Chapter V: =The Mother-tongue=

269. There would be less controversy about language teaching if existing differences in conditions were given proper attention.

The most general distinction to make is that between understanding and speaking. The distance between the two is a given factor at the time when regular instruction begins. It is very great in some cases, and, again, slight in others, according to individual aptitude and early surroundings.

270. First of all, one’s language was acquired by hearing it spoken, by receiving it from others, by imitation; it was refined or vulgar; it was perceived accurately or indistinctly; it was imitated by organs, good, bad, or indifferent. Little by little the imperfections of the earliest stage are outgrown, where cultured persons set a daily example and insist on correctness of speech. Sometimes, however, it takes years to bring about such a result.

271. Another factor, and one deeply rooted in individual temperament, is the stronger or weaker impulse toward expression through language. This fact elevates the language of each one above mere imitation; its improvement must start from the thoughts which it seeks to express. Striking progress of this kind often occurs during adolescence.

The differences noted in this and the two preceding sections are
psychological, hence common to German and American children. The
problem of teaching American children their mother-tongue, assumed to
be English, is both harder and easier than to teach German to German
children. It is easier in that English is mostly uninflected, hence
unencumbered by nice distinctions in grammatical form. This same
fact, on the other hand, causes didactic difficulties, since most
teachers are at a loss as to what definite body of knowledge they
should or can impart that will train the child into a mastery of good
English speech. The last twenty years have seen a large number of
experiments on the part of authors in the effort to present a body of
information and exercises calculated to secure a good training in the
mother-tongue. These efforts have met with but partial success, owing
to the inherent difficulties of the subject. Many who can teach a
foreign language, where there is a movable fulcrum of difficulties to
be overcome, such as those found in inflection, or in the meaning of
foreign words, fail when confronted by a language that is practically
uninflected, and in which the words are easily understood.

The old recourse was technical grammar. But this is an analytical
study, calculated to lead to apprehension of subtle meanings, rather
than to an instinct for correct form. Furthermore, the grammar cannot
be successfully studied until after the habits of speech are fairly
fixed. For these reasons, it bears much the same relation to living
speech that formal logic does to real thinking. Grammar makes the
mind keen to detect formal errors of speech, just as logic trains
one to detect fallacies in reasoning.

The first important instrument for securing good English in the
early primary grades is narration by the teacher and repetition
by the children. This means, potent enough to form the speech of
any child whether from the slums or from the homes of those who
know no English, is rarely utilized up to the full measure of its
efficiency. Teachers are filled with the prepossession that they
must enable their pupils to write good English, forgetting that if
the mind is habituated to _think_ in good English first, the problem
of writing it is well-nigh solved. The requisites for successful
oral training in the mother-tongue are first, the selection of a
body of interesting and appropriate literature, and second, skill in
narration by the teacher. Given these two things, and we have the
first in great abundance, and every child will be able in a year
to give extended and correct speech within the range of his sphere
of thought to an almost unlimited extent. His tenacious memory for
forms frequently heard, together with his delight in repeating almost
word for word stories told in his presence, will produce astonishing
facility in correct speech. As much of this may be written as seems
best, but it is probable that there would not be great loss if a
child were not called upon to write a ‘composition’ before he is ten
or twelve years old. Could we be sure he would go through the high
school, formal writing might be postponed until he enters it. Not
much is ever gained by attempts to produce fruit before its natural
period for appearing.

Upon the basis of this training in correct oral speech, the children
may begin, when nine or ten years of age, to have systematic language
lessons, which should be calculated to produce two results: first, a
facile use of the pen in recording thought, special caution being
given not to weary the mind and body too much by unduly extending
the length of the written exercises; second, an inductive approach,
through brief written exercises, toward the classifications and
distinctions of technical grammar. To be of use, this latter
requirement should be clearly understood. The method of approach
is purely synthetic. It consists in devices to enable the pupil
repeatedly to use a given construction, say a relative pronoun, until
the name and construction seem natural from use alone.[35]

At the age of thirteen or fourteen the analytical study of grammar
should be begun. The essential thing here is that the pupil should
connect _words_ with the _ideas_ they express, and _sentences_ with
the _thoughts_ that give rise to them.[36] Seeing mental distinctions
clearly, he has small difficulty in their written or oral expression.

[35] For extended illustration of this point, see the “Annotator’s Language Lessons,” the Werner School Book Co., New York, Boston, and Chicago.

[36] This position is best exemplified by Mr. George P. Brown in his “Essentials of English Grammar,” the Werner School Book Co., New York, Boston, and Chicago.

272. Now such facts might seem to point to the conclusion that no special periods of instruction are needed for the mother-tongue, or at least not for language lessons alone. On the one hand, it might be urged that cultured teachers will improve the language of their pupils by their mere example, and by the occasional corrections which will of course be necessary; while, on the other hand, the gradual progress of mental development will shape the means of expression from within, to the natural limits of individual capacity. But before accepting the view here given, we need to remind ourselves, in the first place, that for a long time the educated teacher is only imperfectly understood by the uneducated listener, and that instruction is very much impeded if each unusual turn of expression necessitates an inquiry as to whether its meaning is clear.

273. But this is not all. Language is also to be read and written. Hence, it becomes a standing object for consideration, and, to one whose knowledge of it is deficient, a source of embarrassment. Accordingly, the first thing for the teacher to do is to show analytically, on the basis of what has been read or written, how the meaning would be lost or altered if either single words were interchanged, or the inflectional endings (especially in German) were incorrectly chosen. That the synthesis of sentences should follow next, advancing step by step toward greater complexity, especially by means of various conjunctions, may be assumed to be well understood.

274. Now if all experienced equal difficulty in their reading and writing, the language lessons designed as a remedy would commend themselves in all cases, and might fittingly be carried to the same extent everywhere.

But here the widest divergence appears. Accordingly, where many are being taught together, the teacher will seek to connect language work with other subjects. Thus, in the course of the same recitation, analytic instruction may be directed to the language side for some pupils, while for others it may be given a far wider scope. Moreover, the accompanying written exercises may have a corresponding diversity.

275. The work of a recitation period will be further diversified by the introduction of exercises in reading aloud, and in oral reproduction. But never will it be possible to raise all pupils to the same plane of proficiency. Here, above all, the determining power of individuality must be acknowledged.

276. For older boys and young men, the work in the mother-tongue will consist partly in the study of excellent examples of the various kinds of poetry and oratory, partly in the writing of essays. Such study will prove the more profitable, the more perfect the models, the more suitably they are adapted to the stage of culture already attained by the student, and the more scrupulously the teacher refrains from forcing upon him a literary taste not congenial to his nature. The least promising of all written exercises are those in letter-writing. Confidential letters every one can write, each in his own way. Best of all are written exercises with a definite and rich store of thought to draw from and admitting of various forms of treatment. Several may then emulate each other in handling the same theme, and the process of correcting will awaken greater interest in consequence.