force the pupil to employ the grammatical point which the teacher wishes to emphasize. For example, suppose one wishes to teach the weak declension of the adjective, more particularly one case — the accusative singular. For nouns let us take objects lying on the teacher's desk, things with [the German name of] which the pupils are very familiar, so that they can concentrate their attention on the one point to be learned. Our material, for the present, will be pencils of various colors, books, and chalk. It should be made clear to the class what the teacher wishes done. It is understood also that they are always to answer in complete sentences. If the class has learned the forms of the weak declension [which would have been taught gradually in the series material], the teacher can simply ask the first question; if not, of course, he will have to answer the first question himself in order to start the class. Welchen Bleistift habe ich in der Hand? Sie haben den roten Bleistift in der Hand. Was nehme ich jetzt in die Hand ? Sie nehmen die weiße Kreide in die Hand. Fräulein M., nehmen sie die rote Kreide. Welche Kreide nimmt Fräulein M.? Sie nimmt die rote Kreide. Worauf lege ich jetzt das braune Buch? Sie legen das braune Buch auf den Tisch (auf den großen Tisch, etc.). (4: 124-125) Supplementary cautions. Direct teacher must be active and alert. Finally, if teachers are going to use the direct method, it is important that they observe certain cautions which are not essentially related to the general point of this chapter but which it will be well to emphasize here. The first point to keep in mind is that the direct teacher is an active demonstrator of meanings. This means that during much of the instruction, especially during the first few months, he will be on his feet most of the time, active and alert, using all possible devices, including actions, objects, sketching on the blackboard, etc., to secure attention to the meanings. Under these circumstances a tall reading stand upon which to place the material to which he refers is much better than a desk. If he is teaching a Gouin series, even if he feels fairly sure that he has it memorized, it is well to have it on the stand for reference, for, as we shall see in the next chapter, it is important to repeat it exactly the same every time during its oral presentation, in order to avoid introducing interfering associations into the pupil's learning. All conversational work must be definitely planned. The other two cautions to which attention should be given can be quoted to advantage from Bagster-Collins. The first concerns definite planning. He says: In order to derive the greatest good from colloquial exercises, they should be clearly planned to do definite work. We talk with a purpose and not simply to hear our own voices. The work in speaking should at every turn be vitally connected with the other work of the class. It should not be regarded as something outside, or at the most loosely linked with the main system a sort of relaxation from the study of grammar or translation. . . . We must ever reject colloquial exercises that lead to nothing that are mere talk. Such work is unworthy of the school. The aimless, rambling conversations often met with in books on the so-called natural method are to be condemned. (4: 73-74) Students must be given ample opportunity to talk. The final caution is the following: After all, one of the great secrets of doing successful work in conversation is to stimulate the pupils to do the greater part of it. Let the teacher talk as much as is necessary to make what he wants to do clear; then let him see that the class does more talking than he does. (4: 74) In order that the necessary opportunities for such responses on the part of students may be provided, it is important that the beginning language classes should be small. This is being well provided for in some good large high schools by limiting these classes to fifteen or twenty pupils. In the smaller high schools this matter would probably adjust itself. This Conclusion of discussion of forming associations. will conclude our discussion of the type of learning that involves primarily the associating of symbols and meanings. The acquiring of a foreign vocabulary has been treated at considerable length as an example of this type, because of the large practical importance of the issues involved. Other examples of the general process of association as carried on in school may be found in Thorndike's "Principles of Teaching," pp. 112-123. The two types of learning which we have considered so far are (1) acquiring motor control and (2) associating symbols and meanings. In each case we have been concerned with the best methods of starting correct associations. There remains the problem of determining the best methods of making these correct associations permanent. This problem will be discussed in the next chapter, under the title of Practice or Drill. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES General discussions of association.-I. COLVIN, S. S. The Learning Process. (The Macmillan Company, 1911.) Pp. 128-158. 2. JAMES, WILLIAM. Principles of Psychology. (Henry Holt and Company, 1890.) Vol. I, chaps. iv and xiv. Also, Talks to Teachers. (Henry Holt and Company, 1899.) Chap. ix. 3. THORNDIKE, E. L. Principles of Teaching. (A. G. Seiler, 1905.) Chap. viii, pp. 110-123. Numerous exercises furnish profitable points for discussion of various phases of high-school teaching to which the principles of association apply. Direct methods of language instruction. 4. Bagster-Collins. The Teaching of German in Secondary Schools. (The Macmillan Company, 1904.) An excellent manual of method. See especially chap. iv, pp. 70-104. 5. CLARAHAN, M. M. An Experimental Study of Methods of Teaching German. (University of Missouri Bulletin, Educational Series, Vol. I, No. 6.) A comparison of the grammatical method with a direct reading method. 6. HANDSCHIN, C. H. A Historical Sketch of the Gouin-Series System of Teaching Modern Languages and of its Use in the United States. (School Review, March, 1912, Vol. XX, pp. 170-175.) A very suggestive and practical article. 7. HANDSCHIN, C. H. The Teaching of Modern Languages in the United States. Bulletin No. 3, of the United States Bureau of Education, 1913, pp. 94-101. Contains bibliography of nearly all American publications on the teaching of modern languages. May be secured gratis from Bureau of Education at Washington. Very valuable. 8. HENMON, V. A. C. The Relation between Mode of Presentation and Retention. Psychological Review, March, 1912. Vol. XIX, pp. 79–96. Reviews results of psychological experiments. CHAPTER VIII PRACTICE OR DRILL AUTOMATIZING MOTOR AND MENTAL ASSOCIATIONS Main points of the chapter. 1. After associations have been correctly started, they should be made automatic by effective economical practice. 2. Feelings of satisfaction or success and attitudes of zeal and concentration of attention are essential or especially helpful in this process. 3. In memorizing, the method of correct recall is helpful because it involves concentration of attention. 4. Memorizing by repeating the whole selection every time is superior because it does not waste time on useless associations and because it secures concentration of attention. 5. Time should not be wasted on accessory processes, such as thumbing dictionaries and copying problems, but should be concentrated on the real processes which are to be automatized. 6. It is probably more economical and effective to distribute periods of practice and repetitions in memorizing than it is to make them relatively continuous. Automatizing should follow correct start. The two preceding chapters discussed methods of learning to make correct connections, or associations, in acquiring motor skill and associating symbols and meanings. In each of these cases it is important to make a correct start. Thus, in learning to toss balls it is desirable to introduce as early as possible the rightto-left circular motion, and in learning a foreign language it is important to establish as directly as possible the connection between the foreign symbols and their meanings. In the present chapter we shall consider the problem of providing |