Reading Comprehension

PT21 · S4 · P4 · Q26 Tollefson's Immigration Study

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Most studies of recent Southeast Asian immigrants to the United States have focused on their adjustment to life in their adopted country and on the effects of leaving their homelands.

Topic

The impact and shortcomings of educational programs for Southeast Asian immigrants in U.S. processing centers, as critiqued by James Tollefson.

Framework

Challenge Position / Problem–Solution

Main Point

Tollefson critiques immigrant educational programs for prioritizing quick employment and assimilation over the long-term needs and well-being of Southeast Asian immigrants, and although he recommends reforms, he does not provide enough specific strategies for implementing them. (The "Most Valuable Sentence" appears in P2, where Tollefson's main contention is explained: )

P1: Introduction to Tollefson's Focus

Most studies look at Southeast Asian immigrants’ general adjustment to the U.S., but Tollefson’s book takes a different angle by analyzing the educational programs in U.S. processing centers. He uses lots of different sources to back up his points.

P2: Critique of the Current Programs

Tollefson argues that focusing on quick employment and Western values in these programs can actually hurt immigrants by pushing them into low-wage jobs, weakening their community ties, and urging them to leave behind their cultural identities.

P3: Historical Context of Assimilationist Programs

These kinds of assimilation-focused programs have deep roots in U.S. history; they were originally designed to push European immigrants into mainstream American life around the turn of the twentieth century.

26.

Which one of the following best describes the function of the first paragraph of the passage?

Correct
It provides the scholarly context
Why this is right
The first two sentences place Tollefson's study within a wider scholarly context. When it comes to studying the resettlement process, most scholarship focuses on immigrants' adjustment to life in the new country and on the psychological effects of leaving their homeland. Meanwhile, Tollefson's scholarship focuses on the educational programs offered in immigrant processing centers. The 3rd sentence provides a description of Tollefson's methodology: he used interviews, transcripts from classes, essays by immigrants, personal visits to a training unit, and official government documents.
Skill tested: Paragraph Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
87% picked this
It compares Tollefson’s study to
Out of Scope: main argument
The first half of this answer matches the first two sentences. But the 3rd sentence of the first paragraph isn't saying anything about what Tollefson's main argument will be. In fact we can see that we don't hear "Tollefson's main contention" until the start of the 2nd paragraph.
7% picked this
It compares the types of
Out of Scope: other studies' docs
The first two sentences compare Tollefson's study to other studies, in terms of what aspects of the resettlement process they each focus on. The third sentence tells us the type of documents that Tollefson uses, but it never compares these to the documents used by other studies. We don't have any idea what these other studies are based on.
0% picked this
It presents the accepted theory
Out of Scope: accepted theory
This answer makes it seem like Tollefson's study refutes or challenges the studies mentioned in the first sentence. It doesn't. They're not even addressing the same topic. Tollefson's work is about the educational programs offered in immigrant processing centers. The studies in the first sentence are not. The "most studies" in the first sentence don't represent any "accepted theory". They just represent a tendency in terms of where scholars direct their attention.
4% picked this
It argues for the analytical
Too Strong: superiority
The author establishes a contrast between Tollefson's focus and that of most studies, but she doesn't offer any opinionated wording to suggest that she finds Tollefson's superior. She compliments his range of evidence as consisting of "an impressive amount and variety and documentation". but we never hear about what evidence is used to support "Most studies". Again, there's no comparison, so there's no way to support the claim that Tollefson is technically superior.
1% picked this

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