Many advantages come with being a first-born child. First-borns tend to make more money than their younger siblings; they are more likely to earn advanced degrees, and they have slightly better odds of becoming presidents, prime ministers, and Nobel laureates. They even have longer life expectancy than later-born siblings.
There is yet another advantage: First-born children show better second language skills than later-born children. At least this was the finding of new research in last month’s issue of Frontiers in Psychology.
The study, led by Dr. Karin Keller of Switzerland’s University of Basel, examined the second language skills of 1209 immigrant children between the ages of two-and-a-half and three from Switzerland’s German-speaking region of Basel. The study was administered via mail; parents filled out a survey asking them to assess their child’s German language ability. They also reported demographic information such as how many other children were in the household, birth order, number of books in the household, and parental language skills.
The findings of the study are as the following. First, children with more siblings exhibited worse second language skills than children with fewer siblings. This makes some sense; one might imagine that larger immigrant families are more likely to propagate the communication styles of their home country. Furthermore, more children means less time for parents to develop their children’s second language abilities.
Second, the researchers found that first-born children exhibited a minor, but statistically significant, advantage in their second language abilities.
When explaining the causes for the language ability differences, the researchers suggest that the differences have more to do with environmental factors. They cite a “resource dilution model”, in which first-born children benefit from a greater parental resource investment. The researchers write, “Every additional sibling means a reduction in the share of resources allocated to each child, thus reducing the foundations of their intellectual development.”
Keller and her team of researchers, however, were quick to put this finding in context. They note that the effect is quite small; they were only able to find it because of the study’s large sample size. Furthermore, exposure to early education institutions offset the effect of birth order on second language acquisition. This, in the researchers’ minds, is the key takeaway from this study.
Keller and her colleagues write, “Considering that families from immigrant backgrounds have fewer financial resources, and that these resources influence the children’s level of development. It seems all the more important that immigrant families with many children are financially supported so that their children are offered the best opportunities possible for their academic careers. Given the results of this study, promoting the attendance of early education institutions is an efficient way of achieving this goal.”
6. What do we know about first-born children?
7. What does the study of Dr. Karin Keller find?
8. What is one of the reasons for language ability differences between first-borns and later-borns?
9. What is the important information from the study according to the researchers?
10. What is suggested to help the immigrant families?
问题1选项
A.They are more helpful with housework.
B.They have a shorter lifespan.
C.They seem to be stronger.
D.They tend to be better off.
问题2选项
A.Parents with more children tend to spend less time with them.
B.Immigrant families pay less attention to their children’s language ability.
C.Children with fewer siblings have better second language skills.
D.Children with more siblings have more chance to practice a second language.
问题3选项
A.Genetic factor.
B.Parenting model.
C.Resource allocation.
D.Sibling competition.
问题4选项
A.Immigrant backgrounds can influence children’s second language ability.
B.Early education can make up for birth order effect on second language acquisition.
C.Children’s intellectual development is important for second language learning.
D.The birth order effect on second language acquisition depends on the sample size.
问题5选项
A.Giving financial support to those with fewer resources.
B.Offering more opportunities for the development of parents.
C.Calling on education institutions to offer free courses.
D.Carrying out more studies on language acquisition abilities.
第1题:D
第2题:C
第3题:C
第4题:B
第5题:A
6.【试题答案】D
【试题解析】推理判断题。根据题干可定位到文章第一段“First-borns tend to make more money than their younger siblings; they are more likely to earn advanced degrees, and they have slightly better odds of becoming presidents, prime ministers, and Nobel laureates. They even have longer life expectancy than later-born siblings.(第一个出生的孩子往往比他们的弟弟妹妹赚更多的钱;他们更有可能获得高级学位,他们成为总统、总理和诺贝尔奖获得者的几率略高。他们甚至比后来出生的兄弟姐妹寿命更长。)”,由此可推断出先出生的孩子往往境况更好。A选项“他们在家务方面更有帮助”文章没有提到;B选项“他们的寿命较短”说法错误;C选项“他们看起来更强壮”文中也没有提到;D选项“他们往往比较富裕”正确。A、B、C选项均不符合题意,因此D选项正确。
7.【试题答案】C
【试题解析】细节事实题。根据题干可定位到文章第四段“First, children with more siblings exhibited worse second language skills than children with fewer siblings.(首先,兄弟姐妹多的孩子比兄弟姐妹少的孩子表现出更差的第二语言能力。)”,由此可知兄弟姐妹少的孩子的第二语言能力比较强。A选项“孩子多的父母与孩子相处的时间往往更少”;B选项“移民家庭对孩子的语言能力关注较少”;C选项“兄弟姐妹较少的孩子有更好的第二语言能力”;D选项“有更多兄弟姐妹的孩子有更多的机会练习第二语言”,A、B、D选项均不符合题意,因此C选项正确。
8.【试题答案】C
【试题解析】细节事实题。文章第六段写到:They cite a “resource dilution model”, in which first-born children benefit from a greater parental resource investment. The researchers write, “Every additional sibling means a reduction in the share of resources allocated to each child, thus reducing the foundations of their intellectual development.”(他们引用了一个“资源稀释模型”,在这个模型中,第一个出生的孩子受益于父母更多的资源投资。研究人员写到,“每增加一个兄弟姐妹意味着分配给每个孩子的资源份额减少,从而减少了他们智力发展的基础。”)。由此可知先后出生的孩子在资源分配上存在着差异。A选项“遗传因素”;B选项“教育模式”;C选项“资源分配”;D选项“兄弟姐妹竞争”。A、B、D选项均不符合题意,因此C选项正确。
9.【试题答案】B
【试题解析】细节事实题。根据题干可定位到文章第七段“Furthermore, exposure to early education institutions offset the effect of birth order on second language acquisition. This, in the researchers’ minds, is the key takeaway from this study.(此外,接触早教机构抵消了出生顺序对第二语言习得的影响。在研究人员看来,这是这项研究的关键。)”,由此可知研究中最关键的发现就是早期教育可以帮助弥补出生顺序对第二语言习得的影响。A选项“移民背景会影响儿童的第二语言能力”;B选项“早期教育可以弥补出生顺序对第二语言习得的影响”;C选项“儿童的智力发展对第二语言学习很重要”;D选项“出生顺序对第二语言习得的影响取决于样本量”。A、C、D选项均不符合题意,因此B选项正确。
10.【试题答案】A
【试题解析】细节事实题。根据题干可定位到文章最后一段“Considering that families from immigrant backgrounds have fewer financial resources, and that these resources influence the children’s level of development. It seems all the more important that immigrant families with many children are financially supported so that their children are offered the best opportunities possible for their academic careers.(考虑到移民家庭的经济资源较少,而这些资源会影响孩子的发展水平。似乎更重要的是,有很多孩子的移民家庭得到经济上的支持,这样他们的孩子就能在学术生涯中获得最好的机会。)”,由此可知移民家庭需要经济资源的支持。A选项“向资源较少的人提供财政支持”;B选项“为父母提供更多的发展机会”;C选项“呼吁教育机构提供免费课程”;D选项“开展更多的语言习得能力研究”。B、C、D选项均不符合题意,因此A选项正确。