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HE School Board of London has issued a | pronounced, the children being left to learn

ing Reading, to the teachers of each of the schools under the board. It has been prepared by the School Management Committee, who have been nearly a year engaged in making the necessary inquiries and collecting evidence, and was laid before the board at its last meeting before the Easter vacation.

As a preliminary step to making suggestions for the improvement of the methods of teaching reading, the sub-committee appointed for the purpose of instituting inquiries on the subject, thought it expedient to ascertain from teachers who had distinguished themselves by their success in teaching reading, what were the methods which they respectively employed.

We found that though there are some three or four methods of teaching reading recognized as distinct in formal treatises on the subject, these so-called methods are mainly differentiated, not by the way in which reading is taught, but by the way in which the alphabet is taught, and that none of the teachers whom we examined used any of them exclusively.

It may, nevertheless, tend to clearness if the leading characteristics of these methods are briefly indicated.

The Alphabetic method begins with the letters of the alphabet, and then proceeds to combinations of the letters into syllables and words. Every word is first spelled and then

letters by a process of unconscious induction. As the names of the letters do not, in the majority of cases, correspond with the sounds of the letters, and as many letters represent a variety of sounds, it is clear that the Alphabetic method is false in principle, and must be tedious in operation. It seems to be synthetical, but, in reality, is not, the aggregate of the names of the letters composing a word affording but a slight clue, except in the case of words that are spelled phonetically, to the pronunciation of the word. It is urged in favor of this method that by it children are taught to spell as well as to read; but experience seems to show that spelling, so far as it is not phonetic, is learnt by the repetition of the visual impressions made by words as wholes, rather than by remembering the separate letters of which the words are composed.

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The Phonic method begins, not with the names of the letters, but with their actual powers, and then advances from the true sounds of the letters of which a word is composed to the pronunciation of the whole word. It is a genuinely synthetic method, but requires for its complete application an ex-tended alphabet and a reformed spelling. With our present alphabet the same letter may represent many different sounds; and with our present spelling many letters are silent, and many sounds are represented in a variety of ways. There is no reason, how

ever, why the Phonic method should not be advantageously applied to our written language as it stands. By the use of diacritical marks the existing alphabet may be virtually extended, and by other typographical expedients the silent letters may be easily indicated. This method was successfully employed by the late Mr. Robinson, a teacher at Wakefield, and was admirably exemplified before us by Mrs. Harper, who employs it in a large school under the Leeds school board. It has the great merit of cultivating the habit of distinct articulation, and of impartîng to the ear accuracy and delicacy in the discrimination of sounds.

The look and-say method is analytic, beginning with a word as a whole, and then proceeding to decompose it. The children first learn to identify and pronounce words at sight, and then, by analysis and comparison, master the powers of the letters composing them.

It is obvious that these methods may be used in combination, and, on inquiry, we found that they are so used. Teachers who use the alphabetic method endeavor to directly teach the powers of the letters as well as their names; those who use the Phonic method are compelled to teach large numbers of words by the look-and-say method, and those who teach words as wholes, decompose the words into their phonic methods in order to teach the powers of single letters, so as to enable children to read words they have not

seen.

The method of teaching the alphabet that seems to be most successful is as follows:

1. The forms of the letters are taught, i. e., children are taught to identify them. This is done by requiring the children to observe how the letters are formed, to "match" the letters, to form them out of suitable pieces of wood or paper prepared for the purpose, and to reproduce them on the blackboard.

2. The names are associated with the forms for purposes of reference; not to be used in spelling

words on the "alphabet" plan.

With regard to this stage we would sug

gest:

1. That for some time the children should be con

fined to one alphabet, either capital or small letters, print or script, the introduction of two or three only serving to multiply difficulties.

2. That the letters should be classified in the order of the simplicity of their outline.

3. That advantage should be taken of the laws of association to connect the forms of the letters with the common objects which they resemble, even a remote resemblance being often quite enough to satisfy the active imagination of children, and to powerfully

assist the memory.

4. That, from the beginning, the children should be required to reproduce the letters in simple outline. 5. That teachers should take special pains to secure

Much labor

distinct articulation, purity of pronunciation, and a good style of reading from the outset. would be saved in the upper departments of a school if more pains were taken to prevent the formation of bad habits in these respects in the lower.

The usual method of teaching to read, followed by our teachers, is as follows:

1. The teacher reads a paragraph by himself. 2. The children read it simultaneously.

3. They are then called upon to read it individually.

It is clear that if the class be large (and many of our classes contain from sixty to seventy children), the children get little or no practice in independent reading. We would strongly recommend, therefore, that in the first three standards the reading classes should not contain more than thirty children. In proportion as children get over the mechanical difficulties of reading, and become capable of reading with pleasure to themselves, the size of the class may be increased. But in the earlier stages abundant individual practice is indispensable to rapid progress. The children in these stages have to acquire the power of recognizing with the eye words familiar to the ear, and to pronounce words strange both to eye and ear. The former can only be acquired by the frequent repetition of impressions on the visual memory; the later by constant practice in decomposing words into their syllables and elementary sounds, and then reconstructing the words. from their elements.

In the upper stages of reading the most common defect is lack of intelligence. This is a defect which, of course, cannot be corrected by any special method of teaching reading. The intelligence of a school will depend on the character of its teaching as a whole. Whatever exercises the mental powers of the children, whatever enlarges their knowledge, whatever extends their vocabulary, will, at the same time, contribute to the improvement of their reading. While, however, we recommend a fair proportion of reading lessons which are intended to convey information, we are of opinion that it is highly undesirable in the lower standards to attempt to teach, through the reading lesson, subjects that severely tax the attention. difficulties presented by reading itself are quite enough for the teacher to cope with, without going out of his way to encounter extraneous difficulties. The first object of teachers should be to get children to take an interest in reading, and this can only be done by making reading a source of pleasure to them. The attractions of the subject matter should be heightened to the greatest possible extent; the

The

The

mechanical difficulties which stand in the way | taken to prevent the blurring of the vowels of enjoyment should be reduced to a min- in the unaccented syllables of words. imum. When reading has become, by con- difficulties of our spelling are greatly instant practice, a, comparatively speaking, un- creased by the mispronunciation even of conscious process, then the reading lesson those few words which are phonetically repremay be used for other purposes. sented. If children are allowed to say savidge for savage, noine for nine, winder for window, singin' for singing, caoud for code, elemunt for element, and pint for point, it is not surprising that they misspell these words when they come to write them.

One of the greatest difficulties which ele mentary teachers have to encounter in the higher stages of teaching reading arises from the limited vocabulary of the children. The language which children of the poorer classes speak and the language they read are two different tongues. The difficulty of learning to read is consequently doubled. The words which the children have to read are new to the ear as well as to the eye, and call up no ideas in their mind. It seems highly desirable, therefore, to extend the vocabulary of the children by every means in the teacher's power. In every lesson, no matter what the subject is, each new word should be carefully explained, written on the blackboard, and used in new combinations. Definitions are of less value than actual examples of the mode in which a word is employed. This is, of course, the natural method by which we learn words. Columns of disconnected words with dictionary equivalents set over against them are of little use to children. The words must be set before them in their living organic relations with the other words of a sentence.

The time devoted to the teaching of reading varies very considerably in different schools. Bearing in mind the vast importance of getting over the mechanical difficulties of reading as soon as possible, so as so enable children to read with pleasure to themselves, and to employ this acquired power as an instrument for the acquisition of knowledge, and the cultivation of their higher faculties, we would strongly urge that more time should, as a rule, be devoted to reading in the infant's schools and in the lower standards.

We are also of opinion that the reading in schools would be vastly improved if more time was spent by the pupil teachers in acquiring the art of reading aloud. It is not surprising that the style of reading adopted by the children is vicious, when the example set them by their teachers is not good. Whatever pains the head teachers take to improve the reading of the pupil teachers will bear abundant fruit in the improved reading of the children.

Thus far we have confined ourselves to improvements in the methods which are already at work. We do not think it desirable to introduce any uniform method to supplant them, or to hamper our teachers in any way in teaching subjects for which they are personally responsible. Whatever names may be invented for designating methods of teaching reading, it is clear that ultimately these methods must rest on the same fundamental

We would strongly recommend the systematic learning and reciting of poetry as a valuable means of cultivating the imagination, rendering the ear sensitive to rhythmic constructions, improving the delivery, and extending the vocabulary. The amount of poetry required to be learnt by the Code is utterly inadequate for the object we have in view. It is, perhaps, needless to remark that the poetry should be learnt from the book, and not by parrot-like vocal repetition. Reading is primarily a visual exercise, and no opportunity should be lost for familiariz-laws ing children with the look of the printed words.

Purity of pronunciation and distinctness of articulation should be carefully cultivated at all times in school; but they are so essen tial to good reading that we would recommend short exercises, preliminary to the reading lesson, for their special cultivation. Teachers should strive to eradicate the common London blunders of substituting oi for i, aë for a, i for e, adding k to final ng, the omission of the aspirate where it should be sounded and the insertion of it where it has no proper place. Great pains should also be

of the human mind. Their only real difference will be the extent to which they utilize the laws or violate them. Of far more importance than the method is the intelligence of the teacher who employs it.

There is one way, however, in which it is conceivable that learning to read might be greatly facilitated, viz., by diminishing the number of difficulties that have to be over

come.

We have already pointed out that in the Phonic method, as taught by the late Mr. Robinson, the difficulties which spring out of our defective alphabet are, to a great extent, avoided in the earlier stages of teaching read

ing by the employment of typographical ex- | the spelling of the words is not altered, and pedients. It also tends to remove vulgarisms the new letters so closely resemble the old, and provincialisms by exhibiting to the eye that a person who is entirely strange to the the correct pronunciation of each word. This type finds no difficulty in reading it. In spite method is so reasonable, and has proved so of some inconsistencies in the employment of successful, that we think it ought to be tried the modified characters which Mr. Leigh has as an experiment in some of the schools of devised, we would recommend the adoption the Board. It would not require any altera- of his books in one or more of our infants tion in our accepted spelling, and the diacrit- schools as an experiment. ical marks which it employs could be dispensed with, once the children had got over the chief mechanical difficulties of reading.

As the success of these experiments will largely depend on the enthusiasm and energy of the teachers who try them, we would suggest that the conduct of them should be assigned to teachers who, of their own free will, are willing to undertake them.

Mr. A. Sonnenschien, in conjunction with Professor Mieklejohn, has devised a method of teaching reading which we think well We are also of opinion that the method worthy of trial in one or more of our schools. of teaching reading on the phonetic system It may be called a syllabic method, as disshould be tried in one of our schools. By tinguished from literal or verbal methods. this method the difficulties to be overcome One obvious merit in it is the gradual way in are still further diminished. The words are which the difficulties of reading are introduced. spelled as they are pronounced; no letters have more than one sound; every sound has a separate letter; digraphs and trigraphs are dispensed with; and all silent letters are struck out. This method has been tried with considerable success by Dr. John W. Martin, in Ireland. It is stated that when children can We cannot conclude this report without read books in which the phonetic spelling is expressing our thanks for the valuable assistemployed they readily learn to read books in ance we received in our inquiries from the the ordinary spelling; and that they pick up teachers of the board whom we consulted, the ordinary spelling with equal readiness. from A. Sonnenschien, Esq., J. Mackenzie, We can well believe that the ripened intelli- Esq. (Her Majesty's inspector's assistant for gence of children who had learnt to read the Finbury division), Dr. John W. Martin, words phonetically spelled would very rapidly Mrs. Harper (head mistress of the Woodhouse enable them to read words in the ordinary Board School, Leeds), and G. Christian Mast, spelling? but we are not so entirely satisfied Esq. We have also to express our obligations that they would quickly forget the spelling to to Dr. Edwin Leigh, of America, for various which they had been accustomed, and ac-books and papers, conveyed to us through quire a capricious spelling that was perfectly Sir Charles Reed, on his system of "Pronew to them. This is a point, however, nouncing Orthography." which can only be determined by experience; and we strongly urge, therefore, that the experiment should be fairly tried in one or more of the Board's schools.

It will be observed that we express no opinion on the expediency of rendering our spelling uniformly phonetic, that being a question with which we have not to deal. We simply recommend that the experiment should be tried of teaching children to read words spelled in the ordinary way by first teaching them to read words spelled phonetically.

THE FREE-SCHOOL SYSTEM.

[The following is the first chapter of the Report of the French Commission to the Centennial Exposition, made to the Minister of Public Instruction. The translation is by R. K. BUEHRLE, Esq., Superintendent of the schools of Reading.—ED.]

TT is in a republican government that one
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needs the whole power of education." This judgment of Montesquieu has, perhaps, never found a more splendid application than in the subject whose study we commence. A third endeavor, in the same direction, If, indeed, there is a people which has at all has been made in America by Dr. E. Leigh, attended to this "power of education," which whose reading books retain the ordinary spell- has intimately united its own national destiing, but are so printed as to indicate the pro-nies to the development of its schools, which nunciation of the words. He has extended the alphabet by slight modifications of the forms of the present alphabetic characters, and prints the silent letters in hair-type. The chief recommendation of these books is that

has made public instruction the supreme guarantee of its liberties, the condition of its prosperity, the safe-guard of its institutions, that is, most assuredly, the people of the United States.

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