Bunuel wrote:
When students receive positive feedback that focuses on getting a question correct or their perceived intelligence, they are less likely to attempt harder assignments than are students who are praised for their effort or the process they used. Because of this phenomenon, teachers who focus on effort and process are more likely to see better learning outcomes than those who focus on whether an individual question was correct or not.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) Students are more likely to learn from doing harder problems than they are to learn from easier ones.
(B) Positive feedback is the best way to motivate students to learn.
(C) Students can clearly articulate the difference between different types of positive feedback.
(D) Feedback based on perceived intelligence is less favorable toward students than are other types of feedback.
(E) The most important indicator of success is whether students are willing to attempt harder questions and assignments.
VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:
Whenever you are looking to find an assumption on which a conclusion rests, your goal should be to use the Assumption Negation technique. Which answer choice, if negated, would most harm the argument? To understand that, it helps to spend some time looking at the argument itself.
The argument states that students are more likely to attempt harder problems if they receive feedback on their process rather than on whether they got questions correct or not. Because of this, the argument states, teachers who give feedback on process are more likely to see better outcomes. The thing to focus on to here is that a certain type of feedback leads to a student behavior leads to a specific type of learning outcome. The gap exists between behavior and outcome.
If choice (A) is negated, it becomes: “Students are less likely to learn from doing harder problems than they are from doing easier ones.” If that were true, the entire argument - that a specific type of feedback leads to a specific type of learning outcome - would fall apart. This is your correct answer.
If choice (B) were negated, it becomes “positive feedback is not the best way to motivate students.” Because this argument only deals with two types of positive feedback, this does not affect the outcome.
If choice (C) is negated, it becomes “Students cannot articulate the difference between different types of positive feedback.” The argument doesn’t address whether it’s important that students be able to make this distinction, so this can be eliminated.
If choice (D) is negated, it becomes: “Feedback based on perceived intelligence is more favorable toward students than are other types of feedback.” The issue here lies in the lack of specificity. Does “more favorable” mean better outcomes or does it mean that students like the feedback better? Because it’s open to that debate, it cannot be a core assumption made by the argument.
When choice (E) is eliminated, it becomes “The most important indicator of success is NOT whether students are willing to attempt harder questions and assignments.” The argument doesn’t state that feedback is the most important factor, just that it is a factor. Additionally, there is another bit of vague language used in this choice. What does “success” mean - does it mean educational outcomes, or does it mean success later in life? Either way, choice (E) can be eliminated.
close
13 Oct 2023, 01:30
49%
(02:06)
wrong 
