How baby talk gives infant brains a boost: reading answers and analysis
A round-up of studies on how talking to babies helps them learn to speak. Fathers speak more like adults, which may widen a child's range. More one-to-one baby talk means more babbling and a bigger vocabulary at two. Babies prefer other babies' voices, and brain scans show infants preparing to speak while they listen.
The researcher matching (14-17) uses Ramirez-Esparza twice, from C, D and F. The summary (18-23) is entirely in C and D, in order. The paragraph matching (24-26) jumps to F, A and E.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the passage yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
Q
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Answer
Questions 14-17 · Matching features (researchers A-C)
How to attack this block: Only three researchers, so each is easy to locate: VanDam in C, Ramirez-Esparza in D, Kuhl in F. Ramirez-Esparza answers twice, once for one-to-one talk and once for the link between baby talk and babbling. Kuhl's idea is about listening and the brain getting ready to speak.
Question 14
Answer: BParagraph D, last two sentences
Who stresses the value of talking to a baby one to one?
'We also found that it really matters whether you use baby talk … The more parents use baby talk one-on-one, the more babies babble
Question says → Passage says
the importance ofit really matters
giving babies individual attentionone-on-one context / use baby talk one-on-one
Why: B, Ramirez-Esparza. She says it 'really matters' whether baby talk happens one-on-one. One-on-one is individual attention.
The trap: VanDam also looks at how each parent talks to the baby, but his point is about the difference between mothers and fathers, not about one-to-one time.
Question 15
Answer: CParagraph F, Kuhl's quote
Who links what babies hear with their own attempts to speak?
Finding activation in motor areas of the brain when infants are simply listening is significant, because it means the baby brain is engaged in trying to talk back right from the start
Question says → Passage says
what babies hearwhen infants are simply listening
their own efforts to create speechtrying to talk back / trying to figure out how to make the right movements that will produce words
Why: C, Kuhl. Listening switched on the brain areas that control speech movements, so hearing and the effort to speak are connected.
The trap: Ramirez-Esparza links baby talk to babbling, which is close, but her evidence is about the amount babies vocalise, which is question 17. Kuhl's is about the brain preparing to speak while listening.
Question 16
Answer: AParagraph C, last sentence
Who says babies gain from two parents who talk differently?
a kid gets to practice a certain kind of speech with mom and another kind of speech with dad, so the kid then has a wider repertoire of kinds of speech to practice
Question says → Passage says
two parents each speaking in a different waya certain kind of speech with mom and another kind of speech with dad
the advantage for the babya wider repertoire
Why: A, VanDam. Mum talks one way, Dad another, and the child ends up with a wider range of speech to practise. That range is the advantage.
Question 17
Answer: BParagraph D, second sentence and last sentence
Who connects how much baby talk babies hear with how much they babble?
The study found that the more baby talk parents used, the more their youngsters began to babble.
Question says → Passage says
the amount of baby talk babies hearthe more baby talk parents used
how much vocalising they do themselvesthe more their youngsters began to babble / the more babies babble
Why: B again, Ramirez-Esparza. 'The more… the more' is a link between amounts: more baby talk, more babbling. Letters can be reused here (the NB says so).
The trap: Kuhl (C) is about brain activity during listening, not about how much babies actually vocalise.
Summary completion (NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS)
Questions 18-23
How to attack this block: The summary keeps the two studies apart, so don't swap their equipment: parents carried recording devices in one, babies wore vests in the other. Two words is the limit, and the name of the 1975 idea needs both of its words.
Question 18
Answer: recording devicesParagraph C, second sentence
What did the Washington State researchers use along with special software?
equipped parents with recording devices and speech-recognition software to study the way they interacted with their youngsters during a normal day
Question says → Passage says
together with specialised computer programsand speech-recognition software
during a normal dayduring a normal day
Why: 'Specialised computer programs' is the 'speech-recognition software', so the other tool, 'recording devices', fills the gap. Two words, within the limit.
The trap: Writing just 'devices' loses the meaning, and 'speech-recognition software' is already covered by the summary.
Question 19
Answer: fathersParagraph C, first sentence and VanDam's quote
Also accepted: dads
Who didn't change their normal way of speaking to babies?
'But we found that dads aren't doing the same thing. Dads didn't raise their pitch or fundamental frequency when they talked to kids.'
Question says → Passage says
tended not to modify their ordinary speech patternsdidn't raise their pitch or fundamental frequency / don't use baby talk as often or in the same ways
Why: Fathers didn't raise their pitch, so they kept their normal speech. The key accepts 'fathers' or 'dads'.
The trap: 'Moms' did exactly what you'd expect, which means they did change their speech. Don't swap the two.
Question 20
Answer: bridge hypothesisParagraph C, middle
What is the idea that dads' adult-style speech prepares children for the outside world called?
Their role may be rooted in what is called the bridge hypothesis, which dates back to 1975.
Question says → Passage says
an idea known as thewhat is called the
prepare infants for the language they will hear outside the family homeprovide their children with a bridge to the kind of speech they'll hear in public
Why: 'Known as' matches 'what is called', and the name is 'bridge hypothesis'. Both words are needed, and it's exactly two.
The trap: Writing only 'bridge' loses the name of the idea. 'Hypothesis' alone doesn't say which one.
Question 21
Answer: repertoireParagraph C, last sentence
What does hearing two styles of speech expand for the baby?
so the kid then has a wider repertoire of kinds of speech to practice
Question says → Passage says
expands the baby'shas a wider
of types of speech which they can practiseof kinds of speech to practice
Why: 'Expands' matches 'wider', and the noun after it is 'repertoire', a range of things you can do. Spelling counts: r-e-p-e-r-t-o-i-r-e.
The trap: 'Speech' is the obvious noun, but the summary already says 'types of speech'. The gap is the word for the collection.
Question 22
Answer: audio-recording vestsParagraph D, first sentence
Also accepted: vests
What did the second study's babies wear to record sound?
fitting 26 children with audio-recording vests that captured language and sound during a typical eight-hour day
Question says → Passage says
recorded speech and soundcaptured language and sound
that the babies were equipped withfitting 26 children with
Why: The babies were fitted with 'audio-recording vests'. The key accepts that or just 'vests'. A hyphenated word counts as one, so this is within two words.
The trap: 'Recording devices' is the answer to question 18, from the other study. The summary says 'special', so it wants the specific item: vests.
Question 23
Answer: vocabularyParagraph D, third sentence
What was bigger at age two in babies who heard lots of baby talk?
they found that frequent baby talk had dramatically boosted vocabulary, regardless of socioeconomic status
Question says → Passage says
When they studied the babies again at age twowhen researchers saw the same babies at age two
a much largerdramatically boosted
Why: 'Dramatically boosted' becomes 'a much larger', and what was boosted is 'vocabulary'.
The trap: 'Words' appears at the end of the paragraph, but 'a much larger words' isn't grammatical. You need the single noun 'vocabulary'.
Matching information (paragraphs A-F)
Questions 24-26
How to attack this block: These are details, not main ideas. The age comparison (seven versus eleven and a half months) is near the end of F. The pre-birth example is classical music played to the bump in A. The preference for other babies' sounds is E's synthesiser experiment.
Question 24
Answer: FParagraph F, second-last sentence
Which paragraph mentions brain activity changing before a baby turns one?
while the seven-month-olds responded to all speech sounds regardless of language, the brains of the older infants worked harder at the motor activations of non-native sounds compared to native sounds
Question says → Passage says
before the end of their first yearseven months and eleven and a half months
a change… in babies' brain activitythe brains of the older infants worked harder
Why: F compares seven-month-olds with eleven-and-a-half-month-olds, and the older group's brains respond differently. Both ages are under one year, so the change happens within the first year.
The trap: A also mentions hearing development, but it's before birth, and it says nothing about a change in brain activity.
Question 25
Answer: AParagraph A, second sentence
Which paragraph gives an example of what parents do for their baby before birth?
Most babies start developing their hearing while still in the womb, prompting some hopeful parents to play classical music to their pregnant bellies.
Question says → Passage says
what some parents dosome hopeful parents to play classical music
before birthwhile still in the womb / to their pregnant bellies
Why: Playing classical music to the bump is the example, and 'in the womb' tells you it's before birth.
The trap: A also says babies listen to adult speech 10 weeks before birth, but that's what babies do, not parents.
Question 26
Answer: EParagraph E, second sentence
Which paragraph says babies prefer the sounds other babies make?
found that babies seem to like listening to each other rather than to adults
Question says → Passage says
babies' preference forseem to like listening to… rather than to adults
the sounds that other babies makeeach other / the 'infant' sounds held babies' attention nearly 40 percent longer
Why: E's experiment found infant sounds held attention nearly 40 percent longer than adult sounds. Liking one thing more than another is a preference.
The trap: F also plays sounds to babies, but it compares native and non-native languages, not baby versus adult voices.
F. Both age groups are under a year old, and the older babies' brains respond differently. People miss that eleven and a half months is still 'before the end of their first year'.
C, Kuhl. Listening activates the brain areas that control speech. Ramirez-Esparza's babbling link is question 17.
Words from this passage worth keeping
repetitious(A)
repeating the same thing many times
womb(A)
the part of a woman's body where a baby develops
prioritize(B)
decide what is most important and deal with it first
repertoire(C)
the full range of things someone can do
babble(D)
make speech-like sounds without real words
regardless of(D)
without being affected by
mimicked(E)
copied the sound of
induced(E)
caused or brought about
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The full Cambridge 13 Test 3 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 13, Test 3, Reading Passage 2. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
