Reading Comprehension

PT153 · S4 · P2 · Q11 Native American Languages

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one
Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step
81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

This passage is based on an article published in 1996.

Topic

Preserving endangered Native American languages.

Framework

Problem / Solution (or maybe Old / New)

Main Point

There's a Problem - Native American languages are on the brink of extinction

There's a Solution - radio shows in native languages are great!

There's a Problem with the Solution - the internet is coming to more of these communities and it increases the threat of losing the native language (as people learn English in order to use the internet)

There's a Solution to the Problem with the Solution - make better radio shows in the native languages (not lessons, but fun stuff like interviews with old people, songs, and word games).

Putting that all together, you'd get something like this:

In order to continue the success radio shows have had in preserving endangered native languages in the face of the encroaching internet, the shows should focus on engaging formats over lessons.

Passage Map

P1 - Intro to Problem / Solution

The first three sentences have negative words that make us guess this passage is about a Problem: of 300, fewer than 150 survive / one third are near extinction / the decline is due to misguided policies

The Purpose Pivot halfway through (but, yet, however, recently) alerts us to the optimism the author has for the Solution.

P2 - More optimism for Solution

This paragraph fleshes out why radio shows are a great way of helping to preserve these endangered native languages.

P3 - New Problem / New Solution

This starts with another big Purpose Pivot (but, yet, however, recently). The author pours some pessimism on that optimism: the growth of Internet could counter the influence of radio.

Halfway down it switches to Solution by saying "Communities have a means to combat this trend". The final sentence is actually getting into prescriptive language, as the author says we should make radio programming more effective.

P4 - Author Supports their Solution

This paragraph explains what the "right" kind of radio programming would be.

11.

With which one of the following statements would the author be most likely to agree?

Correct
The preservation of native languages
Why this is right
This answer on its face sounds like stuff the author would say. It doesn't sound like stuff the author did say, but on Most Supported tasks like Opinion we are sometimes doing a little mind-reading. Can we support that the author thinks that preservation of native languages is a worthy goal? Yes, first of all the author says in the 3rd sentence of the opening paragraph that it was misguided when U.S. government forced Native Americans to learn English, because it resulted in discouraging the transmission of native languages. She must think preserving languages is a good thing if she thought it was misguided to do something that discouraged preserving languages. Can we support that the author thinks that languages will be most successfully preserved if they're integrated into the daily life of native communities? We can cobble together some support for this. In the 2nd paragraph, the author is stressing that radio is an effective tool for preserving language because it's widely accessible, it can keep community members apprised of important issues, and helps to solidify communities. And in the 4th paragraph, where the author is giving advice about what would be effective radio programming, she is stressing that we avoid making them "unengaging and distant from the cultural contexts that give necessary and subtle meaning to the words". What is the opposite of making the programming "unengaging and distant from the cultural contexts"? Make it engaging and relevant to the cultural contexts, in other words "integrate it into the daily lives of native communities". Overall, this answer is hard to love, because "most successfully accomplished" is really loaded language. The author never came close to defining the superlative recipe for accomplishing native language preservation. Also "integrated into the daily life of native communities" does not have a good line match. This is a good example of a correct answer that is gist-y and speculative. Did the author say this? No, not really. But would the author be likely to agree with it? Yes, we could say the author's likely to agree with this more so than any other answer available.
Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
75% picked this
The preservation of native languages
Too Strong
Too Strong: will fail Out of Scope: cooperation of society This is very harshly formulated in on / off, Absolute language. If we don't have cooperation from "the members and institutions of society as a whole", then preservation of native languages will fail? The author never stressed that members of society who don't belong to these native communities must play some crucial role, nor did she say that any institutions of society need to play a role. She seems to think that native communities, on their own, could preserve languages if they're just wise about what sort of radio programming works well for that task.
20% picked this
The main roadblock to the
Too Strong
Too Strong: main roadblock Out of Scope: consensus of tribal elders The author never identified "you must get tribal elders to agree on the most effective way" as a crucial obstacle that needs to be overcome, in order for us to preserve languages. She seems to think that if we just put on some good radio programming (recordings of elders, mixed language games, songs, etc.) that we could preserve languages.
2% picked this
The preservation of native languages
Too Strong
Too Strong: most efficiently Out of Scope: report on tech / economy Technically, the strong language of "most efficiently accomplished" is no stronger than "most successfully accomplished" in the correct answer. But just because there is strong language in our best available correct answer doesn't mean we like that strong language! We're tolerating it because we can't find a better answer, but it's still unnerving. What separates (D) from (A) is that the author never stressed, as (D) is, that native language radio shows should report on developments in technology and economics.
2% picked this
The preservation of native languages
Unsupported: need more $ for curricula
Did the author ever say that one of the most crucial things to do in preserving native languages is for "universities to devote way more time and money to developing native language curricula"? Not at all. She does mention in the first paragraph that more universities are offering language curricula developed by Native American scholars, but nowhere in the 3rd or 4th paragraphs (where she's stressing the things that will be mission-critical to language preservation success) do higher learning institutions ever get discussed.
1% picked this

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free