Some educators endorse the "look and say" method for teaching elementa

Question

Some educators endorse the "look and say" method for teaching elementary school children how to read. This approach is also known as the "whole language method" because it trains students to recognize each word as a single entity.  For this reason, it affords a degree of fluency with known words: when a student has memorized a word, she will be able to recognize and read it in future encounters.  This method fails, however, to prepare students to decipher new words: a student who has not previously encountered and learned a word will not be able to read it and will therefore be limited to her range of known "word patterns." Given the significant deficiency of this method, teachers should use a phonics-based approach, which trains students to decode or "sound out" words from the letters that comprise them.  It offers a major advantage over the "look and say" method by allowing a student to read and understand words that she has not encountered in print before .    1 
 In the argument above, the two highlighted sentences play which of the following roles?

A. The first summarizes a position that the author opposes; the second supports the author's recommendation.
B. The first states the main point of the argument; the second provides evidence for that conclusion.
C. The first provides support for a position that the author ultimately rejects; the second serves as evidence for the author's recommendation.
D. The first supports the conclusion for the position with which the author disagrees; the second states the overall conclusion of the argument.
E. The first states the conclusion of the argument; the second provides support for that conclusion.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

OE

This argument begins with a discussion of the  “look and say”  method for teaching children how to read. Though the author describes one benefit of that method, she ultimately rejects the approach and recommends a phonics-based method. The first highlighted sentence offers a benefit of the whole language method.

Eliminate  (A) , since this sentence does not  “summarize”  the position.

Eliminate  (B)  and  (E)  since the first highlighted sentence does not state the author’s main point or conclusion. The second highlighted sentence offers an advantage of the phonics-based approach.

From the remaining choices, eliminate  (D)  because this sentence is not the conclusion of the argument. (The author’s conclusion is that  “teachers should use a phonics-based approach.” )  (C)  is correct. 
 
  Answer: C

Some educators endorse the "look and say" method for teaching elementa

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