Teaching the language-arts

Front matter

Chap. Copyright No.

Shelf_...L_.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

CHAPTER I. The Scope of the Present Work 1

The Liudley Murray conception of grammar, 1, 2 ; Professor Greene's books, 2, 3 ; the present state of English in the schools, 3, 4 ; aims of the present work, 4, 5.

CHAPTER II. The Language-Arts Defined 6

Science and art, 6 ; two phases of art, 6 ; the school studies and school arts discriminated, 7, 8 ; the two phases of the language-arts, 9, 10 ; effects of VtTong classification, 10, 11.

' CHAPTER III.

The Vernacular as an Educational Instrument . . ,12

Language and mind, 12-14 ; language a factor in national culture, 14, 15 ; a factor in individual culture, 15-18 ; Professor Laurie and Dr. Schurman quoted, 18-20.

CHAPTER IV. The Work of the Elementary School 21

The child's mental possessions at the age of six, 21, 22 ; the work of the primary teacher, 22-24 ; authorities quoted on vocabularies of children, note^ 24, 25.

CHAPTER V. The Origin of the Child's Knowledge 26

Fundamental facts of the mind stated, 26-28 ; the child's ideas at the age of six grouped, 28-32.

xxi xxii CONTENTS.

Chapter VI. Page

The Origin of the Child's Language 33

The child's instinctive vocal utterance, 33, 34 ; the child uses his voice to express mental states, 34, 35 ; the office of imitation, 35- 39 ; no trace of rule or formal method, 40 ; authorities quoted on imitation, note^ 40-42.

CHAPTER YII.

Professor Laurie's analysis of language, 43, 44 ; child first deals with language as substance of thought, 44, 45 ; methods of instruction : conversations, stories, object lessons, reading lessons, selections of poetry memorized, and written exercises, 45-50 ; ethical value of language lessons, 50, 51 ; association, 51, 52 ; rules, 53 ; language agents classilied, 53, 54.

CHAPTER VIII. The Language-Arts in the Higher Grades and in the

High Schools 55

Changes of school regimen to come slowly, 65 ; former methods to be employed, 56 ; copying and dictation, composing themes, paraphrasing, imitation of chosen models, and translation, 56-61 ; etymologies, 61-63 ; history in words, 63-65.

CHAPTER IX. The Art op Reading CG

The printed page, 66, 67 ; relation of the author to his composition, 67 ; the function of the reader, 67-70.

Chapter X

Relation of reading to guidance studies, 71, 72; to disciplinary studies, 72, 73; to culture studies, 73, 74; to general literature, 74r-77 ; Mr. Lowell and Professor Norton quoted, note^ 77, 78.

CHAPTER XI. Requisites for Reading 79

The threefold preparation, 79 ; attention to be paid to cacli requirement, 80 ; Professor Blackio on our original knowledge, 80, f

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81 ; apperception, 81, 82 ; the reader to have one life with the author, 82-85 ; value to the child of acquaintance with Nature, 85.

CHAPTER XII. Teaching Reading as an Art 86

The symbolism of the printed page, 86, 87 ; the vocal values of the symbols, 87, 88 ; significance of the symbols, 88-90 ; reading not at first a source of new ideas, 90, 91 ; rules, 92 ; Professors Dowden and Corson on reading aloud quoted, 92, 93 ; Mr. George Ticknor quoted, 7iote^ 93.

Chapter XIII

First teaching of reading an homogeneous exercise, 94, 95 ; the work begins to difierentiate, 95 ; the reading lesson, 95, 96 ; the pupil's study of the lesson, 96 ; the teacher to study with the class, 97 ; reading lessons to be connected with other sources of cultivation, 98 ; the study of definitions, 98-101 ; testing pupils, 101-103 ; remarks on school readers and the child's reading matter, 103-106 ; freedom and criticism, 106, 107 ; illustrative lessons, 108-111.

Chapter XIV

The old regime, 112; definition of composition and its relations, 113, 114 ; difficulty of the art, 114 ; natural gifts and practice, 115, 116 ; practical suggestions for the teacher : training in language lessons, pupil's interest to be enlisted, choice of a subject, the teacher to choose and assign subjects, the teacher to instruct in the modus of composition, making outlines, rules, and criticisms, 117-124 ; relation of thought material to thought expression, 124, 125 ; the intensive plan, 125, 126 ; Dr. Franklin's style and the value of the art of composition, 126, 127.

CHAPTER XV. Teaching English Literature .128

The object or aim to be held in view, 128 ; Mr. Quick's definition of literature, 128, 129 ; the two aspects of literature, substance and art, to be held together, 130, 131 ; subordinate aspects, 131 ; false ideals, 132-134 ; Mr. Hudson's model, 134, 135 ; the subordination xxiv CONTENTS.

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of grammar, philology, etc., to literary elements, 136 ; discursive study and intensive study to be combined, 136, 137 ; literature and recitations, 137, 138 ; literature and examinations, 138, 139 ; haste in education, 139 ; history of literature, 140 ; teachers sometimes too ambitious, 141 ; why literature should be taught in the schools, 141, 142.

Chapter XVI

Ancient definition of grammar, 147, 148 ; Murray's and Kirkham's Grammars, 149 ; traditionary view of grammar false, 150 ; grammar a science, 151, 152 ; causes that broke down the authority of the scholastic grammar, 153-155 ; reasons for studying grammar : confers knowledge of the vernacular, 156 ; has disciplinary value, 166-158; is the logic of speech, 159 ; influences practice through mental activity, 160 ; relation of study of grammar to use of the vernacular, 161-165 ; practical suggestions for teachers, 165-167 ; illustrative exercise, 168-170.

Chapter XVII

Definitions quoted, 171-173 ; rhetoric a threefold study, 174 ; has disciplinary value, 175 ; has culture value, 176 ; rules of rhetoric of two kinds, mechanical and psychological, 177 ; rules for punctuating and capitalizing, 178 ; psychological rules, 176-180 ; Herbert Spencer's Essay on The Philosophy of Style quoted, 180, 181 ; Professor Minto quoted, 182 ; rhetoric in the high school, 183, 184.

CHAPTER XVIII. The Function of Criticism 185

Criticism a practical art, 185 ; causes of the difficulty of the subject, 185-188 ; the problem involves the harmonizing of criticism and freedom, 188, 189 ; practical suggestions : early criticism must rest on authority, 189 ; must be repeated, 189 ; must be conducted with reference to child's ago and progress, 189, 190 ; teacher not to expect too much, 190 ; rules and reasons to be gradually introduced, 190, 191 ; the spirit of criticism, 191, 192; many exercises to pass without review, 192; pupil to play the critic of himself, 193, 194 ; the " Nature " rules discussed, 194-197.

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