LSAT 153 | Section 4 | Reading Comprehension: Q11

RC Question 11 Explanation

DISCUSSION: There’s no way to predict this upfront, but you should consider the author’s main opinions:

• Native languages are good
• Radio is helpful
• Radio needs to be in the cultural context of a community and use fluent speakers

___________

1. CORRECT. The first part of this is strongly supported. The author never shows any doubt that native languages are valuable and should be supported. They treat it as a warranted assumption that needs no justification.
    
   The second part of this answer feels right, though I can’t point to a specific line of text that directly supports it. But paragraph 2 talks about radio bringing communities together and sharing important news, which is pretty close. I think also in 1996 there was an unstated but widely accepted assumption that local newspapers and local radio were integrated into the daily life of communities. (This was true in 1996).
2. This sounds nice: who doesn’t like cooperation! But….cooperation with outside institutions wasn’t in the passage. The author’s main emphasis was that radio stations need: fluent speech, and to be in a cultural context. The author seemed to imply this could entirely be done by local communities. They didn’t mention outside institutions. (Society as a whole presumably means the whole United States).
    
   The author is optimistic about native languages, whereas this answer actually just adds a new way they can fail (through lack of outside support). Adding a necessary condition for success can only hurt the odds of success.
3. Tribal elders are only mentioned on line 53, when the author says recordings of tribal elders should be broadcast. The author never said tribal elders are in charge of their communities.
4. This is just boilerplate language referencing the internet. The author never mentioned the changing tech and economic environment. They mentioned the internet only as a threat, and it was only a threat because it required a common language [English]. Changing technology wasn’t itself relevant to language learning.
5. Nonsense. The author seemed to think radio alone could do a lot of the work. Universities were only mentioned once, on lines 13-14. It was an offhand reference; they weren’t presented as particular important. (You studied in a university, so you may overestimate their importance. This answer plays on that.)