CHAPTER IV

PRIMARY READING

The fundamental purpose of reading cannot be fully realized so long as the primers and first and second readers are nothing but dilutions of literature. Many of the readers are mere scrap books. It is true that books today contain fewer didactic essays and forensic speeches than the old readers did, but most of them are still made up of the pickings of literature. Huey emphasizes this point as follows:

"Next to the beauty of the primers, the most striking thing about at least three-fourths of them is the inanity and disjointedness of their reading contents, especially in the earlier parts. No trouble has been taken to write what the child would naturally say about the subject in hand, nor indeed, usually, to say anything connectedly and continuously as even an adult would naturally talk about the subject. The language used often shows a patronizing attempt 'to get down to the child's level' and results in a mongrel combination of points of view and of expression that is natural neither to an adult nor to a child. How a child could talk such stuff is naturally beyond comprehension, and reading it can scarcely help developing that drawling, wooden, monotone so generally found in the reading class. The child loves to get some

whither in what is said, wants an outcome to the discussion, and has a persistence and continuity of thought that are constantly violated by such 'sentence-hash.' The actual aim that has guided in the selection and arrangement of most of the early reading-matter has been the development of the power to recognize and pronounce words."

The Content of Primary Readers

The study of words is not reading, but preparation for reading. Children do not express themselves in words, but in sentences. They do more than bind words together; they bind sentences together. Now reading can never possess continuity of expression except by observing the connectedness of sentences or the inter-dependence and unity of the thoughts. The test of sequence is found in the unified thought the reader and the auditor secure. If the sentences are scrappy, fragmentary, tell no story, there is no genuine interest in them. To be sure, it is far better to have several short sentences than one long one, but there should be some unity of thought running through the sentences. The first sentences given the children should be made up of words selected largely from the speaking vocabulary of the children.

The material found in the readers should be connected, interesting, and stimulating-not interesting and stimulating to the adult, but to the child. From the very first he should study literature. The child poems and stories of the "Heart of Oak" books and "Hiawatha," the rhymes, jingles, fables, and

the like, will insure active attention and vital interest.

In these days of hurry, many urge the introduction of of numerous supplementary readers and primers. We shall have more to say about this in another place, but we do wish to emphasize now that those selections and stories children like will bear repeating many times. Too little is made of this factor of repetition in the lower grades. In their play children do the same thing over and over and they love to have a story told many times and to read repeatedly a selection that is rich in childhood's fancy. If the material given them in their reading is worth while it will bear this sort of repetition. Children should not be asked to repeat that which is dry, uninteresting, matter-of-fact, or that which is of no permanent value. Start them out with fine material and they will return to it again and again from their own choice.

The Purpose in Primary Reading

The purpose of all training in reading, a thing never to be lost sight of, is the interpretation of the printed page with accuracy and a reasonable degree of rapidity. In addition to the principles set forth in the general introduction, three others, marking, in a way, stages of growth, are important. First, the purpose cannot be actualized without a mastery of the tools—the means of interpretation; second, the ability to interpret demands constant cultiva

tion; and third, increased skill in expressive utterance should accompany all reading.

Considerable attention must be given in the primary grades to learning how to read. But learning how to read is not reading. The drill or mechanical phases of reading should, in the main, be carried on apart from the reading lesson. Reading is a search for ideas and not a mere word recognition, the acquisition of a vocabulary. Reading is not the study of letters, sounds, or words; it is not enunciation, articulation, or pronunciation: these things are only means to it. The reading lesson has to do with interpretation and these mechanical phases should be at the minimum during the reading lesson. They should not be entirely lost sight of, but they are not to be emphasized during the reading period. To teach reading as a process of mechanics leads to the mere pronunciation of words with little or no appreciation of the sense. Drill work is necessary only so far as it aids in getting the thought. It will not do to spend weeks talking about reading and preparing for it. Power in it can be acquired only by doing it. Some assume to read by looking at words. What we should do is to read by looking through the words.

Garlick declares that every school reader should embrace all the following principles:

(1) It must be well printed and attractive, calculated to give pleasure; (2) it should impart some knowledge, and should not be too childish or silly; (3) it should be written in English, and not in the gibberish found in some of the early

reading books; (4) it must be able to maintain interest. To do this, consecutive stories are perhaps the best for young scholars. Short, scrappy pieces should be avoided, as they kill interest. (5) The book must be progressive. Every lesson should contain a few new words, slightly increasing in difficulty.

Essentials of First Lessons

The first lessons in reading should make sure of a few vital things. The following points are of especial importance:

1. The child should associate the written symbol directly with the thing symbolized. The method used involves the sentence method. The work in phonics which concentrates the child's attention on form rather than on thought is not begun immediately, but when begun, it is for some time kept separate from the reading lesson.

2. From the very first the child should look upon reading as a thought-getting and a thought-giving process. This implies, first, that the material used will, from the child's point of view, be worth thinking about, and second, that the oral reading will be done in sentences rather than in isolated words. The second suggestion presupposes the silent study of a new sentence before it is read aloud.

3. Good reading necessitates rapid eye-movements, rapid recognition of not only words but phrases.

4. Pupils should steadily show growth in power to recognize new words. Drill in phonics gives this needed independence.