ACT Compass Reading Practice Test

Category - ACT Compass 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.

In paragraph 4, why does the author mention that speakers from families of Hispanic heritage often become English dominant by the third generation?

  1. To explain why Mexican immigrants come to the U.S.
  2. To support the claim that Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are the fastest growing linguistic group.
  3. To provide evidence that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the governor of California.
  4. To show that Spanish poses no threat to the U.S. society and its English dominance.
Explanation

Answer: D - The author mentions that speakers from families of Hispanic heritage often become English dominant by the third generation to show that Spanish poses no threat to the U.S. society and its English dominance. Although answers A, C and D are true, they are NOT why the author includes the information about third generation speakers of Hispanic heritage.

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