Code-Switching

Answer choices

1. A

   Unrelated to Goal3% picked this

   Linguists have observed that bilingual high school students do not agree among themselves as to what mix of languages they would use in

   This doesn't have anything to do with the Puerto Rican family, which is our answer to this question. This is talking about high school students.

   3%
2. B

   Correct43% picked this

   Code-switching sometimes occurs in conversations whose situational factors would be expected to involve the use

   Why this is right

   This is a very aloof reference to the Puerto Rican family, but we can match up this answer with the final paragraph better than we can any other answer. The first sentence of that last paragraph says that code-switching occurs even when the domain would lead one not to expect it. The Puerto Rican family who occasionally peppered some Spanish into their predominantly English conversations had "no change in situational factors". Since the domain was family and the setting was home and there were no changes in situational factors, we would not expect code-switching. We would expect a single language. In fact the family was actually convinced they were only using a single language.

   Skill tested: Locate Detail · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   43%
3. C

   Too Strong: often28% picked this

   Bilingual people often switch smoothly between two languages even when there is no change in the situational context in

   This is very similar to (B). In fact, if (C) is true, then isn't (B) still true? If bilingual people often code-switch even when there's no change in situational context, then "code-switching sometimes occurs in conversations whose situational factors would make you expect one language" is also true. Any time one answer implies another, the first one can't be correct because then it would mean that two answers are correct. We only have one example cited in the final paragraph as evidence, so we can support sometimes better than we can support often. This seems like an unsatisfying technicality on which to base eliminating this answer but the rest of this answer does seem to match up with the Puerto Rican family. They are bilingual people who occasionally switch smoothly between two languages even when there's been no change in situational context. If I say, "I occasionally go to that frozen yogurt place in Martinsburg", is that the same as saying, "I often go to that fro-yo place in Martinsburg"? No, occasionally and often connote different things, even though they don't have an exact numerical definition. Meanwhile occasionally and sometimes are a closer match.

   28%
4. D

   Out of Scope: expecting Spanish19% picked this

   Puerto Rican Americans sometimes use Spanish only sparingly and for rhetorical effect in the presence of situational factors that would lead one to expect

   In the Puerto Rican family example, there isn't any text suggesting that we would expect Spanish to be the primary language.

   19%
5. E

   Bad Match7% picked this

   Speakers who engage in code-switching are often unaware of the situational factors influencing their choices of which language or

   The example of the Puerto Rican family wasn't saying that, "they code-switched because situational factors had changed, even though they didn't realize that factors had changed." The example was saying, "they code-switched, despite the fact that situational factors had not changed."

   7%