Praxis Core Reading Test Prep

Category - Praxis Core Reading Practice Test

Spanish in the U.S.Did you know that the United States has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world? With over 37 million speakers the age of five and older the U.S. alone has more inhabitants that speak Spanish than the whole country of Venezuela.

Spanish students don’t have to study abroad to get a good look into Latin-American culture. There are many cities here in the U.S. with (1) thriving Latino (2) districts that any student of Spanish can visit to practice speaking. Miami, for example, is home to a multitude of diverse Hispanics from all over Latin America and Europe. When walking down the streets of Little Havana (one of the predominantly Hispanic barrios, or neighborhoods) you will hear the Cuban Spanish (3) language variety. In Chicago, the place to hear Mexican Spanish is La Villita.

Since Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are the fastest growing linguistic group in the United States, it is common to find Spanish-language television channels (such as Univisión and Telemundo) in larger cities. In fact, it’s thanks to these mass media that there are people (although few) that spend their whole lives in the United States without ever having to learn or speak English. The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, even commented once that Hispanics in the U.S. need to “turn off the TV in Spanish” in order to learn English more quickly.

But Governor Schwarzenegger ought to know that, according to linguistic research on (4) bilingualism, families of Hispanic heritage (as well as other non-English speaking families) produce English dominant (or English only) speakers by the third generation after their immigration. That means, it is more common than not that the grandchildren of the Mexican immigrant cannot communicate with their grandparent in Spanish. Thus, the Spanish language does not seem to (5) pose a threat in the U.S. society, contrary to what many politicians often suggest in their political rhetoric.

According to the author, the reason that students of Spanish do NOT have to study abroad to practice speaking is…

  1. …Because the U.S. has more inhabitants that speak Spanish than Venezuela.
  2. …Because there are flourishing Hispanic neighborhoods in cities in the U.S.
  3. …Because Spanish language students can practice the Mexican variety in Chicago.
  4. Both A and C
Explanation

Answer: D - both B and C. According to the author, the reason that students of Spanish do NOT have to study abroad to practice speaking is because there are flourishing Hispanic neighborhoods in cities in the U.S and Chicago is one of them where they can practice the Mexican variety of Spanish. Answer A is true, but it is NOT the reason why the author thinks that students can practice speaking Spanish.

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