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 Fernald 
 
 A 
 
 Study 
 
 in the Psychology 
 of Spelling
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
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 A STUDY IN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING. 
 
 Grace M. Fernai<d, Ph.D. 
 
 Introductory statement. 
 
 During the last four years we have examined -over three hun- 
 dred cases of very poor spellers. Of the group studied, six 
 were instructors in colleges or normal schools, twenty were 
 normal school students, twenty-five were high school students, 
 four were adults not connected with the schools, and the rest 
 were grade school children. Throughout the last year the 
 work has been done with groups of children in classes. 
 
 In the individual work with special cases, the subject was 
 first tested to determine the subject's general mentality, as 
 mental deficiency would obviously be one possible cause of his 
 inability to spell. This step zvas omitted when the mentality 
 zcas obviously of a high type. In case the subject proved to be 
 mentally normal, special tests were made to determine whether 
 he possessed any striking mental peculiarities. These tests 
 were given with the idea that there must be some difference 
 between the normally bright child who works hard and yet fails 
 to get his spelling and the normally bright child who gets it 
 easily. 
 
 The second division of our work consisted in the attempt to 
 teach the individual to spell. We are indebted to the city 
 teachers in Los Angeles and Pasadena for assistance in testing 
 out the methods suggested, and to Miss MacKenzie and Mrs. 
 Preston of the training department of the Los Angeles State 
 Normal School for suggestions concerning the incorporation of 
 these methods into the plan for general clas.? instruction. 
 
 We wish to emphasize the fact that the best results with the 
 method have been obtained by regular city teachers and that 
 they all agree in the report that the poor spellers learn to spell, 
 after the method has been employed. The plan, as outlined at 
 the end of the paper, is the same in many details as that now in 
 use among the best teachers of spelling. It includes certain 
 modifications which adapt it to the needs of the poor spellers 
 without hindering the learning ])rocess in I he case of the good 
 
 spellers. 
 
 2— 20U.'):i 
 
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 455^ 
 
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 UNIVERSITY o9^CALIFOKNT3^ 
 
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 II. Imagery tests. 
 
 As our most interesting- results, and those of the greatest " 
 assistance to us in solving our problem, were obtained with the 
 imagery tests, a somewhat detailed description will be given of 
 these tests. 
 
 In a later paper we expect to take up the discussion of the 
 psychology of imagery and to give an analysis of our test 
 results. It may be well to remind the reader that any indi- 
 vidual belongs to one of the following imagery types : visual, 
 auditory, motor or mixed ; the last being a combination of any 
 two or more of the preceding groups. That is, some people 
 recall past experiences in terms of visual images, others 
 auditory, etc. For example, in recalling music some people 
 would get a visual image of the notes as written on the sheet, 
 while others would have to recall the sound of the music, and 
 still others would feel themselves" making the movements of 
 playing. What is true of music is true of anything we recall. 
 A knowledge of the psychology of imagery is essential for an 
 understanding of what follows. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF TESTS. 
 
 One very good test for small children is the old game of 
 memory for objects. About twenty objects were placed on a 
 table and covered with a cloth. When the children were 
 ready the cloth was removed for from twenty to thirty seconds, 
 while the children attempted to fix the objects in their minds. 
 The table was then covered again and the children wrote the 
 names of the objects or drew pictures of them. 
 
 The children were then asked how they remembered the 
 objects, w^hether they got pictures of them in their minds or 
 said the names of the objects over to themselves. The writer 
 W'as at first very skeptical concerning the ability of children to 
 perform such introspection, but she has been forced to admit 
 that children are capable of giving remarkably accurate infor- 
 mation concerning their own imagery processes. The practical 
 results alone would justify this conclusion. 
 
 For children above the third grade the following tests sug- 
 gested by Professors Colvin and Meyer, and somewhat modified 
 for our present purpose, were found to be very valuable. 
 
 Figure I was drawn in heavy crayon on a sheet of cardboard. 
 The children made a copy of this on their papers. On a screen 
 
 (4)
 
 2.2 by 28 inches was a similar figure, and in each of the angles 
 and spaces were meaningless characters (Fig. 2). The subject 
 was allowed to look at Figure 2 for twenty seconds if in a 
 grade below^ the fifth, and for fifteen seconds if in or above the 
 fifth grade. The screen was then removed and the subject was 
 asked to make his figure look like the second figure. 
 The same experiment was repeated with Figure 3. 
 
 II 
 
 H 
 
 R 
 
 M 
 
 A O V 
 
 III 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 K 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 In each case the subject was asked to discover if possible 
 whether the memory process was in terms of visual or auditory 
 or motor imagery — whether he got a "picture" of the figure or 
 repeated the names of the parts to himself or felt himself 
 making the figures. In some cases the lip and hand movements 
 were evident to the experimenter. 
 
 The following test was found particularly valuable as an 
 introspective exercise for older children and adults : 
 
 A paper was prepared with a letter square printed upon it 
 (see Fig. 4). The pupil was shown a card with Figure 5 on it. 
 
 M X C S 
 
 S C X M 
 
 X M S C 
 
 C S ]\I X 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 s 
 
 X 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 X 
 
 V .s 
 
 S 
 
 c 
 
 X M 
 
 X 
 
 M 
 
 s c 
 
 c 
 
 8 
 
 .M X 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 Careful explanation is made of the fact that certain angles 
 
 belong to certain letters, for example [ belongs to S so that 
 
 S would be enclosed as follows, _SJ. In the same way f 
 belongs to X, making it X[, etc. 
 
 When it is certain that the subject understands Figure % he 
 is told to learn it, and is allowed as long a time as he wishes for 
 
 (5)
 
 the process. When he is sure that he knows Figure 5, Figure 4 
 is substituted for it and he is told to enclose the letters in the 
 angles that belong to them, lie is instructed to go straight 
 down the first row. cover that as soon as he has finished it, and 
 proceed to the second. It is very important that the child cover 
 the row as soon as he has filled in the figure, or he will be sure 
 to copy from the figures already completed. Figure 6 shows 
 the letters properly enclosed, and it should not be used until the 
 test is over. 
 
 The test is difficult, as the child must not only retain the 
 image, but he nnist analyze it. The test is almost certain to 
 bring out auditory imagery if the subject ever uses it. Lip and 
 hand movements are very evident in many cases. 
 
 Many other tests, such as nonsense syllables, series of digits, 
 the Binet figures, the spelling of words backward from the 
 memory image, the code test, etc., were used, but space will not 
 permit a full description of them. 
 
 2. Results of Work with Imagery Tests. 
 
 The result of all this work with imagery tests was the sur- 
 prising discovery that, with few exceptions/;^poor spellers who 
 were not mentally defective, were of the extreme auditory type 
 of imagery; that is, they recall past experiences in terms of 
 auditory rather than visual images. In the case of memory for 
 words, they must hear either the words or the letters ; they are 
 unable to get a visual image of the word or the letters that 
 make it up. 
 
 3. Discussion of Sigiiificaiice of Results of Imagerv Tests. 
 
 Many teachers have assured me that they have been giving 
 the work for some time in such a way as to appeal to all types 
 of imagery : that they present the word visually for the "eye- 
 minded" child, orally (give oral spelling) for the "ear-minded" 
 child, and have the children write it for the sake of the motor 
 child. 
 
 A peculiar psychological fallacy has crept into the problem 
 here. It has been taken for granted that the child is of the 
 imagery type corresponding to the type of the sensory stimulus 
 zvhich he apperceives most readily; that is, if he learns a thing 
 best when he sees it, he is of the visual imagery type, and has a 
 memory image of the object in the form of a mental picture; 
 
 (6)
 
 if he gets the results best when something is presented in such 
 a way that he liears it, then he is of the auditory type of 
 imagery, and remembers in the form of word or sound images ; 
 if he gets the best results when he expresses the thing in terms 
 of his own movements, then he is of the motor type of imagery. 
 Consequently the teacher believes that she is appealing to the 
 various types when she is having words written on the board, 
 spelled orally, and written by each of the children. I might 
 say that the last mentioned method of presentation, which is 
 really the most important, is most often neglected. 
 
 Now, as a matter of fact the child may apperceive a visual 
 stimulus much more readily than he does an auditory, and yet 
 translate the stimulus at once into auditory or auditory-motor 
 terms and retain the contents of this form. In the case of 
 spelling, he may learn the word better from a visual than from 
 an auditory stimulus, although he is saying the word or the 
 letters of the word to himself all the while he is looking at the 
 word, and although it is the auditory image thus created, which 
 he retains, and not the original impression. 
 
 The advantage of the visual over the auditory stimulus in 
 many cases is probably due to the fact that the visual stimulus 
 is usually more stable, and does not have a fixed rate of pass- 
 ing, as does the auditory stimulus. With the visual stimulus, 
 the individual sets his own mental pace, as it were. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the problem of appealing to the 
 various imagery types has not been met in the least degree by 
 presenting the zcord as a visual, an auditory, and a motor 
 stimulus. 
 
 A further analysis shows that the oral spelling, instead of 
 aiding the auditory child, actually hinders him. The child who 
 gets a clear visual image of the word has the representation of 
 the word as a whole before him while he is either spelling it 
 orally or writing it. His visual image is not interfered with by 
 the process of saying the letters aloud or to himself. The child 
 whose control image is auditory, on the other hand, can not 
 hear the word as a whole at the same time that he hears the 
 separate letters, when he is attempting either to" say the letters 
 to himself or to spell the word aloud. 
 
 It is an easy matter for the reader to illustrate this point to 
 himself if he will attempt to spell a word letter by letter and to 
 hear the word as a whole at the saiiir time, or even to hear the 
 
 (7)
 
 word as a whole and at the same time follow the letters as the 
 word is spelled aloud by another person. It will be found that 
 one auditory process interferes with the other. 
 
 The result of this peculiarity of the auditory image is that the 
 auditory child says the word and then attempts to spell it with- 
 out any controlling- image of the word as a whole. Conse- 
 quently he puts the letters of the word together in almost any 
 order, leaves out letters and syllables, and finally becomes so 
 hopelessly confused that he does not know what he is attempt- 
 ing to spell. 
 
 The difficulty is due to the fact that as soon as he begins to 
 say the letters of the word over to himself or to spell the word 
 aloud, the image of the word as a whole is lost. A high school 
 boy who was a very good student but an astonishing speller 
 pronounced the word "familiar" correctly and then proceeded 
 to spell it "fimaler" ; "opportunity" he spelled "opertunity," 
 "persevere" he wrote "presevere," etc. He said he did not look 
 words up in the dictionary because he could not find them. 
 Other illustrations from our papers are : "buisness" for "busi- 
 ness," "propily" for "properly," "apperate" for "appreciate," 
 "imagian" for "imagine," "conceence" for "conscientious," 
 "elegiance" for "allegiance." The latter illustrations are taken 
 at random from cases we worked with in the eighth grade. In 
 every instance except perhaps "business," a control image of 
 the word as a whole would have made the mistake impossible — 
 did in fact make such mistakes impossible when a method was 
 acquired by these same children which gave them a control 
 image of the word while it was being written. 
 
 An analysis of the facts already presented makes it evident 
 that the three factors essential for the most effective teaching of 
 spelling are : first, the discovery by the individual himself of his 
 own mental type; second, the formation of a clear image of the 
 word in terms of this mental type; and finally, attention to the 
 image during the process of zuriting the zvord. It appears 
 further that any form of oral spelling is distinctly had for the 
 child of the auditory type. 
 
 With reference to this last point, it is obvious that spelling- 
 functions only when one wishes to express oneself in written 
 form. Consequently, unless it can be shown that oral spelling 
 is a real aid to the acquiring of skill in the correct spelling of 
 written words, there is no justification for employing it. 
 
 (8)
 
 The following facts seem to argue against the vakie of oral 
 
 ip- 
 
 spelling 
 
 (i) The fact that an individual has acquired skill in one set 
 of motor reactions does not necessarily mean that he can trans- 
 fer that skill to some other reaction. For example, it is fre- 
 quently the case that a child will spell a word orally quite cor- 
 rectly and be unable to write it correctly. 
 
 (2) As has already been said, oral spelling dispels the only 
 image of the word as such which the auditory child is able 
 
 to get. 
 
 (3) The visual child does not need to go through the process 
 of auditory spelling, as he has the letters represented in his 
 visual image of the word. 
 
 (4) The results of experiments with individual cases and 
 with classes of children from the third to the eighth grades all 
 show better results when oral spelling is omitted. The class 
 experiments referred to seem to the writer the strongest argu- 
 ment against oral spelling, as these experiments were made by 
 experienced and successful city and training school teachers, 
 who in some cases began the work with the conviction that it 
 was a mistake to omit oral spelling. 
 
 HI. Method of teaching spelling. 
 
 We shall now proceed to give a detailed account of the 
 method that has been used with success in the work with indi- 
 vidual cases and later with classes. 
 
 The method will be described according to the following out- 
 line : 
 
 1. Imagery tests. 
 
 2. Teaching of words. 
 
 (a) Phonetic words. 
 
 (b) Nonphonetic or partly nonphonetic words. 
 
 I. Imagery Tests. 
 
 In grades above the second, the imagery tests described on 
 page 5 are given to the child or the class, as the case may be. 
 The problem of imagery is next discussed with the children. 
 This step can not be too much emphasized. 
 
 The point is not that the teacher shall discover hoiv the child 
 thinks, hut tliat the child shall discover the nature of his own 
 
 (9)
 
 iiirntal processes, and Icarn to Iiold the image of tJic zoord, 
 zvlwtci'cr its form may he. until he has expressed it in writing. 
 If the child lias a visual image of the word, it is not at all 
 important that the teacher should know this; but it is very 
 important that the child shall focus his attentipn on the word 
 until his visual image is clear in every detail, ^nd that he shall 
 keep his attention on the image until the word has beeft written. 
 In the same way the child must learn to form a clear auditory 
 image if he is of the auditory type, and to hold the sound image 
 until the word has been written. The same principle will hold 
 in the case of the auditory motor child. 
 
 One matter of surprise to the writer is that children get the 
 idea almost more quickly than do adults. There is no question 
 but that our third grade children have learned which type of 
 image they get most clearly, and are studying words according 
 to their own individual types with phenomenally good results. 
 
 After the imagery tests have been given and the children 
 have worked out the problem of their individual imagery types, 
 the study is turned to words. The children are shown that 
 they must either see or hear the words "in their minds" in 
 order to remember them. 
 
 2. Teaching of Words. 
 
 I. Phonetic words. In teaching a given phonetic word the 
 following order is observed : 
 
 (i) The teacher writes the word on the board, pronouncing 
 it as she writes it. 
 
 (2) The children pronounce the word after the teacher. 
 
 (3) The children pronounce the word slowly, looking at the 
 written word to see if it is spelled as it is pronounced. While 
 
 / they pronounce the word the second time, lines may be drawn 
 between the syllables as the children say them, so that the word 
 is divided into convenient sound units. 
 
 (4) The children are asked to shut their eyes, and see how 
 many of them can form a picture of the word in their minds. 
 If they can not form a picture, or if the picture is not plain 
 enough to give them all the letters of the word, they are told 
 to say the word over to themselves and to be sure they hear 
 every sound very plainly. The general consensus of the report 
 from our visual students is that this process of saying the word 
 clarifies the visual image. 
 
 (10) 
 
 /
 
 (5) The word is erased. 
 
 (6) Each child says the zuord slowly, zvith lip movement, to 
 himself and writes it as he says it. This last step must not be 
 omitted under any circumstances. The whole point of the 
 work is to make the process of waiting the word habitual. All 
 habits originate in conscious activity, but depend as much upon 
 the proper expression of the idea as upon its clearness. 
 
 (7) The entire list of words is written from dictation, the 
 next day, great care being taken that each child pronounces the 
 word as he writes it. 
 
 (8) All misspelled words are learned again by the class. 
 An example of the process just described will make the 
 
 method clearer. In teaching the word "important," the word 
 as a whole would first be written on the board by the teacher. 
 She would pronounce the word carefully. The children would 
 pronounce it after her. The children would then pronounce 
 the word slowly by syllables while the teacher marked off the 
 syllables, im/por/tant. There is no sound in the word that the 
 children have not already learned. They shut their eyes, and 
 the visual children make sure that they have a clear visual 
 image, while the auditory children fix the auditory image by 
 saying the word over to themselves. The children then write 
 the word, pronouncing each syllable as they write it. 
 
 2. Nonphonctic Words or Parts of Words. 
 
 Most words are partly phonetic, and for all phonetic parts of 
 words the method just described should be used. This leaves 
 only the nonphonetic parts of words to be learned by the child 
 after he has mastered the simple letter combinations in phonics, 
 or even in the very process of learning a reasonable number of 
 words. C-o-n is con, and if the child has once learned it, 
 either as a phonogram or as a part of any word, he should not 
 have to learn it over again in a word like conscientious just 
 because a part of the word is nonphonetic. It is astonishing 
 how much of the English language the child learns in the first 
 grade, and how little we use this in teaching him the separate 
 words of his later school course. 
 
 The problem of learning tlie nonphonetic parts of words is 
 not particularly difficult for the visual child. He simply has to 
 be sure that he has formed a clear visual image of the difficult 
 part of the word. He seems to do this very readily. 
 
 (11)
 
 The problem for the auditory child is a very different one. 
 As he can not visualize the word, it is necessary that he form 
 some sort of image of the nonphonetic parts of the word. 
 When children have once learned that they think in terms of 
 auditory images, they invent very ingenious ways of working 
 out such images. It is perhaps as difficult for the thoroughly 
 visual person to understand the ease with which one manipu- 
 lates the auditory image as it is for the auditory person to 
 understand the ready recall of the visual image. Instead of 
 saying each separate letter, the child says the letter com- 
 binations just as they occur in the word, and writes the word 
 as he says the parts. For example, he would not spell out 
 W-e-d-n-e-s-d-a-y, but would say the word first as it is pro- 
 nounced and then as it is spelled, the latter being "Wed-nes- 
 day." As he writes the word he simply repeats these three 
 sounds, "Wed," "nes" and "day." Thus he learns only three 
 elements instead of nine. It is obviously as correct to represent 
 the word by the three auditory elements, "Wed," "nes" and 
 "day" as by the nine letters, W-e-d-n-e-s-d-a-y. In the same 
 way, "business" would be pronounced correctly, and then, for 
 spelling, bus-i-ness. The "u" will have to be fixed either by an 
 auditory or a visual image. Many children simply say it broad 
 "u" for spelling purposes. The nonphonetic part of the word 
 may be spelled letter by letter if necessary, but the child must 
 not spell other parts of the word. 
 
 The steps in learning a word which is partly nonphonetic 
 would be as follows: (i) The teacher writes the word. 
 (2) The teacher pronounces the word. (3) The children 
 pronounce the word. (4) The children say the word slowly 
 as the teacher marks off the syllables. This makes the non- 
 phonetic parts of the word obvious. (5) The nonphonetic 
 parts of the word are underlined. 1 (6) The children form a 
 clear auditory or visual image of the difficult part of the word. 
 
 (7) The children repeat the word to themselves, making sure 
 that the recall image is clear for every part of the word. 
 
 (8) The word is erased. (9) The children write the word, 
 saying it as they write it. 
 
 In teaching the word "conscientious," the teacher would first 
 write the word and then pronounce it. The children would 
 pronounce the word once after the teacher, and then again 
 slowly as the teacher marked off the syllables con/sci/en/tious. 
 
 (12)
 
 The con does not need to be learned. The set is obviously not 
 written as it is pronounced. Bn is perfectly familiar, and the 
 children have already had the ending Hous and cious, so that 
 the only point they have to remember is the f. Thus we find 
 that in this seemingly difficult word there axe only two ele- 
 ments, sci and t which have not already been learned in simpler 
 combinations. Each child must be sure that he can pronounce 
 the zi'ord, and then he must fix the two difficult parts. Most 
 . children will say s-ci, simply giving the sound of the letters, 
 though some children always spell out the three letters in writ- 
 ing the word. The t gives no trouble, as the visual child forms 
 a visual image of it, and the auditory child hears the little click 
 of the t as distinguished from c, when he says the word to him- 
 self for spelling purposes. 
 
 IV. General conclusion. 
 
 In conclusion, the writer wishes to emphasize a few points 
 that greatly improve the conditions of learning a word. 
 
 1. The teacher should discover her poor spellers as soon as 
 possible, so that she may be able to give them special attention 
 until the new habits of spelling are formed. For this purpose. • * 
 the Rice test given on page 15 is excellent. 
 
 2. The work will go slowly at first, particularly. \^ the chil- 
 dren have the habit of learning word-S;^lctter''"by letter. At the 
 beginning of the work they-^sTiould never be hurried. The 
 auditory child "goes to "pieces" if he is not allowed sufficient 
 time to work-out -his imagery process. It usually takes about a 
 month iSr the children to become accustomed to the new 
 method. Then the work goes more rapidly than by the old 
 method, as each child uses all his knowledge of letter combina- 
 tions in learning each new word. The important thing is not I 
 that the child cover a given niunber of words in a set time but ( 
 that .he really learn whatever words he studies. 
 
 3. The teacher must make sure that the children study...,.-^ 
 according to the plan. This is particularly important if t]|e 
 children have ever formed the habit of learning words letter by 
 letter. The teacher may present the words perfectly and the 
 child continue to say. the letters over and over to himself in 
 learning the word. It is usually possible to determine what 
 method the child is using by observing his lips. The auditory 
 child almost always makes marked lip movements which are 
 
 (13)
 
 noticeably different when he is saying the letters and when he 
 is saying the syllables. Individual work may be necessary for 
 a few moments a day to start the correct habits. 
 
 4. If the chilcl is a very poor speller and studies his words at 
 home, the parents should see that he does not use letter-by- 
 letter spelling there. Otherwise the home study will do more 
 harm than good. 
 
 5. The ultimate end in the teaching of spelling is to make the 
 correct writing of the zvord habitual. Consequently the child 
 should learn words in common use and have opportunity to use 
 them until the habit has been formed. Every time the child 
 writes a word correctly the habit becomes more fixed and the 
 process becomes more nearly automatic. 
 
 6. Every time a child zvrites a word incorrectly, a bad habit 
 is started or fixed. Consequently the child should be encour- 
 aged to look up in the dictionary any words of which he is not 
 sure, or, when this is not possible, to ask for the spelling. He 
 should always be allowed to take time to fix the correct image 
 of the word and should ivrite the word from this image rather 
 than copy it from the dictionary or the blackboard. 
 
 7. Words should be taught in context, at least in all the 
 upjKT grades. If we taught spelling adequately in the lower 
 grades, the child above the sixth grade would not need spelling 
 instruction as such. He would know how to study words, and 
 would simply look them up and fix them whenever his work 
 required the use of an unfamiliar word. It is to be remem- 
 bered that little children are more interested in pure mechan- 
 ical adjustments than are adults. Consequently the little child 
 enjoys the mere process of learning to write words as the older 
 child does not. The older child, if he has been properly taught, 
 will demand some reason beyond the mere present writing of 
 the word. 
 
 8. In the upper grades, it seems to the writer that the spell- 
 ing book should give way to the dictionary. A child can not 
 find a word he needs in a speller, but he soon forms the habit 
 of looking up and learning the words he uses if he is supplied 
 with a dictionary. Many of our schools give the child a speller 
 but no dictionary, or, at best, have one large dictionary avail- 
 able, the frequent and too spontaneous use of which is con- 
 sidered a sign of natural depravity. 
 
 (14)
 
 g. Finally, if it is desired to continue the old fashioned spell- 
 ing match, this can be conducted as a written rather than as an 
 oral exercise. Sides are chosen as usual, but each child runs 
 to the board and writes the word when his turn comes. If the 
 word is written incorrectly, it is erased, another child comes to 
 the board, and the child who wrote it is out. It is true that 
 the best natural spellers in the class will prefer the oral method, 
 because of the opportunity it gives them to show their ability, 
 but the written method is fairer to the class as a whole and is 
 soon accepted and used with as much zest as the older method. 
 Children who have learned to spell from the second or third 
 grade without oral work have fully as exciting matches as one 
 could wish. 
 
 In closing, we wish to say that we are at present working 
 with certain cases which ofTer an exception to the more com- 
 mon type of poor speller. The statement of our results is too 
 complicated to be included in this paper, but will be given in a 
 later monograph. We have, so far, found no exception to the 
 general statement that the problem of spelling is essentially an 
 imagery problem. 
 
 The Rice Test. 
 
 While running he slipped. I listened to his queer speech, but 
 I did not believe any of it. The zveather is changeable. His 
 loud zvhistling frightened me. He is always changing his 
 mind. His chain zvas loose. She was baking a cake. I have 
 a piece of it. Did you receive my letter? I heard the laughter 
 in the distance. Why did you choose that strange picture? 
 (Because I thought I liked it.) It is my purpose to learn.^ 
 Did you lose your almanac f I gave it to my neighbor. (I was 
 writing in my language ^odk.) Some children are not careful 
 enough. Was it necessary to keep me waiting so long? Do 
 not disappoint me so often. I have covered the mi.vture. He 
 is getting better. (A feather is light.) Do you deceive me? 
 I am driving a new horse. (Is the surface of your desk rough 
 or smooth?) The children were hopping.''' This is certainly 
 true. I was very grateful for my elegant present. If we have 
 patience we shall succeed. He met with a severe accident. 
 
 *In grades under the sixth the sentences arc given with no omissions through 
 "The children are hopping." In grades above the fifth all the sentences except 
 those 'inclosed in parentheses are used. 
 
 (15)
 
 Sometimes children are not sensible. You had no business to 
 anszver him. You are not szveeping properly. I am very 
 anxious to hear the news. Your reading shows improvement. 
 The ride was very fatiguing. I appreciate your kindness, I 
 assure you. I can not imagine a more peeuliar character. I 
 guarantee the book will meet with your approval. Intelligent 
 persons learn by experience. The peach is delicious. I realise 
 the importance of the occasion. Every rule has exceptions. 
 He is thoroughly conscientious, therefore I do trust him. The 
 elevator is ascending. Too much praise is not wholesome. 
 
 (16)
 
 EDITORIALS. 
 
 A Pedagogical Spelling Suggestion, 
 lu order to avoid the waste of drilling good spellers for the 
 benefit of a few poor spellers, and to more adequately recognize 
 the fact that the words we need to spell are those which belong 
 to the somewhat limited vocabulary we use in writing, the 
 following scheme has been found of particular benefit to chil- 
 dren in the fourth and fifth grades, and even in higher grades 
 where the spelling has not been correctly taught before. Each 
 pupil constructs from scratch paper or fool's-cap a small 
 twenty-six page book — perhaps being bound together only with 
 a pin. These pages are alphabetically indexed, and upon the 
 appropriate page must be correctly entered the words mis- 
 spelled by the child in his own written work. When the hour 
 for spelhng arrives, instead of assigning lessons from the spell- 
 ing book or blackboard list, the teacher demands from each 
 individual his "Spelling Dictionary." A rapid examination 
 shows that this pupil requires little or no attention to her spell- 
 ing, while the next pupil has literally covered his little book 
 with words. The time may be concentrated upon the poor 
 speller while the other's time may be used to better advantage. 
 The use of the notebook as an incentive is greatly increased by 
 its temporary nature, which permits of its frequent destruction 
 and the starting of a new book with clean pages. This pre- 
 vents undue discouragement and serves regularly as a stimulus 
 for better work. 
 
 The Los Angeles State Normal School has begun its work 
 of greater usefulness in the educational world by the establish- 
 ment of Saturday classes for the benefit of teachers who are 
 engaged during the week. Two hundred and ten students have 
 enrolled since the beginning date, October i6th. The second 
 term of thirteen weeks will open in February, and requests for 
 the establishment of particular classes will be gladly received. 
 They should be addressed to the Dean of the Extension Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 (17)
 
 UNIVERSITY or CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9-Series 444 
 
 (18)
 
 viwvfMVll, \.ailT. 
 
 AA 000