Self-study
Linguist: Some people have understood certain studies as showing that bilingual children have a reduced "conceptual map" because bilingualism overstresses the child's linguistic capacities. ██████████ █████ █████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ █ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ███ █████████ █████████████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ █████████ █ █████ ███████ ████ █ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██ █████ ███ ██████████
Summarize Argument
The linguist mentions that some people have interpreted certain studies as showing that bilingualism overstresses children's linguistic capacities and thus causes them to have a smaller "conceptual map". This is because these studies, which gave vocabulary tests to bilingual children, apparently showed that these children have a smaller vocabulary than most of their peers.
But the linguist points out that these studies are flawed, since the tests were administered in only one language, while dual-language tests have shown that bilingual children often express a concept with a word from only one of their two languages. In other words, bilingual children's "conceptual map" may not necessarily be smaller. It might just be "spread out" across two languages, and the single-language vocabulary tests would fail to show that. Thus, the linguist significantly undermines the evidence for the other people's claim that bilingualism reduces the size of children's conceptual maps.
Describe Method of Reasoning
The linguist undermines the opposing argument by pointing out a major flaw in the evidence for that argument. If the vocabulary tests in the studies were only administered in one language, they likely revealed only part of bilingual children's conceptual maps. Bilingual children might be aware of other concepts, but only be able to express them with vocabulary from their other language. This undermines the view, based on these studies, that bilingualism somehow reduces children's conceptual maps.
Note that while the linguist's argument strongly weakens the opposing argument, it doesn't necessarily defeat that argument. It could still be true that bilingual children have a smaller conceptual map than their peers, even accounting for both of their languages. But by exposing this flaw in the studies, the linguist reveals a major problem with the only evidence mentioned for the opposing argument. Even if the opposing claim turns out to be true, those arguing for it would have to use different evidence to show that it is true.
11.
The linguist's argument proceeds by
a
offering evidence for ███ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ████ ██████████████
The linguist is focused on undermining the claim that bilingualism brings certain disadvantages, but does this by pointing out a problem with the evidence for that claim — not by claiming that bilingualism offers advantages over monolingualism.
b
pointing out an █████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████████████ ████████████ █ ███████ ██████████ ████████████
The linguist does not claim that this viewpoint is contradictory. Instead, the linguist shows that the evidence offered for this viewpoint has a major flaw that calls its usefulness into question.
c
offering evidence that ██████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████████ █████ █ ███████ ██████████ ███
The linguist suggests that vocabulary tests offered in a single language do not provide the full picture of bilingual children's conceptual maps, but never claims that "any" vocabulary test is not useful in learning about children's conceptual maps in general. If anything, by citing the dual-language vocabulary tests in favor of her view, the linguist suggests that vocabulary tests can be useful.
d
providing a different ███████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████
The stimulus never explains, or even mentions, any apparent advantages of bilingualism. The linguist wants to show that bilingualism might not bring a certain perceived disadvantage, but that's different from arguing that bilingualism has advantages compared to monolingualism.
e
pointing out a ██████████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ █ ███████ ████ ████████████
This is correct. The methodological error is administering vocabulary tests in only one language to children who know two languages. The results of these tests are the only evidence mentioned for the claim that bilingualism causes a reduced conceptual map, so by exposing the problem with these tests, the linguist strongly weakens that claim.