PSYCHOLOGY 
OF THE 
COMMON SCHOOL 
SUBJECTS 
NATHAN A. HARVEY PSYCHOLOGY 
OF THE 
COMMON SCHOOL 
SUBJECTS 
NATHAN A. HARVEY Copyright 192 / 
NATHAN A. HARVEY TABLE OF CONTENTS 
Chapter I-The Psychology of Handwriting 7 
Chapter II-The Psychology of Spelling 22 
Chapter III-The Psychology of Arithmetic 37 
Chapter IV-The Psychology of Reading 55 
Chapter V-The Psychology of Grammar 73 PREFACE 
The following chapters are published preliminary to the 
preparation of a much more elaborate work along the same 
general lines. The demand for the material brought together 
in these chapters has seemed to justify its publication in ad- 
vance of the completion of the larger work. No bibliography 
is included, although the literature of the subject is enormous 
and is rapidly increasing. Most of the recent literature has 
grown out of the development of the processes employed for 
measuring the results of teaching, and has not adhered very 
closely to the psychology of the processes employed in the sub- 
ject itself. It is upon these psychological processes that we 
shall have to depend for the justification of the subject, and 
for our methods of teaching. CHAPTER I 
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING 
About six per cent of all the time that a child spends in 
school is devoted to learning how to write. Nearly all teachers, 
and nearly all parents who send children to school are of the 
opinion that a considerable portion of this time is unprofitably 
spent. It would seem that the results obtained are not so 
good as ought to come from the expenditure of this amount 
of time, if the methods and processes employed in teaching 
penmanship were the best that could be devised. Improve- 
ment in the processes of teaching must come from a more 
careful consideration of the mental processes involved in learn- 
ing to write. The most satisfactory way of improving our 
methods of teaching is to consider more carefully the psychol- 
ogy of the subject. 
Writing is the production of certain conventional marks 
that conform to an established pattern. Unless there is this 
conformity, the writing cannot be read, and it is valueless for 
any purpose. The form that is to be produced is not a matter 
of choice by the writer, but is determined by the people who 
may be expected to read it. There is not much opportunity 
for originality nor choice by the writer. Neither is there much 
that is legitimate in the criticism that children do not develop 
an individual, or characteristic handwriting. 
This conformity to a universally known and accepted pat- 
tern constitutes legibility. Legibility is the first requisite of 
good penmanship. If writing is not easily legible, there is no 
value in any other quality it may have. Neither speed, move- 
ment, position, manner of holding the pen, which enter into 
the qualities of writing by which its excellence is often judged, 
and which constitute the principal themes for advice in books 
on penmanship, are worth anything. Any writing that con- 
forms to the universally known pattern, so as to be easily leg- 
ible is good writing, no matter how it is produced nor at what 
speed. 
In order to bring about this kind of conformity, the pat- 
tern must be well known to the writer. He must know the 8 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
correct form, or the one that is universally recognized, and 
must have an idea of that form clearly in mind. When an 
idea is clearly entertained in the mind, it will work itself out 
into action, according to the well known Law of Dynamogene- 
sis, than which there is no more important and far reaching 
generalization in psychological science. 
In order for the law to operate, and the idea work itself 
out into action, the idea must be clear and vivid. If the idea 
is clear and vivid, it will find expression, and the proper form 
of the word or letter will be reproduced on paper. The diffi- 
cult and most important part of the teacher's work, then, is 
to cause the idea of the proper forms of the words and letters 
to arise in the minds of the children. 
The idea of the correct form of the word or letter that 
will be so vivid as to work itself out into action, is a com- 
bination of several, or many sensations. A sensation is the 
concomitant of a nervous impulse passing through some sen- 
sation center in the brain. A vivid sensation is accompanied 
by an impulse originating in a sense organ, or it is periphen- 
ally initiated. A faint sensation is accompanied by an im- 
pulse originating in the brain, or a centrally initiated impulse, 
and is not so vivid as is a sensation accompanied by a peri- 
pherally initiated impulse. A sensation generally originates 
as a vivid sensation, and is subsequently reproduced as a faint 
sensation. An idea is composed of faint sensations only, and 
this constitutes one difficulty in acquiring a motivating idea 
of sufficient vividness. 
The first sensation that enters into the idea of the correct 
form of the word or letter to be written is the visual sensa- 
tion. This sensation is acquired by attentively examining or 
looking at the correct form of the word. The process of se- 
curing the proper attention to the form of the word is one 
that exercises the ingenuity of the teacher. One method, once 
very popular, but now gone into complete disuse, was to re- 
quire the child to analyze the letter into its elements, and to 
name these elements in their proper order. The elements so 
distinguished were the right curve, left curve, straight line, 
lower turn, upper turn, ova', pointed oval, lower loop, connect- 
ing slant and the capital stem. The requirement that the 
child should name the elements that entered into the construe- THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING 
9 
tion of any letter had for its unconscious purpose securing at- 
tentive observation of the proper letter form. 
But into the clear idea of the form of the letter or the 
word enter other sensations than those obtained through the 
eye. The idea of the written form of the word or the letter 
contains some muscular sensations, and these cannot be ob- 
tained from the copy, or from looking at the word. These 
muscular sensations can be obtained only by contracting the 
proper muscles in the proper order, and with the proper de- 
gree of relative strength. Consequently, the vivid motivating 
idea of the word that will work itself out into action can be 
obtained only by making the letter or the word in exactly the 
proper shape and in the proper manner. 
This is the psychological reason that explains the futility 
and general ineffectiveness of using a copy book in learning to 
write. A copybook presents nothing except the completed re- 
sult, while what it is necessary to teach is the process. The 
copybook furnishes nothing more than the visual sensations 
that enter into the idea of the letter or the word, while it is 
necessary to acquire the much more important sensations of 
movement and muscle. 
For the old time copy set by the teacher, and for the copy- 
book, it is much more satisfactory to substitute the writing on 
the blackboard, in the presence of the children, by the teacher, 
the proper form of the letters and words. It is particularly 
important that the children be thus taught, in order that they 
may know the proper place to begin to make the letter or the 
word, and the exact order in which the movements are to be 
made in order to produce the correct result. By repeated at- 
tempts to produce the correct form to be written, the correct 
muscular and movement sensations can be obtained which will 
enter into the idea of the word; and when this idea becomes 
vivid enough, it will lead to the production of the proper form. 
All the sensations that enter into the idea of the word, 
such as we have been describing as of the kind which will work 
itself out into action, may be grouped under three heads; 
visual sensations, muscular sensations, and movement sensa- 
tions. The movement sensations must be discriminated from 
the muscular sensations. The muscular sensations accompany 
the contraction of the proper muscles in the proper order with 10 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
the proper degree of relative strength. The movement sensa- 
tions arise principally from the joints, and involve a time ele- 
ment. A rapid movement engenders sensations distinctively 
unlike those produced by a slow movement from the same 
organs. 
It is largely around the question of movement that he 
debates concerning the proper methods of teaching writing 
have occurred. In these discussions there has never been any 
differentiation between the muscular and the movement sen- 
sations that may be acquired as constituent elements in the 
idea. Movement has often been discussed as if it were the 
only requirement for the production of good writing. This 
tendency has been described as "The Movement Dogma" in 
the Journal of Educational Psychology, (Vol. 12, p. 254) by 
Professor Frank N. Freeman. Psychologically, movement is 
important only because of the fact that the sensations of move- 
ment enter into the motivating idea whose expression is the 
correct form of writing. 
The discussions of movement, without differentiating the 
muscular sensations from it, have centered principally around 
the application and distinctions of three kinds, called respec- 
tively the finger movement, the arm, forearm, or muscular 
movement, and the free arm movement. 
The finger movement, as the name indicates, is the move- 
ment of the fingers, used principally in making the vertical 
lines of letters, and minute characteristics of such letters as 
s and r. It is the movement that the child in beginning to 
write is almost sure to adopt as the principal means of pro- 
ducing letters as directed by the teacher. 
The arm, forearm, or muscular movement is a movement 
of the entire hand or arm, made with the muscle of the fore- 
arm resting upon the desk. By means of this movement, the 
hand and arm are carried forward in a horizontal direction in 
which the lines of writing are made. The finger movement 
does not allow the pen to be carried forward with any degree 
of facility, so an acquisition of the forearm movement is nec- 
essary before any particular degree of skill in writing can be 
attained. 
The whole arm movement, or free arm movement, is one 
made without resting any part of the arm upon the desk. It THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING 
11 
accomplishes little more than can be secured by the forearm 
movement, and is but little used in ordinary writing. Its 
principal use is found in writing upon the blackboard, or 
where writing of an unusually large size is to be produced. 
In general, special teachers of writing, and commercially 
exploited writing systems, emphasize the forearm movement 
to the complete exclusion of the finger movement. The reasons 
for this exclusion are not convincing, and are psychologically 
unsound. In the first place, a complete elimination of the 
finger movement is impossible, so long as the pen is held in 
the fingers. If the pen is attached to some other part of the 
hand, instead of being held in the fingers, it might be possible 
to exclude it completely, and the writing so produced would 
show the effect of the exclusion. It probably would not be 
very good writing. Whenever the pen is held in the fingers, 
it is moved by an unequal pressure of the fingers on the op- 
posite sides of the pen and this unequal pressure is in fact a 
finger movement. Professor Frank N. Freeman is perfectly 
correct when he says in the article referred to above, that the 
movement dogma is almost a flat failure. By the arm move- 
ment referred to above is meant the employment of the arm 
movement to the exclusion of the finger movement. 
The attempt to justify the exclusion of the finger move- 
ment by psychological methods is unsound. It is often de- 
fended upon the doctrine that is sometimes described as from 
principal to accessory. By this is meant that the larger arm 
muscles develop first, and only subsequently the finer finger 
muscles farther removed from the nerve centers come into 
function. 
There is little to support such a doctrine, and the conclu- 
sion is wholly unjustified. Children use their finger muscles 
freely long before they are called upon to learn writing and 
when they begin to write, they will invariably use the finger 
movement to the total neglect of the forearm movement. 
But the forearm movement is necessary, and is a neces- 
sary complement to the finger movement. The forearm move- 
ment carries the pen forward along the line, which the finger 
movement cannot do, with any degree of facility. The move- 
ment sensations for carrying the pen forward must be secured, 
and must enter into the motivating idea of the proper form of 12 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
the words and letters that is to work itself out into action. 
This can be secured only by abundant practice on the forearm 
movement, with the attention specifically focused upon it. 
The over emphasis upon the forearm movement is perhaps 
justified in its results, even though it is psychologically and 
pedagogically unsound. 
The practice of acquiring skill in the movements that 
enter into the motivating idea in writing, needs to be discussed 
under two heads: First, shall the acquisition of skill in making 
movements precede attention to the form of the letters and 
words. In practice, most of the commercially exploited sys- 
tems lay much emphasis upon the preliminary acquisition of 
skill in movement, postponing until much later, the acquisition 
of the ability to make the proper form of the letters. Move- 
ment is considered an all-important element in writing, even 
taking precedence of the proper form, or legibility. Practice 
in making movement is ordinarily employed upon exercises 
other than the writing itself. 
Needless to say this is contrary to all psychological prin- 
ciples. The movement that is desired is the movement se- 
cured in making letters and words of the proper form. Only 
such movements can enter into the motivating idea that will 
work itself out into action. Besides this fatal character of 
the movement that is just movement and nothing else, there 
is a lack of the proper motivation of the practice. It is scarce- 
ly less than a pedagogical crime to require children just be- 
ginning to write, or even before they have begun, to practice 
movements which for them, have no meaning. 
The second phase of the discussion of movement, meaning 
principally the forearm movement, relates to the rapidity with 
which the movement shall be made. It is the practice of some 
teachers to require the movement to be made as rapidly by 
children who are beginning to write words and letters, as they 
would expect to have it made after the learning process has 
been accomplished. Rapidity of movement, in this method, 
takes precedence of accuracy of movement, correct form and 
legibility. But the movement that is made rapidly, but not 
in conformity to the proper shape of the letter, is not the one 
that can contribute to the idea whose acquisition is the neces- 
sary condition for good writing. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING 
13 
These three kinds of sensations, visual, muscular and 
movement enter into the motivating idea. They are not all 
attained at the same time. The first part of the idea is always 
the visual sensations. This is properly the case, for it is by 
the visual perception of the letter or the word formed that 
the result is tested. Hence arises the question, How shall the 
visual idea of the letter or the word be best secured? 
This is strictly a psychological question, and the principles 
upon which the answer is based are well known. We have al- 
ready said that an attentive examination or looking at the 
letter or word is necessary. In perceiving anything, two pro- 
cesses are always employed; the process of abstraction and 
the process of analysis. The process of abstraction consists in 
looking at one thing, or one part of a thing, to the exclusion 
for the time being, of all other parts. The process of analysis 
consists in looking at each part in its relation to the other 
parts. Drawing is an excellent method of study, because it 
necessarily involves and compels the application of both these 
processes. When we draw a thing, we draw one line at a time. 
For the interval in which we are drawing that line, we are 
excluding every other line. This is abstraction. But when we 
draw any line, we must draw it in its proper relation to the 
other lines, and this is the process of analysis. Even if we are 
not studying a thing by the process of drawing, these two pro- 
cesses of abstraction and analysis are necessarily involved in 
every act of learning. 
Consequently it appears evident that the most successful 
method of acquiring a visual percept, or the visual sensations 
that will constitute a part of the vivid, motivating idea of a 
word or letter that will work itself out into action, is by draw- 
it. In order to draw a letter, or a word, the kind of attentive 
examination which is most necessary is secured. 
In the process of drawing a letter or a word, the muscular 
sensations that enter into the vivid, motivating idea are se- 
cured. These muscular sensations come from the contraction 
of the proper muscles in the proper order and with the proper 
degree of relative strength. So by the process of drawing a 
letter or a word, the attention is fixed upon the form so as to 
secure the visual sensations, and at the same time the proper 
muscular sensations are obtained. 14 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
But drawing is not writing, and the sensations that are 
obtained by drawing a letter or a word, important as they are 
do not constitute the complete idea which will work itself out 
into writing. To these must be added movement sensations 
which can be acquired only by patient, attentive practice. 
This is the part in which the teaching that begins by drawing 
letters and words is usually weak. Practice is usually not 
carried far enough and persistently enough to develop an idea 
that contains sufficiently vivid movement sensations. 
This is the point of the principal criticisms made by those 
who advocate a system of teaching that begins with movement, 
no matter how illegible and awkward the results. The argu- 
ment is made that correct form can be secured more easily 
after a sufficient amount of practice on movement, than can 
movement be secured after a correct form has been learned. 
There is no evidence that such is the case, except the fact that 
some persons trained in movement first do become good writ- 
ers, and that some other persons, trained to draw letters first 
do not become good writers. No one can prove that the re- 
sults are universal in either case. 
Psychologically the case is plain. Since the test of legi- 
bility, and correct form is the visual product, that measure of 
quality ought first to be attained. The amount of time de- 
voted to the subject by which some persons become good writ- 
ers when they begin with movement is very great. If the 
experiment were tried, of devoting the same amount of time 
beginning the other way, there can be but little question which 
would produce the better results. 
The movement .sensations that enter into the motivating 
idea are principally sensations determined by speed. In the 
present day teaching of penmanship, speed is considered an 
important element. It will be found as a general rule^ that 
those persons in the writing class who write most rapidly, do 
at the same time write most legibly, and show a better quality 
of writing than do those who write more slowly. Hence it is 
argued that there is a direct relation between speed and qual- 
ity. 
When children are learning anything, those who are nat- 
urally the most capable are likely to learn any phase or part 
of it sooner than will the less capable children. Consequently THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING 
15 
we should expect those who are the most capable, in the early 
stages of writing, to excel both in quality and speed. But it 
is only in the early stages of writing that this direct relation 
between speed and quality can be discovered. When a person 
writes for the purpose of saying something, it is not often that 
a direct relation exists. 
It is easy to exaggerate the practical importance of speed. 
When handwriting is no longer the principal means of trans- 
cribing records, and conducting business correspondence, speed 
is not an essential quality of writing ability. Its importance 
depends upon something else than its practical utility. 
Speed may be used as a measure of the completeness with 
which the movement sensations which enter into the motivat- 
ing idea have been attained. When the proper movement sen- 
sations have been obtained, there will be little hesitation, de- 
lay, or resistance encountered by the nervous impulses as they 
traverse the cerebral centers involved in the act of writing. 
The qualification of speed is somewhat similar to the require- 
ment sometimes enacted by some writing teachers, that the 
pupils shall sing the words of a song while they write on paper 
a wholly different series of words. The ability to do this shows 
how completely mechanical and automatic the writing process- 
es have become. 
Speed in itself and for itself has relatively little value. 
Each individual has a nervous rhythm to which his system is 
adjusted, and to crowd a person beyond a corresponding speed 
is a practice that cannot be defended. Persons in writing let- 
ters or other compositions, are generally able to write and to 
think at the same time. But it is easier to write faster than 
one can think and such speed is not to be commended. But 
speed in writing has its principal value in developing, or in 
indicating the development of the proper movement sensa- 
tions in the motivating idea of the written word. 
The visual sensations are obtained by an attentive exam- 
ination of the letters and words to be written. The muscular 
sensations are obtained by practice, preferably slow drawing 
movements. The movement sensations must be obtained by 
abundant practice of rather rapid movements. The question 
then turns up on the kind of exercises that shall be employed 
in developing the movement sensations. 16 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
Nearly all special teachers of writing lay much emphasis 
upon special exercises other than the forms of the letters them- 
selves, for the development of these movement sensations. 
Some commercially exploited systems of writing can scarcely 
be discriminated from each other except by the different ex- 
ercises that are employed in cultivating movement. 
Primarily, the practice for acquiring both the muscular 
and the movement sensations that shall enter into the moti- 
vating idea of a letter or a word, must be on the production 
of the word or letter itself. The same reasons that demand 
that the exercises by which the visual sensations are secured 
must be upon the letter or the word, apply with equal force 
to the attaining of the muscular and movement sensations. 
There is no such thing as a generalized movement that shall 
function in the idea of any special word or letter. Each move- 
ment and muscular sensation must be a specialized, specific 
sensation, acquired by producing a specific letter or word. It 
is true, that exercises of particular parts of a letter or word 
are helpful and economically useful. The form of the word 
or letter written may be defective in merely one or more ele- 
ments. Focusing the attention specifically upon this one de- 
fective element will often be economically profitable. 
The excessive practice upon exercises, so characteristic of 
commercially exploited systems, leads inevitably to a tendency 
to flourishing, which detracts from the legibility of writing. 
Some of the specimens described as beautiful, and scored high 
in consequence of the high grade put upon their position, move- 
ment, and speed, are really not so worthy of merit as some 
other specimens that are marked very low. The test of the 
correctness of any position, movement and speed is whether 
or not it produces legible writing. If it does not produce leg- 
ible writing, then it is wrong, no matter how closely it con- 
forms to accepted rules. Flourishing and shading, have both 
disappeared from the forms of writing now taught, because 
the element of beauty, to which they were supposed to con- 
tribute, has come to be judged of little value compared to the 
one essential quality of legibility. 
The same thing may be said of slant. There is no good 
reason for refusing a high credit to specimens of handwriting 
that are vertical, or even backward slant, provided they are THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING 
17 
easily read. Generally a slight forward slant will be more 
easily read than any other, because that slant is more common, 
and more nearly approximates the universally accepted form. 
The fact that good penmanship depends upon the acqui- 
sition of a proper motivating idea that shall be so vivid and 
clear that it works itself out into action, will enable us to un- 
derstand the deterioration of penmanship after it has once 
been acquired. The first idea that constitutes the motive in 
the production of any word or letter is the idea of our own 
act. The attention must be focused upon the particular move- 
ments that we are to make in order to produce the desired 
form. We are never very skillful so long as we have this idea 
for the motive. This is the motive in the period of the acqui- 
sition of the visual and muscular sensations. This is the mo- 
tive in the period of the drawing of the letters in which each 
element is attended to separately. 
But this first motive is displaced by another. The second 
motive, which displaces the first, is the idea of the result that 
is to come from our action. The attention is focused upon the 
correct form of the letter of the word, and we no longer at- 
tend to the movements that we must make. In this transition 
from one motive to another, deterioration in the correct form 
is likely to be seen. The transition is likely to be made too 
soon and practice in movement is likely to be discontinued be- 
fore the proper movement is sufficiently fixed. This is the 
time of the plateau period, when for a long time no improve- 
ment in penmanship is apparent. If we persist sufficiently 
long with the first motive, that of our own movement, no 
plateau period will manifest itself. 
The third motive, which ultimately displaces the second, 
is one which we may call the unconscious stimulus. It is il- 
lustrated by what we do when we are writing, thinking of 
only what we wish to say, and not at all about the process of 
saying it. We attend to the thought, and the writing ex- 
presses itself a.s the result of unconscious voluntary movement. 
This kind of movement is sometimes called automatic, or sec- 
ondary reflex, neither name of which is to be commended, be- 
cause both convey a false implication. 
When this third motive is reached, displacing the second, 
there is likely to be another plateau period, or a period of 18 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
deterioration, or retrogression. The aim of all good teachers 
of writing is to make the motivating idea of the word or letter 
so vivid, that even when it appears as an unconscious idea, 
leading to the production of the desired writing, it will still 
work itself out into legible form. This means practice far 
beyond what would ordinarily be felt to be necessary for all 
practical writing purposes. 
Several scales for the measurement of the quality of hand- 
writing have been devised, the earliest one made and one of 
the best known being the Thorndike scale. Mr. Thorndike se- 
cured a large number of specimens of handwriting and sub- 
mitted them to the examination of a large number of com- 
petent judges. A certain number of these specimens were 
then selected and arranged in the order of their excellence, as 
determined by the opinions of the judges. They were selected 
so that one specimen would be just as much better than the 
next as it was poorer than the preceding. The steps of ex- 
cellence between the specimens were of equal magnitude. In 
the Thorndike scale there are fourteen degrees of excellence, 
the lowest one being marked 4 and the highest 18. This means 
that it is possible to have four degrees of excellence below the 
first specimen of the scale, but these lower degrees of excel- 
lence are not expected to be found in any series of specimens 
likely to be submitted for examination. 
The Ayres three slant scale, the Ayres Gettysburg scale, 
the Starch scale, the Frasier scale are all made on the same 
general plan. The differences among them exist principally in 
the marks that are employed in designating the degrees of ex- 
cellence, in the number and arrangement of the specimens of 
the scale, and in the shape and material of the paper on which 
the specimens are printed. 
The method of using the scales is the same for all. The 
specimen of penmanship which is to be measured is slipped 
along the scale until a specimen is found which is believed to 
be of an equal degree of excellence with that of the specimen 
to be measured. The mark attached to the scale specimen is 
then taken as the measure of excellence of the specimen.. Va- 
rious devices are employed, such as slipping the specimen up- 
ward along the scale until it is certain that the point of equal 
excellence has been passed. Then beginning at the other end THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING 
19 
of the scale, slipping the specimen downward until it is again 
certain that the point of equal excellence has been passed in 
the other direction. If the two points agree that specimen is 
taken as the measure. If not, the midpoint between the two 
is considered the measure. 
The Freeman scale is somewhat different. It consists of 
five scales, each consisting of several specimens graded accord- 
ing to one particular quality. There is a separate scale for 
each of the qualities, spacing, alignment, slant, quality of line 
and letter formation. This analysis of the scale into different 
elements contributes much to accuracy of the measured prod- 
uct, but it renders the measurement cumbersome, and, the 
Freeman scale is not likely to be very generally used. 
The Palmer scale consists of a series of five specimens for 
each of the eight grades. It is really eight different scales, 
and the specimens are graded according to several character- 
istics. The mark on each specimen is determined not only by 
the legibility, beauty and general excellence of the specimen, 
but also according to the speed, position and movement, and a 
different standard is established for each grade. The Zaner 
scale is somewhat similar, but the specimens of the scale are 
all printed on one sheet. 
The claim is made that by the use of a scale much greater 
accuracy in judging papers can be secured. The present 
writer has been unable to verify that claim to any very no- 
ticeable extent, Time after time the writer has submitted a 
series of papers to different classes of competent judges, with 
the almost invariable result that the amount of difference in 
judging with a scale and without is almost negligible. He is 
curious to know how those who obtained different results se- 
cured them. 
The following example may be taken as typical, for it does 
not differ widely from .any of the rest. A class of 29 college 
students, some of them experienced teachers, were asked to 
mark ten penmanship papers, using no scale, or a mental scale, 
or a per cent scale, and to record their marks in per cents. 
Then they were asked to mark the same papers using the 
Thorndike scale. In order to bring the two series of marks 
into a comparable relation to each other, the Thorndike marks 
were multiplied by five and one half, making them very nearly 20 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
per cent marks. The range was taken, the average deviation 
determined, and the coefficient of correlation computed. 
The range is the difference between the lowest and the 
highest mark placed on each paper. Using the per cent scale, 
the ranges of the different papers varied from 20 to 45. That 
is, one person marked one paper 50 and another person mark- 
ed the same paper 95. The lowest range was in one paper 
that was marked 75 by one person and 95 by another. Using 
the Thorndike scale, the ranges varied from 22 to 49. One 
person marked one paper 50 and another person marked the 
same paper 99. The lowest range was in one paper that one 
person marked 66 and another person 88. When there can be 
such differences in judgment, it is evident that the term meas- 
urement applied to such a process, must be highly figurative. 
In six cases, the range between highest and lowest was 
less when using the per cent scale, and in four cases it was 
less when using the Thorndike scale. The sum of the ranges 
was 315 when using the per cent scale, and 348 when using 
the Thorndike scale. So by a comparison of the number of 
ranges, and the amount of the ranges, there is a very dlight 
advantage in using the per cent scale. 
The average deviation is the average of all the differences 
between the marks put upon one paper by every person and 
the average of all the marks on that same paper. The largest 
average deviation wThen using the per cent scale was 8 and the 
smallest was 2.1. The largest average deviation when using 
the Thorndike scale was 7.7 and the smallest was 4. In five 
cases the average deviation was less when using the per cent 
scale, and in four cases it was less when using the Thorndike 
scale. In one paper it was exactly the same. The sum of the 
ten average deviations when using the per cent scale was 54.4, 
and when using the Thorndike scale it was 54.8. The amount 
of superiority shown by the per cent scale in these two com- 
parisons based upon the average deviation is absolutely neg- 
ligible. 
Computing the coefficient of correlation between the re- 
sults obtained by the two methods, we find it to be plus .637, 
which means that if a paper is marked high, above the aver- 
age, by one method, the chances are about five to one that it 
will be marked above the average by the other method. The THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING 
21 
conclusion must be that it makes little difference which method 
of marking is used, and that there is no great superiority in 
using a scale. Sometimes one method will show a slight su- 
periority over the other in one respect, and in another case 
the other method will be slightly superior. The general result 
is that there is practically no difference in accuracy. 
Persons can be trained in the use of a scale so that they 
will mark very close together. But with equal training in 
marking without a scale, or with the per cent scale, they will 
approximate each other's marks as closely. The difference in 
judgments of different persons upon the same specimen seems 
to be caused by the fact that they lay emphasis upon different 
qualities of penmanship. Some have marked a specimen zero 
because it was back hand, and others have marked the same 
specimen 90 because it was easily legible. Some have judged 
a specimen high because it was smooth and regular, and others 
have marked the same specimen low because it was small and 
hard to read. 
Such limitations upon the accuracy in the use of a scale 
are apparent also in such scales as those for composition and 
for oral reading, in which the excellence of the specimen is 
determined by the general judgment of the examiner. 
It would appear that so far as accuracy is concerned, there 
is very little advantage in using a scale. The use of a scale 
contributes somewhat to definiteness of description, and it is 
somewhat less fatiguing. A person can mark a greater num- 
ber of papers before inaccuracy due to fatigue ensues when 
he is using a scale than when he is not using one. For these 
reasons a scale is to be commended, but we ought to be aware 
of its limitations. 
COLLATERAL READING 
1-Freeman, The Teaching of Handwriting. 
2-Starch, Educational Measurement, p. 60-88. 
3-Monroe, DeVoss and Kelley, Educational Tests and 
Measurement, p. 143-191. CHAPTER II 
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 
Something more than seven per cent of all the time that 
a child spends in school is devoted to learning to spell. In 
many cases, the results are so meager as to lead many persons 
to believe that not all the time is profitably spent. In some 
schools that have no definite time for spelling, and in which no 
special classes are conducted in the subject, the children spell 
as well as do the children in other schools that spend mor'e 
than the seven per cent average amount. All agree that the 
amount of time spent in any school in learning to spell is not 
an accurate index of the spelling ability of the children in that 
school. 
Spelling consists in arranging the letters of a word in their 
proper order. The arranging may be done orally or in writ- 
ing; hence we have two kinds of spelling, oral and written. 
Since the practical application of spelling is always in writing, 
the function of oral, as well as written, spelling, is to lead to 
more nearly correct spelling in writing. 
Spelling consists in reproducing the idea of the word that 
is in the mind of the speller. If the idea is clear and vivid, it 
will work itself out into action, according to the law of dynam- 
ogenesis. The problem of the teacher, then, is to find the most 
economical method of inducing in the mind of the child, the 
clear, vivid idea which will work out into action. 
An idea consists of several or many sensations. A sensa- 
tion is the concomitant of a nervous impulse that originates in 
a sense organ, and is transmitted through some sensation cen- 
ter in the brain. When an impulse traverses the same sensa- 
tion center without originating in a sense organ, it is a faint 
sensation, and the impulse is centrally initiated. But before 
there can be a faint sensation, there must previously have 
been a vivid sensation of the same kind. All the sensations 
that constitute an idea are faint sensations. 
The sensations that enter into the idea of a word that 
will work itself out into action, and will find expression in the 
proper spelling, are primarily of four kinds. First, the sight THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 
23 
sensations, which are obtained by a careful examination and 
scrutiny of the written or printed form of the word. Second, 
auditory sensations, obtained by hearing- the word properly 
pronounced. In the process of studying- a lesson so as subse- 
quently to know how to spell the words, the pupil ought to 
hear the words pronounced correctly by the teacher, and then 
ought to hear his own voice properly pronouncing them. 
There are two kinds of muscular sensations that enter 
into the motivating idea. They are muscular sensations from 
the vocal organs when the words are properly pronounced, and 
muscular sensations that arise from the muscles that are em- 
ployed in writing the words. The words of no lesson can be 
considered as having been properly studied until all these sen- 
sations have been obtained. 
In some persons the sight sensations will be most impor- 
tant. Such persons will learn to spell a word better by seeing 
it than by hearing it. Other persons will learn to spell a word 
better by hearing it. There is a real place for oral spelling in 
any spelling class. But both visualizers and auditory minded 
pupils will probably be benefited by both processes of study, 
while in the case of other persons, both methods are nearly 
necessary. 
The practice of assigning one page, or one lesson on a page 
of a spelling book, to be studied by the children, or a list of 
words on the blackboard, provides in a very inefficient way for 
only one kind of sensation, that obtained from the eye. 
After a sufficiently vivid idea of the word has been obtain- 
ed, the next psychological problem is that of remembering it, 
so as to fix the spelling permanently, and so that it shall for- 
ever after be available for use. This is an application of the 
ordinary laws of memory. The first law is that of initial fixa- 
tion. When a word is first learned, it should be learned by giv- 
ing to it the greatest possible amount of attention. The reason 
for this is clear. When we give the utmost possible .amount of 
attention in the process of learning anything we drive the 
largest possible amount of nervous energy through the brain 
center. This large amount of nervous energy modifies the 
nervous arc to such an extent that subsequent impulses en- 
counter less resistance, and consequently a much feebler ner- 
vous impulse will go through. 24 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
Peripherally initiated impulses are much stronger than 
centrally initiated impulses. Consequently, the study of a 
word should always be by means of peripherally initiated im- 
pulses. The sensations entering into the percept of the word 
whose reproduction constitutes the idea must be vivid, and as 
many as possible. The word must actually be seen attentively, 
it must be heard, and it must be pronounced and written. 
The same thing may be described in another way. It may 
be described by saying that we must get the clearest possible 
notion of the word. We must get exactly the form of the word, 
not merely something like it. These are other statements of 
the fact that we must drive the largest possible amount of ner- 
vous energy through the brain center the first time. 
The second rule for remembering the spelling of words is 
to associate the spelling of the new word with as many other 
things that we already know as possible. If two words are 
spelled nearly alike, or differ in only one significant respect, it 
will be found that the two words can be learned more easily 
together, than can either one alone. They are associated by 
the law of contrast, and experiment shows that association by 
contrast is more influential than is almost any other relation. 
The words sieve and seize are easily learned together, but are 
very difficult when taken singly. 
Words that are similar may be learned together. This 
leads to the formulation of rules for spelling. A rule for spell- 
ing is nothing more than a statement of the similarities exist- 
ing between words. But since a rule for spelling does not have 
the force of a statute law, many exceptions may occur, and 
these exceptions are always offered as positive objections to 
the learning of rules. Really, there is no more economical 
method of learning to spell the words that constitute the ex- 
ceptions to any rule, than by committing that list to memory. 
It is much easier to learn them in that way than it is to learn 
them individually. 
In learning rules, it is most essential that the rule be 
thoroughly learned. Nearly all the testimony concerning the 
futility of learning rules for spelling arises from the fact that 
the persons who testify have not learned the rules thoroughly. 
Associations for individual words may easily be made. A 
mispronunciation is frequently a very effective association THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 
25 
One woman can never be sure how to spell crocodile, until she 
pronounces it with the accent on the second syllable. The 
word desiccate will quickly lose its terrors if it is wrongly ac- 
centuated in a person's own mind, on the second syllable. If 
the g in paradigm is sounded, the spelling is forever fixed. 
The etymology, or derivation of words is often a most ef- 
fective association in fixing the spelling. The difference be- 
tween the origin of ferrule and ferule can be made to establish 
the spelling of the two words so that the association shall be 
permanent. If one knows that ferrule, the iron ring at the 
bottom of a cane, is derived from ferrum, the latin word for 
iron, there will not be a disposition to leave out one of the r's. 
While if one knows that a rule, with which we draw a straight 
line, is an abridged form of ferule, an instrument of punish- 
ment used by school teachers, and was originally a substitute 
for a branch, or switch, from a plant, ferula, growing in the 
vicinity of the old latin schoolhouses, and similar in its asso- 
ciations to our birch, or hickory, there will not be the confu- 
sion with the ferrule of the two r's. So cynosure, and da- 
guerreotype will have their forms definitely fixed when the 
derivation of each is known. 
The meaning of words is one of the characteristic associa- 
tions by which the spelling may be fixed. It is here mentioned 
last because its relative importance has been much over em- 
phasized. It is true that children ought to know the meaning 
of the words they learn to spell. It is also true that children 
will spell a larger percentage of a list of words whose meaning 
they know than of a list whose meanings they do not know. 
But this relation between the meaning and the good spelling 
is not a causal relation. The greater familiarity of the list of 
words whose meaning is known is associated with the fact that 
this greater familiarity leads to a correct spelling. The mean- 
ing is of less importance, as a means of fixing the spelling, 
than probably any one of the other associations previously 
mentioned. We may know the meaning of many words we 
are unable to spell, and we are able to spell many words whose 
meanings we do not know. 
The third law of memory is that of attentive repetition. 
Repetition without attention is of little or no value. The 
amount of attention involved in the repetition is a direct 26 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
measure of the repetitive value. This law is applied in re- 
views and in spelling contests. 
The above discussions represent the psychological basis of 
learning to spell. The conscious application of these psycho- 
logical principles will increase the efficiency of the teaching of 
spelling a great deal. But the greater part of the present in- 
efficiency of the teaching of spelling is due in a very large 
measure, to the neglect of some more general principles con- 
cerned in all learning and teaching. 
It cannot be said, with any degree of certainty, how much 
of the time spent in studying spelling is wasted. It would, 
perhaps, be a fair guess to say that ninety per cent of the 
child's time devoted to spelling does not accomplish the result 
intended. Nine tenths of the time is unprofitably spent. The 
greater amount of the wasted time is due to the fact that we 
try to teach the pupil to spell so many words that he already 
knows. When we assign a page of a spelling book to be studied, 
and then examine, or test, the children on the words of that 
page, we are causing him to study a list of words, probably 
nine tenths of which he already knows how to spell. We are 
causing him to spend nine tenths of his time unprofitably. 
More than this; we are failing to cause him to concentrate his 
attention upon the words whose spelling he does not know, and 
whose spelling he needs to learn. He fails in the initial fixation 
of the words he does not know how to spell. 
This initial fixation is one of the most important elements 
in the process of learning to spell. Consequently, some device 
is needed to sift out the words in any lesson that the child 
does not know how to spell from those that he does know. This 
is the first problem that the teacher of spelling needs to solve. 
Let us suggest one device for sifting out the words that to be 
studied from those that do not. 
Suppose the teacher should pronounce ten words to a class. 
Let the class spell these ten words as best they can. The 
teacher collects the papers, marks them, checks all the mis- 
spelled words, and returns them to the pupils. Each pupil is 
to understand that his spelling lesson for the next day consists 
of the words that he has misspelled. He needs to pay no at- 
tention to the other words, because he already knows how to 
spell them. Thus the child studies only those words that he THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 
27 
needs to study. The next day, the teacher pronounces the 
same list of ten words, and an additional list of ten new words. 
The record of the two spellings of the same list will indicate 
the degree of improvement made by each pupil. In this way, 
the words the pupil needs to study are sifted out, and atten- 
tion focalized upon the words he does not know how to spell. 
The immediate objection to any plan of this kind is that 
the pupil ought not to see a misspelled word, and this plan 
makes him misspell a word before it can be assigned as a les- 
son. The objection has no real validity. Before a child has 
learned how to spell a word, he is in the position of having 
misspelled it. He does not know how to spell it. No doubt 
he has often seen the correct form, but the correct form has 
not fixed itself and does not fix itself in the attention and 
memory of the child as the objectors assume that it should. 
Another extremely wasteful process of teaching spelling is 
the process of having children learn to spell words by writing 
them in sentences. In order to acquire practice in spelling a 
word, the pupil is required to write a dozen or more words to 
show that he knows how to spell one. Besides being a waste- 
ful process, it is unpsychological in the fact that it does not 
demand the focalization of the attention upon the word whose 
spelling is to be fixed, but by the very nature of the method, 
dissipates the attention, and fails to fix the spelling of the 
word to be learned. 
The reason always assigned for this practice is that the 
children must know the meaning of the words they learn to 
spell, and they must learn to use them in sentences. But the 
learning of the meaning does not fix the spelling, and as shown 
above, the meaning is of less importance than several other as- 
sociations. 
Another reason by which it is sought to justify the prac- 
tice of spelling in sentences, is that if children are drilled only 
in writing words in columns, they misspell some of the same 
words when they write them in sentences. The fact is that 
there is a very large carry over from column spelling to sent- 
ence spelling. Those words that are misspelled in sentences 
when they are spelled correctly in columns, are those whose 
motivating idea has not become sufficiently vivid to work out 
into action. Sufficient drill in the initial fixation, association 28 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
and attentive repetition will manifest itself in a hundred per 
cent carry over. 
When a child spells words in sentences, there is less con- 
centration of the attention upon the spelling of the word to be 
learned. The attention is dissipated among the spelling of the 
other words, upon the meaning of the sentence, upon the cap- 
italization and punctuation, and frequently upon the penman- 
ship. When learning to spell, concentration upon the word to 
be learned is the first and most important process. Spelling 
in sentences is less exact than is spelling in columns, because 
of this dissipation of attention. Spelling in sentences is not 
justified by any psychological principles that operate in the 
teaching of spelling. 
It is doubtful if the new methods of measuring the effi- 
ciency of the teaching of spelling have contributed very much 
to decreasing the wasted time in teaching spelling. The Ayres 
scale consists of the one thousand most common words in the 
language, grouped into 26 columns, the words in each column 
being of approximately equal difficulty, and the percentage of 
the words in that column that the children in any grade may 
be expected to spell is indicated at the top. The tendency has 
been to use this list as a spelling book, and drill upon this 
thousand words. There is nothing in the list itself to suggest 
that the children should study only those words whose spelling 
they do not know. 
These commonest words are likely to be learned incident- 
ally, as the result of repetition, without very much special 
teaching in school. When tried by these tests, the incidental 
method is likely to give almost as good results as the ordinary 
spelling drill in school. 
The Ayres scale and other scales of a similar kind are like- 
ly to suggest that the spelling of the children ought to be lim- 
ited to the commonest words. The argument is often advanced 
that there is no need for children to know how to spell the 
words they do not expect to use, or the words which are not 
already in their vocabulary. The argument is not only falla- 
cious, but vicious, leading to disastrous results in the spelling 
of the children, and limiting the development of their vocabu- 
lary. Instead of limiting the conscious teaching of spelling to 
the commonest words, which already constitute the vocabulary THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 
29 
that the children use in their writing and speaking, these 
words might almost be neglected, or learned incidentally At 
the most, attention is necessary only to the most difficult of 
the list, such as are indicated by Mr. Jones' Hundred Spelling 
Demons. 
The child's spelling ought not to be limited to the com- 
monest words, nor to his speaking and writing vocabulary. 
The ideal aim is to cultivate in the child the habit of stopping 
in his reading, when he comes to a new word, and fixing the 
spelling of that word at that time. It is by reading, principal- 
ly, that the vocabulary is enlarged, and the spelling ought to 
keep pace with his reading vocabulary. The spelling ought not 
to be limited by the child's writing and speaking vocabulary, 
but by his reading vocabulary. 
Consequently, the principal effort in drill in spelling is 
upon the words that are found in the child's reading vocabu- 
lary, and not in his writing and speaking vocabulary. The 
difference between good spellers and poor spellers will be 
described in terms of this list of words, very indefinite in ex- 
tent and very diverse in character. 
Spelling ability is easily measured. The measure is defi- 
nite and clear. The first requisite in measuring spelling ability 
is the construction or acquisition of a scale. The construction 
of a spelling scale will illustrate the essential processes in the 
development of a scale for the measurement of any teaching 
product. 
The first kind of a spelling scale is a definite list of words 
to be spelled that has been standardized by having them spell- 
ed by a great many children. From the spelling of this num- 
ber of words, it can be predicted with .a good deal of assur- 
ance, what any other particular group of children will do. If 
the group of children whose spelling ability is to be measured 
spell more words, and make a higher score than the standard 
score, they may be described as being above grade. If they 
make a lower score, and spell fewer words, they are below 
grade. This kind of a scale is represented by the Buckingham 
spelling scale, which consists of two lists of twentyfive words 
each, which have been carefully standardized for the several 
grades. In a scale of this kind, the same words are given to 30 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
children of any age and of any grade. The difference is in the 
standard score adopted for each .age or for each grade. 
The second kind of scale is that represented by the Ayres 
spelling scale referred to above. The one thousand most com- 
mon words were given to many thousand children to be spelled. 
The difficulty of each word was judged from the number of 
times it was misspelled by this large number of children. Then 
the words were grouped into 26 columns, named from the 26 
letters of the alphabet. Words of approximately equal diffi- 
culty were placed in the same column, and the average per 
cent of correct spellings that was made by any grade in school 
was placed at the top of the column. 
In order to measure the spelling ability of any room, a 
series of twenty words is taken from some one column, prefer- 
ably a column in which the children of the same grade as that 
to be examined have made about 75 per cent. The percentage 
of correct spellings made by the grade to be examined indi- 
cates whether that grade is up to the standard or not. 
The Buckingham extension of the Ayres spelling scale is 
made in the same way. Mr. Buckingham added to the one 
thousand words of the Ayres scale, 535 other words, selected 
because they were commonly found in spelling books used in 
school. These 535 words were standardized in the same mam 
ner that the Ayres list had been, and the new words added to 
the appropriate columns. Besides, four columns were added 
to contain the more difficult words. This makes the Bucking- 
ham 'extension available for the testing of pupils of a higher 
grade of spelling ability than the words of the Ayres scale 
were designed to do. 
The Iowa spelling scale is made after the same model as 
the Ayres scale. The words were taken from the written cor- 
respondence of Iowa people, and represent the words most 
commonly used in such correspondence. There are almost three 
thousand words in the list, and the words have been standard- 
ized and grouped into 26 columns after the manner of the 
Ayres list. 
The above mentioned scales are good scales for testing 
spelling ability and .are very useful. They do not, however, 
represent a complete sampling of the English language, and 
are limited to the commonest words. They are therefore, not THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 
31 
tests of the absolute spelling ability of any group of persons. 
Mr. Starch has devised a scale upon another plan, that would 
appear to be a more satisfactory spelling scale. 
Mr. Starch selected the first word on every even-numbered 
page of Webster's International Dictionary. This made a list 
of 1186 words. From this list he dropped all obsolete and 
highly technical words, reducing the list to 600. These 600 
words were arranged in the order of their length, and con- 
sequently, approximately in the order of their difficulty, the 
shortest words being placed first. This list of 600 words was 
divided into six lists of 100 words each. The first list includ- 
ed the first, seventh, thirteenth words, and so on. The second 
list included the second, eighth, fourteenth words, etc. So 
there are six lists, each list as difficult as any one of the others, 
and each list representing a fair sampling of the entire Eng- 
lish language. 
There are other spelling scales, but the above represent 
the principal methods employed in devising spelling tests. The 
above scales are the best known and the most used. 
The methods of making different spelling scales may be 
illustrated by an examination of the following list of fifty 
words. The words are all taken from Reed's Word Lessons, a 
very popular spelling book, still in common use. The only 
basis for selection was the supposed difficulty of the words. 
emanate 
euphony 
excavate 
funereal 
hemorrhage 
incisive 
indigenous 
inoculate 
vaccinate 
coalesce 
confectionery 
coterie 
cynosure 
daguerreotype 
desiccate 
Deuteronomy 
Pentateuch 
pleiades 
pneumatic 
polygamy 
resuscitate 
rhetoric 
rhythm 
sanitary 
sanative 
scurrilous 
dissyllable 
trisyllable 
isosceles 
paradigm 
metonymy 
separate 32 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
diocese 
anaesthetic 
anonymous 
assimilate 
labyrinth 
menagerie 
mercenary 
mnemonics 
paroxysm 
scintillate 
propagate 
liquefy 
ecstasy 
celibacy 
satirize 
hypocrisy 
technical 
flaccid 
These words were pronounced to ten classes of first year 
college students comprising 498 different students. The aver- 
age per cent of correct spellings was 48.1. The list as it stands 
might be considered a standardized spelling test. Any first 
year college class, or high school senior class that made an aver- 
age of fifty per cent on this list might be considered up to 
grade in spelling ability. 
Another thing appears as the result of giving this list to 
be spelled by college classes of different years. Without any 
special drill in spelling, there will be a rather steady improve- 
ment in spelling in different college years. It is possible to 
discriminate rather confidently, the different years of college 
classes by the average percentages they make in spelling this 
list of words. 
This is true only when we consider the average of large 
college classes. It is not true when we compare individuals 
in the classes. The extreme range in any class is very great. 
Among the 498 pupils who spelled this list of words, there was 
one person who spelled 48 correctly, and one other person who 
was able to spell only 3. 
But not all the words are of equal degrees of difficulty. 
Some are much more difficult than others, as may be judged 
by the number of times each word was misspelled. Reducing 
the number of times each word was misspelled to per cents, 
and placing the most difficult words first, we may make the 
following arrangement: 
% 
desiccate 93.5 
metonynly 91.8 
daguerreotype 91.1 
mnemonics 89.5 
% 
paradigm 87.6 
emanate 83.0 
Pentateuch 82.8 
cynosure 80.0 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 
33 
hemorrhage 79.3 
liquefy 79.2 
flaccid 78.6 
scintillate 75.0 
pleiades 73.8 
celibacy 73.4 
resuscitate 72.8 
ecstasy 71.8 
scurrilous 71.4 
anaesthetic 70.6 
sanative 69.1 
paroxysm 65.1 
hypocrisy 62.8 
indigenous 60.2 
coalesce 55.0 
anonymous 49.8 
Deuteronomy 48.6 
isosceles 48.0 
satirize 47.8 
coterie 47.3 
inoculate 44.6 
dissyllable 44.5 
funereal 44.1 
menagerie 43.1 
propagate 42.9 
confectionery 42.3 
polygamy 42.2 
diocese 37.0 
rhythm 33.3 
pneumatic 27.7 
trisyllable 27.4 
labyrinth 25.6 
mercenary 19.8 
assimilate 16.8 
technical 14.3 
euphony 13.8 
vaccinate 11.1 
incisive 10.4 
excavate 8.9 
rhetoric 5.1 
sanitary 4.3 
separate 3.6 
The above list of percentages of incorrect spellings shows 
how important it is that the difficulty of every word in a spell- 
ing test shall have been previously measured and how valueless 
is any examination in spelling on any test list in which this 
preliminary measurement has not been made. No teacher is 
able to judge, before putting it to the test, what is the relative 
difficulty of the different words. 
Having measured the difficulty of the words, we may make 
a spelling scale in either one of two ways. The words in the 
list above are grouped into ten groups according to their de- 
grees of difficulty. We may select a number of words from 
one group and test the pupils by means of them. If we use 
the group of words beginning with mercenary, in which the 
percentage of misses is from 10 to 20, we shall expect to find 
that a class of first year college students who make a per- 
centage of correct spelling of 85, may be described as being up 
to grade. If we use the list of words beginning with anony- 
mous, in which the percentage of misses is from 40 to 50, we 34 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
shall expect to find a class of first year college students up to 
grade if they make a percentage of correct spellings of 55. 
In such a list, the words are assumed to be all of equal diffi- 
culty, or approximately so, and the measure of success is de- 
termined by the number of words that are spelled correctly. 
But there is another method of constructing a scale that 
is employed more frequently in arithmetic than it is in spell- 
ing. If we select one word from each group, beginning with 
the least difficult, we may have a list of words like this. 
separate 
mercenary 
pneumatic 
diocese 
anonymous 
coalesce 
sanative 
liquefy 
mnemonics 
desiccate 
In a list like this, nearly all members of the class will spell 
the first words, which are easy, and nearly all will fail to spell 
the last words which are difficult. The ability to spell may 
then be judged by the distance down the list that the pupil is 
able to go in his correct spelling. 
This kind of a scale is one which justifies clearly the name 
scale. The analogy is with the beam of a weighing scale, along 
which a weight, technically called a pea, is slipped until it just 
balances the thing to be weighed on the platform. But the 
difficulties are such that its practical application is undesirable. 
A pupil may spell the first four words, miss the fifth and sixth, 
and spell the seventh and eighth. In such a case, the entire 
theory on which the scale is constructed is overthrown, and 
the spelling ability must be described in other terms than those 
employed in developing the scale. Practically, in a case like 
this, the seventh and eighth words, that are spelled correctly, 
would be considered as the fifth and sixth, and the student's 
spelling ability would be marked 6. 
The subject of incorrigible spellers has not here been 
touched upon. It seems as if there are a few persons who 
cannot learn to spell, no matter how great the effort employed 
by them. Sufficient study has not been devoted to such cases 
to understand how they differ from ordinary poor spellers, but 
it appears that differences do exist. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPELLING 
35 
COLLATERAL READING 
1-Rice, the Futility of the Spelling Grind. Forum, vol. 
35, pages 153 and 409. (Two articles). 
2-Cornman, Spelling in the Elementary School. 
3-Wallin, Spelling Efficiency. 
4-Starch, Educational Measurements, p. 89-100. 
5-Ayres, The Measurement of Spelling Ability. 
6-Freeman, Psychology of the Common Branches, p. 
118-131. 
7-Monroe, DeVoss and Kelley, Educational Tests and 
Measurements, p. 112-144. 36 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
The following list of spelling books have been consulted 
for the purpose of illustrating the development of the teach- 
ing of spelling. The date is the date of publication. 
1-Webster, Elementary Spelling Book, 1783. 
2-Hazen, Speller and Definer, 1829. 
3-Wright, Analytical Orthography, 1842. 
4-Cobb, Spelling Book, 1844. 
5-William G. Webster, Sequel to the Elementary Spelling 
Book, 1845. 
6-Swan, Spelling Book, 1852. 
7-Watson, Independent Speller, 1859. 
8-Sanders, Spelling Book, 1860. 
9-Worcester, Spelling Book, 1861. 
10-McGuffey, Eclectic Spelling Book, 1865. 
11-Adams, Advanced Speller, 1866. 
12-Comly, Spelling Book, 1866. 
13-Hazen, Euphonic Speller, 1855. 
14-Edwards, Analytical Spelling Book, 1872. 
15-Swinton, Word Lessons, 1872. 
16-Patterson, Spelling Book, 1874. 
17-Reed, Word Lessons, 1884. 
18-Rice, Rational Spelling Book, 1892. 
19-Pollard, Synthetic Speller, 1894. 
20-Shearer, Combination Speller, 1894. 
21-Hicks, Champion Spelling Book, 1909. CHAPTER III 
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC 
About sixteen per cent of all the time that a child spends 
in school is devoted to learning arithmetic. Some form of 
arithmetic is usually begun in the first grade, and it is con- 
tinued without interruption throughout the eighth. It seems 
quite evident that not all the time is profitably spent. Much 
criticism is directed at the public schools because the children, 
when they have completed the eighth grade, are not able to 
add, subtract, multiply and divide rapidly and accurately. 
The teaching of arithmetic is much better than it was 
thirty years ago. It is not too much to say that the teaching 
of arithmetic has improved two hundred per cent in that 
length of time. The opportunity to improve it as much more 
still exists, and this improvement can come about only through 
a better understanding and a more consistent application of 
the psychological principles involved in the subject itself. 
The subject of arithmetic naturally divides itself into three 
parts; or four, if we consider certain portions of the arith- 
metic that are usually taught as belonging to the subject. 
These four parts are: First, the development of the number 
concept; second, the manipulation of the instrument, some- 
times described as the fundamentals; third, arithmetic proper, 
or the solution of problems; fourth, practical arithmetic, or 
the application of arithmetic to practical affairs. 
These four parts are totally distinct from each other, and 
different psychological principles are involved in learning 
them. The first thing necessary is the development of the 
number concept and upon our understanding of what number 
is will depend our methods of developing it. It may safely be 
assumed that the better the number concept a person has, the 
more successful will his subsequent study of arithmetic be. 
Number has been regarded by some philosophers in the 
past as an intuitive idea. By an intuitive idea is meant an 
idea that is furnished by the mind, and is not derived from 
experience. It was believed that when the mind needed to use 
one of these intuitive ideas, it was there, present, ready for 38 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
use. It was believed that the mind could not be a mind with- 
out the possession of these intuitive ideas. Such opinions are 
not held now, at least by those who have given attention to 
the matter. No psychologist today upholds the doctrine of in- 
tuitive ideas, but teachers in general proceed with the teach- 
ing of arithmetic as if the number concept were an original 
idea which the child gets without any teaching. 
Up to a certain point, all of us have a number concept. 
Beyond that point the numbers are only symbols. The num- 
ber that any of us can actualize in thought is almost incred- 
ibly small. There is very little to guide us in estimating the 
extent of the number that we can make real to ourselves, but 
investigations into number forms may furnish some sugges- 
tions. Investigations into number forms show that very few 
number forms extend beyond 100. Those number forms that 
extend beyond 100, show a decided change in their nature be- 
yond that point. In general, too, it appears that in almost any 
number form, the character of the form is different for the 
first twenty, twentyfive, or thirty numbers from what it is 
for the subsequent numbers. From this it may be plausibly 
argued that somewhere from twentyfive to one hundred is the 
extent of the numbers that we can actually realize. Beyond 
that point, the numbers are largely symbolic. 
Additional suggestions may be derived from another 
source. If we ask a class how large the moon appears to be 
when it is just rising, and is on the horizon, we shall get 
answers that to some it appears to be one foot in diameter, 
while others may give an estimate as great as four feet. An 
answer of forty or sixty feet always elicits exclamations of 
astonished surprise. 
The moon is about one half a degree in diameter. It is 
on the circumference of a circle that would contain 720 moons. 
Therefore, if the moon appears to be one foot in diameter, the 
circumference of the circle on which the moon is located would 
be about 720 feet, the diameter would be about 240 feet, and 
the radius about 120 feet. Therefore, a person to whom the 
moon appears to be one foot in diameter, judges it to be about 
120 feet distant from him. If the moon appears to be three 
feet in diameter, the person has judged it to be about 360 feet 
distant, or about the distance of a short city block. If it ap- THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC 
39 
pears to be sixty feet in diameter, the person has judged it to 
be something more than a mile distant. 
It is probable that this unconscious judgment of distance 
represents about the total amount of distance that the person 
is able to actualize in thought. All distances beyond that are 
symbols, or contain a very large symbolical element. A little 
child reaches for the moon, showing that it has practically no 
notion of distance. There is no doubt that the primary con- 
cept of distance is obtained through a process of muscular 
effort. 
Another theory of the acquisition of the number concept 
asserts that it is obtained by counting. Counting is princi- 
pally the repetition of a series of number names, and this in 
itself does not lead to a development of the number concept at 
all. But when properly carried on, counting consists in the 
establishing of a one to one correspondence between a series of 
objects and a series of number names. This, however, does 
not develop the number concept, for there is no assurance that 
a child who counts up to five, means when he says five, the 
entire group, or consolidates the several counted objects into 
one whole. 
Another theory is that number arises from the perception 
of grouped objects. But the perception of grouped objects can 
give in itself only the conception of more or less. Before 
grouped objects can be conceived as number, there must have 
been acquired all that is learned in counting. Counting must 
precede the perception of grouped objects as number. 
Still another theory regards number as a ratio, and that 
the number concept is obtained by the perception of the ratios 
that exist between quantities. But before a ratio can be es- 
tablished between two quantities, they must have been meas- 
ured. Measurement is a necessary condition for the percep- 
tion of ratio. 
Measurement is a process of perceiving a relation between 
a whole thing and a part of the thing; or between one thing 
and another thing employed as a standard. It is a process of 
equating one thing against some part of the same thing, or 
against some other thing of the same kind. This is true 
whether the thing that is measured is a group of similar ob- 
jects or a single homogeneous quantity. 40 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
Number is an abstraction. The thing that is abstracted is 
always a quality. In obtaining the number concept, the qual- 
ity that is abstracted is given to the quantity by measurement. 
That measurement gives to a quantity a quality that it did 
not have before is easily seen by an example. If we measure a 
pile of lumber, we place the boards that have been measured 
in one pile and those that have not yet been measured in an- 
other. As we measure one board, we remove it from the pile 
that has not been measured to the one that has. The boards 
in the two piles differ from each other in some respect that 
causes us to separate them. The quality that causes us to 
separate the boards in one pile from those in the other has 
been given to them by measurement. It is this quality of the 
boards that is abstracted and gives us our idea of number. 
Before the concept of number can be obtained, there must 
have been processes of measurement. The persons who have 
had the greatest amount of experience in measuring and 
weighing will generally be found to have the best conceptions 
of number, and it is safe to predict that they will generally ex- 
hibit the greatest proficiency in arithmetic. 
This furnishes us with the principles to employ in the 
teaching of arithmetic. The first years of a child's school life 
should have his arithmetic work devoted to exercises involving 
weighing and measuring. If no formal arithmetic were taught 
in the first three, or the first four grades, but the arithmetic 
time be devoted to weighing and measuring, the subsequent 
progress in arithmetic would be much facilitated. 
The weighing and measuring in the primary grades for 
the purpose of developing the number concept ought to employ 
the metric measures almost if not quite exclusively. It would 
be an advantage if no other measures were tolerated, at least 
for the first years. The reason for this is that the metric sys- 
tem has for its base the number 10, which is the base of the 
decimal notation almost universally employed in arithmetic. 
The expression of the measurements made by the metric sys- 
tem renders the employment of the decimal notation easy and 
convenient. 
The number concept may be developed by other measures, 
but when so developed, there is a difficult incongruity in ex- 
pressing the results in the decimal notation. The number THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC 
41 
concept may be developed by folding papers, but when so de- 
veloped the adoption and use of the fractional notation is al- 
most inevitable. Much time may be saved and much better 
results may be secured by developing the number concept 
through the weighing and measuring by means of the metric 
units. 
The use of the common or English measures makes difficult 
the subsequent adoption of the decimal notation. The princi- 
pal, and in fact the only, objection to beginning the number 
work of children with the metric measures, and using them 
instead of the English measures, is that the metric measures 
are not in common use, and that the common measures must 
be learned for practical application when the children leave 
school. 
The older books in arithmetic gave many tables of differ- 
ent kinds of measures, many of which have been discarded 
without injury but with distinct benefit, in arithmetics of the 
present day. We find in the older books that it was thought 
necessary to learn the measures of barleycorn, firkin, punch, 
fother, tod, stone, last, weigh, tierce, puncheon, kilderkin, butt, 
strike, coom, chaldron, and many others. While most of these 
measures have gone out of use, the real buying and selling is 
carried on by many measures that most of us do not know un- 
less we are in the business ourselves. The market reports of 
any paper today express prices in such units as bale, bolt, bas- 
ket, barrel, box, car, crate, bag, bunch, tub, carrier, hamper, 
flat, sack. If grown up persons out of school can get along 
without any definite knowledge of the measured values of these 
units it seems evident that the children in the first three 
grades of school can do the same. And if they can get along 
without a definite knowledge of these eminently practical meas- 
ures, it seems that they would not be wholly unintelligent 
without a knowledge of the traditional school measures that 
are not more commonly used but which represent a survival 
from an ancient period of arithmetic teaching. To increase 
the difficulty of arithmetic teaching a hundred fold by using 
measures that some of us do use now, on the supposition that 
children will, sometime, need to learn them, is an exceedingly 
wasteful process. 
The second division of arithmetic is the manipulation of 42 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
the instrument, which is the decimal notation. The decimal 
notation is a deliberate invention, as truly so as is any machine 
an invention. Its chief characteristics are that it has a con- 
stant base, which is ten, and being constant does not need to 
be expressed when numbers are written in this notation. Sec- 
ond, numbers are expressed by nine digits. Third, it employs 
the device of place value. Fourth, it employs a zero to fill 
vacant places. This adoption of a character to fill vacant places 
is a later invention than are the preceding characteristics of 
the decimal notation. Fifth, a decimal point-is used to indi- 
cate units place. This is still more recent and has been added 
to the decimal notation since the settlement of Jamestown. 
The introduction of the decimal point makes it possible to 
express numbers less than one in the decimal notation. It ex- 
tends the decimal notation to the right of units place, as well 
as to the left. Decimal fractions ought not to be called frac- 
tions. Their affiliations are altogether with the decimal inte- 
gers, and not with fractions. They belong to the decimal nota- 
tion, and not to the fractional notation. 
The fractional notation must also be learned, and the same 
psychological laws of learning apply to both. The fractional 
notation differs from the decimal notation in several respects. 
It does not employ the device of place value, and consequently 
uses no decimal point. But the most important difference is 
that it does not have a constant base, which makes it necessary 
to indicate what is the base of the system in which it is writ- 
ten. This base is expressed by the denominator. 
The decimal notation is in effect a machine devised by an 
inventor. In order to operate the machine it is necessary to 
follow the rules laid down by the inventor for its operation. 
We may or may not know the reason for these rules, and the 
conditions of the machine which make the rules necessary for 
its operation. Just as in the use of logarithms, we may or 
may not know how to make a table of logarithms, but by fol- 
lowing the rules laid down by their inventor we are able to 
use them to very great advantage. So in using the decimal 
notation, if we strictly follow the rules, we shall obtain the 
correct result. 
This recognition of the place of the decimal notation in the 
general subject of arithmetic will indicate to us the proper THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC 
43 
method to be employed in learning the fundamentals. The 
fundamental operations are learned most effectively by follow- 
ing rules laid down, without any elaborate process of reasoning 
to answer the question why do we thus and so. Mr. Thorndike 
is perfectly right when he says that the only reason a child 
should be required to give for doing a certain thing in arith- 
metic is to say, "Because it gets the answer." This is a per- 
fectly correct statement when it is applied to the fundament- 
als, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, to any 
process in the manipulation of the instrument. It is distinctly 
not true when it is applied to the solution of problems, the 
third part of arithmetic. 
It is in this department of arithmetic that the greatest 
improvement is yet to be made. It is in this department that 
the most time is unprofitably spent. In general we may say 
that the principal source of this misspent time is due to a 
failure to focalize the attention directly upon the thing to be 
learned. The number concept has not been thoroughly devel- 
oped, and we frequently try to develop the number concept at 
the same time we are trying to teach the fundamentals. This 
is sometimes done by making the children build up the differ- 
ent tables and solve simple problem by using different kinds of 
objects, in the belief that we are making the operations con- 
crete. 
The attempt to make the fundamental operations concrete 
is not always helpful, and sometimes leads to disastrous con- 
sequences. Sometimes methods of imaging numbers in terms 
of the objects employed are developed that exercise a distinct- 
ly detrimental effect upon subsequent arithmetical study. Fol- 
lowing is the testimony from one such case: Miss Edith W. 
says that every number appears to her as a series of dots, dark 
in appearance, and she must see the dots before the number 
idea occurs. Thus seven consists of a series of dots, three in a 
row, three in a row just below the first, and one below the six. 
Eight appears as eight dots in two rows. Sixteen is represent- 
ed by two series of eight dots each, one series above the other. 
Miss W. believes that this method of visualizing numbers is 
decidedly disadvantageous to her. She finds it difficult to work 
with numbers, and she wishes that she had some other way of 
thinking of them. 44 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
Miss W.'s case is only one of quite a series, and it appears 
likely that her method of thinking of numbers came from the 
work of some zealous teacher who was trying to make the work 
concrete. 
A second way in which time is unprofitably spent in teach- 
ing the fundamentals is by making the child demonstrate every 
step in the process under the fallacious notion that we are 
thereby contributing to thoroughness. We require pupils to 
say why we place units of the same denomination in the same 
column, why we carry the tens to the next column, why we 
invert the divisor and multiply. All this is unnecessary and 
wasted energy. Mr. Thorndike is right when he says that in 
all such cases, the good and sufficient reason is that it gets the 
correct answer. 
A third method of expending time injudiciously is by 
trying to secure drill in the fundamental operations, or in 
learning to manipulate the instrument, by requiring children 
to solve a large number of problems of rather a simple nature. 
Success in teaching depends very largely upon our success in 
isolating difficulties, and setting the difficulty to be overcome 
clearly before the pupil. As generally practiced, the giving of 
large numbers of simple problems to the children is done fo: 
three purposes, not for a single one. It is done for the devel- 
oping of the number concept, for learning the fundamental 
operations, and for learning to solve problems. The difficulties 
should be isolated rather than combined. When we are learn- 
ing to manipulate the instrument, the attention should be 
focalized upon the instrument itself. 
A very helpful indication of improvement in the teaching 
of the fundamentals is found in the development of several 
series of practice tests, of which the Courtis Practice Tests and 
the Studebaker tests may be taken as examples. These tests 
are devices for encouraging practice upon the fundamentals 
themselves, and the stimulus to practice is the time in which a 
certain amount can be accomplished. A pupil measures his 
performance each day by his performance of the day before, 
and is thereby induced to concentrate his energies upon the 
attempt to improve his performance. 
The extent to which rapidity and skill in the fundamentals 
can be obtained is almost incredible. In one class, tested by THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC 
45 
the writer on the Courtis tests in fundamentals, one person in 
a second year college class was able to attempt only four of 
the addition problems in eight minutes, and got only one of 
them right. In the same class one other person worked all 
twentyfour of the problems in about six minutes, and express- 
ed the opinion that she believed she could have completed forty 
in the eight minutes allowed. One other person completed the 
twentyfour problems before the eight minutes were up. Both 
of these persons had just completed a course in rapid calcula- 
tion in a business college. But it is to be noticed that all per- 
sons who acquire the degree of skill indicated in the above ex- 
amples did not acquire it by the manipulation of objects, nor 
by the solving of simple problems. The skill was acquired by 
the concentration of the attention upon the adding, subtract- 
ing, multiplying or dividing by itself. 
The degree of expertness in fundamentals is always meas- 
ured or described in terms that involve a time element. How 
many operations can be performed in a specified amount of 
time. It would seem, then, as if this would offer a valuable 
suggestion about the methods to be employed in acquiring skill 
in the manipulation of the instrument. A stop watch will be 
found a valuable instrument for a teacher in teaching the 
fundamentals. 
This consideration justifies the practice, or explains the 
advantage, of such tests as the Courtis tests in measuring the 
ability in fundamentals. The Courtis tests are of four kinds: 
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The test in 
addition consists of 24 examples, each example consisting of 
nine 3 place numbers which are to be added. The ex- 
amples are all of equal difficulty, and the score is the number 
that can be accomplished in eight minutes. In subtraction, 
there are 24 examples, all of equal difficulty, and the score is 
the number that can be accomplished in four minutes. In 
multiplication there are 24 examples, and the score is the num- 
ber that can be accomplished in six minutes. In division there 
are 24 examples, and the score is the number that can be done 
in eight minutes. The standard score for each process is the 
number of examples that ought to be completed in the time 
allowed. This standard score has been obtained by giving these 
tests to many thousand children. Any class that attains the  PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
46 
standard score may be considered as being up to grade. There 
is a steady increase in the standard score for each grade from 
the third to the eighth. 
The Courtis tests represent the most hopeful development 
of arithmetic teaching in recent years. There are many other 
tests in the fundamentals of arithmetic but none that are more 
significant nor better known. The Woody tests represent a 
somewhat different idea. They differ from the Courtis tests 
in the fact that the examples are of unequal degrees of diffi- 
culty, and each example represents a different problem in 
manipulation. They are called diagnostic tests, and by the 
examples which a pupil fails to solve, there is indicated the 
kinds of examples in which drill is needed and will be most 
beneficial. Theoretically this is a very good principle to em- 
body in a test. Practically, it represents the same kind of in- 
congruity that would be manifested in weighing a load of coal 
on a balance that is sensitive to one tenth of a gram. Nearly 
all other tests for measurement in the fundamentals of arith- 
metic are variations of one or the other of these two kinds of 
tests. 
The processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and 
division have a certain relation to each other, but they repre- 
sent altogether different psychological processes. It may be 
true, as many writers have asserted, that addition implies sub- 
traction. But it is distinctly not true that the acquisition of 
skill in addition leads to a correlative degree of skill in sub- 
traction. The two processes have little or nothing in common. 
It may be true that learning to repeat the alphabet forward 
implies its repetition backward; but the learning of it forward 
does not carry with it the ability to say it backward. Neither 
does the committing to memory of the stanza, Twinkle, twinkle, 
little star, carry with it the ability to repeat the same words 
backward. 
One of the important results coming from the experi- 
mental investigations by means of mental and educational 
measurements, has been the demonstration that mathematical 
ability is not one kind of ability, but many kinds. Proficiency 
in one kind of ability is not a guaranty of proficiency in an- 
other kind. The following experiment can be carried out by 
any one: Two classes of students are given a test in subtrac- THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC 
47 
tion. Then one class is thoroughly drilled in addition, until a 
high degree of proficiency has been attained while the other 
class is given no drill in addition. After the conclusion of the 
drill period, both classes are given the test in subtraction. In 
the example reported by Mr. Poffenberger, (Journal of Edu- 
cational Psychology, volume 6, page 459) both classes showed 
a slight improvement in subtraction, but tbe class that had 
had the drill in addition, showed less improvement in subtrac- 
tion than did the class with no drill in addition. This seems 
to indicate that improvement in addition does not improve the 
ability to subtract, and it is only the fact that the difference 
in the ability to subtract, exhibited by the two classes on the 
second trial is so small, that prevents the conclusion being 
drawn that increased ability to add has an inhibiting effect 
upon the ability to subtract. The same thing is true of multi- 
plication and division, and in general we may say that the 
mental processes involved in the four fundamental operations 
are not only not identical, but they have no direct relation to 
each other. 
The general psychological direction, that the manipulation 
of the instrument, the fundamentals, should be learned by the 
following of the rule, without necessarily any demonstration 
of the rule, will apply to any operation which comes under the 
same head. It will apply to the extraction of the square root 
and the cube root and there is no particular objection to in- 
cluding these operations in the elementary school course in 
arithmetic. It is only when we come to study the instrument 
itself, not merely its operation, that we need to know the 
reasons underlying the rules by which it is operated. This 
point is not reached in the course in elementary arithmetic. 
The third process in arithmetic is the solution of problems. 
This is arithmetic proper, and is the part which justifies the 
study put upon the manipulation of the instrument, and which 
makes necessary a knowledge of how to handle the decimal 
notation. It is in this part that .nearly all the improvement in 
arithmetic teaching has been made, which justifies the asser- 
tion that it has improved 200 per cent in the past thirty years. 
The former method of solving problems in arithmetic was 
by an application of a rule. In teaching, the children were 
required first to learn the rule, and then to apply it to the solu- 48 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
tion of illustrative problems. The Rule of Three is a good ex- 
ample of the kind of rules which once constituted the principal 
feature of arithmetic study. The Rule of Three may be stated 
as follows: Place for the third term the number that is of the 
same denomination as that required in the answer. Then con- 
sider from the nature of the question, whether the answer 
should be greater than the third term or less. If it should be 
greater, place the larger of the remaining two numbers for 
the second term and the smaller for the first. Multiply the 
second and third terms together and divide by the first. The 
quotient will be the answer. 
The rule of Position, both single and double position, was 
another famous rule. The rule of Double Position is stated in 
Pike's arithmetic as follows: Take any two convenient num- 
bers (in some books this is described by saying Choose your 
positions) and proceed with each according to the conditions 
of the question. 2-Place the errors against their positions, 
or suppositions, thus (X) and if the error be too great, mark 
it plus. If too small, mark it minus. 3-Multiply them cross- 
wise, that is, the first position by the last error, and the last 
position by the first error. 4-If the errors be alike, that is 
both too small, or both too great, divide the difference of the 
products by the difference of the errors, and the quotient will 
be the answer. 5-If the errors be unlike, that is one too small 
and one too great, divide the sum of the products by the sum 
of the errors and the quotient will be the answer. While both 
the rule of Three and the rule of Position were dropped from 
arithmetics generally about 1840, the idea of solving problems 
by rule persisted until about 1880 or 1890, and we still see 
traces of it. In Pike's arithmetic, the leading authority upon 
arithmetic until about 1825, there are given more than 200 
rules for solving various kinds of problems. A large part of 
the skill in arithmetic consisted in selecting the proper rule by 
which to work any particular problem. 
At present, problems are not solved by rule. Problems are 
solved by a direct perception of the relations involved among 
the quantities in the problem. The perception of relations con- 
stitutes reasoning, and the solution of problems constitutes an 
exercise in reasoning, which the old method of solving by rule 
did not do. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC 
49 
It is interesting to notice that about 1821 Warren Colburn 
published an arithmetic called First Lessons, which became the 
forerunner of a large number of Mental Arithmetics. It was 
received with tremendous enthusiasm, and many persons be- 
lieved that it constituted a revolution in arithmetic teaching. 
Its influence died out after twentyfive of thirty years, and the 
present improvement originated from another source. 
The distinctive features of Warren Colburn's method em- 
bodied in his First Lessons were three. First, he used prob- 
lems with small numbers. Many persons were unable to see 
beyond this feature, and mental arithmetic came to be con- 
trasted with written arithmetic in the fact that in mental 
arithmetic small numbers that did not need to be written down 
were used, while written arithmetic was a man's sized subject 
demanding written figures. Really, small numbers may in- 
volve relations of the same nature as those existing between 
large numbers and the reasoning practice may be just as valu- 
able. There is no real justification for a preference for prob- 
lems involving large numbers over problems involving small 
numbers, among which the same relations exist. 
But it was not the smallness of the numbers that consti- 
tuted the most distinguishing feature of Warren Colburn's 
arithmetic. He used no rules, but all problems were solved by 
the direct perception of relations. The importance of this 
feature was generally unrecognized, and written arithmetic 
continued to employ rules for solving problems. 
The third feature of Colburn's method was that he did not 
re or permit problems to be studied outside of the class, 
he work had to be done in the class. In these days when 
advantages of supervised study have been so fully de- 
ed, we can see that this condition was one of the things 
contributed a great deal to the success of Colburn's meth- 
Then, too, any one who has investigated the methods of 
ting pupils to perceive relations can understand how im- 
int is the direction and assistance of the teacher, in solv- 
>roblems by this method, without any rules. 
The method of measuring the results of teaching in arith- 
cal reasoning, or the solution of problems is well under- 
l. Several well standardized scales have been devised, and 
generally used. The method consists essentially of the se- 50 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
lection of a series of problems, and the difficulty of each prob- 
lem is measured. The pupil's score consists of the sum of the 
values of each problem solved. In some scales there is a time 
limit, and in others the pupil is expected to have all the time 
necessary to solve all the problems that are within the range 
of his capacity. 
The Stone arithmetic tests are among the best known. 
This test consists of twelve problems, of unequal degrees of 
difficulty, and different amounts of credit are assigned to the 
different problems to correspond to their different degrees of 
difficulty. The first five problems are each assigned a credit 
of 1. The sixth is assigned a credit of 1.4, the seventh and 
eighth a credit of 1.6 each, the remaining four problems are al- 
lowed a credit of 2 each. The time allowance is fifteen minutes. 
Starch's test in arithmetical reasoning is of a similar na- 
ture, although Mr. Starch has arranged the problems in the 
order of difficulty, and the score is expected to be the number 
of the last problem solved. The pupil is allowed all the time 
necessary. The difficulty of each problem has been measured 
independently, and Starch's scale may be used, by placing a 
time limit on it, in exactly the same manner as the Stone test 
is used. 
There are many other standardized test for arithmetical 
reasoning, but these two will illustrate the general process em- 
ployed in the development of any such test. 
The fourth part of arithmetic is the part that is chiefly 
responsible for the greater portion of the wasted and unprofit- 
able time devoted to it. This is the part that is variously de- 
scribed as practical arithmetic, everyday arithmetic, or appli- 
cations of arithmetic. In some of the older books, although 
comparatively modern, the following rules, or list of topics 
might be found: Compound or denominate numbers, including- 
tables of linear measure, cloth measure, square measure, cubic 
measure, Troy weight, apothecaries weight, avoirdupois weight, 
dry measure, wine or liquid measure, ale or beer measure, 
time measure, circular measure, longitude .and time, duodeci- 
mals, exchange of currencies, interest, compound interest, bant, 
discount, true discount, insurance, duties and taxes, partial 
payments, partnership with time, stocks and bonds, commis - 
sion and brokerage. While this may not be an exact list of THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC 
51 
topics in any one of the present day arithmetics, there is 
enough of a similar nature to make this rather a typical list. 
Older books, such as Pike's arithmetic referred to above,, 
and its successors, included many things that have been drop- 
ped from present day arithmetics, no doubt with great regret 
on the part of many persons who had learned them. These 
older books included problems on all the mechanical powers, 
the lever, wheel and axle, inclined plane, specific gravity, the 
lifting power of balloons, problems on the pendulum, on the 
barometer, on chronology, including problems on how to find 
the day of the week for any day of the month in any year, to 
find the time of Easter, to find the dominical letter, the cycle 
of the sun, the year of the indiction, the golden number, and 
many others of a similar nature. In fact, the best of the old 
arithmetics was a thesaurus of general information, introduced 
to permit the pupil to have an opportunity to apply the arith- 
metical knowledge he had been acquiring. 
Although we have dropped out of our arithmetics many of 
the things once taught, and those subjects seem strange to us, 
because they are no longer taught in school, our practical 
arithmetics still partake of the encyclopedic character that the 
older book? manifested so completely. Under the name of prac- 
tical arithmetic, we still teach things beyond the experience of 
the child, defending the practice upon the ground that it will 
be a good thing for him to know it sometime, and it furnishes 
him an opportunity to apply his arithmetical knowledge. 
The long series- of chapters included under the name of 
applications of percentage includes the chief offenders against 
good judgment. Percentage is easy and enjoyable for children, 
but the applications of percentage constitutes a dreary night- 
mare in the experience of most of the children who have 
studied arithmetic. Better far are square root, cube root, 
greatest common divisor, least common multiple, than are com- 
pound interest, bank discount, partial payments, and insur- 
ance. Square root and cube root give some knowledge of the 
properties of number. Bank discount gives no knowledge of 
the properties of number, but is only supposed to give some 
information totally foreign to arithmetic, about the way in 
which men do some kinds of business. 
There are few subjects in school whose proposed elimina- 52 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
tion would cause a greater shock than that of simple interest. 
But for the benefit of the children who study arithmetic, sim- 
ple interest is one of the first things that should be eliminated. 
It should be eliminated because the ideas underlying interest 
are foreign to the experience of the children themselves. Few 
children in school ever have any occasion to pay interest, and 
fewer still will have occasion to draw interest from any one 
else. The direct receiving and paying of interest is about as 
far removed from the experiences of children as is the year of 
the Roman indiction; and they have about as much need to 
know how to compute interest as they do to know how to cal- 
culate the date of Easter. It is unwise, to say the least, to 
try to give children experiences in the present whose meaning 
and need only perhaps may come to them ten years in the 
future. 
Besides, this, the real method of computing interest, em- 
ployed by all persons who have occasion to compute it as a 
practical matter, is to use a set of interest tables. What we 
actually do in school is to teach the child the things which it is 
necessary for him to know if he should ever want to compute 
an interest table. 
We have become able to relegate the problems of specific 
gravity, the pendulum, the lever and inclined plane to the sub- 
ject of physics. We can leave the problems about the moon 
and the calendar to astronomy. We ought to be able to leave 
the problems in the applications of percentage to business or 
commercial arithmetic, and make them a part of vocational 
training. 
There is abundant experience in the child's life to furnish 
material for the application of all his arithmetical knowledge. 
Arithmetic is not the place in school for the acquisition of new 
experiences solely for the sake of furnishing the pupil an op- 
portunity to apply his knowledge of arithmetical processes. 
By eliminating the dead wood from arithmetic, and mak- 
ing an application of psychological principles to the learning 
the manipulation of the instrument, and to the solution of 
problems, we shall find it possible to give children a better 
knowledge of number in three years of school than they now 
get in seven or eight. The fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, or THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARITHMETIC 
53 
the fifth, sixth and seventh grades are sufficient for the study 
of arithmetic. 
COLLATERAL READING 
1-J. M. Rice, Causes of Success and Failure in the Schools, 
Forum, volume 34, p. 281 and 437. Two articles. 
2-C. W. Stone, Arithmetical Abilities and Some Factors 
Determining them. 
3-Starch, Educational Measurement, p. 114-131. 
4-Monroe, DeVoss and Kelley, Educational Tests and 
Measurements, p. 17-65. 
5-Freeman, Psychology of the Common Branches, p. 
179-209. 54 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
The following text books have proved very useful in il- 
lustrating the changing conceptions of arithmetic, and the 
direction in which improvement has been made. The order is 
that of publication and the year is the approximate date. 
1-Pike, Arithmetic, 1785. 
2-Dilworth, Schoolmasters Assistant, 1791. 
3-Daboil, Schoolmasters Assistant, 1799. 
4-Adams, Scholar's Arithmetic, 1801. 
5-Finlay, Arithmetical Magazine, 1803. 
6-Vyse, Tutor's Guide, 1806. 
7-Douglass, Arithmetical Illustrator, 1809. 
8-Webber, Arithmetic, 1812. 
9-Lacroix, Arithmetic, 1818. 
10-Burritt, Loganthmick Arithmetick, 1818. 
11-Warren Colburn, First Lessons, 1821. 
12-Warren Colburn, Sequel, 1829. 
13-Smith, Arithmetic, 1829. 
14-Stockton, Western Calculator, 1832. 
15-Emerson, North American Arithmetic, part 2, 1832. 
16-Emerson, North American Arithmetic, part 3, 1834. 
17-Ray, Key to Ray's Third Part, 1845. 
18-Rose, Practical Arithmetic, 1848. 
19-Stoddard, American Intellectual, 1849. 
20-Davies, University Arithmetic, 1850. 
21-Dodd, Elementary and Practical, 1854. 
22-Ray's Higher Arithmetic, 1856. 
23-Ray's Intellectual Arithmetic, 1857. 
24-Ray's Practical, or Third Part, 1860. 
25-Robinson, Progressive Higher, 1860. 
26-Orton, Lightning Calculator, 1866. 
27-French, Arithmetic, 1869. CHAPTER IV 
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 
The most important subject in school is reading, and it is 
the most difficult to teach. It occupies about one fourth of all 
the time that a pupil spends in school, and there is room for 
much improvement in its teaching. However, there has been 
so much improvement that it is perhaps not an exaggeration 
to say that the teaching of reading has improved five hundred 
per cent in the past thirty years. 
Reading was formerly regarded as the pronouncing the 
words on the printed page, and this is the notion with which, 
usually, young children begin their reading experience. This 
definition of reading was rendered almost inevitable by the 
practice of teaching children to read by tbe alphabet and other 
synthetic methods. Later, teachers tried to have their children 
actualize the definition that reading is talking from a book, 
which was intended to emphasize the naturalness of the ex- 
pression. Other teachers adopted the definition that reading 
is getting the thought of the author, which definition was in- 
tended to emphasize silent reading. We may modify it to ad- 
vantage by leaving out the idea of the author, and say that 
silent reading is getting thought, not the thought, from the 
printed page. Perhaps it would be a more satisfactory state- 
ment to say that silent reading is putting ourselves into such 
relations that thought will be aroused in us by the words on 
the printed page. In the same way we must define oral read- 
ing as expressing the thought that it aroused in us by the 
words on the printed page. 
This form of the definition is in harmony with the princi- 
ple of apperception which shows that we learn anything by 
means of the related knowledge which we already possess, and 
which is technically known as the apperceiving mass. Notice 
that in this definition it is not the author's thought that is ex- 
pressed, nor is it the thought on the printed page that is ex- 
pressed. It is the pupil's own thought. Reading is always the 
expression of the reader's thought, not the thought of the 
author, except as the two may happen to coincide. The thought 56 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
that is aroused in the reader by the words on the printed page 
will be determined in very large part by his knowledge and 
previous experience. 
Thinking consists of the perception of the relations. Read- 
ing demands the perception of relations between the ideas that 
we already have and new ideas which the words express. If 
we do not have a group of related ideas, and if the relations 
between them and the new ideas which the words express are 
not perceived, then we can get no meaning and we cannot be 
said to read. But this perception of relations is exactly the 
process which we employ in the solution of problems in arith- 
metic. We solve problems by the perception of the relations 
between the quantities involved in the problem. It is the same 
thing in the analysis of a sentence in grammar. Analysis of a 
sentence in grammar consists in the perception of the relations 
that exist between the elements of a sentence. Thus we see 
that good reading, the solution of problems in arithmetic, and 
the analysis of sentences in grammar all involve the same 
identical process, the perception of relations. This accounts 
for the fact that a pupil who is really a good reader is not 
likely to experience any difficulty in learning arithmetic, nor 
in his lessons in grammar. It is this fact also, that justifies 
the statement that reading is the most important subject in 
the curriculum. It is also the most difficult, because it is a 
difficult process to teach a child to perceive relations. 
We may readily distinguish primary from advanced read- 
ing. Primary reading is that kind of reading in which the 
attention of the learner is concentrated upon the process it- 
self, while advanced reading may be described as the kind in 
which the attention is centered, not so much upon the process 
of reading itself, as upon the result of the reading. Primary 
reading is the process of learning to read while advanced read- 
ing is rather reading to learn. Primary reading may roughly 
be considered as the reading that is taught in the first three 
grades, and advanced reading may be thought of as the read- 
ing that is taught in the grades four to eight. 
The five hundred per cent improvement in the teaching of 
reading has almost all of it been made in primary reading. 
Not all teaching of primary reading is equally good today, and 
in fact there is much poor teaching in this subject, but con- THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 
57 
trasting the teaching of primary reading with that of forty 
years ago, it would seem that the practice of the best teachers 
of primary reading is susceptible to but little improvement. 
There is the problem for every new teacher to learn what is 
the practice of the best teachers, and a knowledge of the psy- 
chology of the subject is necessary for learning what that prac- 
tice is. 
The revolution in the teaching of reading came with the 
development and very general adoption of the word method. 
The word method was devised and practiced to a limited ex- 
tent before, but it did not come into general use until about 
1880. After that date its adoption was rapid. Before that 
time the alphabet method was the one commonly used, and 
lingering examples of its use can still be found. 
The alphabet method was one in which the children were 
required first to learn the names of the letters of the alphabet, 
usually in two forms, capitals and small letters. After the 
letters had been learned, they were combined into syllables. 
Then the syllables were grouped together into words, and the 
whole word was recognized. Thoughtful teachers would have 
the children begin to spell words and syllables as soon as a 
sufficient number of letters had been learned to make up short 
syllables. The syllables were learned by spelling them, or nam- 
ing the letters that entered into their composition. After the 
letters had been named, the syllables were pronounced, and 
the naming of the letters was supposed to lead, in some way, 
to a knowledge of the syllables. The recognition of the syl- 
lables was the purpose sought. There was .no thought of mean- 
ing attached to the syllables. 
The syllables learned at first were such syllable as a-b, ab; 
e-b, eb; i-b, ib, o-b, ob; u-b, ub. Then the process was re- 
versed and such syllables were learned as b-a, ba; b-e, be; 
b-i, bi; b-o, bo; b-u, bu; b-y, by. The first reading lessons 
were such sentences as the following, taken from Webster's 
Elementary Spelling Book: 
go on I am on do we go up 
go in I am in we do go up 
go up we go up is it an ax 
an ox up we go it is an ax 
an ax is by me 58 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
Ultimately, after practice on syllables and words of two 
letters, the children were introduced to three-letter words, and 
sentences of such words as the following were read: 
She fed the old hen 
The old hen was fed by her 
I met him in the lot 
The arguments always advanced for the alphabet method 
were that learning the letters of the .alphabet furnished a key 
to the reading of the entire English language. It was argued 
that one letter was one twentysixth of the language, and that 
the letters gave command of the entire vocabulary. The rea- 
soning was logical, but it was not psychological. The alphabet 
method was founded upon adult logic and not upon child psy- 
chology. It is not difficult to prove that no child did really 
learn to read by the alphabet method. It was not the recog- 
nizing nor naming of the letters of the word or syllables that 
enabled him subsequently to recognize and pronounce the syl- 
lable or word. The naming of the letters was rather .an ob- 
struction than a help. It was the perception of the syllable or 
the word itself that induced the subsequent recognition. We 
now know that a larger number of words and syllables could 
have been learned in the same length of time without the spell- 
ing than in connection with it. 
Neither did the spelling of the word provide any assist- 
ance in making out new combinations. The child taught by 
the alphabet method was as helpless before a new and unex- 
perienced combination as is a child taught by the word method. 
This was recognized by many teachers, and the responsibility 
was laid upon the non-phonetic character of the alphabet. Con- 
sequently, the phonic method was devised, which instead of 
using the letter names, used the letter sounds in learning the 
alphabet. Otherwise, the principles were the same as those 
exemplified by the alphabet method. 
A difficulty in the phonic method was recognized in the 
fact that while the English alphabet had only 26 letters, these 
letters were required to represent about 43 different sounds. 
It was argued that a much more logical method would be to 
devise a single character for every sound, and this led to the 
adoption of the phonetic method. The only real distinction be- 
tween the alphabet method and the phonetic method was in THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 
59 
this fact of the more numerous characters to represent the 43 
sounds, and each phonetic character being known by its sound 
instead of its name. 
There are fundamentally only two methods of teaching 
reading, the synthetic and the analytic. The alphabet, phonic 
and phonetic methods are synthetic methods. They begin with 
the parts, or the simplest elements, which are learned indepen- 
dently, and build them up into larger wholes which express 
thought. The synthetic method keeps constantly the expres- 
sion before the thought. The thought comes last, and follows 
the expression. 
The analytic method begins with the thought, learns its 
expression, and separates that expression into its simpler ele- 
ments. A synthetic method begins with the letters, builds the 
letters into syllables, combines the syllables into words, the 
words into sentences, and then recognizes the thought which 
the sentence expresses. The analytic method begins with the 
thought, learns the expression of that thought, separates the 
sentence which expresses the thought into words, the words 
into syllables, and the syllables into letters. It keeps the 
thought before the expression. 
Concerning the merits of the two classes of methods, there 
can be but one opinion. An analytic method is psychologically 
the only one admissible. Practically, an analytic method will 
always produce better results than will any synthetic method 
when both are taught with equal skill and confidence. 
The word method begins with the whole word, and the 
word must always be one for which the child has a meaning. 
There must be a thought in the child's mind for which the 
word is an expression. It must be a word that is already in 
the child's vocabulary. The sentence method in which all the 
words of a sentence are taught at the same time is even better, 
because a sentence more completely expresses a thought than 
does a word. The first sentences for reading are expressions 
of the child's thought which they themselves have used. 
It is as easy for a child to recognize and learn an entire 
word as it is to learn a single letter. Children in reading rec- 
ognize words as wholes, never as combinations of different 
letters. The words are recognized as word forms, and not as 
letter combinations. It takes no longer for a child to recog- 60 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
nize an entire word than it does to recognize a single letter. 
An experiment conducted by the writer showed that the per- 
son who was experimented with as subject, could recognize 
the letters of the alphabet in the average time of 42 thous- 
andths of a second. It required only 27 thousandths of a 
second to recognize 1, while it took 81 thousandths to recog- 
nize x. Twentyfive words, averaging about four letters to a 
word, were recognized in the average time of 48 thousandths 
of a second, only three thousandths of a second longer than to 
recognize the single letters. The word this was recognized in 
25 thousandths, a shorter time than any single letter, while 
the word black taking longer than any other word, was recog- 
nized in 71 thousandths, a shorter time than was required to 
recognize the single letter x. To recognize thirteen sentences 
of about four words and fifteen letters each, required on an 
average about 87 thousandths of a second, only 8 thousandths 
of a second longer than to recognize the single letter x. The 
longest time was 115 thousandths of a second, required to rec- 
ognize the sentence The birds build nests. The shortest time 
was 60 thousandths of a second, required to recognize the sent- 
ence Winter has come. 
It is now well known that in reading the eye does not 
move at a uniform rate of speed from one end of the Une to 
the other, but that it makes short pauses, and skips from the 
focus of one pause to the next. The reading all seems to be 
done in the interval of the pause. It seems also that as much 
as can be fixated in the interval of one pause can be recog- 
nized in about the same interval of time. 
The principal objection that the advocates of any syn- 
thetic method of teaching reading make to an analytic method, 
is that the analytic method does not give to the child any 
special power over new words. They believe that the child 
taught by an analytic method is unable to make out the pro- 
nunciation of a new word, while a synthetic method will enable 
him to do so. This fact that the synthetic methods enable a 
child to make out the pronunciation of a new word is regarded 
by its advocates as the chief recommendation of a synthetic 
method. 
The objection lays too much emphasis upon the pronun- 
ciation of a new word. Compared with the thought which the THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 
61 
word expresses, the pronunciation is of relatively little value. 
Almost all methods that lay emphasis upon the pronunciation 
of new words almost invariably neglect the thought. Besides 
this, grown up persons do not depend upon their ability to 
make out new words in reading, but they either consult a dic- 
tionary, or ask some one else who is already familiar with the 
word how it is pronounced. No person feels confident of his 
pronunciation of a new word until he has done one or the other 
of these two things. The single letters give but little clue to 
pronunciation of an unfamiliar combination. Besides this, the 
word or sentence method does not leave a pupil absolutely help- 
less in making out the pronunciation of a new word. New 
words are learned by the analogy to other words, although to 
make out new words for which no meaning is apparent is not 
a highly valuable acquisition. 
The fundamental principle in teaching reading, always and 
invariably is that the reading must be an expression of the 
thought. In the case of primary reading, where the children 
are learning to read, the thought must be in the minds of the 
children before the reading is attempted. There must be a 
real thought. This principle is violated in every example of 
teaching the children to read by the alphabet method, and it 
is not greatly different in the phonic, phonetic, or other syn- 
thetic method. 
^Advanced reading is that kind of reading which goes be- 
yond the experience of the children, and children learn things 
from their reading while they read. This kind of reading be- 
gins to be prominent about the age of the third or fourth 
grade. There is a very noticeable difference between primary 
and advanced reading. In primary reading the thought is ex- 
perienced before the words are read, while in advanced read- 
ing the thought must be aroused by the words themselves. 
Consequently, the teacher's most difficult problem is to cause 
the thought to be aroused by the words on the printed page. 
When the thought is aroused, vivid, vigorous and clear, it will 
easily find expression. 
Good reading demands adequate thought. The practical 
problem with every teacher of reading is how shall this ade- 
quate thought be aroused, and how do we get meaning from 
what is read? According to the doctrine of apperception, we 62 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
learn a new thing by means of the apperceiving mass, or the 
things that we already know. This doctrine states a profound 
truth, although this may not be at all the best way to express 
it. The meaning of anything consists in the relations that it 
holds to something else. A thing has no meaning if it is out 
of all relations to everything else. It is only when we per- 
ceive the relations that it holds to something else that the 
thing comes to have a meaning for us. 
The most general meaning we can give to the term rela- 
tion is to say that it is the likeness or difference between two 
ideas. The likeness or difference may exist in any one of a 
great many qualities, but whenever we are perceiving a like- 
ness or a difference in any quality, we are perceiving relation. 
Consequently, in order that anything we are reading shall have 
any meaning for us it must be associated with something else 
that we already know in such a way that relations shall be 
perceived. Meaning consists in the associations that are 
formed. 
The older books on reading used to give a list of words 
with their definitions at the beginning of every lesson. Some 
books advertised themselves by saying that every word used 
in the lessons was defined in the book. But such definitions 
had little value. We get the meaning of words by perceiving 
the relations in which they are used in the reading. We get 
the meaning of a word by perceiving the similarities between 
the uses that are made of it in many sentences. 
Meaning then, is obtained from associations with some- 
thing else that is already known. There must be time enough 
for the associations to form themselves, and there must be a 
sufficient number of vivid ideas that are related to the ones 
expressed by the words to be read so that associations can 
readily be forme'd. Without these associations, no ideas will 
be aroused, and no meanings will be obtained. 
The first thing, then, in teaching a reading lesson is to 
obtain a sufficient number of related ideas. All the circum- 
stances involved in the selection for reading must be clearly 
in the mind of the child. If the selection for reading is an 
extract from a larger whole, the larger whole should have been 
read, or should have been described by the teacher. All allu- 
sions should be known and their significance fully recognized. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 
63 
Compared with these things, the definitions and pronunciation 
of the words are relatively unimportant, although these are 
the things on which usually the most emphasis is placed. 
Whether a child gets this adequate setting for the arous- 
ing of thought or not depends largely upon the teacher. The 
teacher who does not herself have the kind of elaborate knowl- 
edge of the circumstances and related ideas suggested above, 
cannot teach a lesson very successfully. A teacher will find 
that she can teach some selections in a book more successfully 
than others, but it is not likely that a teacher can teach very 
successfully a large number. It is in the assignment that the 
teacher can do most to assure good reading. The assignment 
must always take on the form of the study of the lesson by 
both teacher and pupils. There is but little value in assigning 
a lesson in reading to be studied by the pupils alone. 
Few teachers are aware of the ludicrous misapprehensions 
that children get in their reading lessons. Any person who 
will read over the lessons he read at school when he was a 
child is likely to recognize many examples of this kind. The 
present writer remembers that when he was reading in the 
Speech of Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, that the expression, "I 
now rejoice at the beams of peace," always brought up the 
image of the beams overhead in his father's barn. So in Mrs. 
Sigourney's poem of the Dying Boy, the directions that he gave 
about his grave, "Plant there some box or pine," always sug- 
gested to him that it was a typographical error, and that it 
should have read, box of pine. The image of the box was that 
of a drygoods box, which in his observational experience was 
always made of pine lumber. Why the Dying Boy wanted a 
dry goods box stuck down at the head of his grave was incom- 
prehensible, but there it was plainly stated in the book, and 
there was no going behind the returns. 
With some persons the associations take the form of vivid 
visual images which are projected out in space, and which seem 
as vivid as real objects would be. From a list of 35 cases de- 
scribed to me by the individuals who experienced them I may 
abstract the following accounts which will represent the typ- 
ical characteristics: Miss Clarissa F. visualizes everything that 
she reads. In reading Hiawatha, she clearly sees the scenes 
and the characters of the story. She feels herself to be in the 64 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
middle of the situation, and the scenes are real and all around 
her. The images that she sees do not appear as pictures, but 
are real objects, and perfectly clear. She describes them as 
being 100 per cent as bright as the real objects would be. 
Color occurs in all of them, and the colors are the natural colors 
of the objects represented. She describes them as more real 
than pictures. She does not like to have pictures in books, and 
says that she enjoys reading more than going to a moving 
picture show, because she has a clearer succession of more 
beautiful pictures than the show represents. 
Miss Helen H. visualizes everything that she reads, and 
she reads very slowly in order that the pictures shall have time 
to pass along. She does not like to have pictures in books, be- 
cause the pictures are not likely to correspond to the scenes 
that she projects, and when such is the case, she does not like 
the book. The images that she projects do not seem to be pic- 
tures, but images of real things, objects which she perceives. 
She believes they are at least 75 per cent as bright as real ob- 
jects would be under the same conditions. When reading, she 
loses the details of the story, and watches the changing scenes 
that are projected. 
The two examples above are rather typical. Variations 
exist among the different accounts. In some, the projected 
images appear to be pictures, and not real objects. In some 
cases, the images are projected upon the pages of the book that 
is being read, or just at the top of the page. In other cases, 
the images are projected upon a background of some familiar 
locality. The brightness varies according to different esti- 
mates, from fifty per cent as bright as the real objects would 
be to 100 per cent. Some like to have pictures in books and 
others do not. Whenever the experiment is tried, an after 
image of the projected object is seen. Nearly all agree in the 
statement that they do not understand how any one can enjoy 
reading who is unable to project images of the things he is 
reading about. 
The phenomena of projected images in reading have been 
but little studied, but it appears to be one very effective way 
in which some highly favored persons get meaning from what 
they read. It appears that four or five persons in every hun- 
dred get the meaning in this way. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 
65 
There is another theory of meaning in reading that can 
best be discussed in the light of an examination of the phe- 
nomena of lip moving. In the beginning of silent reading, 
there is nearly always a strong tendency to move the lips, 
which in some of the least skillful readers is never completely 
overcome. This tendency for a muscular contraction to accom- 
pany every mental process furnishes the principal basis for the 
theory that some kind of a muscular movement is an essential 
condition for every mental process. The theory assumes that 
every nervous impulse must originate in some sense organ, 
pass through a brain center, and terminate in some muscle 
producing movement before there can be a mental process. 
Following this theory to its logical conclusion some students of 
the psychology of reading assert that the actual meaning of 
what is read consists of certain contractions in expressive mus- 
cles, especially in the vocal organs and muscles of the throat. 
Mr. Huey in his Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading adopts 
this view (page 167) where he says: "We may safely conclude 
then, that meanings in reading are mainly feeling reactions 
and motor attitudes attaching most intimately to, and fused 
with, the inner utterance of the words, and especially of the 
sentences that are read." 
There is absolutely nothing to commend this view, nor 
the psychological theory upon which it is based. Neither has 
any support in fact, except the fact that whenever there is a 
mental process there is likely to be some muscular contraction, 
or some tendency toward contraction. But this accompanying 
muscular contraction cannot be taken as evidence of the theory 
unless it can be shown that such theory is the only possible, 
or at least the best theory for its explanation. 
The theory that meanings in reading consists of muscular 
contractions and tendencies toward contraction in the vocal 
organs reduces to absurdity when we call to mind the fact of 
lip moving. If meanings are muscular contractions, the lip 
mover gets the best meanings, which is not generally allowed 
to be the case. The lip movement is something to be discour- 
aged and overcome, not perhaps because it interferes with the 
reading and the comprehension, but because it is an indicator 
ol a lack of skill in reading. The lip movement may be ex- 66 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
plained in the way that any other expression of feeling is ex- 
plained. 
When we are reading, .a nervous impulse is traversing 
some brain center. If this brain center has not been trav- 
ersed a great many times, that is if the reader is not skillful, 
it is likely to offer a certain amount of resistance to the trans- 
mission of the impulse. This resistance causes the impulse to 
overflow into the motor centers, and the movement of the lips 
follows. As the reader becomes more skillful, and impulses 
traverse the brain centers a greater number of times, the re- 
sistance deceases and the movements of the lips become less 
conspicuous. 
Consequently, we may safely take the ground that these 
muscular movements, completed in lip moving, or incipient in 
slight movements scarcely detectable, are not meanings, but 
rather the contradictory of meanings. The real meanings are 
the associations with related ideas, concomitants of nervous 
impulses passing through other than the motor centers. With 
a given amount of nervous energy, the less of muscular move- 
ment, or tendency toward the same, that there is, the clearer 
the meanings will be. The lip mover is not so good a reader as 
he would be if he did not move his lips, or as he will be after 
he has become able to read without moving his lips. 
There are two kinds of reading that ought to be discrim- 
inated, oral and silent reading. Up till recent years, reading, 
as used in any discussion such as this, meant altogether oral 
reading. Recently much emphasis has been placed upon silent 
reading, and it is now much favored over oral reading. 
The principal claim made for silent reading as an improve- 
ment over oral reading is that silent reading can be carried on 
much more rapidly than can oral, and it is believed that there 
is a direct relation between rapidity of reading and the amount 
of thought that can be aroused, or the amount of comprehen- 
sion, or the amount that can be retained after one reading. 
Experiment seems to confirm this. One experiment from the 
writer's classes will illustrate the relation. A difficult selection 
for reading was furnished to the class, and all of them were 
told to read silently as much as they could in one minute. The 
number of words read averaged 223, with 188 for the smallest 
number, and 298 for the largest. Then all were asked to an- THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 
67 
swer as many as they could of ten questions upon the first 
paragraph. The number of correct answers ranged from 1 to 
8, and in general, the persons who answered the largest num- 
ber of questions were the persons who had read the largest 
number of words. The one who answered 8 of the questions 
was the one who had read 298 words. The coefficient of cor- 
relation between the number of correct answers and the num- 
ber of words read was plus .250, which means that if a person 
had read more than the average number of words the chances 
were about five to three that he would also answer more than 
the average number of questions. The experiment was not 
altogether satisfactory, because the material was too difficult,, 
and the coefficient of correlation was too low to be decisive. 
The advantage in favor of the rapid reader in this experi- 
ment is rendered more emphatic by the fact that the questions 
were all asked from the first paragraph, which all had read, 
and which was about the limit of what the slowest reader had 
done. If the questions had been extended over the entire 
amount that the most rapid reader had read, the advantage in 
favor of the most rapid reader would have been very much 
greater. 
The reason for the superiority of the rapid readers over 
the slow readers has not been satisfactorily explained. Many 
persons have assumed from the face of the returns, that rapid 
reading is the cause of the greater comprehension, and have 
proposed to increase the effectiveness of the reading by in- 
creasing the rate. The conclusion does not seem justified by 
any evidence that is available, but the demonstrable explana- 
tion has not yet been worked out. 
There will always be a place for oral reading. Leaving 
out of consideration the pleasure derived from listening to 
elocutionary effects, oral reading is an important aid in teach- 
ing beginners to read. It is the most certain and the most con- 
venient method of expressing to the teacher the adequacy of 
thought that is aroused in the mind of the child by the words 
on the printed page. In teaching children the first lessons in 
reading, it would seem almost imperative, although some teach- 
ers have accomplished the task of teaching beginners to read 
without any oral reading. 
The method needs to be explained and we may take the 68 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
following example as an illustration: On a chart were a num- 
ber of simple sentences so selected that each sentence was a 
direction to do something. Such sentences as: 
Bounce the ball 
Take three steps 
Open the window 
The teacher pointed to one sentence and the child who 
was then designated to do so, performed the action. By many 
such repetitions the children became familiar with the written 
words which conveyed the direction. It was a tedious and 
slow process, and it seemed to the writer that it could have 
been performed much better and much more readily by oral 
speech. 
There is no aspect of reading work that has suffered more 
from an inadequate or false psychology than that of expres- 
sion. Not only has it been believed that expression could be 
taught by rule, but it has been held as a fundamental doctrine 
that there was an appropriate gesture, or a particular tone of 
voice, a peculiar emphasis and a proper inflection naturally 
and inevitably associated with particular words and phrases. 
The more nearly the teacher could get the children to approxi- 
mate these naturally associated inflections and gestures the 
more satisfactory the reading would be. 
The books that were used as textbooks in reading not very 
many years ago were filled up with rules for reading. Such 
rules as the following were common. When we come to a 
period we should stop long enough to count four and should 
let the voice fall. When we come to a semicolon, we should 
stop long enough to count two and let the voice fall. When 
we come to a comma we should stop long enough to count one 
and keep the voice up. A direct question demands the rising 
inflection. An indirect question demands the falling inflection. 
Every member of a commencing series should have the falling 
inflection except the last, which should have the rising inflec- 
tion. Every member of a concluding series should have the 
falling inflection except the last but one, which alone requires 
the rising inflection. 
All such rules are worse than useless. Scarcely better is 
that kind of oral reading in which there is deliberate and in- 
tentional drill for expression. When the attention of the read- THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 
69 
er is centered upon the expression, it ceases to be an expres- 
sion of thought and becomes the thing itself. 
We like to have children in reading give proper emphasis 
and inflection, with animated manner. These things are in- 
dications of an abundance of nervous energy which is one of 
the essential conditions of clear ideas and vivid thought. If 
there is an abundance of nervous energy, the thought is likely 
to be clear and the strong nervous impulse will overflow into 
the expression centers. The proper expression is an indication 
to us that the pupil is getting an adequate thought, or that 
an adequate thought is being aroused in the mind of the pupil. 
It is the most effective means we have of judging how ade- 
quate is the thought that the pupil is getting. To have the 
pupil answer questions, or tell the story in his own words is a 
crude and unsatisfactory method of letting the teacher know 
how adequate and sufficient is the thought compared with the 
information we get from the child's oral reading. 
Good reading is that kind of reading which is an expres- 
sion of a clear vigorous thought. A clear vivid thought is the 
concomitant of a strong nervous impulse, and this clear ideav 
will find an expression, according to the law of dynamogenesis 
Unless the impulse is strong and vigorous, the thought will 
be weak and inaccurate. A strong nervous impulse will al* 
ways encounter more or less resistance. This resistance hal 
at least two effects. One is that more or less feeling is likely 
to be aroused, and the other is that the impulse is likely to 
overflow into the motor centers, and the muscles of the face, 
hands and the whole body are likely to contract, and move in 
consequence of this overflow. So we have learned to associate, 
unconsciously, this expression of voice, facial muscles, free 
movement of the hands and arms with clear vigorous thought, 
since all of these things are conditioned upon the same circum- 
stance, that of a strong, vigorous nervous impulse. 
With this understanding of what expression means and 
how it is brought about, we are ready to understand how ex- 
pression is to be secured in a class. The essential condition 
for good reading, which adequate expression represents, is the 
causing of an adequate thought to be aroused in the minds of 
the pupils. 
One of the means for securing an adequate thought and 70 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
its consequent proper expression consists in much good read- 
ing to the pupils by the teacher. Good reading by the teacher 
is valuable and important for two purposes. The first is that 
it gives the children a proper notion of what good reading is. 
Much poor reading arises from a wholly inadequate conception 
of the nature of good reading, and the teacher's reading may 
serve as a model to show them what may be done. In the 
second place, good reading by the teacher is very frequently 
the most effective method of giving to the children a concep- 
tion of the thought of the selection. In no other way can the 
delicate shades of meaning be so clearly defined, and in no 
other way can the children interpret so accurately the thought 
that is aroused by the printed words. 
The methods of measuring reading consists of the appli- 
cation of scales of several kinds. Oral reading scales that have 
been devised are not altogether satisfactory. The best known 
is that of W. S. Gray, which consists of a series of paragraphs 
of unequal degrees of difficulty. The teacher listens to read- 
ing of the pupil, noting the number and kinds of errors, and 
from these estimates the pupil's reading ability. The scale is 
subject to the same limitations that are found in any scale in 
which the general judgment of the teacher determines the 
score of the pupil's performance. The score cannot be deter- 
mined by counting the number of errors, for not all errors are 
of equal value, and some characteristics of the reading that 
determine whether the thought is adequate or not cannot be 
listed in the table of errors. 
The measurement of silent reading is much more satis- 
factorily accomplished. Silent reading is measured by deter- 
mining the rate of reading and the amount of comprehension. 
The rate of reading is easily determined by counting the num- 
ber of words read in one minute, or by summing up the rate 
value of all the paragraphs that are read in a certain length 
of time. The rate value of the paragraphs depends upon the 
number of words in a paragraph. 
The comprehension value is measured by summing up the 
comprehension values of all the correct answers that are given 
to the questions or directions in the paragraphs read. Para- 
graphs are selected of such a nature that each demands an an- 
swer or the performance of some action which can be indicated THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 
71 
very briefly. Many such tests have been devised, but Monroe's 
standardized tests are among the most used and the best 
known. 
In Monroe's standardized tests, and in the Kansas Silent 
Reading tests upon which they are based, a time limit is es- 
tablished and the score depends upon how much has been ac- 
complished in the standard time. In the Thorndike reading 
scales .no time limit is set, and the comprehension value is de- 
termined by the number of correct answers that can be given 
to a series of questions asked upon each paragraph, the in- 
structions being to read the paragraph over as many times as 
is necessary. Such scales as the Thorndike scales are more 
difficult to score, and those constructed on the model of the 
Monroe tests are more commonly used. 
COLLATERAL READING 
1-Huey, Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading. 
2-Starch, Educational Measurement, p. 20-50. 
3-Monroe, DeVoss and Kelley, Educational Tests and 
Measurements, p. 66-111. 
4-Freeman, Psychology of the Common Branches, p. 
67-97. 
5-Rusk, Experimental Education, p. 226-251. 
A list of text books in reading which illustrate changes in 
methods and ideals of teaching reading. 
1-New England Primer, 1790. 
2-Webster's Elementary Spelling Book, 1795. 
3-Murray's English Reader, 1799. 
4-Introduction to Murray's English Reader, 1801. 
5-Sequel to Murray's English R'eader, 1804. 
6-Bingham, Columbian Orator, 1810. 
7-T. Strong, The Common Reader, 1818. 
8-David Blair, The Reading Exercise, 1819. 
9-Mead, School Exercise, 1820. 
10-J. L. Blake, The Historical Reader, 1825. 
11-Putnam, Analytical Reader, 1826. 
12-Porter, Rhetorical Reader, 1832. 
13-D. B. Emerson, First Class Reader, 1834. 
14-Pierpont, National Reader, 1835. 72 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
15-B. Bridge, American Reader, Number 1, 1835. 
16-Sanders, Third Reader, 1833. 
17-Sanders, Fourth Reader, 1842. 
18-Sanders, New Third Reader, 1860. 
19-Sanders, New Fourth Reader, 1860. 
20-Sanders, Primer, 1846. 
21-McGuffey, Second Reader, 1853. 
22-McGuffey, Third Reader, 1853. 
23-McGuffey, Fourth Reader, 1853. 
24-McGuffey, Fifth Reader, 1853. 
25-McGuffey, New Second Reader, 1857. 
26-McGuffey, New First Reader, 1857. 
27-Cobb, Fourth Reader, 1844. 
28-Cobb, Fifth Reader, 1844. 
29-Goodrich, Fifth Reader, 1846. 
30-Goodrich, Sixth Reader, 1846. 
31-Swan, Primary School Reader, part 2, 1844. 
32-Comly, Reader and Book of Knowledge, 1845. 
33-Osgood, Third Reader, 1855. 
34-Osgood, American Second Reader, 1871. 
35-Epes Sargent, Standard Third Reader, 1855. 
36-Epes Sargent, Standard Fourth Reader, 1855. 
37-Parker and Webb, National Sixth Reader, 1863. 
38-Hilliard, Sixth Reader, 1860. 
39-Marcius Willson, Primer, 1860. 
40-Webb, Word Method, 1867. CHAPTER V 
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GRAMMAR 
In 1882, Dr. J. M. Gregory published an article in the Pro- 
ceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
Education Association, in which he argued that grammar, in 
common with most of the other commonly accepted school sub- 
jects, was not a proper subject for common school instruction. 
In 1906, Mr. Franklin S. Hoyt published the results of some 
experiments which seemed to prove that practically none of 
the claims that had been made by school men for the advant- 
ages of grammar as a school subject were justified. In 1913, 
Mr. Louis W. Rapeer repeated Hoyt's experiments, arriving at 
the same discrediting conclusions with regard to grammar. In 
1913 also, Mr. Thomas H. Briggs, using methods similar to 
those employed by Hoyt and Rapeer, but in a rather more 
elaborate way, confirmed the conclusions of the previous writ- 
ers. The concurrence of the conclusions of these three investi- 
gators seems to render inevitable the dropping of grammar 
from the elementary school. 
On the other hand there is the testimony of many persons 
concerning their own individual experiences, similar to that of 
the present writer. I began to study grammar at about the 
age of twelve, in a country school. The first year and the 
second produced no valuable experience in any way. The third 
year, at about the age of fourteen, it began to produce an ef- 
fect. In the years of fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, 
my study of grammar was such that it seemed to me that I 
never studied a subject that was more attractive, nor that did 
me more good than did grammar. That was my opinion at the 
time, it is my opinion now. I am glad, now, that I studied 
grammar in that country school, and I was glad at'the time^ 
This experience finds corroboration in the expressed opinions 
of Tyndall and other writers too numerous to mention. There 
was no method available at that time for measuring the 
amount of improvement in any one mental function, so the 
testimony must of necessity be that of opinion or hypothesis. 
It will be observed, in the testimony recorded above, that 74 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
my profitable study of grammar occurred after the age of fif- 
teen, in a country school, which in those days was inevitably a 
poor school, and with a poor teacher. Subsequently I studied 
grammar in a normal school with a most excellent teacher, 
and my impressions of that study are that not nearly so much 
good was derived from it as was derived from the study with 
a poor teacher in the country school. 
Here we have a paradox that demands explanation. It 
appears that Hoyt, Rapeer and Briggs are essentially right in 
their conclusions that grammar, taught to children in the ele- 
mentary grades, by good teachers, does not improve the abil- 
ities of the children of the ages tested, in the functions in 
which advocates of grammar teaching say that it should. On 
the other hand we have the testimony of many persons like 
the writer, who are of the opinion, which it is true may be il- 
lusory, that grammar, taught in a poor school by a poor teach- 
er, to pupils above the ages of fifteen to eighteen does improve 
the ability to think. 
We may seek an explanation of this paradox in the psy- 
chology of the subject, and the psychology of grammar can 
best be elaborated by making the distinction, which is very 
important, between structural and functional grammar. 
Nearly all the grammar that is printed for the use of 
schools is structural grammar, and that is the only kind that 
the children in the elementary grades are likely to be called 
upon to study. They have little opportunity to study func- 
tional grammar, from which nearly all the improvement from 
the study of grammar must come, and if they had the oppor- 
tunity they would not have the ability to comprehend it. 
Structural grammar determines the nature of the words 
in a sentence largely by their form. Functional grammar de- 
termines the nature of the words by the thought they express. 
Structural grammar deals largely with declensions, conjuga- 
tions and other inflections of words. Functional grammar con- 
siders the relations that each part of a sentence bears to the 
other parts. Structural grammar considers language as an 
instinctive character of man out of which thought grows. 
Functional grammar considers language as the expression of 
thought. 
Our English grammar is constructed upon the model of THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GRAMMAR 
75 
the Latin and the Greek. Greek and Latin are highly inflect- 
ed languages, and a knowledge of the inflectional forms is the 
all essential feature for learning these classical languages. In 
Latin the noun has six case forms, and the Greek noun has 
five. In English there is practically no declension, the form 
of the possessive case being so similar to the nominative that 
there is really no necessity for learning more than the rule for 
its use. The possessive plural and the possessive singular are 
so nearly alike that there is no discrimination in oral language, 
and an artificial device, the apostrophe, which is wholly unnec- 
essary, is the only variation in the written forms. 
There is a real declension in the personal pronoun, but 
this is almost the only bit of declension that has survived the 
evolutionary process by which the English language has been 
produced. We may say that there is no such property as case 
in the English noun, in the sense in which it is used in the 
languages from which the English grammar has been derived. 
Case means change in form, and there is no change in the form 
of the English noun to express the relation that a word holds 
in a sentence. 
In the sentence "It is me," almost any person, when asked 
what case is me, will answer objective case. This answer is 
correct, if we are talking in term of structural grammar; but 
if we are talking in terms of functional grammar, it is as truly 
a nominative case as if the form were I. The abandonment 
of the structural conception of case as being the change in the 
form of the word to express relation, for the definition that 
case is the property of the noun that expresses the relation it 
holds in the sentence, does not help us out of the difficulty. 
In the sentence, James is a good boy, both James and boy are 
in the nominative case, but they hold distinctly different rela- 
tions to the other parts of the sentence, and under the defini- 
tion of case suggested, they ought to be described as different 
cases. We are tied up to the structural definition of case in- 
evitably. 
In James M. Teeter's grammar, published in 1836, the 
nominative case is called the Efficient case. 
In the Greek and Latin languages the adjective is declined, 
and must change in form to agree with the form of the noun 
to which it belongs. Even the article is declined, and adjec- 76 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
tives and other modifiers have gender, which has no relation 
whatever, except an accidental one, to sex character. In Eng- 
lish grammar the adoption of gender as one of the properties 
of nouns has led to an attempt to associate it with the sex of 
the object which the noun represents. This character of gen- 
der is altogether foreign to the character of the property of 
nouns designated by the same name. The sex character ap- 
plied to objects not to nouns, limits the genders to two; but 
many grammars account for four, thus very consistently ap- 
plying the idea not to the objects, but to the nouns as is done 
in the Latin and the Greek. 
Latin and Greek have many verb forms. The Greek verb 
has three numbers, the singular, dual and plural. In English, 
we have dropped the dual, retaining only a trace of it in the 
comparison of adjectives. We have three degrees of compari- 
son, and the comparative is used when only two are compared. 
But this use of the dual in the comparison of adjectives is not 
necessary to a clear comprehension of thought, and its con- 
sistent use is likely to cause one to be recognized as a pedant. 
The Greek verb has three voices, the active, passive and 
middle. The English has dropped the middle, retaining only 
the active and passive. The Greek verb has five modes, seven 
tenses and three persons. A full conjugation of a complete 
Greek verb in which all the forms were represented would ne- 
cessitate 945 forms. Not any one Greek verb actually does ex- 
hibit all these forms, but enough forms are found in almost 
any Greek verb to make it a holy terror to students. Our Eng- 
lish verb has never had its conjugation definitely settled. 
Throughout the entire period of English grammar publication, 
there has been a constant variation in the modes represented. 
Noah Webster, in his very notable English grammar, published 
in 1790, says that the English language has no modes in the 
sense that the Romans and the Greeks had. Nevertheless he 
discusses four modes, omitting the potential. In Joseph Bu- 
chanan's grammar, published in 1826, the potential mode is 
omitted, but the Enquiring mode is introduced. In Bradford 
Frazee's grammar, published in 1844, the only subjunctive 
mode that some other grammars admit, (Clark, 1847, Harvey, 
1868), exemplified by such sentences as If he come, If he write, 
is discarded and called pedantic. In James M. Teeter's gram- THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GRAMMAR 
77 
mar, published in 1836, only three modes are allowed, the in- 
dicative, infinitive and imperative. In Barnard's grammar, 
published in 1836, not only are the ordinary five modes indi- 
cated, but two more are devised. Instead of one potential mode 
and one subjunctive, there is a potential mode proper and a 
potential mode doubtful. There is a subjunctive mode proper 
and a subjunctive mode doubtful. In Wells' grammar, 1846, 
the potential mode is described as a form of the indicative but 
to compensate for its loss, the participial mode is introduced. 
A really consistent English grammar would adhere closely 
to the Latin and Greek model. This was done by William 
Bingham, in his English grammar, 1867, who acknowledges 
that his purpose is to prepare children in school for the be- 
ginning to study Latin and Greek. He defines case as the vari- 
ation in form which shows the relation to other words, and 
then inconsistently describes six cases, nominative, genitive, 
dative, accusative, vocative and ablative. The inconsistency 
appears in the fact that while the English noun may be used 
in these six relations, it does not have six forms to indicate 
which one of these relations it is used in. He introduces the 
gerund into the conjugation of the verb, but describes it as a 
verbal noun. 
These distinctions in English grammar are all of them 
structural, and derived from the changes in the form of words 
in the languages which have served as a model for our English 
grammar. In the English language there are so few distinc- 
tions in form that it is not an exaggeration to say, that from 
a structural standpoint, English is a grammarless language. 
It is quite likely that the study of the grammar of a grammar- 
less language will not produce that clearness of thought and 
other effects which have been claimed as derivable from the 
study of grammar, .and which Mr. Hoyt and Mr. Briggs sn 
conspicuously failed to find. 
The terms used to express the various relations of words 
to each other are structural. Adjectives belong to nouns, or 
modify nouns, which opens the way to put into the same groim 
classes of words as adjectives which are as unlike each other 
as chalk and cheese. Prepositions are so called because they 
stand before nouns. A noun is the object of a verb, but no 
explanation of the object of a verb can render understandable 78 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
the application of the same term to the object of a preposition. 
Neither can an indirect object have any understandable ex- 
planation in structural terms, and how an adjective can take 
an indirect object is an idea so obscured by the word object 
that no one who has not studied Latin can get the slightest 
comprehension of it. 
Functional grammar is different. Functional grammar 
looks constantly for the relations in which words or terms 
stand to each other, and cares little about the form. Function 
al grammar has not approached anything like the degree of 
development that structural grammar has done, and in fact, 
can scarcely be said to have any existence as a formulated 
subject. Structural grammar treats of language as a con- 
struct on which thought depends; functional grammar treats 
of language as the expression of thought itself. Structural 
grammar makes its distinctions in the forms of words; func- 
tional grammar looks for the distinctions in the thoughts which 
the words express. 
A few illustrations are all that can be given to show the 
difference between the two, or what would constitute the sub- 
ject matter of functional grammar. We have to go to the psy- 
chological processes involved in order to obtain a clear notion 
of the distinctions between the various parts of speech. 
A sensation is a simple mental process that makes us ac- 
quainted with a quality of an object, and which is accompanied 
by a peripherally initiated impulse. A peripherally initiated 
impulse is one that originates in a sense organ. If an im- 
pulse originating in the brain traverses the same sensation 
center, the sensation is a faint sensation. 
A percept is the sum of all the sensations, both faint and 
vivid that we get from an object as they combine and modify 
each other. In a percept, some of the sensations must be vivid 
sensations. If the same process were accompanied by faint 
sensations only, so as to give a reproduced or remembered per- 
cept, we should call the mental process an idea. The expres- 
sion of a percept, or of a remembered percept, is a proper 
noun. 
If we examine a number of similar objects, we abstract 
from them their common qualities, and in effect, we make a 
table of resemblances among them This table of resemblances THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GRAMMAR 
79 
constitutes a general abstract .notion It is general, because 
all the properties that enter into the table .are found in all 
the objects that we have examined It is called abstract, be- 
cause the qualities have been abstracted from the objects in 
which they exist It is evident from this exposition that there 
is no real, material, tangible object which is the counterpart 
of this general abstract notion. We may use one word to ex- 
press this table of resemblances, and when we do, that word is 
a common noun. A common noun, then, is an expression of a 
general abstract notion composed of the resemblances between 
objects. If we make a table of resemblances between a grass- 
hopper, bumble bee, butterfly and some more similar objects, 
we may express that table of resemblances by the word insect. 
The table of resemblances may include such characteristics as 
three body divisions, chitinous exoskeleton, three pairs of legs, 
one pair of antennae, breathe by spiracles, and many others. 
The table of resemblances constitutes the general abstract 
notion, and the word insect which expresses it is a common 
noun. 
But not every general abstract notion is expressed by a 
common noun. If we examine the colors of a number of ob- 
jects and perceive the resemblances between the colors, we 
have in effect made a table of resemblances between the 
colors, and this table is a general abstract notion which can 
be expressed by one word. This word is an adjective. An ad- 
jective, then, is the expression of a general abstract notion 
composed of the resemblances between qualities. 
But qualities are made known to us by sensations, and 
sensations differ in intensity. Comparison of adjectives is an 
expression of the difference of the intensity of sensations by 
which we know the qualities that constitute the general ab- 
stract notion which an adjective expresses. In effect then, 
there is a close resemblance between a common noun and an 
adjective. Both are expressions of general abstract notions, 
the difference being in the things from which the table of re- 
semblances are abstracted. 
So we may make a table of resemblances between the 
method of moving of a horse, a dog, a man, a wagon, an auto- 
mobile, and this table of resemblances would be a general ab- 
stract notion which could be expressed by one word. Suppose 80 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
that we use the word run to express it. Run is a verb, and it 
expresses a table of resemblances between actions. 
We may perceive the resemblances between various rela- 
tions, and make a table, which table we may express by one 
word. Let us suppose the word is up. Up is a preposition, 
and a preposition is the expression of a general abstract no- 
tion which is composed of resemblances between relations. 
A qualifying adjective is the name of a sensation, or is 
the expression of a general abstract notion consisting of the 
resemblances between qualities which are known to us by sen- 
sations. Adjectives may be compared, which comparison is an 
expression of differences of intensity between sensations. But 
a limiting adjective has no reference to sensations. It is de- 
rived from a totally different process. We use a common noun 
with a limiting adjective as a substitute for a proper noun. 
We use it in consequence of the lack of a proper name. Lack- 
ing a proper noun to express a singular concrete notion, we 
use a common noun and point it out, finger like, by a limiting 
adjective. The common noun expresses the sum of resem- 
blances, but resemblances presuppose differences existing. The 
limiting adjective removes the differences and constitutes a 
substitute for a proper noun. So psychologically there is no 
relation between a limiting and a qualifying adjective, al- 
though in structural grammar they are called by the same 
name. 
With this method of conceiving the various parts of speech, 
we can understand more easily some more complex relations. 
A proposition is the expression of a judgment. A judgment 
is the perception of the agreement or disagreement between 
two notions. If we represent the two notions by two circles 
that intersect and have a common section, we can clearly pic- 
ture several relations. Let mx represent one circle which we 
shall call A, and ny represent the other circle which we shall 
call B. Let x and y be the common section, and be identical 
with each other. Then it is easy to see that A resembles B, 
or that mx resembles ny, or that x is y. 
Lead is a metal is the type of such a proposition. Among 
the properties which constitute the general abstract notion of 
lead will be found the properties which constitute the general 
abstract notion of metal. In such a proposition it is almost THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GRAMMAR 
81 
impossible for a child using the terms of structural grammar, 
to discover any difference that discriminates the subject from 
the predicate. The fact that both lead and metal are described 
as being in the nominative case, contributes to the confusion. 
But in functional grammar the difference is easily described. 
The two notions, lead and metal, occupy different relations in 
the sentence. Metal is the expression of the notion that is 
used as the standard of comparison, and lead is the expression 
of the notion that is compared with it. In logic, metal is call- 
ed the major term, and lead is called the minor term. The 
word is is the copula and is the expression of the judgment 
itself. 
This is the real distinction between the subject and the 
predicate. If by case we really mean the relation that a word 
holds in a sentence, there ought to be a different term to de- 
scribe the case of the predicate from that which describes the 
case of the subject. The two are not identical at all. 
When I say that "All insects have six legs," I have ex- 
pressed the agreement between two notions as truly as if I 
had used the word is, or some other form of the verb be. Have 
is as truly copulative as is the word is. The example John 
struck James, does not illustrate the relation expressed by the 
word have. The word have, in this case, expresses the fact 
that all the properties that constitute the general abstract no- 
tion of six leggedness, are found among the properties that 
constitute the general abstract notion of grasshopper. The 
word have expresses the agreement between the two notions, 
and there is no more justification for describing the term six 
legs as being in the objective case than there is for calling it 
the nominative. Both terms are confusing. 
If we go back to our example of two intersecting circles, 
we see that the two notions are compared directly. Let us 
suppose that circle A, representing one notion, also represents 
the combination of brain cells traversed by a nervous impulse 
when we experience the notion A, and let B represent a com- 
bination of brain cells traversed by an impulse when we ex- 
perience the notion B. In a case where the circles intersect, 
and some cells are common to the two combinations, such as is 
represented by x and y, the nervous impulse passes directly 
into B from A by means of the common section, and we have a 82 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
direct comparison of the two notions, which we call a judg- 
ment, and whose expression is a proposition. If the two circles 
do not intersect, and we have to connect them by intermediate 
circles in order to secure the transmission of the impulse 
through the two combinations, we have a more elaborate pro- 
cess which we call reasoning. 
But in the two combinations of cells represented by A and 
B the nervous impulse may first enter A, pass into B, and from 
B pass into some muscular or expression center, and move- 
ment follows. In such .a case we may say that the judgment 
is motivated from B. If this is the case, we have a relation 
which in structural grammar may be identified as the indica- 
tive mode. But the impulse may go the other way, entering 
into B, and leaving by A, being motivated from the subject 
notion. In this case we have a relation which in structural 
grammar might be identified as the subjunctive mode. As the 
nervous impulse must be motivated from one or the other of 
these two notions, we see the possibility of only two modes. 
Such are some of the things that illustrate the kind of 
study that must constitute functional grammar. These ideas 
are not within the reach of the mental capacity of children 
but this and much more complex conceptions are involved in 
the study of grammar. Grammar is logic, not the formal 
static logic of the old type, but dynamic logic, which constant- 
ly tests itself by means of psychological conceptions. 
Grammar is not a subject for small children, nor for the 
elementary grades of school. In Joseph Buchanan's Grammar, 
published in 1826, the author says that it would be a good 
thing for children to start the study of grammar at six years 
of age, and they would in two or three years become good 
grammarians. He says it is peculiarly adapted to invigorate 
their minds. Such a notion of grammar led to the production 
of many very elementary grammars, of which Green's, Har- 
vey's, Pinneo's, Hart's, and Fewsmith's, may be taken as good 
examples. 
The grammar that is believed to have great value by those 
who have testified concerning it, is not the structural gram- 
mar of the ordinary text, but it is a grammar which perceives 
relations between the thoughts which the words express. It 
lays much more emphasis upon the analysis of sentences than THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GRAMMAR 
83 
it does upon the parsing of words. It ought not to be under- 
taken until the college years, if the greatest amount of good is 
to be obtained from it. 
Grammar, functional grammar, has a close affinity to the 
solution of problems in arithmetic. Both demand the percep- 
tion of relations, and this perception of relations constitutes 
thinking. How much a training to think in one kind of rela- 
tions will increase the ability to think in another kind, has not 
been satisfactorily determined. But it is upon this training to 
think that the advocates of grammar teaching must principally 
rely. 
It is such facts as those recorded above that tend to ex- 
plain the paradox that good teaching of grammar is some times 
not so effective as poor teaching. Good teaching of grammar 
quite often concerns itself with thorough drill upon structural 
grammar, and emphasizes much less the direct perception of 
relations which constitutes the distinguishing feature of func- 
tional grammar. Emphasis upon the learning of declensions 
and conjugations, rules, with lists of exceptions, is likely to be 
strongly characteristic of what would be called good teaching 
of grammar. This is principally structural, from which small 
benefit may be expected. 
Grammar has suffered too, from a kind of psychology that 
lays emphasis upon language in the wrong place. Language 
has been regarded as a construct of thought, and as a neces- 
sary antecedent for any kind of thinking except the most 
simple. Many psychologists, even today, are ready to assert 
that thought depends upon language. Thus Ward says, "Think- 
ing, it may be fairly said, owes its origin to the acquisition of 
speech" (Psychological Principles, page 286). Warren asserts 
that "The growth of thought depends intimately upon the ex- 
istence of words" (Human Psychology, p. 328). Even greater 
emphasis is laid upon language by Watson, who says that 
"Thought is the action of language mechanisms" (Psychology 
from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist, p. 316). 
On the contrary it is possible to prove that except as a 
means of obtaining a social inheritance, language has very 
little to do with thought. It is a common opinion that the ca- 
pacity to speak is dependent upon a capacity to think. That 
speech is in some way a mark and a measure of intelligence. 84 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
That dogs and horses do not speak because they are not intel- 
ligent enough, and that if they were more intelligent they 
would be able to talk. Dogs and horses do not talk because 
they do not have a speech center in the brain. Children talk 
as soon as the speech center has become developed, and this 
does not depend upon the development of the capacity to think. 
Lack of ability to speak does not imply lack of capacity to 
think. 
I have in my classes today two girls, each about twentyone 
years old, both of whom are above the average of their classes 
in intellectual ability. One of them began to use words at the 
age of seven months, spoke rather freely at eleven, talked two 
languages at two years. The other did not begin to talk until 
she was seven years old, although there was no difficulty with 
the vocal organs, nor was there any suspicion of mental de- 
fectiveness. 
Any one who has observed a normal child who did not be- 
gin to talk until he was two and a half or three years old is 
not likely to be convinced that the development of thought de- 
pends upon the development of language. One case will serve 
as a type of a large number of examples. The baby was two 
and a half years old and had not talked a word. One day I 
heard a squall. I went down stairs and said, "What is the 
matter, baby?" Immediately he pointed to his mother, saying 
m-m-m- then spatted his hands together viciously. No one 
could be mistaken in supposing that he understood the import 
of the question, and that he knew exactly the right answer 
to give. 
The language mechanisms are totally distinct from the 
thought mechanisms. Speech is instinctive, and the brain 
centers that are traversed by impulses when a child talks are 
organized as a result of an inherited tendency to grow, and 
not as the result of experience. So strong is this instinct that 
in many children who do not have the best opportunity to 
learn the language employed by the people around them, a 
language will develop itself. We may call this an original lan- 
guage. In consequence of the tendency to eliminate an orig- 
inal language as soon as it manifests itself, only a few are rec- 
ognized, and of these few none have been sufficiently studied. 
The measurement of ability in grammar has not been very THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GRAMMAR 
85 
satisfactorily achieved. Mr. Starch has prepared three gram- 
mar scales. One is a scale in which the pupil is required to 
designate the part of speech of as many words as possible of a 
short selection in three minutes. A second calls for the nam- 
ing, or designating of the case of as many nouns and pronouns 
as possible, in a short selection, in three minutes. A third re- 
quires a brief designation of the mode and tense of as many 
verb forms from a list, as can be done in three minutes. The 
practice of different teachers, using different texts is so di- 
verse that it is difficult to get a common basis for separate 
schools. 
The principal part of the energy devoted to measuring 
language processes has been employed in development of scales 
for correct usage. Several plans have been employed in the 
construction of these scales. One plan consists of a series of 
incorrect sentences mingled with others that are correct. The 
pupil is required to discriminate those that are correct from 
those that are incorrect and to indicate the corrected form. 
In other kinds, the pupil is required to indicate a superfluous 
word, or to make choice of a word with which a blank may be 
filled correctly. 
Several composition scales have been devised, the earliest 
and perhaps the best known being the Hillegas scale. All such 
scales consist of a series of productions of different degrees of 
excellence, each carefully standardized by taking the combined 
opinions of many competent judges. The examiner is supposed 
to determine the specimen on the scale which is most nearly 
equal in excellence to the composition to be measured. It is 
questionable whether the results obtained by any one of such 
scales attain any high degree of accuracy. They have the same 
limitations that are found in all scales in which it is merely 
the general judgment of the examiner upon the relative merits 
of the two selections, the specimen to be measured and the 
scale specimen. 86 
PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMON SCHOOL SUBJECTS 
COLLATERAL READING 
1-Hoyt, The Place of Grammar in the Elementary Cur- 
riculum, Teachers College Record, vol. 7, p. 467. (November 
1906.) 
2-Rapeer, The Problem of Formal Grammar in the Grades, 
Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 4, p. 125. 
3-Briggs, Formal English Grammar as a Discipline, 
Teachers College Record, vol. 14, p. 251 (September 1913). 
4-Starch, Educational Measurement, p. 101-113. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GRAMMAR 
87 
Some English Grammars illustrating the characteristics 
of grammar teaching. 
1-Noah Webster, English Grammar, 1790. 
2-Lindley Murray, English Grammar, 1795. 
3-Key to Murray's Grammar, 1818. 
4-Goold Brown, Institutes of English Grammar, 1825. 
5-Joseph Buchanan, Practical Grammar, 1826. 
6-John Comly, English Grammar, 1826. 
7-Samuel Kirkham, English Grammar, 1829. 
8-R. G. Parker, Progressive Exercises in English Compo- 
sition, 1832. 
9-Roswell C. Smith, English Grammar, 1835. 
10-Dyer H. Sanborn, Grammar of the English Language, 
1836. 
11-James M. Teeters, English Grammar, 1836. 
12-Bradford Frazee, Improved Grammar, 1844. 
13-Frederick A. P. Barnard, Analytic Grammar, 1836. 
14-John S. Hart, English Grammar, 1845. 
15-S. S. Greene, Analysis of Sentences, 1847. 
16-W. H. Wells, English Grammar, 1846. 
17-Peter Bullions, English Grammar, 1846. 
18-S. W. Clark, Practical Grammar, 1847. 
19-Seth T. Hurd, Grammatical Corrector, 1847. 
20-Allen H. Weld, English Grammar, 1848. 
21-T. S. Pinneo, Analytical Grammar, 1850. 
22-T. S. Pinneo, Primary Grammar, 1854. 
23-William Chauncey Fowler, English Grammar, 1850. 
24-T. W. Harvey, Practical Grammar, 1868. 
25-S. S. Greene, Introduction to English Grammar, 1868. 
26-S. S. Greene, English Grammar, 1867. 
27-William Fewsmith, Elementary Grammar, 1867. 
28-William Bingham, English Grammar, 1867. 
29-G. P. Quackenbos, English Grammar, 1862. 
30-W. B. Powell, How to Talk, 1882. 
31-W. B. Powell, How to Write, 1882.