rural areas to urban areas. They are so poor they have to live in slums and, as a result of migration, they may speak languages that are different from the regional language.

Having already tested 1,000 children, the researchers will now embark on retesting them. They intend to look not only at test results, but also at variables such as the standard of schooling, the environment and the teaching practices themselves. It’s possible that one of the causes of low performance is the lack of pupil-centred teaching methods; in many Indian primary schools the teacher dominates and there is little room for independent learning.

Although the findings are at a preliminary stage, Tsimpli and her team have found that the medium of instruction used in schools, especially English, may hold back those children who have little familiarity with, or exposure to, the language before starting school and outside of school life. According to Tsimpli, most of the evidence from this and other projects shows that English instruction for children from low socio-economic areas might not be the best way for them to learn, at least in the first three years of primary education.

‘What we would recommend for everyone, not just low socio-economic status children, would be to start learning in the language they feel comfortable learning in … English can still be used, but perhaps not as the medium of instruction in primary schools. It could, for example, be one of the subjects that are being taught alongside other subjects. We are not suggesting that English be withdrawn – that ship has sailed – but we perhaps have to think more about learner needs. There is perhaps too much uniformity in teaching and less tailoring to the children’s language abilities and needs,’ says Tsimpli.

While the preliminary results show there is no difference in general intelligence among boys and girls from slum areas versus those from urban poor backgrounds, an unanticipated finding has been that children from slum backgrounds do not seem to lag behind children from other urban poor backgrounds – and in some cases outperform them (e.g. in numeracy and literacy tasks). According to the researchers, this unexpected finding may be down to the life experiences of children growing up in slums. They are likely to mature faster and come into closer contact with the numeracy skills essential for day-to-day survival.

The project has already caught the attention of government ministers, who are keen to use the findings of the study to inform and adjust school policy in Delhi and the wider state. ‘They are as keen as us to understand how the challenging context of deprivation can be attenuated when focusing on the languages children learn and use while at school. Our findings don’t mean you’re doomed if you’re poor. It may be that these low learning outcomes are because of the way education is provided in India, with a huge focus on Hindi and English as the mediums of instruction, to the potential detriment of children unfamiliar with those languages,’ explains Tsimpli.

‘Language is central to the way knowledge is transferred – so the medium of instruction is obviously hugely influential. We hope to … show that problem solving, numeracy and literacy can and do improve in children who are educated in a language of instruction they know. The trick may be to bridge school skills with life skills and make use of the richness of a child’s life experience to help them learn in the most effective ways possible,’ says Tsimpli.

* slum: a very densely populated area in which the infrastructure is incomplete and services inadequate or non-existent

Questions 14–26

Questions 14–19

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-J, below.

Multilingualism in Delhi

Drag and drop an option to fill in each blank.

• A. basic outlook
• B. employment opportunities
• C. wealthy visitors
• D. distant country
• E. primary objective
• F. similar advantages
• G. thriving economy
• H. nearby district
• I. dense population
• J. new immigrants

• The city of Delhi has a 14 ………… and as you walk through its streets you hear people speaking a variety of languages. Some of them have spent their entire life in Delhi, while others are 15 ………… . Whether they have come from a 16 ………… or have travelled from the other side of India, they have all come in search of things such as improved 17 ………… .
• A team of researchers led by Professor Ianthi Tsimpli of Cambridge University is collecting data on primary-age schoolchildren in Delhi and other Indian cities. The 18 ………… of the research is to discover why multilingual Indian schoolchildren do not experience 19 ………… to those that multilingual schoolchildren in Europe experience.

Questions 20–23

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2?

20. Ten-year-old Indian schoolchildren tend to perform better in literacy tests than in numeracy tests. YES NO NOT GIVEN

21. Tsimpli had problems convincing some female students to take part in the study. YES NO NOT GIVEN

22. Tsimpli and her team wanted to know if there is a connection between poor academic performance and being taught in an unfamiliar language. YES NO NOT GIVEN

23. The researchers have decided against investigating the impact teaching methodology may have on learning outcomes. YES NO NOT GIVEN

• A — YES
• B — NO
• C — NOT GIVEN

Questions 24–26

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

24. What point does the writer make about primary schools in India in the sixth paragraph? Exposure to English outside of school is of limited benefit. Children learn English more easily when they are well motivated. Poor children may be disadvantaged further by being instructed in English. There is little consistency across schools with regard to instruction in English.

25. What is Tsimpli suggesting when she uses the phrase ‘that ship has sailed’? The findings of the report may be of little help to some Indian schoolchildren. Instruction in English could be better adapted to the needs of schoolchildren. Schools have had limited success in teaching English as a separate subject. It is too late to remove English completely as a language of instruction in schools.

26. In the eighth paragraph, what do we learn has surprised researchers? Boys and girls from low socio-economic groups have similar general intelligence levels. The age at which children move into a slum does not affect their academic performance. Slum children and children from other urban poor backgrounds have similar life experiences. The literacy and numeracy skills of slum children are not lower than those of children from other urban poor backgrounds.

• A — Exposure to English outside of school is of limited benefit.
• B — Children learn English more easily when they are well motivated.
• C — Poor children may be disadvantaged further by being instructed in English.
• D — There is little consistency across schools with regard to instruction in English.

How could multilingualism benefit India’s poorest schoolchildren? IELTS Reading Answers

Questions and Answers

Where two letters are shown for a single question, either order is accepted, exactly as in the official answer key.

Detailed Explanations for How could multilingualism benefit India’s poorest schoolchildren? Answers

Questions 14–19

14. I — The summary opens by describing the city itself. Paragraph one paints Delhi as overwhelmingly alive: “The crowded and bustling streets of Delhi teem with life”, with more than 20 million people going about their daily lives. Option I is the one that captures this packed, energetic character of the capital.

15. J — The blank contrasts with people born in the city. The opening paragraph makes the same split: many residents were born and raised there, while “many millions more have recently made India’s capital their home”. The option for blank 15 refers to these recent arrivals.

16. H — Two distances are being contrasted. Paragraph one says newcomers moved there “from surrounding neighbourhoods, cities and states or across the country”, so blank 16 takes the option about places near Delhi rather than the far side of India.

17. B — The motive comes next. The first paragraph says migrants arrived “in the hope of gaining better jobs and a better life”, and the summary’s phrase about what people went in search of points to the option about employment.

18. E — The summary then switches to the research project. Paragraph two announces that “The overriding aim of the four-year project” is to find out why India’s multilingual schoolchildren underperform, so blank 18 needs the option meaning the project’s purpose.

19. F — The final blank completes the European comparison. The same paragraph asks why “the many benefits of speaking more than one language”, seen in European schools, do not apply to many of India’s children. Option F refers to those advantages.

Questions 20–23

20. NO — Paragraph three supplies the figures. Tsimpli reports that over half of Standard 5 pupils “cannot read a Standard 2 [seven-year-olds] task fluently”, while just under half fail a Standard 2 subtraction task. Literacy is the weaker area, so the statement reverses the finding and the answer is NO.

21. NOT GIVEN — The study’s recruitment is never described. The passage mentions female students only in relation to dropping out of school, and it says nothing about Tsimpli persuading anyone to take part, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.

22. YES — This is precisely the team’s research question. Paragraph four states they are “investigating whether these low learning outcomes could be caused by” a school system in which the language of teaching differs from the language used at home, which matches the statement exactly.

23. NO — The researchers are doing the opposite of rejecting the topic. Paragraph five says they will examine “variables such as the standard of schooling, the environment and the teaching practices”, so methodology is firmly inside the study and the answer is NO.

Questions 24–26

24. C — The sixth paragraph carries the warning about English. It says the medium of instruction, especially English, “may hold back those children who have little familiarity” with the language before starting school. Poor children are the least exposed, so instructing them in English disadvantages them further.

25. D — The phrase sits in Tsimpli’s recommendation in paragraph seven: “We are not suggesting that English be withdrawn – that ship has sailed”. A ship that has sailed cannot be recalled, so her point is that removing English completely as a medium of instruction is too late.

26. D — The eighth paragraph labels the finding unanticipated: children from slums “do not seem to lag behind children from other urban poor backgrounds” and in some cases outperform them in numeracy and literacy. Their skills are not lower, which is option D.

Key Vocabulary from How could multilingualism benefit India’s poorest schoolchildren?

Study Tips

Summary completion with lettered options, Questions 14–19, is a paraphrasing test. Read the summary first and decide what kind of word each blank needs: blank 14 follows ‘The city of Delhi has a’, so it must be a noun phrase. Then scan paragraphs one and two for matching ideas, such as the description of Delhi’s teeming streets. The correct option is often a paraphrase rather than the exact passage word, so eliminate options by grammar as well as meaning.

Yes/No/Not Given Questions 20–23 ask about the writer’s claims, and Question 21 is a classic NOT GIVEN: the passage mentions female students only in relation to dropping out, never in relation to recruitment for the study. Question 23 is the opposite trap, because the researchers explicitly plan to examine teaching practices, so the answer is NO rather than NOT GIVEN.

Multiple choice Questions 24–26 each name their paragraph, which saves all your locating time: go straight to the sixth, seventh and eighth paragraphs. Read the stem, answer it in your own words, and only then compare the four choices. The True/False/Not Given strategy covers the same claim-matching skill used in 20–23, the reading time management guide keeps Passage 2 inside 20 minutes, and the reading band score calculator converts your finished total into a band.

The summary completion lesson in our free course breaks this task down step by step — pair it with extra timed attempts from the Reading Passage 2 exam archive.

Practice More Cambridge Tests

Summary completion, Yes/No/Not Given and multiple choice all become predictable once you have a system for each, and the free IELTS reading course from Simply IELTS builds exactly that system. Keep the momentum going and finish the test with the Passage 3 walkthrough of The Globemakers.