to break up the association. Will the ear give any aid? The ear, as has already been said, not only forms the sound image but also retains the image of the succession of letters. When doubt has arisen as to the correctness of a visual image, no amount of thinking will clear it up, but if we are able to fall back upon the ear it may be able to tell us if "it sounds right." There are a few words of which I can never be sure until I have repeated the letters. There is, moreover, a rhythm in oral spelling which tends to fix the order of the letters just as the notes of a harmony are fixed. Rhythm is a great aid in committing to memory any list. Thus, such a series as p dk q m t is best remembered if taken as p-d-k' q-m-t', the voice not only pausing at k and t, but resting upon them. In repeating the alphabet, I find that the majority take it in groups of three or four letters, slightly accenting the last syllable. In repeating backwards. I have found none who do not do this, e g', zy x', wv', uts', rq p', etc. What pupil of the old school will ever forget the spelling of Mississippi which he learned as M-i-ss' (double 's) i-ss' ipp-i? Children delight in rhythm, and the effort to stamp it out because of its tendency to sing-song can only be regarded as another attempt on the part of the pedagogue to improve upon God's workmanship.

METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING

If the conclusions I have reached are correct, I have already indicated the basal methods of teaching spelling. Perhaps the most comprehensive conclusion is that of Dr. Rice, who, after testing the spelling of many schools and making particular enquiries into the methods pursued, says: "As to oral and written, column and sentence spelling, I shall say only this, that the wise teacher will acquaint herself with as many methods and devices as possible and change from one to the other in order to relieve the tedium and to meet the needs of individual children. Before all she will beware of running off at a tangent with any particular method, because none yet discovered has proved a panacea."*

I have said that under the new methods spelling has

* The Futility of the Spelling Grind II., Forum, June, 1897.

been taught incidentally or at haphazard. The words of the reading lesson, of the object lesson, and the various school branches have been learned. This method has the advantage that the words are seen in their connections and that the pupil is trained to observe closely the words he reads. The new methods are not to be criticised for what they do but for what they leave undone. The obvious defects of the dictation and incidental methods are that they violate the fundamental principle from the less to the more difficult, and that many words may never be met at all. Dr. Rice states that on his visit to a class that was taught by the so-called natural method he found the pupils about to write a composition on the Pine, on which they had just had an observation lesson. "In preparation," he says, "the spelling lesson of the day consisted of the following words: Exogen, erect, cylindrical, coniferal, irregular, indestructible, pins, resuions, whorls. First, as for systematic progress in spelling-from the easy to the difficult—a more absurd combination could scarcely be devised. And, second, from the practical point of view, such words as exogen, coniferal, whorl, are entirely out of place, at least until perfection in common words has been reached."† He recommends that the words be carefully graded, not only in regard to orthographical difficulties, but in accordance with the vocabulary of the child as well. In this way the course in spelling might become as systematic as in other subjects ‡ He further recommends that "precedence should be given to common words, while technical and unusual words should be taught incidentally," and that the course should be further abridged by excluding words that contain no catch, i.e., words that naturally spell themselves. "My researches on this point," he says, "would indicate that more than half the common words belong to. this category, and consequently need not be studied. The ideal ground to be covered in spelling would be represented, therefore, by a carefully graded list of common words most liable to be misspelled. The number of words in this list, according to my estimate, would be between six and seven thousand."§

† Forum, June, 1897, p. 416.

+ Ibid.

§ Ibid.

THE SPELLING PROBLEM.

83

It will surely rejoice the teacher's heart to think that she can give a fairly complete spelling course consisting of six or seven thousand words. But Dr. Rice proposes means to still further reduce her work. He continues:

"When the words have been selected, the next step will lie in a systematic treatment of the difficulties. And here again the course is open to simplification, by separating the words that may be learned collectively from those which must be mastered individually.

"The words that can be acquired collectively are those to which rules of spelling apply. While in some instances the exceptions are so numerous as to rob the rules of their value, a few of them, nevertheless, are very reliable, at least for all practical purposes. And as these few rules govern thousands of words, it would be much less burdensome to master them than to memorize such words individually. Among these rules, two are particularly comprehensive, and should be taught, year after year, until applied automatically. They are: First, the rule referring to the doubling of the consonant, as in run-running; and, second, the rule concerning the dropping of the final e, as in bakebaking. That so many children, even in the highest grammar grade, should spell lose with two o's does not necessarily throw discredit on the teacher; but that a child who has attended school four years or more, should write 'While runing he sliped,' or 'She was bakeing cake,' is as unpardonable as if he were unable to add 2 and 2. And yet, out of 252 pupils in the fourth school year, whose papers were examined with reference to this point, running was misspelled by 94, slipped by 126, and baking by 69."||

Dr. Rice then presents a tabulated statement of errors to show that "as many errors were made on words governed by rules, as on those to which they did not apply," and continues:-"The words that must be studied individually are those in which no clue is given either by sound or rules. The best to be done with such words, until our spelling is reformed, is to bring them to the notice of the child, and trust to chance for the results. The simple reform of dropping the silent letter in the last syllable of such words as beggar, driver, doctor, mantel, bundle, metal, would enable us to strike no less than 15 per cent of the words from the

Forum, June, 1896.

described list. Again, in the long vowel sounds the difficulties are endless; the same sound being represented in so many different ways that it is a marvel to master them at all. To illustrate: Blue, to, too, two, who, shoe, you, ewe; lieu, view, new (knew); no (know), sew, beau, toe, owe, oh, dough, goat. Again, the choice between ee and ea, as in feed, read, is extremely puzzling. What a boon to our children it would be, to rid spelling of such peculiarities as these!"

"Finally," he says, "I would suggest a separate list of those puzzling small words, which though constantly used in writing are yet so frequently misspelled. Among these may be mentioned to, too, there, their, hear, here, any, many, much, such, which, those, whose, and does. In all such a list need not include more than 150 or 200 words. As these words cannot be too often brought to the notice of the child, the drill should be begun as early as possible, and continued throughout the entire course."*

Can these ideas be applied practically? We find three fundamental principles underlying the methods of teaching spelling: (1) The principle emphasized by the new education, that words must be learned in connection with their use as expressing thought, (2), the principle that words should be graded according to difficulty, and (3), that waste of time should be eliminated. Let us begin with the third. How is waste of time to be eliminated? Can we be sure that a very large percentage of words will spell themselves? I believe the key to this lies in teaching reading by the phonic method. It has been charged that the phonic method makes poor spellers. Dr. Rice found that some of the best results were obtained "where the phonic method had been employed; that, in fact, the phonic method had long formed a feature in the cities where the highest averages were made." Pupils taught by the phonic method acquire principles which are applicable to a very large number of words, unphonetic as the English language is. They are taught not only to perceive, but to apperceive, and "it is what is apperceived rather than what is perceived that educates." They are at the same time gradually introduced to words that are not phonetic, and by the time they have reached the age when spelling may be taken up

* Forum, June, 1896, p. 419.

formally, are ready for Dr. Rice's graded, inclusive and exclusive lists.

The question that arises in connection with these lists is: Would they not be bringing back the worst features of the old spelling book? While they conserve the principle "from the less to the more difficult," do they not violate the principle that words should be learned in connection with the thought which they express? If there really is a conflict of principles here, it would be necessary to decide, before answering in the affirmative, which principle is of greater importance. In this connection, I have examined several spellers and will venture a few criticisms upon them. Grafton's Speller, I need not tell you, is an excellent one in many respects. It is prepared from the standpoint of phonics; it groups words that have affinity; it gives connected narratives employing these words with many gems of literature and moral precepts. It is, in a word, not only a speller, but a language lesson book in the highest sense of the word. The different steps in the spelling lesson are excellently set forth in the preface, and due place is given to oral spelling. Its defect is that, from the nature of the case, the grading is imperfect, the difficulties of English orthography are imperiectly presented, and little attempt is made to eliminate waste. Gage's Speller, while to be compared with Grafton's in hardly any respect, has a more complete list of difficult words, and in the revised edition there is a special list of difficult words compiled from pupils' mistakes.

The best classification of difficult words that I have been able to find is a little book entitled "Common Words Difficult to Spell," by James H. Panniman, published by D. C. Heath & Co. It excludes technical words and words. that spell themselves, and it passes by easy stages from the slightest to the most serious difficulties. It contains about 3,500 words. Combined with suitable dictation exercises, it should make an excellent systematic course in spelling. We should not, however, leave it entirely to others to do the work of classification for us. We should make ourselves familiar with the difficulties words present. Rice has pointed out some of these difficulties. Try your hand at classification, make a list of your pupils' mistakes and study them. The increased power that will be given you will well repay the effort.

Dr.