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THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

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THE CHILD AND HIS
SPELLING

»*'?

THE CHILD AND
HIS SPELLING

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PSYCHOLOGY

OF SPELLING. INDIVIDUAL AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN SPELLING

ABILITIES AND NEEDS. THE CHARACTER AND RANGE OF

THE SPELLING VOCABULARY. AND THE PRACTICAL

PROBLEMS OF TEACHING SPELLING

W. A. COOK

Of the University of Colorado
and

M. V. O'SHEA

Of the University of Wisconsin

CHILD H

BOBBS MEKJLILL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

COPTRIGHT 1914
THS BoBBS-MeRRILL COMl'ANy

pnras OF

BRAUNWORTH A CO.

BOOKBINDERS AND PHINT€B8

BROOKLTN. k. V.

Education

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I
Leabning to Spell

Lb
C-77

CHAPTER PAGE

I Inteoductioh . 1

Present-day interest in spelling — Conflicting
opinions and counsel — The reason for differences
of opinion — Why pupils find spelling hard and
uninteresting — The purpose and scope of the
present volume — The speUing vocabulary.

II Rules for Spelling 10

Present opinion and practise — Material used
for the test — The persons tested — Conscious ver-
sus unconscious functioning of a rule — Rule on
ie-ei, final e, final y, final consonant, final ie — The
function of the ie-ei rule — Value of rule on final
e — Value of rule on final y — Value of rule for
final consonant — ^Value of rule for final ie — Stu-
dents' attitude toward rules.

III Sources and Causes of Errors 23

Need of determining causes of errors — Preva-
lence of chance errors — Slips of the pen — Treat-
ment of lapses — Is there a critical point in a
word? — Crucial points often not covered by
rules — Mispronunciation as a cause of error —
Analogies in spelling — Obscure or elided vow-
els— Doubling letters — Types of letters — Syllabi-
cation— Directing attention to the crucial point
in each word.

IV The Life History of Certain Spellings . . 48

Words assigned in experiments — Methods of
presentation and study — Methods of recitation-
Methods of correction — Capacity for improve-
ment— Learning and retaining — Persistence of
errors — An apparent exception to the rule of per-"^
sistence — Why errors persist — The life history
of certain words — Errors eliminated one at a
time — Four stages in word mastery — When is a
word mastered?

843G64

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTES PACK

V Column Versus Contextual Spelling ... 74

Material and subjects — Difficulties of the
plan — Two methods of measuring loss by trans-
fer— The conventional conclusion — Genuine dy-
namic spelling — Dispersion of attention — Rela-
tive automatism in spelling — Automatic execution
of the literal elements — Oral spelling first — Auto-
matic control of larger units — Universality of
the principle — Lack of transfer unavoidable —
Conclusion.

VI Methods of Presentation 94

Variance of opinions — Plan of the work —
Four types of presentation — Effectiveness of the
training — Comparison of methods — Processes in
graphic and oral spelling — Advantages of each
method — Showing a pupil his error.

VII Spelling Efficiency and Composition ... 104

Plan of the work — The data gathered — Or-
ganization of ideas — The spelling conscience — At-
tention to technique — Rapidity of writing — The
results summarized.

VIII Some Special Factors in Spelling . . . 112

Learning to read in relation to learning to
spell — Fear of making errors — Seeing and hear-
ing mistakes — Can one reason out a spelling? —
Auditory and visual types — No pure types — Dom-
inant type of error — Syllabication as an aid —
Traits that make good spellers.

PART II
The Spelling Vocabulary

IX Popular Views of Spelling Needs .... 125

Present theory and practise — Purpose of spell-
ing— Immediate versus ultimate values in spell-
ing—Pruning word lists — Reasons for opposition
to curtailment of vocabulary.

X Determining the Written Vocabulary of Typi-

cal Americans 135

An experimental study of spelling needs —
Ayres' study of spelling vocabularies — How to

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

find the needs of the "common people" — Declin-
ing importance of spelling — No imminent danger
of hampering the child.

XI Sources and Character of Data .... 144

Sources of data — No consideration of test
lists — Rules of procedure — The arrangement of
words.

XII Word Lists Derived from Correspondence . . 156

The method of classifying data — Words used
by all the correspondents — Words used by a ma-
jority of the correspondents — Words used by less
than a majority of the correspondents — Proper
names in the correspondence — Separate tabula-
tion of foreign terms.

XIII Spelling Texts and Spelling Needs . . . 225

Vocabularies of spelling-books — Relation of
vocabularies of spellers and correspondents —
Limitations of any speller — Individual writing
vocabularies — Vocabularies in family and other
correspondence — Sex differences in spelling vo-
cabulary— Relation of time economy to spelling
needs — The words that do the work.

XIV R^suMfi AND Conclusions 246

Appendix — Words Used Spontaneously by Pupils . 257

References for Further Reading 267

Index ........ .. . ...... 275

THE CHILD AND HIS
SPELLING

PART I

LEARNING TO SPELL

THE CHILD AND HIS
SPELLING

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

IF one tnay judge by what ohe reads in the news-
papers and magazines, the subject in the schools
of chief interest to the layman to-day is spelling.
Present-day inter- There is evidently a widespread
est in spelling belief that graduates of the ele-
mentary schools can not spell So Well now as they
did in fearlier times. A number of investigators have
attempted to show that this belief is not founded
on fact, but the newspapers are incessantly repeat-
ing the statement that We are constantly losing
ground in spelling efficiency. Various explanations
are offered for this unhappy condition of affairs;
but the reason most frequently given is that the
energy of pupils is being dissipated by the study of
"fads," and that they are not in consequence being
drilled sufficiently in spelling. On the other hand,
one may read stifttements to the effect that it does

2 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

not make much difference whether pupils are trained
in spelling or not, because "good spellers are born,
and not made." There seems to be a settled con-
viction in the minds of some persons that certain
types of pupils never can learn to spell well, be-
cause they do not possess the particular intellectual
"powers" required for success in this undertaking.
Meanwhile every one seems to feel competent to
give advice respecting the best methods of teaching
Conflicting opin- this study. It is apparently re-
ions and counsel garded by most laymen and some
educational people as a simple subject, so that any
sensible person can formulate sound opinions relat-
ing to the way in which pupils may be got to learn
it most readily and effectively. In consequence of
this attitude on the part of all sorts of people, with-
in and without the schools, teachers are much con-
fused because of the variety of counsel which is
being given them. They are advised now by this
person to give more attention in their daily pro-
grams to oral spelling; while another person tells
them they ought to abandon oral spelling altogether,
and concentrate wholly upon written work. Still
another person will advise that the text-book should
be discarded altogether, and that lists of words for
spelling should be taken from all the studies being
pursued by the pupil. There are those who main-
tain that if the spelling in the regular written ex-
ercises be properly looked after, it will not be nec-
essary to have any special period devoted solely to

INTRODUCTION 3

drill in spelling. And so one might go on at length
along this line, giving evidence showing that there
appears to be slight agreement among laymen or
teachers respecting either the causes of our deficien-
cies in spelling, or the most efficient methods of
remedying them.

The chief reason why there is this disagreement
in regard to spelling is because we are dealing with
The reason for ^^ extremely complex subject,
differences of though it has been generally

°^ ^° treated as if it were exceedingly

simple; and we have not thought it necessary to
investigate it thoroughly in order to discover the
factors which are operating to determine success
or failure in the way it is presented in the schools.
The layman can not, of course, give the time re-
quired for an analysis of this subject. He thinks
something is wrong; he feels pupils can not spell
as well as they ought to; and he concludes that
they should be subjected to more rigorous drill in
the school. The layman's remedy for all short-
comings of this sort is to give the pupil more of
the thing in which he is defective — "drill on it
harder," he says. It is his conception that when a
thing is not properly learned so that it can be
used, it is because there has not been enough of
time spent on it. And the layman is not the only
one who can not take the time to look into the
mysteries of these things. The busy teacher, too,
is so overcrowded that he can not analyze these

4 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

problems, because he must pass rapidly from one
task to another during the entire day. He often
realizes that the spelling problem is complicated,
that there are various factors cooperating to pro-
duce the results that concern us, and that the situa-
tion should be examined more critically than it ever
has been; and yet he is almost if not quite helpless
to do anything about it. He must go ahead and
teach the day's lesson the best he can, according
to the light that has come to him from one source
or another — ^mainly the traditional belief in the way
the child learns. In this respect it is no more
different with spelling than it is with all the other
subjects in the program.

At the same time, some attempts have been made
to apply careful analytic methods to the problems
Why pupils find o^ spelling in order to discover, if
spelling hard and possible, the reasons why pupils
uninteresting j ^ i '^ ^ t

do not learn jt more accurately

and readily. Recently much has been said about
the unphonetic character of our words, which makes
it practically impossible for a child to learn them
without supreme effort of memory. The men who ^
have been delving into this matter have been so .
impressed with the difficulty of learning to spell
English words that they have determined to revise
many of them with a view to reducing them, as
far as possible, to a phonetic basis. But no matter
how sympathetic we may be toward this spelling
reform, we must appreciate, nevertheless, that for

INTRODUCTION 5

many years to come children will have to be taught
to spell English words in their present forms, with
perhaps a dozen or two exceptions. In this con-
nection, it may be worth while to note that there
probably is no study in the curriculum which is
less attractive to pupils than spelling as it is ordi-
narily taught. In the course of the investigation
described in this volume, inquiry was frequently
made of teachers regarding the interest which their
pupils took in spelling, and the answer was always
the same in effect— children almost hate their spell-
ing, except when they can make it an occasion for
a contest of some sort, as in "spelling down." There
seems to be little if anything about the memorizing
by main force of the form of a word which appeals
to the typical pupil anywhere in the schools.

With a view to contributing something to the so-
lution of these various problems, the authors of this

«,, _ , volume have conducted a series of

ine purpose ana

scope of the pres- investigations extending over a
considerable period of time. The
problems which have been studied are those which
the teacher encounters in his every-day work in the
class room. The method of investigation has in-
cluded, first, an examination of the spelling history
and abilities of a large number of pupils in a rather
general way ; and, second, a study of a small group
in a very thoroughgoing manner. University and
high-school students have been tested to determine
their ability to spell a selected list of words, and

6 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

an effort has been made to get from the students
themselves an explanation of their own processes
in attempting to spell the words given them, and
of their training in respect to all the matters that
might have a bearing on spelling efficiency. It be-
came apparent as the results of these inquiries were
gained that an investigation of this sort could not
do more than open up the real vital problems of
spelling ability, of method of teaching, and of the
range of one's spelling vocabulary. In order to get
at these problems in a more intimate way than
could be done in studying a large body of pupils, it
was necessary to have a limited group ( it comprised
four boys in the seventh and eighth grades, one a
good speller, one an average speller, and two who
were inferior in spelling) who could be taught spell-
ing in a great variety of ways, and who could be fol-
lowed from day to day in every phase of their
reaction to the lessons given them and the tests
applied to them. The results of these investigations
are presented in Part I of this volume. Through-
out the work, it was the aim to trace the steps by
which each pupil mastered the words in the lists
used. A record was kept of every detail of each
pupil's experience in conquering new words,
whether easy or difficult. An analysis was made of
the structure of each word taught, to find out what
part of it occasioned the chief trouble, and whether
or not the crucial point was the same for all pupils.
Individual differences in method of attacking words,

INTRODUCTION 7

in the types of errors made, in the readiness of
overcoming the errors, and in getting a mastery of
the correct forms were all carefully recorded, and
the results are presented in this volume. It is be-
lieved that in this way a rather interesting and
valuable body of material is brought together and
interpreted with respect to the practical problems
of teaching spelling economically and effectively to
pupils of different intellectual types. Suggestions
regarding the treatment of pupils in mass and as
individuals are made frequently throughout the dis-
cussion of the various topics which are considered.
The most important problem connected with the
teaching of spelling has reference, no doubt, to the
The spelling character and range of the vocab-

vocabulary ^i^^ to be taught. How many

words and what ones should be presented in the
elementary and high schools? All sorts of answers
have been given to this question by various individ-
uals ; and these have been based almost wholly upon
individual opinion formed in one way or another.
But it has seemed to the authors of this volume that
the only rational way to determine the range of a
spelling vocabulary is to find out in some manner
what words people actually use in the communica-
tions of every-day life. So it was decided to exam-
ine a large amount of correspondence in order to see
what words were employed. This correspondence
was selected so as to represent various interests
and callings and occasions, and it is probable that

8 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

it is quite typical of' the needs of most American
people in these times. All the words used were
tabulated, and the frequency of the appearance of
each word was detennined. The results of the in-
vestigation are presented in Part II of this book.
After this list had been worked out. and it seemed
apparent what words played the leading role in the
every-day writing of American people, it was de-
cided to test the list by an examination of fresh
correspondence, and by a study of the letters writ-
ten by people in newspapers, these letters having
reference to various topics, and produced by people
in different walks of life. The list secured by the
authors of this volume, which began to have the
appearance of a standard list, was then compared
With a list suggested by Ayres in an investigation
which he made of business correspondence. It
was found that the list derived from the family
correspondence, and applied to all sorts of every-
day writing, proved to be substantially a standard
list. So the authors feel confident that the lists
and tables as presented in Part II indicate quite
accurately the needs of the t}'pical American to-day
in respect to written expression.

In order to throw further light on this matter,
there have been added as an Appendix to this vol-
ume several lists of the words that children use
more or less spontaneously in the different grades
of the schools. It was thought that a comparison
of these words with those which adults find neces-

INTRODUCTION 9

sary in order to express themselves effectively in
every-day life might prove both interesting and
useful.

The lists that are presented in this volume may
be regarded as well adapted to the needs of Ameri-
can pupils who do not go into special pursuits,
wherein they will be required to use special tech-
nical terms that are rarely written by the great
majority of people. Specialists will have need for
this general standard list, if it may be so consid-
ered ; but they will need in addition a few technical
terms which can be acquired when the occasion for
using them arises.

CHAPTER II

THE VALUE OF RULES FOR SPELLING

yiN examination of modern texts in spelling
jfj^ reveals a striking lack of agreement regarding
the value of rules for the learner. The Natural
Present opinion Speller and Word Book does not
and practise contain a single rule, and there

are other spellers that omit rules almost entirely.
But The Normal Course in Spelling goes to the
:)ther extreme, with eighteen rules presented in the
course of eighteen consecutive lessons, seven of
them having reference to plural formations alone.
The length and simplicity of rules in different texts
vary from "Nouns in o after a vov^^el add s for
the plural," with no exceptions, to "In monosylla-
bles and words accented on the last syllable, a final
consonant after a single vowel doubles before a suf-
fix beginning with a vowel {x, k and y are never
doubled), except when, in the derivative, the accent
is thrown from the last syllable of the primitive,"
followed by the usual "other exceptions."

In order to ascertain, if possible, the worth of
ordinary rules in spelling, the following hst of fifty
words was submitted to certain classes of university
students and high-school pupils. This list was sup-

THE VALUE OF RULES

posed to be a fair test of spelling ability, since it con-
tained only such terms as are found in nearly all
typical spelling-books of the present day. Doubtless
most of the students examined had spelled all of
these words in their spelling lessons, at one time or
another, though it is not maintained that the list as
a whole is one of great service in ordinary written
communication.

1. ancient

2. seizure

3. foreign

4. freight

5. their

6. conceivable

7. piercing

8. thievish

9. grievance

10. sieve

11. achievement

12. nervous

13. encouragement

14. awful

15. argument

16. peaceable

17. changeable

18. courageous

19. shoeing

20. singeing

21. mileage

22. pitiable

23. furious

24. greedier

25. fanciful

26. loveliest

27. buried

28. plenteous

29. conveyance

30. essayist

31. betrayal

32. dismayed

33. paid

34. daily

35. concurrence

36. regretted

37. conference

38. rebellion

39. gases

40. stoppage

41. quitting

42. benefited

43. quarreling

44. potatoes

45. folios

46. music

47. frolic

48. derrick

49. tying

50. dying

It should be noted that this list is composed of
words which exemplify seven rules, with their ex-
Material used for ceptions. The first eleven words
*^® *®^* come under a rule which is often

expressed as "i before e except after c, or when
sounded like a, as in neighbor and weigh." The
words, piercing, thievish, grievance, sieve and
achievement, illustrate the first clause of the rule,
conceivable, the second, and freight and their the
third ; seisiire and foreign are exceptions to the first

12 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

clause, and ancient is an exception to the second
clause.

Seizure, conceivable, piercing, thievish, grievance,
achievement, nervous, encouragement, awful, argu-
ment, peaceable, changeable, courageous, shoeing,
singeing and mileage are designed to cover a rule
which may be stated thus : "Final e is dropped be-
fore a suffix beginning with a vowel; but it is re-
tained ( I ) when the suffix begins with a consonant,

(2) when a word in -ce or -ge adds -c^le or -ous,

(3) to keep the pronunciation of the word constant,

(4) to maintain the identity of a word," Seizure,
conceivable, piercing, thieznsh, grievance and ner-
vous illustrate the dropping of e; mileage is an ex-
ception; achievement and encouragement show re-
tention of e under case ( i ) ; aivfid and argument
are exceptions to case ( i ) ; peaceable, changeable
and courageous come under case (2) ; shoeing and
singeing stand for cases (3) and (4) respectively.

Pitiable, furious, greedier, fanciful, loveliest, bur-
ied, plenteous, conveyance, essayist, betrayal, dis-
mayed, paid and daily come under the nile on final
y: "Final y after a consonant changes to i before
all suffixes not beginning with i; final 3; after a
vowel is usually retained." Furious, greedier, fan-
ciful, loveliest and buried illustrate the first part of
the rule, plenteous being an exception ; conveyance,
essayist, betrayal and dismayed illustrate the last
part of the rule, while paid and daily are exceptions.

Again, we have the rule: "Monosyllables and
words accented on the last syllable, ending in a

THE VALUE OF RULES 13

consonant after a single vowel, double that con-
sonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel, un-
less the suffix changes the accent." This rule applies
to concurrence, regretted, conference, rebellion,
gases, stoppage, quitting and benefited. Gases is
an exception, conference shows the change of accent
on adding the suffix, and benefited is a word not
accented on the last.

Potatoes and folios were intended to bring out
the less familiar rule, "Nouns in 0 after a vowel
add .9 for the plural." Music and frolic, with der-
rick as an exception, show that "Polysyllables end-
ing in the sound of k, in which c follows i or ia,
do not add k" The last two words, tying and dying
illustrate the rule that "Words in -ie substitute for
these letters y before the ending ing/'

It was intended in this test to include words
with only one authorized spelling ; but it seems that
some authorities allow two I's in quarreling. Ac-
cordingly, this word was left out of account in the
consideration of the rule for the final consonant.
Payed was marked incorrect, inasmuch as that word
was probably not the one meant by any person
tested.

This test was first made upon certain students
in the freshman class in the University of Wiscon-
The persons sin. These Students, because of

**^*®^ deficient preparation, were a se-

mester behind their class in English. The chief
reason for giving them this test was the fact that
over fifty per cent, of the seventy papers submitted

14 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

were from students who, in February preceding the
giving of the test, which occurred in November,
191 1, had completed the course known as "Subfresh-
man EngHsh," in which special emphasis is laid on
spelling, the rules in general being thoroughly taught
according to Wooley's Meclmnics of Writing.'^ It
should be said, however, that no instruction in spell-
ing rules had been given during the semester in
which the examination was held, though individual
students had been referred to rules as their work
required. The instructors gave this exercise as a
part of the regular work of their classes, graded
the words and noted the results.

The written directions given each instructor for
his class were as follows :

I. Spell the following words, numbering them
from I through to 50. (Then followed the
list given above).
II. Without changing any spellings, write all
rules you consciously used in spelling this list,
and after each rule the number of the words
on which you used it, as 1st, 17th, etc. Do
not be troubled by apparent exceptions to any
rules you have in mind. Practically all have
their exceptions.
III. Write all rules you see exemplified by this
list, but which you did not think of while
spelling the words. If you can not give the

* Seventy-six papers were received in all, but those of four
foreigners, one person who came late to the test, and another
person evidently of very defective hearing, were thrown out.
In the other papers there was scarcely any difficulty due t<?
lack of understanding.

THE VALUE OF RULES 15

nile for any case exactly, give its essence, or
tell what it is about, even in a vague way.
We want all you know about spelling rules.
IV. If you should be unable to give any data
under II or III, say whether any one has
ever tried to teach you rules for spelling.

A desire to please the instructor may have in-
duced some students to say that rules not consciously
used were so employed ; but all the evidence indicates
that the students were not writing for the benefit
of the instructors. One who fell somewhat below
the average in spelling ability said: "The writer
will admit that his spelling is not up to standard,
but when he has any literary work to do his trusty
Webster is always beside him." On the whole, the
students were frank in their statements concerning
their training and their attitude toward rules.

Practically the same test was given to thirty-nine
seniors and thirty freshmen in the Wisconsin High
School, a secondary school under the control of the
University. The word daily was replaced by ^0-
los, which comes under a different rule ; and quar-
reling by exhibition, which falls under the same rule.
The first four rules involved in the test had been
taught to these pupils about two months before,
though in simpler forms than those given above.
A list of ten to twenty words exemplifying these
rules had been worked through daily in the classes,
about ten successive days in the freshman class and
three in the senior class. The test was given nearly
six weeks after the learning of the rules had been

i6 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

dropped as a class exercise. The fourth clause of
the instructions to the university freshmen was
therefore left out in the directions to the high-school
pupils, though the seniors were asked to give their
opinion of the value of spelling rules to them, with-
out regard to the supposed views of their teachers
on the subject.

As each of the seven groups of words was cor-
rected separately, it resulted that the papers fell
into three classes, according as the writers ( i ) con-
sciously used a rule in writing any i)articular group
of words; (2) later recalled a rule governing a cer-
tain class of words, but did not consciously employ
it; and (3) could not remember any rule that ap-
plied to the words spelled. The records of these
three classes are compared for each rule separately,
since each rule needs to be considered independently
of all others, because one rule may be very helpful to
a learner, while another may not be of service to
him.

With reference to the first and second classes of
papers just mentioned, it seems impossible to sepn

Conscious versus ^^^^^ ^^^ COnscious from the auto-
unconscious func- matic use of a rule. A rule might
tioning of a rule , , • 1 j 11

be used consciously and very help-
fully for a time, and then cease to be so employed,
though it might still be of advantage in determining
the spelling of certain words. It is for this reason
that the records of all those having any knowledge
of a rule are presented together. Some advocates

THE VALUE OF RULES

of rules may go so far as to say that those unable
to cite any rule in spelHng might nevertheless have
realized some benefit from it before it was forgotten.
This surely would not hold in the case of the students
who took this special test. The recency with which
they had been taught rules certainly gave the latter
every possible advantage.

The per cents, in the following table indicate the
amount of correct spelling only so far as this is gov-
erned by rules. For example, if the i and e are
correctly arranged in ancient, the word is consid-
ered correct in this table, even if there be elsewhere
an error, making wrong the word as a whole. This
method of recording is adopted necessarily because
our inquiry has to do only with the observance of
the rules.

TABLE I

OBSERVANCE OF THE RULES

Conscious

Unconscious

Combination

Unable to
Cite Any Rule

of Rule While
Writing

of All Citing
a Rule

HiEh

Univer-

Hirb

Unjrer-

Hieh

Unlver-

Hisb

Unirer-

RULE

School

sity

School

•ity

School

•ity

School

•ity

-«.

tft.

•».

-«.

'WL

«,

•0

t/J

(fi

(/3

t/j

!/}

Cfi

t/l

C/3

ie-ei

16
81

79
81

87
87

6
9

87
94

5«

38
17

8?l

40
41

Finale

Final y

11
15

18
82

18
27

13
2

29
42

70
74

81
84

40
27

89
80

Final consonant ..

Final t«

Ii9

i8 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Curiously enough, most of the university students
who said they consciously used the ie-ei rule relied
The function of ^^ mnemonic devices which gave
the ie-ei rule ^ d^g ^q only one or tWO of the

eleven words. Of these devices the word "Alice"
was the most common. It is used to indicate that
when i and e occur as a diphthong after / and c, i
always follows directly after / and e follows di-
rectly after c. The slight superiority of those citing
a rule does not, therefore, seem to be due entirely
to the rule itself. Three subjects made one or more
errors by stating the wrong rule and following it;
while four made one or more errors by not follow-
ing the rules they gave. No high-school freshman
mentioned a rule as it had been taught to him, but
four gave it nearly correct. Several of them wrote
something about "When the word ends in ie or ei/*
etc., plainly confusing it with two of the other rules.
Three seniors gave the rule substantially as they
learned it, but nearly all the others who cited any-
thing gave a version of something taught in earlier
years — the "Alice" rule, et al.

Sixteen different rules were stated by the twenty
university students who told how they solved the
Value of rule problem of final e. The most

on final e nearly complete statement of a

rule was — "Drop final e before a suffix beginning
with a consonant or to preserve the identity of a
word." The rule seemed to be too complex for
most of the writers. They stated it in general

THE VALUE OF RULES 19

outline, without any qualification, or gave only some
very special application of it. Several who had the
case of -ce and -ge in mind were far more success-
ful than the average. Three- fourths of the high-
school students said they remembered some part of
this rule. About a dozen had it very nearly exact
in the simple form in which it was recently taught
to them, but their grade in spelling was not above
the average.

Several university freshmen cited the rule for
final 3; in acceptable form. The high-school fresh-
Value of rule tnen excelled the seniors in its re-
on final y ^^^jl 'pj^^ latter seemed unable

either to use it or to recall it. It might be noted
here that while the observance of this rule was
easiest for the university group, and showed an
advantage of three per cent, with them, it was most
difficult for the high-school group, and showed with
them a disadvantage of three per cent. This seems
to show that something more than the use of the
rule is involved. Very probably this rule, and hence
the words to which it applies, had received rela-
tively less attention at the hands of the high-school
teacher and, on the contrary, relatively more atten-
tion in the carefully outlined work of the university
classes.

Several of the college students were able to give
more or less accurately the rule for doubling the
Value of rule for final consonant. In this case the
final consonant citations were not so much incor-

20 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

rect as insufficient, i.e., they were so phrased as to
apply to only a very few of the cases which the
rule as a whole covers. There seemed little in the
rule itself to cause confusion or misapplication.
About fifteen of the high-school freshmen and three
of the seniors quoted the rule substantially as it
was taught to them, but they failed to show any
better average in their spelling than those who gave
insufficient or erroneous versions of the rule. The
correct application of the rule, as it had been given
them by their teacher a few weeks before, would
have enabled these students to attain an average of
about eighty-three per cent., instead of the seventy-
four per cent, which they actually attained. This
certainly offsets the value of the rule in the spelling
of the college students.

The rule relating to the spelling of the last two
words of the list appears to be more serviceable
Value of rule than the other rules. It applies

for final ie ^q ^ class of words without ex-

ceptions. Thirteen of the sixteen college students
who used it consciously stated it and applied it
correctly. The high-school students who had
learned it some time were less successful in ap-
plying it, though four of them quoted it correctly.
The rule relating to mttsic, frolic and derrick was
not given by any one, so there was no chance for
comparison. A few who tried to formulate a rule
on plurals for potatoes, folios and scJ'^s, attained
a rank about twenty per cent, below their fellows
in their spelling.

THE VALUE OF RULES 21

The attitude of the college freshmen seemed gen-
erally unfavorable to rules. Teachers were charged
Students' attitude with having laid but little stress
toward rules on them, or with having failed to

insist on their application until thoroughly mastered.
One writer said : *T knew most of the spelling rules,
but they have become so indefinite in my memory
that I am mixed up if I use them." Another said
that he "attempted to learn rules for spelling but
thought it added to the difficulty." Four others
declared, after giving one or more rules, that they
had decided that the way the word "looks" is the
best guide. One of them complained of the long
list of exceptions. Four who had been in the course
in Subfreshman English* reported that they had
lost almost all of the rules then taught them. One
gave this amusing but rather significant testimony:
"I was greatly helped, but because of lack of prac-
tise they have grew vague." This suggests that it
may be just as difficult after children have been
spelling somewhat automatically for several years
to get them to spell by rule, as it is in language
work to get them to base their expressions on
grammatical rules. The high-school seniors gave
testimony substantially the same as that given by
the college students. Only ten out of thirty-nine
ascribed any value to rules.

In summary, it may be said that no one rule was
quoted by as many as fifty per cent, of the university
students, though more than half of them had memo-

* See p. 14.

22 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

rized all these rules, and others besides, only the win-
ter before; and many of the students had been over
all of the rules in the public school. A little less
than half the high-school students had the courage
to try to give the rules they had learned only six
weeks previously. In the university group, those
who gave some sort of rule to cover any part of
the list of words, averaged four per cent, higher
in general spelling efficiency than those who could
not give any rule. So it is fair to assume that
their better observance of the rules as shown by
Table I is the result of their better spelling ability
in general, and not to any conscious application of
the rules as such. Not a single rule tested proved
to be of real value, except the one for the last two
words of the list — that relating to the final ie. In
later chapters we shall have much to say respecting
the way in which a pupil actually does learn to spell,
and this may help to explain why rules do not
play a very important part in the process.

CHAPTER III

SOURCES AND CAUSES OF ERRORS

THERE have appeared in print from time to
time long lists of misspelled words selected
from civil service examinations or tests of public
school children by boards of education or others
who are inclined to think that spelling efficiency
has declined since the days of our forefathers. To
those engaged in teaching it is discouraging rather
than helpful to learn that a recent test of two
hundred thirty-seven university sophomores and
freshmen resulted in the misspelling of Macaulay
by one hundred eighty-one.* But the report of this
experiment goes further, and informs us that the
one hundred eighty-one students who failed to spell
the name of this well-known English author ex-
hibited only fifty-one different ways of missing the
word. It apf>ears from this fact that some forms
of misspelling are repeated by different individuals,
which suggests that a few particular erroneous com-
binations may enjoy a certain kind of popularity
among those who take liberties in the matter of
spelling.

* Bulletin of Illinois Association of Teachers of English,
Vol. Ill, No. 8.

24 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Now, for the better teaching of spelling it seems
important that teachers should know how various

-, , , , ^ common words are most often

Need of deter-
mining causes misspelled ; yet one finds a general
o errors j^^^^ ^^ understanding on the part
of teachers relating to this matter. Some schools
are doing a valuable work, however, in compiling
lists of words misspelled in the upper grades, and
referring them to teachers in the lower grades to
be given some special attention. Where the schools
are well organized, certain portions of such a
list can be referred to the particular teacher who
is likely to be responsible for establishing the first
impressions of the words that give trouble. But
teachers ought to know, in order to be of greatest
service to their pupils, not simply that separate is
a commonly misspelled word, but they should know
also just where the mistake is likely to occur, and
why, so that attention may be effectively directed
to the source of trouble. While in many words,
of which separate is an illustration, most teachers
are aware of the point of special difficulty, there
are many other words presented in the schoolroom,
the difficult parts of which are not known to the
teacher in advance. The writers have been im-
pressed with this fact in the experimental work
performed on the group of boys spoken of in
Chapter I. The sources of error which the in-
structor tried to guard against in the teaching of
the lessons did not, he often found upon test, con-

SOURCES OF ERRORS

stitute the major difficulties at all; he had been
aiming at the wrong point. Any teacher can see
how subtle a matter it is to pick out the sources
of error, if he will give a list of common words
to his class, and then tabulate the frequency of the
various misspellings of each word. As a basis for
discussion of this problem, it will be advisable to
consult the tabulation of the misspellings of some
common words as they occurred in the one hundred
thirty-nine papers referred to in Chapter II. In the
interpretation of these data, it should be understood
that the writers are relying on observations of the
group of boys already spoken of. Without sucK
first-hand observation, it is impossible for an adult
to be reliable in his explanations and deductions
regarding a psychological experience remote in his
own past.

TABLE II

Frequency of Occurrence

Spelling

> to

High-
School
Seniors

High-
School
Freshmen

ancient

anceint

21
2

anciant

....

anscient

anchint

antient

....

anxsion

....

26 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Spelling

Frequency of Occurrence

foreign .
foriegn .
forgein .
forgien ,
foregin ,
foreighn
foriegm
foregien
f orein .
foren . .
forhead
thorn . .
thorm . .

piercing

peircing

pierceing

peirceing

pearcing

pircing .

percing

perssing

preicing

personly

sieve . .
seive . .
sive . . .
ceive . .

66
2

33
2

31
2
2
2

21
10

SOURCES OF ERRORS

Spelling

Frequency of Occurrence

,£3

SIV

seeve

scive

siev

sceve

seieve

cib

shaney

shafe

(omitted) . . .

nervous

nerveous ....

nervious

nervice

nervess

nervase

neverous ....

neriyous

(illegible) . . .

encouragement
encouragment
encourgement
engarrment . .
injurment . . .
encoerrgement
encourgment .

64
6

31
4
3

33
6

5
I

I
I
I

4
6
I
I
I
I

28 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Frequency of Occurrpnce

Spelling

awful . . . . .

aw full . . . .

auful

awefull . . .
auwfull . . ,

awfle

awfiful . . . .
auffell ....

affull

offel

offul

offull

(illegible) .

argument . .
arguement .
aurguement
argement . .
argurment .
humment . .
(omitted) ,

dismayed . .
dismade . . .
dismaid . . .
dismay . . . .
desmayed . .
desmaied . .
dismeyed . .

59
II

3
I

32
6

28
2

4
2
I

22
I
2

I
I

I
I
I

4
I
I
I
I

13
9

4
I

SOURCES OF ERRORS

(lismayence

dismaided

dissmayed

dimayed

betrayal

betrail

betrayel

(other purely individ-
ual errors)

benefited

benefitted

benifited

benifitted

benifit

benefitied

benafated

benifetted

benefitting

benfitting

benfited

benififted

binefited

64
2

24
6
6

17
2

The above eleven words, tabulated in their vari-
ous forms, were chosen at random from the list
of fifty given to the students ; and they illustrate

30 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

most, if not all, of the principles to be brought
out in this chapter. A few of the words, which
showed the greatest variety of odd misspellings,
were excluded from the eleven presented above in
order to save space.

A study of this table of misspellings reveals a
number of principles. In the first place, most read-
Prevalence of €^s will be willing to admit that
chance errors j^ respect to practically every
word there are evidences of chance errors due to
slips of the pen, misunderstanding of the word, or
both. Scarcely any one will maintain that the wri-
ters of such forms as anxsion, cih, sJianey, shafe,
neveroiis, engarrment, injurment, humment, dismay-
ence, dismay, dismaided and benefifted were trying
to write the precise words they were asked to spell.
The misunderstanding may have been due to faulty
pronunciation by the teacher, or it may be that
the ear of the pupil was at fault. Again, it may
have been d"ue to the apperceptive difficulty most
of us experience when we hear a name or isolated
word. In such spellings as forhcad and thorn (for
foreign), and personly (for piercing) it is evident
that the pupil read a wrong meaning into the sounds
which he thought he heard.

Slips of the pen are accountable for some

errors. Thorm shows the common occurrence

of w when n is intended ; and
Slips of the pen

the reverse is as often true.

Dimayed represents another very common mis-

SOURCES OF ERRORS 31

lake, the hand omitting a letter in order to
abbreviate the process of writing. There is strong
probabiHty of the same thing being true for
argemenf, benfited and benfitting. Sometimes this
curtailment takes place at the end of a word, as
in siv, although this explanation is especially per-
tinent to such a form as freigh (for freight), the
gh being so common a termination that it often
automatically asserts itself in wrong places. A let-
ter from a county superintendent recently received
by one of the writers contained three successive
words with the last letter omitted. Most students
in taking rapidly the notes for a lecture are liable
to use the for they, them, etc. What we call
"carelessness" accounts ordinarily for such lapses
in writing a spelling lesson in column, unless the
pupil is greatly hurried.

Preicing (for piercing^ and mielage (for mile-
age) illustrate another sort of error in spelling, the
inversion of the order of the letters. But the
shifting about of the g in foreign can hardly be
attributed to the same cause. The silent letter, by
virtue of the very fact that it is silent, is liable
to suffer all sorts of displacement. It is interesting
to note that the same trick, inversion of literal or-
der, is sometimes played by one's vocal organs, as
common observation shows, not only with reference
to oral spelling but also with reference to words
and expressions, such as the famous "Peter Piper"
jingle. Not only does a pupil change, the order of

32 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

letters occasionally, or skip a letter or syllable in
order to facilitate execution, but the process is some-
times reversed, resulting in the repetition of a
phrase, word or portion of a word in the writing
of connected discourse. To this cause is due such
a spelling as convey anance (for conveyance).

Several of these types of mistakes have been
mentioned because they occur so frequently in every
Treatment schoolroom. A teacher should

of lapses regard them simply as lapses,

which may not occur the second time with the same
individual. Of course, if the same error does occur
again, the chances are that it is not a lapse; but
a wise teacher can not permit his attention to be
distracted by mere lapses from the real points at
issue in teaching a list of words. Teachers often
fail to differentiate these "pen-slips" from errors
due to lack of knowledge. Often, too, teachers
mark as absolutely wrong a word which, although
written incorrectly originally, was seen to be incor-
rect by the pupil, and voluntarily corrected before
the time for the submission of the work. Many
lapses are detected in this way by those who com-
mit them. On such a theory of grading, a con-
tractor would penalize one of his bricklayers just
as heavily for tearing down a defective portion of
a wall as for building the superstructure upon it
without remedying the defect. It is probable that
such lapses as have been described are in no way
related to real errors; and they can not be wholly

SOURCES OF ERRORS 33

overcome, unless facility in expression be seriously
interfered with by giving too much attention to the
technique of writing.

In the teaching of spelling in our public schools,
a distinction should be made between lapses and
real errors. Each must be penalized, but not in
equal measure. Certain forms of lapses may be-
come individual characteristics. One subject has
been observed in whose writing think tends always
to be written thing. A university student recently
complained that he had to fight constantly against
interchanging for each other d and g, both in pre-
paring manuscript and in typewriting. These in-
stances are given to show the likelihood that a
careful record of misspellings may enable a teacher
in time to detect the characteristic lapses of certain
pupils, so that the latter may be put on their guard,
and asked to go over their work in order to check
up on their special failings. Most teachers find
by experience that the vague unparticularized com-
mand, "Look over your work," can secure only
meager results at best.

Let us leave out of consideration the particular
misspellings which occur but a single time in the
lists of Table II, as being for the most part lapses,
and see whether or not among the other misspell-
ings, those due to lack of knowledge, the compara-
tive popularity of certain errors may not be clearly
established. In arranging the table, there was an
attempt made to place the misspellings in the gen-

34 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

eral order of their frequency, the most common
ones standing first. One striking fact relates to
the great difference in relative number of the vari-
ous misspellings of a word, which must be due
to a marked tendency of pupils to commit some
particular error. Another suggestive fact is that the
order of frequency of the misspellings of any word
is almost exactly the same for all three groups
of students. There would appear, then, to be in
the constitution of certain words special difficulties
which are a source of trouble to a majority of
children learning to spell.

It is not always possible to tell just which mis-
takes are due to lack of knowledge and which to
Is there a critical lapse ; but taking the situation as
point in a word? ^yg fin^ it, let US see whether a
study of the frequency of different errors will not
enable us to determine critical points, or perhaps
the critical point in a given word, so that if some
particular letter or brief combination of letters be
properly impressed, the misspelling of that word
will be likely to be corrected. Seven out of twelve
pupils who missed ancient did so because the com-
bination ie was not thoroughly familiar, and with
four of the seven it was merely a question of the
order of the two letters. Twenty-seven missed
foreign, four of them trying to spell something
else. Of the other twenty-three, the failure of ten
was due solely to the reversal of the letters ei.
Twenty-four students missed piercing, two of them

SOURCES OF ERRORS 35

probably by chance. Eight of the others failed
solely by reversing the letters ei, six by retaining
final e and three by combining the two forms of
error. Half of those missing sieve spelled it seive,
and over a fourth made it sive. The other errors
vi^ere peculiar and exceptional, save for ceive, which
appeared three times. Again, of twenty-four errors
in writing nervous, ten made it ncrveous, and five
others wrote nervious, thus showing the difficulty
to be at the same place in the word in every case.
Out of twenty-six mistakes in writing encourage^
ment, sixteen were written encouragmenf. Argue-
ment is the only misspelling of argument that is
not strictly individual. These and similar cases
that could be cited from the list of fifty words,
show that from one-third to two-thirds of all diffi-
culties in spelling lie at the point of a word covered
by some rule relating to it.

Underlying much of the belief in the value of
the teaching of rules has been the assumption that

^ . , . they relate to the points of chief

Crucial points •' , ^

often not covered difficulty m the words to which
^ ^^ ^^ they refer. Some data bearing on

thijs matter may be gained from an examination of
the spelling of a number of the fifty words already
given. The retention of e, as in cnveftdl, appeared
in only two of twenty cases of misspellings of
this word, but the much less commonly taught rule
(full does not occur as a suffix), was violated by
a majority of the twenty students. In benefited.

36 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

tt appears in violation of the rule fifty-eight
times; but beni, in violation of no rule, occurs
thirty-five times. Thus the difficulties are some-
what evenly distributed. In buried the results are
quite different. Twelve out of twenty-six doubled
the r, and eight others combined it with another
error. But only two violated the special rule re-
lating to the retaining of the 3; in bury. Out of
fifty-seven students who made errors in spelling
essayist, thirty wrote cssayest, while only eighteen
violated the rule by omitting y. Eight of the
eighteen can hardly be said to have broken the rule,
since they did not write anything that could be
recognized by a person not knowing what word was
given out. Forty-two missed exhibition, but only
one did so by violating the rule covering the doub-
ling of the final consonant. Thirty-eight had no
h in their spelling. In foreign, on the other hand,
the omission of silent g was too unusual to create
a problem. In concurrence, ance is a markedly more
prevalent error than the failure to double the r as
required by the rule. So if one were to say that
the critical point in the spelling of those words that
come under some rule is always the point covered
by the rule, one would not be in accord with the
facts.

A few words in the list show a great diversity
of genuine misspellings, but the errors are usually
localized at one or two points in the words. Of
about twenty misspellings of grievance, there were

SOURCES OF ERRORS 37

only two that did not preserve the consonant skele-
ton gr-v-nce. In thirteen misspellings of pitiable
nearly all the trouble centered in the doubling of
the t,_ and following it with the wrong vowel. It
may be concluded that for ordinary words of three
or four syllables, there is a single letter or diphthong
that causes most of the trouble, and that it is
altogether unusual to find more than two crucial
points in a common word. It is plain that a
knowledge of rules simply does not inform the
teacher where the stress in teaching particular words
is to be laid ; nor does the presence of a silent letter
or the possible doubling of a consonant necessarily
lay bare the source of difficulty. Every word pre-
senting serious problems to the novice must be
studied by itself, and the teacher can deal with it
effectively only after examining the misspellings to
see where the crucial points are. This can be done
by any one who will tabulate the frequency of as
many as fifty cases of misspelling of a word, though
a smaller number will be suggestive.

The discovery of the causes of error in spelling
is the next step to be considered. This is an
Mispronunciation easier matter than to locate crucial
as a cause of error points. The cause of an error can
ordinarily be detected from its character by teachers
of experience. Few teachers need to be impressed
with the importance of correct pronunciation of
words to be spelled. The spelling exercise will al-
most daily bring to light some errors due to mispro-

38 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

nunciation by the teacher, or by the pupils them-
selves. Anchint is very likely a phonetic spelling of a
mispronunciation of ancient. Outside of a few
words of French origin, ch almost never has the
sound sh. The same cause of error in spelling is seen
in percing and perssing, and probably in nerivous.
The spelling of encourgement six times and en-
courgment once by the high-school freshmen shows
a lack of distinct articulation which among the
younger students is a common practise. Even
adults who give the a in courage a distinct value,
tend to slight it or wholly to elide it in the longer
forms, such as encouragement, discouragement, and
the variations of the verbs from which these two
nouns are derived. Des- in dismayed is another
error due to mispronunciation. Benafated and heni-
fetted illustrate the same principle, as disclosed by
the vowel after /. The easiest and surest method
for a teacher to test the question of pronunciation is
to ask a child to pronounce a misspelling just after
he has written it. Oral spelling, of course, offers
ready means of making such a test.

There can be no danger in insisting that all words
to be spelled by a pupil should be pronounced cor-
rectly by him as the first step in the lesson study.
Even then it will be found that errors such as
unaminous for unanimous will appear now and
again, because pupils can not or at least do not
hold the pronunciation faithfully in mind as they
write. Errors due to mispronunciation are not so

SOURCES OF ERRORS 39

numerous as those due to other causes which we
shall discuss later. They are, however, of much
greater frequency and importance in the lower
grades of the elementary school than in the high
school, for many of them have been acquired by
the child before school age.

It is peculiarly difficult to forecast what are the
probable mispronunciations that will occur in the
case of certain words, since two different sets of
influences produce these errors. On the one hand,
we have those individual associations made by each
child for himself, such as caused one child to call
a screen door "a scream door," because, as she
afterward stated, it made such a noise when it
closed. On the other hand, there are the peculiar
survivals of the nature of dialect in the speech of
every child, reflecting the idiosyncrasies in the
spoken language of his family and friends.

A most fruitful cause of errors in spelling is
phonetic analogy. Persons with whom the auditory
Analogies in factor predominates are much

spelling subject to this difficulty. Some-

times the analogy covers only a brief phonetic unit,
while at otjier times a word is taken over entire.
Antient shows the persistence of the common ele-
ment ti, phonetically equivalent to sh. Pearcing is
the result either of drawing an analogy from ear,
fear, dear, etc., or it comes directly from the proper
name Pearce. Words having the suffix -less or
-ness may have been the cause of the spelling of

40 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

nervous as nervess; and novice and service may
explain nervice. A very special case is presented
by the like sounds of certain consonants or com-
binations of consonants, as in the case of anscient,
where sci is inferred from conscience. Likewise,
the various uses oi c, s and sc produced considerable
confusion in sieve. The alternative oi s or 2 is
troublesome in some words not noted above, as, for
example, seizure.

Another factor is introduced when a child
takes over a word as a whole on account of
phonetic analogy, as ceaseur (for seizure), piece-
able (for peaceable), berried (for buried), dis^
made and dismaid (for dismayed). The pu-
pil usually disregards the content of both the
word transferred, and of the word to which
he makes the transfer. This is not the case
with the writing of full in awful, since the signifi-
cance of awful is actually "full of awe"; but it is
true of off in offull (for awful). And when piece
enters into peaceable, maid or made into dismayed,
trail into betrayal, and fitted into benefited, we have
the incorporation into one word of another word
altogether extraneous to the situation in which it
is placed. Such mistakes tend to decrease with the
development of a critical attitude toward one's
language. When a student begins to diagnose his
mother tongue, the idea of cori'tent comes to dom-
inate in word composition, and he resists phonic
analogies which have no regard to content. The in-

SOURCES OF ERRORS 41

troduction of a foreign language, especially German,
into the elementary school should be helpful in giv-
ing students this attitude. Younger students can
not be placed on their guard too fully against think-
ing they may cite this or that word as a justification
for the spelling of another word in a particular
manner. There is only one real authority, and that
is the way the word is spelled. Inferences may be
drawn only from such other words as have a sim-
ilarity in content.

Many teachers have recognized as a cause of
error the obscure or elided vowel, i. e., the vowel
Obscure or which, though not silent, has its

elided vowels sound so slurred as to deprive it

of individuality. We see this in such words as
separate, infinite, and words terminating in -able or
-ible. The learner's tendency is to interchange i
and a, or to substitute e for either of them. U may
sometimes interfere, but scarcely ever does 0. In
some spelling-books, lists of words containing such
vowels are printed or written with the difficult
vowel in heavy or unique type. In the schoolroom
they are often written on the blackboard in chalk
of a different color from the bpdy of the word.
But it is safe to assert that few teachers in the
elementary school recognize that the obscure vowel
is always a possible source of error. The writers
have found by experience that they can not detect
by a cursory examination all of these letters in lists
of words in spelling lessons ; they can be discovered

42 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

only after painstaking search. One would hardly
think the second vowel in benefit would give trouble,
but the writers found it to be so in thirty-five out
of eighty- four misspellings of the word. Final e
in a number of monosyllables does not have any
sound whatever in itself, but it might be considered
as one type of elided vowel, because it modifies the
pronunciation of the word. It is not often omitted
by mistake, however, probably on account of the
prominence of its position. Every obscure vowel
ought to be presented with stress from the start;
either by positive means, such as fixing the impres-
sion by auditory and visual stimuli, intense and re-
peated, or by the negative method of warning
against the use of other letters which the pupil might
be inclined to employ in its place. The latter method
will further on be shown to have its dangers; and
if it be employed at all, it must be closely watched
for its effects.

The mistake of doubling a letter happens much
less frequently with the vowels than with the con-

_ , ,. , sonants, probably because the

Doubling letters , , , , , , ,• • .

doubled vowel has a distmct-

ive sound in the case of oo. The other vowels, except
e, are not commonly doubled. But most of the con-
sonants are frequently doubled, and the result is not
apparent from the pronunciation of a word. The
place where doubling is likely to occur is usually in
the middle of a word where a syllable stops or
begins with a certain consonant. The mistake arises

SOURCES OF ERRORS 43

in assigning the consonant to each of the two ad-
jacent syllables, as singging (for singeing), millage
(for mileage), pittiable {lor pitiable) , furrious (for
furious) and hurried (for buried). Following the
same principle, one member of a double consonant
may be dropped under like circumstances, as der-
ick (for derrick), stopage (for stoppage) and re-
belion (for rebellion).

Just what corrective measures, if any, are espe-
cially adapted to counteracting this difficulty, can not
be stated with confidence. It is impossible to form-
ulate rules for doubling letters that shall cover any
large number of cases without numerous exceptions.
For a discussion of the efficacy of such rules the
reader is referred to Chapter II. Directing the at-
tention upon the crucial points is recommended, as
in the case of elided vowels. Special stress on
double combinations, by means of oral spelling with-
out regard to syllabication, might prove very helpful
as a means of fixing the doubled letter, especially
for those in whom auditory imagery is strong. The
method might be, for example, as follows: Have
pupils spell coffee — "c-o- double /- double e," or
village — "v-i double l-a-g-e," and so on.

This brings us to an important principle con-
nected with spelling that is closely related to

Types of letters '^''^^^^ ^^"'^' ""^ ^"■^'"- J"'*
half the letters of the al-
phabet are "single-space" letters. Six rise more
than one space above the base line, five pass below

44 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

it bat only a single space above it, while / and p
stretch both above and below the "single-space" let-
ters. In printing, / and p fall into one of the
three distinct classes, but the classification here has
regard only to writing. Considering the last two
letters as hybrids or combinations, we have the three
types of letters — the "ascender," the "single-space"
and the "descender." Now, if any ordinary writing
be examined, two-thirds of the letters occurring
will be found to be of the single-space variety.
Most of the others will be "ascenders." But it is
plain that either the first or the third class of letters
will stand out more prominently than the second,
just as a pedestrian of uncommon color, garb or
language will be more marked than one who
is conventional in these respects. It is likewise true
that the further removed such a letter is from others
of its kind in a given word, the more prominently
it will stand forth.

This principle explains why, in the various mis-
spellings of such a word as ancient, most students
made mistakes which did not interfere seriously
with the visual image of the word, i. e., they
maintained the succession of single-space letters.
In foreign the visual impression made by g, rather
isolated from other unusual and striking letters,
causes it to be found, rightly or wrongly placed,
in nearly every misspelling of the word. On the
other hand, exhibition presents an alternating series
of short and tall letters, and the omission or mis-

SOURCES OF ERRORS 45

placing of h does not seriously affect the visual
image. This also accounts for the difficulty in
doubling or not doubling letters, the substitution of
one vowel for another when the sound is obscured,
and the confusion oi c, s and sc, though it does
not explain the interchanging of .$• and s. To illus-
trate further, if ^^ were written old style, we should
be much less likely to find pasion (for passion),
or if e after n were a "descender," we should not
have found benifit thirty-five times in our list of
misspellings.

Dividing a word into syllables may act as
a preventive of error to the extent that it

_ secures correct pronunciation,

Syllabication i , , , • • <•

and checks the omission or

syllables in long words. Yet it may well be
asked whether the short e in benefited^ for
example, is more likely to be remembered because
ben- is recalled as the first syllable instead of be-,
or whether, as in the case of one of the writers,
ben- is recalled as constituting the first syllable be-
cause the correct pronunciation is remembered. This
difficulty would not exist if ben- were visually pre-
sented as a distinct syllable just as often as the
auditory element is repeated by speaking the word,
hearing it spoken, or writing it. But ben- as a
visual entity disappears from consciousness as soon
as the pupil turns from the spelling lesson, while
the word remains as a unit in audition, in content,
and most of all, in vision.

46 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Whether this view is sound or not, it can not
be denied that syllabication is often merely arbitrary
as far as pronunciation is concerned, whereas it is
usually thought by adults to be fully in accord with
the phonetic character of words. To adults there
is no inconsistency in saying that such a combina-
tion as betrail consists of two syllables; while be-
trayal, of course, contains three. But a child can
write them interchangeably and see no violation of
phonetics, just as when a boy writes mechanisem
(for mechanism). The almost universal resistance
of children's minds to proper syllabication indicates
that it is a matter of unusual psychological signifi-
cance and that it should be regarded with due cau-
tion as an aid to correct spelling.

If the propositions so far advanced have been

true in the main — if each word presents a special

_,. ^. ^^ complex of visual and auditory

Directing atten- ^ ■'

tion to the crucial elements, different from all other
point in each word ^ords— there will necessarily be
unique features or factors in the teaching of
each word. For example, in the teaching of
ancient one should call special attention to the
sh sound in pronunciation and note the spelling
in this case; ie also should be stressed. Foreign
will not be found hard to pronounce correctly, but
the ei should be made the stressing point, not simply
in itself, but in relation to the shifting g. In
benefited the second e must be presented with force
from the start. If this be done, probably the i will

SOURCES OF ERRORS 47

never appear, for there are no common words in
beni-. But citing several common ones like benefi-
cial, benevolence and benediction might strengthen
the correct impression. The tt in benefitted can not
be so well dealt with on a visual or auditory basis,
but the element of content may be invoked by show-
ing the words fit, unfit, misfit, discussing their re-
lation to one another, bringing out the tt in the
appropriate form of each, and then dissociating the
content, hence the spelling of benefit from the con-
tent and spelling of these other words. Such is
the type of "word study" that must come to have
a place in every schoolroom in which spelling is
taught.

CHAPTER IV

THE LIFE HISTORY OF CERTAIN SPELLINGS

IT is desired to show in this chapter just what
stages a group of boys passed through in learn-
ing a list of about seventy words chosen from a
Words assigned widely-used spelling text. The
in experiments subjects of this experiment were
the four boys mentioned in Chapter I. A daily
assignment was made for five successive days. The
experimenter wrote the words on the board in "fam-
ilies" as he called them, such as inspire, ifis/>iration;
mechanism, mechanic, mechanical, and so on. There
were from six to twelve such groups in each day's
lesson. The original intention was to present a
series of twenty or twenty-five lessons by five dif-
ferent methods, following one another in a constant
order, as a basis for determining the comparative
merits of the different methods of presentation ; but
the text-book list was so far beyond the ability of
the class, and, it is believed, so far beyond that of
the ordinary child for whom it is designed, that
it was decided at the end of the fifth lesson to
concentrate upon these seventy-five words, and see

THE LIFE HISTORY 49

what experiences the pupils must have in order to
master them.

All preparation of spelling lessons was done dur-
ing the class hour. The first two lessons the experi-
„ . menter pronounced and spelled

presentation Orally, the class spelling orally

and study ^^^ pronouncing after him. For

the first lesson, sentences containing the words were
used in the study, and for the second, definitions
were given, but no words were used in sentences.
The third lesson was pronounced and spelled orally
by the experimenter, and the pupils were told to
study it as they pleased. All of them did as com-
mon observation shows most pupils do when left
to their own resources to prepare their spelling les-
sons— they simply looked at the words on the board,
and presumably "said them over to themselves."
The content of the words was not referred to dur-
ing this lesson. For the fourth and fifth lessons
the pupils looked at the words and their definitions
and heard them pronounced, but they were not
asked to pronounce them themselves. They then
wrote the words on the board, using those in the
fourth lesson in sentences so far as time permitted.
The words of the fifth lesson were not written in
sentences. To sum up, the third lesson was a go-
as-you-please one of the old type, while the other
four were half of the contextual and half of the
column type. Two of them were recited orally and
two were written.

50 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Each lesson was written in a test the day after
it was studied. The first lesson was written in sen-
Methods of tences constructed by the class,
recitation but the other lessons were done
in columns. This interval of a day between study-
ing a lesson and reciting on it gave any well-defined
errors a chance to ripen in consciousness for twenty-
four hours before they were written ; though in the
study of the four lessons supervised, all errors were
instantly corrected. All the errors made in the
written test on each lesson remained undisturbed
for another twenty-four hours, or until the next
day. In teaching the lesson, points which the ex-
perimenter thought might prove difficult were
stressed in various ways. A vertical line was
drawn through words of the same "family" at the
point where their likeness ceased, as inspir\e, in-
spir\ation; mechan\ism, mechan\ic. Double or silent
letters or obscure vowels were underlined, as intelli-
gence, courageous, infinite; and the difference in
pronunciation and spelling of the first two syllables
of such words as mechan\ical and machin\ist was
emphasized.

The next day after the test on each lesson, the
boys were called on to spell orally the words they
Methods of had missed. A tally was kept to

correction show whether, when a word had

been misspelled originally, the same incorrect form
was given now, or a different one, or whether the
correct spelling was given now or approved when

THE LIFE HISTORY 51

presented. Each word in its correct form was
placed on the board by the experimenter before it
was left for good.

When the five lessons had thus been corrected,
and it was determined to continue work at length
on the difficult words instead of presenting new
ones, the entire list was again written in columns
without any further study. A very thorough re-
view was then begun. The test papers were re-
turned to the boys, and every word that had been
missed by any one was written correctly on the
board by all. Each word was now for the first time
divided into syllables, all the boys showing some
skill in this. Correct pronunciation of each word
was required. The word was then written again
in a sentence suggested by the class. Every boy
was required to underline that part of any word
in which his mistake had occurred. The whole list
was next written in test for the third time. Only
contextual spelling was attempted. The meaning
of the words now seemed to be so clear to the class
that in the next review-study there was no context-
ual work. With their last papers in their hands,
the boys took each word missed by them individ-
ually, and wrote it on the board twice. If a word
was not written correctly on the board and without
much hesitation or apparent change of mind, the
boy who was writing it continued his efforts until
he could execute the whole word without a slip.

52 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

After this the fourth and final test was made by
writing the words again in sentences.

Table III shows the general progress of the class
from start to finish as gaged by the number of
words missed on each test.

TABLE III

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Pupil

test

(absent )

1 8*

Barring B, who missed the second and third
tests and all the training for them, the rank of the
Capacity for Other three continued the same

improvement up to the last test. C had at

the beginning a feeling of superiority, which de-
clined as his fellows gained on him. Both C and
D showed an actual loss from the first to the sec-
ond test, but elsewhere there was a steady advance-
ment. A showed the greatest capacity for improve-
ment from intensive study of difficult words, and
C showed the least. This is the inverse order of
their abilities to spell in various tests which they
took later on.

The improvement occurred in two ways, — by the

"* For only four out of the five lessons-

THE LIFE HISTORY 53

gaining of new words and by the retention of those
already spelled correctly. The latter shows great
variation from pupil to pupil. Table IV indicates
the number of words missed on any test, which had
been spelled correctly on the preceding test.

TABLE IV

2nd 3rd 4th

Pupil

test test test Total

2608

(absent) 6 (as against first test)

10 9 3 22

9 8 I 18

The power of gaining new words and holding
the old ones seemed to be correlated closely in this
Learning and intensive training series. This

retaining raises the question, often debated,

as to whether the slowest learner is the best re-
tainer. In another series of lessons, discussed from
a different point of view in Chapter VI, very inten-
sive training in spelling was given these same four
subjects, with the result that there was practically
perfect immediate recall of all words. But the
course of lessons was extended until one hundred
sixty words were presented. Without any recall
one day of those missed the day before, and with
a considerably longer time elapsing between the first
(daily) test and the second (final) test, A showed
his power plainly on the immediate daily recall,

54 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

and was superior to all the others ; but on the final
test, when the entire one hundred sixty words were
written without review, he turned out to be the
poorest retainer in the group. So it appears that
A, the best retainer according to the test of the
present chapter (as indicated by Table IV) is the
poorest retainer in the experiment of Chapter VI.
Evidently the different results in these tests are
due to the different conditions of the two experi-
ments. One set of conditions was just suited to
A's type of mind, while the other was not. He
illustrates a kind of pupil found in nearly every
class, the kind of pupil whose diligence brings sat-
isfactory, sometimes excellent, results in the daily
work, but who "never does well on examinations."
Students of this sort may correct any minor mis-
statement of the teacher in the daily geography or
history lesson, but show a woeful ignorance of the
same and other much more vital points at the time
of the monthly quiz. No answer as to the relation
of learning and retaining appears possible, as long
as we aim at a general formula that shall cover
all conditions and cases. Generalizations of this
character, as far as they relate to spelling, must
be accompanied by a statement of the intensiveness
of the study, the number of times of recall, and
the time elapsing between tests.

We may now look more closely into the question
of the persistence of certain mistakes in spelling

THE LIFE HISTORY 55

Persistence made by this group of boys,

of errors Most teachers doubtless have

noted how a misspelling will crop out again and
again in the work of a student, even though he may
have been reminded repeatedly of his mistake. The
same thing appears in the work of this group. In
Table V, all errors have been tabulated for each
individual so that a glance across the page will
suggest how a pupil worked out a certain word,
or at least attempted to do so, through the whole
four tests. The notes of the experimenter made
daily as to special difficulties served to verify the
general conclusions drawn below. All blanks indi-
cate correct spelling. Points of difficulty are itali-
cized as far as possible.

5^ THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

«? ^ E E .5

3 C

•SjsSi a.2"S eg, 5

^.S,S22 HShu -5-3 §

u u <a t: a -H o

^c ,c 5 bo h r* S« c B c a

.S.C.iS' o o o u w c c c c.s.s O

•3 y O

4->

.e>,.2

<n C C

••s.r E E:

c c o o

1 I.I.I

THE LIFE HISTORY 57

2>w rt Ji

bo Si w bo w S*

«u ^ ^ ^ qj to

SEES .2 S

>? >> S5 53

•C-5 c c p >» j: «S « « 5 «J " -xj-^ o .0.0

SEEEEg ^^.S.SSEE SS ^ e2

0 w

n w« t« •-• ^- •*• ••* •« ,_, ,_,

CboboSxotio *i SK ^«iiP

oEEEE ^ .S.H EE2

v;s

U OT

■'-' 0

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3 S

0 OT

5i w

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bo c4

4-> U 4->

S? rt w • .2 33 rt ^-^

i.|a|&-g §|5 1 1 i|.o ,-j s^:- g| i II

■5!3sast:;3S^05:cc>w43vui.J:w2^ctJ?. "^o
SccccF, SS5>>nnccc"5"'rtrt33E"J*'o<j
occccvO4O,?(«.t:.s-t:cc:u^i-.u^iA.t:cb0c4cT>

•s cc>> ^>.o25 «•- -2 „333 >>•- 2 "> ■§

tilli^illi 11 ill ..-I ifiiis i till

SccccK5S'^Sf'*CcCccrtrtrtrt3sEf'**'uoe(uiu

occ:ccuo.p,^t«.i:.3vcchw;;t.OTM-Spbocic]S<+HQi

58 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

c3 ^ 4) « >>

^ « ^ 5 ? L. i

V <i c S, bo ir S

e 55 c c c S p

•" y rt nj

.S.S .S tJ

Sgltl I -slila^ Jill l?§fcla|

^.S.S.S b .S.S.S'.^EE ESSE .S8 8^oSS

■<-•«> I-

^- •—

(fl c c -o .2 •=•=•=•- <u:t:-i3 5
fe .2 bo bo 4> £ -s .-S .ti E E >;> >•* ^^Sj:;u:;= v «.5i £ ^^

g-.S.E.E.S J3 .S.S.SP.&E ESSES E.H.S 8 8^ o E E

THE LIFE HISTORY 59

en V

C 5 tJ c3 rt c c ii w c S,

(4
*M Ctf

e «4

*-* E ^ P

c C u I. u '^

y3«S 3 rt rt w

•S.5 w c c CO

>. «-t;\« rt 3 n

:2 2i| § 35-S- 1^ 12-2

?^ ^ 9.tj ^ ^ 2 s ^^ v> a^ Set?

ti "rt ^oQ%%o2;c5 fc « JS o.-S E cow

S T CcnrtrtcasE^S'. <"n^- c5'-

•ii.i; ii "O 'J .ii .s. «*-! wtH u 4) 4> y 7; 3 TT. c c 4^ '2 ..- .« c .-. jj i* rs

E<«73'?;3'a'Oi'<uoooQ.S'?:^Oo.'tiE cnouv-i-t-

Crt>>CCCrtrtc3SE^Ji,E"'"C^- cc&Cccrt

6o THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

■^ G -C

*rt

C bo

E.S

voJi g

25 5 S3

^C C C ^

;3 O O O J"

5 E E S C

r; (y (u 1) Q

'■3 ^ C C -w*

i5'cn <tt «u <u

C C *" C C C

5 S E E E E

0.2.S

•3

■" E ^

hS tj o o *» .2

^ <J v> <J w

<N u t) 4^ rt

E E E E

^
3

£? ^,

'<o

S.2

O u

C I-.

<fl

(/}

O rt

«^

c iy
c c

E S

^ .2.2 "^

c c
tccc

C C

O O >,

E.S E E

< pq (/5 W 12; H

>.?^ c5

>,2 c - -

^) c c c r?x: <tt c o
E E E E g ^ S.S.S

** «*H «<H

Drrect fon

hanisra

hanic

hanical

hinist

Ihgence

lligible

onstration

onstrable

lonstrator

:eivable

•ier

3
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'^^

■t-t </>

c c

O^aa^^iiiiEEESC

a <u

ESEE.S.S-S-S'SS.2

CO In
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THE LIFE HISTORY

2 w ■"
S V c
o c <u

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to ^

E.S

o o C

a O . -

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a
C

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E E.S

0
0

J3^ O

•^'S <n u <tt

O. O. 9 V C

ttj 4> O ■*-' ■** 2

U Vj c >c>>& ^

M to bo d (« *+<

•-; CO

S 0

111

■55 S

V u .S

a a S

ceo

tc«: G

c c bo

e " C

6
0

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n c 0 «J u <j

«cy3 n p 3 3

.S.S.SPo y w

SIS

O tn « G

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C:=

K tn c «^ y^^

M in bti cs (8 C Ml

re W

E* a

E
o

a c
c c

3 E ^ lU rt en

E^tl.'^.'S >>>>««= 2^-?;= o wS.iJ

c333rtnl5<-'<u'Urt+^SCG«-
3iUi,i,EcOrtcccciiOOrt
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62 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

•*3

1o t» S

See

3 4) >»

o— *^

•-43 a

^ a <3

■ti -^ «) rt

w f/i r* r^

o o c c

rCl U CI

tl .2 3'^^ >^° 3rtrt o.2c

••* M-t U-l C ttJ C-> W 4> w »* ?% 2C ^ M « _?i

uui-i»-.tnu3:r: ^Wrt ^'-•-i uiuio

ti u ^ u ui in ii (tfcOC <4hO,o, .S.S.S

C;su:.-.-er3-a-a-«-^~'o'-><u2 "^ ^.2 o22.«

ooccQ,o.?rt.5 ci-i- wSiSbo rt «« .3.t;.g

TABLE VI

Total

Identical

number

mistakes on 1st a

Pupil

misspelled

4th tests

THE LIFE HISTORY 63

The tenacity with which special misspellings per-
sist is evident from the following data relative to
those words which were missed on both the first
and the last tests.

Different

mistakes on 1st and

4th tests

9
6
I

Total.. 37 17 20

Table VII, giving the results of the two inter-
mediate tests while B was absent, shows further
how misspellings tend to persist.

TABLE VII

A — 15 words twice, 3 in the same way, 12 differently

A — 15 words three times, none in the same way, 15 differently
A — 11 words four times, none in the same way, 11 differently
C — 10 words twice, 5 in the same way, 5 differently

C — 12 words three times, 5 in the same way, 7 differently

C — 1 word four times, none in the same way, 1 differently
D — 17 words twice, 5 in the same way, 12 differently

D — 9 words three times, 4 in the same way, 5 differently

D — 9 words four times, 5 in the same way, 4 differently

Again, we may take only those words which were
missed on the first test, spelled correctly on a sub-

64 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

sequent test, and then lost again before the conclu-
sion of the experiment. We may classify them ac-
cording as the later misspelling was or was not a
repetition of the first error. A's list of errors shows
five such words, in only one of which the original
error recurred; C's list shows five such words, in
four of which the original error recurs; D's list
shows a recurrence in one of three possible cases.
This evidence seems to leave no doubt respecting
the persistence of errors in spite of focalization up-
on them, and reaction by the pupil in various ways
calculated to eliminate them. A misspelling shows
a tendency to recur even when the correct spelling
has been gained, and it is usually the initial error
in spelling a word that persists.

The reader has probably noted that A's records
do not agree in any large degree with those of the

An apparent ex- °^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ °"g^"^^ ^^^°"
ception to the rule were not reproduced by A as f re-
persis ence quently as were certain subsequent

ones. The reason for this is interesting. The ex-
perimenter's diary shows that A was often unable
to pronounce on one day what he had tried to spell
the day before, that he gave very curious and erro-
neous pronunciations of the real word, showing that
he was guided very largely by the phonetic elements
of what he had written, from which it is to be
inferred that he spelled pretty accurately what he
heard, but that he did not hear correctly. When
one repeats an error, one does so because of one's

THE LIFE HISTORY 65

habit of response to a stimulus already experienced.
But when a pupil has very little idea of the sound
of a word the first time he meets it, but keeps
on gradually working out the phonic elements of
it until he gets the true pronunciation of it in mind,
he is not subjected, as his learning proceeds, to
the same stimulus when the word is pronounced for
spelling. And so, if the stimulus has been changed,
the response naturally is different. Now, a detailed
study of A's lists shows just this general character-
istic— a gradual growth toward the correct spelling.
Some of the words which he never did get right
were worked out of an unintelligible form into one
where it is plain to see what he was driving at.
Several words, such as sacrificial, influential and
susceptible, were missed four successive times, but
never in the same way. Rarely was there a word
missed four times that was not nearer right at the
finish than at the start.

In the face of these facts it seems reasonable to
conclude that if the original error in spelling can
Why errors be avoided, much of the problem

P*"^^^^* of acquiring correct spelling will

be solved. But how may this be accomplished?
Manifestly its accomplishment depends on an ap-
preciation of the reasons for original errors, and
for the persistence of errors. Obviously two fac-
tors are of chief importance. First, there is the
actual source of error, as discussed in the preceding
chapter. Second, there is the "set" given by the

66 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

graphic execution of an incorrect form. Teachers
of drawing, instrumental music and penmanship
attach importance to the persistence of motor habits ;
instructors in physical training and successful
coaches of athletics give much preliminary attention
to "form." In the demand that pupils rewrite a
specified number of times each word missed in spell-
ing, some teachers have shown their belief in the
permanence of impressions of hand-motor responses.
But at best this latter type of work is a sort of
locking the door after the theft has been committed.
A few graphic or oral repetitions of the lesson in
preparation are worth many repetitions after the
harm is done.

It is undoubtedly a mistake to permit a child to
write a spelling lesson he has not prepared. In
schools where there is no special time given for the
preparation of the spelling lesson, or where in high
schools the attainment of a certain grade in spell-
ing for a term excuses a pupil from further pursuil
of the branch, or in cases where the pupil is care:
less and receives no penalty for missing, except the.
trifling one of writing the wrong words correctly
below the lesson — under all such conditions there
are many who write without studying. Thus mis-
takes are made which a very little study would have
prevented; and if they are not corrected until the
next day, as often happens, there is incorporated
in the nervous system a response it will take many
times the energy to uproot that it would have taken

THE LIFE HISTORY 67

to get the thing right in the first place. No matter
how long we may work on words once misspelled,
we can hardly ever be sure that the fault will not
return. So instead of refusing to let children write
their spelling lessons because they have not the
regulation blank or have forgotten pen or ink, we
ought to apply a really fundamental test — "Have
you faithfully studied this lesson?" — keeping in
mind that while an unprepared pupil may possibly
attend other recitations to his profit, he may par-
ticipate in the written spelling class only to his own
harm.

The life history of a few individual words stud-
ied throughout these tests may be indicative of the
The life history factors entering into the spelling
of certain words process. Two words, machinist
and malignity, were never spelled correctly by any
one on any test, though perhaps few adults would
have designated them as the hardest of the list.
Machinist showed persistence of errors with B and
D, and identity of error twice between A and C.
The skeleton m-ch-n-st was always retained except
for A's peculiar mechanious, which appeared once.
Though A and D made some progress, B and C
did not. The three vowels, a, e and i, filled in the
spaces in all sorts of ways. The obscurity of the
vowels in the word prevented the proper arrange-
ment of a and i. Doubtless e crept in because the
word was taught as a member of the "family" of
words starting with mech-; and as might have been

68 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

expected, it appeared more frequently in the first
syllable than elsewhere.

The efforts to spell malignity showed but little more
success than in the case of ntachinist. Great con-
fusion arose because of malignancy, leading to the
impression that the desired word was malignanty.
There was a strong persistence of the original error
with C and D; but A worked out everything cor-
rectly except the first vowel, ending finally with
melignity. It is interesting to note that he had to
pass through the -nanty stage on the way. Here
again it seems that the "family" grouping in the
presentation of the words was more of a hindrance
than a help. It is a well established principle in
psychology that two associations interfere less with
each other and are less likely to become confused,
if one is thoroughly mastered first than if both are
in the formative stage at the same time. If the
acquisition of a word is accelerated by associating
it with other members of its "family" when all
are new, why should it not be after certain mem-
bers of that "family" have become familiar?

A few other illustrations will show more plainly
the nature of the struggle which we are here con-
sidering. Take the work of A on intelligible. His
first rendering — intellegable — might have been ex-
pected, considering the obscured vowels ; and it was
so written a second time. Under instruction di-
rected upon the points of difficulty, one of the
vowels was fixed correctly, and^A wrote on the

• THE LIFE HISTORY 69

third trial intelligeable. The troublesome e had
been displaced, but not eliminated. The stress was
now all shifted to the one point still needing change,
and the boy next wrote intelligiable. The i had
been forced in, the e forced out. Further instruc-
tion would probably have eliminated the superfluous
a. A greatly improved accessory on his second
writing, and would have had it correct on his third
trial, but one of his former difficulties returned,
viz., the substitution of an s for a c. The last time
he got rid of it again and held the rest securely.
While C was casting out one error in ostensible a
former one (substitution of c for s) returned.

Such are the vicissitudes in the conquest of a
hard word. The opposing forces sway back and
forth much as two battle lines fighting for a stra-
tegic point. Even if the teacher places equal stress
on all parts of the word, the pupil will feel a par-
ticular stress at the point of error. Adults feel
some such stress for years after being checked up
on a pronunciation, spelling, or date in history.
This stress may be just sufficient to break the old
association, or to establish the new one* In the
first case, the incorrect letter goes out, and its place
is left vacant, or more likely it is taken by some-
thing that to the pupil seems probable, as in several
of the spellings of machinist. This was C's state
of mind when, in answer to a question regarding
his mistake, he said, *T know zvhere it is, but I
don't know what it ought to be." In the second

70 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

case, the proper letters are brought in, but the
erroneous ones may not be eliminated, hence the
former may be displaced considerably, and float
around as it were, like p in A's spelling of suscepti-
bility. His first three spellings of the second sylla-
ble were -pect-, -cept- and -pet-, but on the last
trial he had it correctly, -cept-, with all other mis-
takes corrected at the same time.

Two or three errors in a word are not likely to
be worked out at one and the same time, for the
Errors eliminated P"pil probably does not feel suf-
one at a time ficient stress in two parts of a

word of ordinary length. If a public speaker should
emphasize every second or third word, proper em-
phasis would be destroyed for his hearers. After
a period of practise, the word may be written with
improvement in some respect, and when the attack
begins again the stress is no longer experienced at
the old point. Yet when the word is written again
and another error corrected, the former error may
recur. It is always situated at the youngest and
least stable part of the word-association, and may
be expected to assert itself now and then. Such
a recurrence should not be regarded as occasion
for discouragement and censure; the error will be
dispelled more easily this time than before, and it
will be less likely to return.

There may be designated then four principal
stages in the mastery of a word, instead of the two

THE LIFE HISTORY 71

Four stages in usually distinguished,— right and
word mastery wrong. First, there is the stage

in which a word may be classed as well estab-
lished incorrectly. This is by far the most serious
stage. The pupil invariably uses the same misspell'
ing; and the first sign of improvement dates from,
the moment when the misspellings begin to vary. '
The word is now in the second stage, and may be
said to be partially established incorrectly. In
the face of further treatment a casual right spelling
may appear, but it may quickly disappear. The
third stage has now been reached, and the word is
imperfectly mastered correctly. Additional practise
will lead to the fourth stage — well mastered cor-
rectly. Lapses then rarely occur. All children do
not pass through all these stages with reference to
every word they can spell. Most people never ex-
hibit the worst stage (well established incorrectly)
except with reference to a few words. Prolonged
practise between tests may even cause a certain
stage to be skipped as far as can be seen. The ad-
vantage of such an analysis is that it indicates what
teachers may expect from exceptionally poor spel-
lers, or from any who have made a bad start with
certain words. This sort of clinical practise can
be greatly diminished through improved technique
of presentation, and more accurate grading of
words. Then the weeds of original error will not
be permitted to grow so rank.

72 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

There is need before this subject is left to take
some account of a phrase which teachers use very
When is a freely, viz., the "mastery of a

word mastered? word" (in the sense of spelling,
of course). It would be better if we interpreted
this expression in a relative rather than in an ab-
solute sense. Most adults have had the experience
of forgetting or becoming uncertain of the spelling
of a word, which for years has been perfectly under
command. This happens with simple and common,
as well as with complex and uncommon words.
Such evidence, together with the tests described in
this chapter and in the next, and the experience of
every teacher, indicates that we do not know just
when a child has fully mastered a difficult word,
so that it will always abide with him. But happily
we can generally tell when he is making progress
in its mastery.

In this connection it may be noted that mastery
of a word may be more complete and lasting in one
"modality" than in another. To illustrate: one of
the writers has the experience that under condi-
tions of fatigue he sometimes loses confidence in the
writing of certain words; but if he spells them
aloud, so that vocal and auditory familiarity are
brought in, he never fails to recall immediately the
correct spelling. Ordinarily there is no hesitation
in deciding whether or not words are spelled cor-
rectly by the way they look, or feel in writing ; but
mastery in these modes is less permanent than in

THE LIFE HISTORY 73

the vocal and auditory modes. But with some per-
sons it appears to be just the other way; they rely
in times of doubt or stress upon visual or graphic
rather than upon auditory or vocal familiarity.
Still other persons who have been questioned in re-
gard to the matter by one of the writers declare that
one mode is not more secure or reliable than an-
other; uncertainty as to the writing of a word is
not relieved by spelling it vocally, or vice versa.
Probably people differ in this respect according as
they are predominantly of the visual or auditory or
motor-graphic or motor-vocal type, or as they have
through early training and use come to rely mainly
upon one mode or another in spelling.

CHAPTER V

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXTUAL SPELLING

THE second experiment carried on with the
four boys already mentioned was undertaken
in the hope of gaining some data bearing on the
Material and problem of the outcome of spell-

subjects ing in sentences as compared with

spelling isolated words. Some easy portions of
Robinson Crusoe were dictated, and the boys were
asked to copy them. Two days after this dictation
work, the group was given a column test based on
the dictated material. Reversing the process, a test
was given on isolated words selected from an ac-
count of the Chicago fire. This was followed a
couple of days afterward by the dictation of an
account of the fire.

The words seemed simple enough, so that pupils
of grammar-school grade should be familiar with
Difficulties of them, yet there were a number in

the plan both selections that appeared

strange to all members of the class. They indicated
this by asking, for instance — "Is the word *desper-

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT 75

ate'?" — or by requesting the experimenter to "say
it slow." The latter tried his best to give the con-
ventional pronunciation, speaking all words plainly
and with moderate speed. In the column tests, it
was necessary to insure that the pupils understood
the words by having them defined, giving their
opposites, or illustrating their use with a brief sen-
tence. The purpose kept in mind in this work was
to determine ( i ) whether words might be spelled
correctly in column and missed when used in sen-
tences, or vice versa; and (2) whether the boys ex-
perienced greater difficulty with one kind of spell-
ing than with another. Much interest has been
taken in these problems during the last few years,
and many persons have freely expressed their opin-
ions regarding them ; but so far as the writers are
aware, no tests have heretofore been made to get
precise data bearing upon the problems.

About sixty words were taken for the column
test each time, while the dictated selections included
about three hundred twenty-five words each. The
spellings given in Table VIII include only those
words of the column test which were missed by
some one either in column or dictation. All other
words are omitted to save space. Blanks denote
correct spellings. For the guidance of the reader,
the true word is sometimes inserted in parentheses
to aid in identifying the misspelling.

76 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

s
o

!»=

<
H
U

■a
V

•r («

it A

3 c«

73
M

s « a

Jt- -

^-^

1) --X

l-i *-*

<U 3

j3 O .

^3 :

^ S'^

jjH :

^ be (J

> S

<! c>

H
O

PQ U

h o

•<
H
O

a
t>
•J
o

< o

■J

"^ 1-1
H

"<
H
U

«^

»>

missory

whitch

befal

rongly)
entreti
fatil

>Sju

_>^

■'^ .Si

•o

1-1

.Si

'•B

>» w

onghl
reatie
lie

S.S^

3 be

; _C

i 'u

u
>>

"I' a.bo

*} <0' —

rj u «

•oS.

«2

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT ^^

>^ a;

a ^ M>S o ci-g «

« 5 .2 5

2 a ^ g ^JJ ^ o

•o

4) m

(X>

a .^

3.-

3 •«

^ -S a ?i .5 «

»< ii 3 a S o.

« 3 .2^30,

i i» ,c 6 wo to "O t) o .-^5) u^

o •■ <»> c ^-^

o >,« ^ C C u

»S "Ow wwjoOB o.'P m 'Ocjcw 0.0. I* »-,a-.».

78 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

H
U

2 -o

V ^"O ' to

C lU >» . «

4) — ; O . 4> O

n c tS o := J*

O O •■-• 4) 1) W)

^ « ** ^
9-2 y

S S OT «

bov u

(J
c ^

o-.y

rt a,

3 ,

2
o

l-H

•<

"(3
2

(Q O

p
•J
o

S
o

-< u

»J

"rt

'iS

J'^

a'g
2«

"3^

'a'

««.2

•- 3

V *-•

OJd

Cm"

2§

«a

bOM

« 2

o a

:SssS

5 3 S O

p.£Si

.S 3

I- O

'c be

«S >:

^ V O

^ u u

bCco

c i:*5
^ a » c

«n N-/ 4) t) ^
£— E « > c w
<j o "•» a h" *-> a

"3. ^

a bo V

-? bcg.2

« 3

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT 79

£S a ^g a =5 a

SI § i.fi .1 Jg i

«•=; « 2 9^ i .S

*> o

Tare-- O <U C o

ti ^ 24JO Bo

Earn C4..-K2cn> O&i

o«Jx ca V U a a n x

_o_>.

CL OT

"o-

6 "3

4;.0

^ 6

M — " .1 ^ T5 be

bO
« « --; i«

.S cns^o o ou2.5«o 8*; Sc.9

8o THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

The errors given above have been tabulated in
Table IX. The columns are headed in Roman nu-
merals, Column I including those words which a sub-
ject misspelled in the same manner on both column
and dictation tests. Column II includes words
spelled differently in the two tests, but missed in
both. Column III shows words spelled rightly in
the dictation test, but wrongly in the column test,
while Column IV presents just the opposite record,
i. e., the number wrong in dictation but right in
column. So Column III shows cases of apparent
superiority of the dictation method, while Column
IV shows cases of apparent superiority of the col-
umn method. In the last two columns have been
noted the number of words which, right in one
test, were wrong in the other, the mistake consisting
of the omission of a single letter. The presumption
is that nearly all of those in Columns V and VI
show a mere lapse, not genuine misspelling. Col-
umn V gives those right in dictation but wrong in
column. Column VI gives those wrong in dictation
but right in column.

Each figure in the first column exceeds the corre-
sponding one in the second, except for pupil A,
who reverses this order for both selections. Slightly
more than half of the one hundred three words
missed in both column and dictation were repeated
errors ; and if A's record be ignored, over two-thirds
were repetitions.

In only one case is a figure in Column III larger

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT
TABLE IX

Pupil and Selection

III

A.— Robinson Crusoe

Chicago Fire

4
11

5
10

4
5

5
9

17
16

4
2

3
3

1
3

7
8

9
10

8
3

5
11

11
5

"i'

'"2

2
4

3
1

B. — Robinson Crusoe

Chicago Fire

C. — Robinson Crusoe

Chicago Fire

3
3

D.— Robinson Crusoe

Chicago Fire

2
1

Totals 53

Subtracting Columns V and VI fr
III and IV respectively

36
10

62
19

than the corresponding figure in Column IV. The
T th d f ^^^* impression made in reviewing

measuring loss
by transfer

these results is that the tendency
to miss words in column which
were right in dictation is to the tendency to do the
reverse as 36 to 62. Thus column spelling appears
to have an advantage as to accuracy. But the words
in Columns V and VI should first be subtracted from
the totals of Columns III and IV respectively be-
fore we may say that we have any real measure of
the tendency of actual errors to be committed.
The standard of spelling on the whole seems to
have been influenced somewhat by the change from

82 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

contextual to isolated spelling. This is most truly
represented by the difference between twenty-six
and forty-three, or seventeen words. This difference
of seventeen words is what we may call the actual
loss in efficiency, which, when compared with the
total number of test words, sixty for each selection,
or four hundred eighty for all the group, is three
and fifty- four hundredths per cent. Or we may
measure the same thing by another criterion. If the
loss is seventeen words, there has been an increase
of about ten per cent, in the frequency of errors,
since the total number of words missed by all the
class was one hundred seventy-two.

The data presented thus far would be held by
many as illustrative of the principle that a word
The conventional Spelled in column may be more or
conclusion jgss useless in actual writing, and

that therefore the formal spelling of isolated words
does not insure their correct spelling when the child
tries to use them in expressing his thoughts. Those
taking this view would insist that the difference
in the two situations, one of them formal, the other
dynamic, is so wide that transfer can not take place.

It may with equal validity be urged that the con-
text dictated to a child may be just as formal as
Genuine dynamic the words taken from it and
spelling spelled in column, and that the

situation becomes dynamic only when he writes to
express himself. Special effort was made in the ex-
periment just described to choose material that

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT 83

would be appreciated by the group, but A showed
by what he said that the writing of the dictation
was for him a "grind," and the reactions of the
others indicated that they regarded it in the same
hght. For this reason another test was planned.

After a period of seven weeks during which the
group had not met with the experimenter, two of
them, C and D, were secured for a series of exer-
cises. To throw them off their guard, it was ex-
plained that the old matter of spelling would be
laid aside, and attention would be given to facility
of expression. Subjects for composition were as-
signed and outlined somewhat in detail. Both boys
expressed themselves as better able to write on the
topics presented than on anything they could sug-
gest. Then they were allowed a certain amount
of time, and told to write as easily and rapidly as
possible. When the papers were received, lists of
words misspelled were selected from them, and
others correctly spelled were added to such lists.
These were spelled in column, with the explicit
statement that while some of them had been missed
in the compositions, others had not. Table X shows
misspellings taken from the themes of C and D
on six different subjects (totaling nine hundred
one and fifteen hundred ninety-two running words
respectively), and the subsequent column tests based
on the themes. All words passing from right on
one test to wrong on the other by the omission
of a single letter or the substitution of n for m, are

84 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

italicized, to indicate mere lapse father than genuine
error as the probable cause of the trouble.

TABLE X

PUPIL C

Composition.

Column.

latmchs

'(launches)^

fishs

(fishes)

minows

(minnows)'

inchs

(inches)

pricaple

(principle)

companyS

(companies)

sledes

(sleds)

bublcs

(bubbles)

twdrds

(towards)

succesful

(successful)

succesful

hocky

(hockey)

hocky

frezes

(freezes)

frezes

thich

•(thick)

thich

allready

(already)

birth

(berth)

bigest

(biggest)'

bigest

1( steamers)'

steammers

(pickerel)

pickeral

,'( minutes)

ininites

tUPiL D

Composition.

Column.

tipy

:(tiK>yy

peir

(pier)

minnoe

(minnow)

minoe

too

;(to)

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT

Composition.

Column.

tobogan

(toboggan)

tobogan

bottum

(bottom)

freazes

(freezes)

fruquently

i( frequently)

amunition

(ammunition)

amunition

t ruble

(trouble)

throwen

(thrown)

squarly

(squarely)

squarly

deceve

(deceive)

a f read

(afraid)

a f read

excitting

(exciting)

excitting

stopcd

(stopped)

veiw

(view)

pickeral

(pickerel)

acrouse

(across)

acrouse

swiming

i( swimming)

universitty

(university)

slott

(slot)

minuetes

(minutes)

interurbeen

((interurban)

intererban

tellephoned

(telephoned)

telaphoned

domb

(dome)

(smooth)

smoth

(courses)

coarces

.(commonly)

connonly

(steered)

steared

(angleworm)

anglezvorn

(either)

earther

(railing)

railling

(squirt)

squrt

(firecrackers)

firecrakers

{following)

fowlling

Summarizing the data of Table X we have Table

86 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

XI. The Roman numerals at the heads of the col-
umns have the same significance as they did in
Table IX.

TABLE XI

Pupil

III

5
6

"a"

11
17

■■■5"

Totals

13
5

28
11

Subtracting Column
from III and IV r

3 V ar
espect

d VI
ively

C shows a difference of two words against the
transfer of column to contextual spelling in a vo-
cabulary of two hundred sixty-three words and a
total of nine hundred one running words of com-
position; D shows a similar difference of seven
words in a vocabulary of three hundred ninety-
three occurring in a total of fifteen hundred ninety-
two running words of composition. The very small
loss in transfer by C on this test is due to his
great care in composition, and the fact that he is
always much more careful than D in his spelling.
The decrease in frequency of errors in column over
contextual writing, as derived from Table XI, is
twenty-four per cent., counting no word twice for
the same individual, a method of figuring which
gave slightly under ten per cent, in the earlier ex-

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT 87

periment with the four subjects (see Table IX).
The loss in efficiency, nine words, as compared with
the total number of test words — fifty-five — is six-
teen per cent, as against three and fifty-four hun-
dredths per cent, in the former experiment. The
smaller figures for the first experiment are doubt-
less the result of the formal character of material
dictated by the teacher. The writers would insist
that the figures for the later experiment reflect more
nearly the actual difference between the formal sit-
uation in column spelling and the dynamic situation
in ordinary written expression.

The cause of this loss in transfer is the next
thing that must engage our attention. If the two
Dispersion of activities — isolated as contrasted

attention -^ith contextual spelling — ^be ana-

lyzed, certain differences appear. In the case of
the former, the attention is concentrated on a few
words, while in the latter it is distributed over a
much larger number. Hence we should expect the
mistakes to be increased in contextual writing.
Suppose a boy can repeat perfectly the addition
and multiplication tables. No one doubts that if
he is required to multiply, for example, thirteen
by twenty- four he will be more likely to give a
correct answer than if he tries to add thirteen twen-
ty-fours together. The processes in the last prob-
lem may not from one point of view be more diffi-
cult than those of the first, but the attention is
distributed over a larger area, or rather is acting

88 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

for a longer time; hence the possibilities of its
wandering are increased. So in the problem of
spelling before us — the attention is not only called
to a larger number of words; it is directed to the
maintenance of a proper order of the words. They
are dictated, by another or mentally by the subject,
in groups, and the entire remainder of each group
must be carried in consciousness while any word
of such group is being written. Then there is the
matter of punctuation and capitalization to be cared
for. Further, the context is likely to present a
line of thought to the pupil, and this may distract
his attention. The greater rapidity of writing in
ordinary dictated exercises also prevents the review
of each word immediately after it is written, though
such a practise is possible and customary in column
writing.

But if a child is to spell correctly in his con-
textual writing, and at the same time execute suc-
Relative automa- cess fully all these other matters,
tism in spelling {^ jg necessary that many of the
processes should become relatively automatic.
Otherwise he will never acquire sufficient facility
in these operations to meet properly the demands
of later life. Let us waive all academic discussion
of the question of complete automatism in spelling,
for its existence is disproved by the constant oc-
currence of lapses in the writing of all sorts of
people. The matter of prime concern to teachers
is the method by which the novice may be made

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT 89

to pass from his habit of giving attention to the
elements of words to the point where the formal
processes in writing no longer occupy a focal posi-
tion in consciousness.

Since the learner can apprehend visually a larger
unit than he can execute mechanically, the sentence

, ^ ,. method, though applicable i n

Automatic execu- ' ° ^'^

tion of the literal teaching reading, would be ut-
clements ^^^j^ ^nsuited to a child in his

writing. He begins by executing only the very
shortest and simplest words, or even more fre-
quently the Isolated letters. But modern educa-
tional theory maintains that in teaching writing we
should begin with the largest unit that can be ex-
ecuted efTectively, so that an analysis of letters into
their component parts should follow rather than
precede the writing of the letter as a whole. Thus
it comes about that the mere thought of a letter
will call forth its complete execution much sooner
than could possibly be the case if the elements of
the letter were first mastered in isolation and then
combined.

While the pupil is gaining this facility prerequi-
site to written spelling, he has supposedly been ac-
Oral spell- quiring a fairly ready command

"^6^"^^' of the literal elements of many

short words by means of oral spelling. This
knowledge should come through practise on the
words as wholes, with only minor emphasis on syl-
labic elements of words of more than one syllable.

90 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Some teachers insist on keeping the written spelling
up with the oral spelling from the start, but the
possibility of such procedure is somewhat doubtful,
and its economy is still more so.

When the new problem arises of combining oral
knowledge and graphic knowledge into successful
Automatic control written spelling, there will be for
of larger units g. time considerable hesitation
and a profusion of errors. Teachers now need
to be both painstaking and patient. Work of
a contextual character, however, must soon be-
gin, or the child will not come upon the neces-
sity of thinking in larger units than single
words. In fact, some persons grow up unable
to compose and write at the same time with
any degree of effectiveness, and a major reason
for such an unhappy condition is probably the
fact that they were not put to the preparation
of free spontaneous composition at a sufficiently
early age. Nevertheless, throughout the period
when the pupil spells mainly in written composition
new words should first be introduced separately in
order to secure some degree of familiarity with
them. Even adults who have become highly profi-
cient in written expression must usually consider a
new word carefully before they can run it off easily
in their writing. The same principle must be eco-
nomical as well as psychological for a child. At the
same time, it should be said that only by building

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT 91

up in the child practically automatic series of the
greatest possible length can we release consciousness
for the performance of functions that never can
become automatic.

Before closing this sketch of the development of
habit in spelling, we should perhaps observe that
Universality of the principles mentioned apply in
the principle many fields of work. As the

eye of the musician becomes trained, it takes
in a constantly increasing number of notes at a
single "pulse" of attention. The typist progresses
from a mastery of literal, through syllabic and
verbal, to phrase unities. But the evidence gained
from the learning of telegraphy is the most con-
crete and convincing of all. The curve of improve-
ment of students of this art and their personal tes-
timony as regards both sending and receiving, show
that the succession of clicks which indicate a letter
is at first their problem. Later, they begin to think
of the word transmitted. Finally they send and
interpret in phrases, and cease to attend to separate
clicks. Moreover, between each of these stages
there is almost invariably a more or less extended
period of no apparent improvement.

To resume — in the matter of the difference in
efficiency between contextual and isolated spelling,
Lack of transfer it is apparent that a pupil will
unavoidable generally spell more accurately in

column, even though his entire training has been

92 THE CtllLD AND HIS SPELLING

on contextual spelling. Spelling of long and diffi-
cult words especially demands so much conscious
attention that in the third stage of mastery they
will be executed incorrectly more often in context-
ual than in column spelling; while the number of
lapses in words in the fourth stage of mastery will
always be greater in the former than in the latter
mode of spelling.

Since spelling is not usually recognized as a stan-
dard high-school subject, and since many defective

^ , . spellers are annually promoted

Conclusion

into our high schools, it has be-
come customary to give all freshmen a spelling test
(in column, of course) at the earliest practicable
date. Those who are not able to make a certain
grade on this test are assigned to the "spelling
hospital," as some have termed it, where they lan-
guish until they prove able to meet certain require-
ments. The most common prerequisite for discharge
from the "hospital" is the attainment of a certain
grade in the spelling lessons for the term. Colleges
and universities very often honor similar customs
by observing them. Promotions from year to year
in the elementary school depend on the "averages"
shown by the "spelling blank" and possibly the pass-
ing of the "final," which consists of fifty to a
hundred words. A better method would be to base
decisions in these matters on the showing a student
makes in the written papers he submits in all his

COLUMN VERSUS CONTEXT 93

work. It will be granted certainly that the proof
of spelling efficiency is found in correct writing
of words in their usual contextual relation. Words
should not be left until this can be done; it is the
clenching of the whole process.

CHAPTER VI

METHODS OF PRESENTATION

VARIOUS Studies have recently been made by
American, French and German psychologists
of the relation between presentation and memoriza-
Variance of tion.* All sorts of materials have

opinions b^en used.- Most of the tests

have been made on only a few subjects, and the
conclusions have been conflicting to some extent.
This might have been predicted for several reasons.
Learning to spell involves association between
sounds and letters in all the phonetic combinations ;
second, it involves pure memorizing in the case of
non-phonetic combinations, such as those containing
silent letters or elided vowels; third, it involves
relatively permanent retention, which is a very dif-
ferent thing from immediate recall in all learning
processes, as was seen in a discussion of this mat-
ter in Chapter IV. The different experimenters
have used materials which varied in these respects.
If the foreign pronunciation is used, learning to

* The work in this field has been reviewed by Henmon, The
RelaHon Between Mode of Presentation and Retention, Psy-
chological Review, XIX, 79-96. See also Burnham, The
Hygiene and Psychology of Spelling, Pedagogical Seminary,
XIII, 474.

METHODS OF PRESENTATION 95

spell foreign words evidently violates the rules of
phonics already familiar to the pupil; but if he be
permitted to formulate his own rules of phonics
for an exercise, the non-phonetic element disappears,
thus introducing a wholly artificial situation as far
as English spelling is concerned. Nonsense sylla-
bles are all phonetic, and nouns and numbers are
learned without the operation of the phonic element,
the associations consisting of quite vivid imagery
entirely aside from the visual form or the sound
of the words memorized. Then, too, many of the
experimenters measured only immediate recall.
While all of these activities are more or less similar
to spelling, none of them, therefore, is spelling.

The study of this problem, as stated in Chapter
IV, was the first one designed to be taken up with

Han of Rework 'l'^ g™^ °^ ^°"' W"! T'
tioned above. But smce the nrst

experiment developed in another direction, it now
became necessary to plan a new start. The third
experiment with the boys is representative of the
type of work that must be done over and over
again in order to answer the question of retention
and recall as related to mode of presentation in
spelling. A series of sixteen lessons was given by
four different methods, each method being employed
four times. The four types of presentation oc-
curred in an invariable order, so that no particular
type came always on the same day of the week.
Absence of one pupil or another resulted in ex-

96 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

tending the sixteen lessons over twenty-four school-
days. The lesson studied each day was written
at the close of that day's exercise, and mistakes
were corrected before adjournment. The ordinary
period for studying and writing a lesson was be-
tween twenty-five and thirty minutes. The words
were selected just as they came in a certain mod-
ern speller. On the eleventh and twelfth days after
the last lesson was presented, the whole list was
spelled in column.

The ten words for each day were always written
on the board in syllables, and with the accent
Four types of marked ; a brief definition was

presentation pu^- after each; the experimenter

pronounced the list, and had each boy pronounce
it after him. So far all lessons were uniform in
presentation, but thereafter they began to diverge.
On one day the boys wrote at the board, while the
next day they memorized the words at their seatst
This method gave an opportunity to test graphic
versus oral methods of study. Then for half of
the lessons studied both graphically and orally, the
words were written or spoken in sentences only,
and so written on the test at the close of the hour.
During the rest of the time isolated words were
studied, and they were written in column as the
test for the day. So the four types of study might
be termed graphic-contextual, graphic-column, oral-
contextual and oral -column. The class was not so
well pleased with the contextual as with the column

METHODS OF PRESENTATION 97

lessons. Often they would ask — "We don't have
to write them in sentences to-day, do we?" The
contextual work seemed to conflict with their idea
of studying spelling, and there is no doubt it ran
in opposition to their school "spelling habit." Con-
sequently a boy would sometimes be observed prac-
tising on the test word contained in a given sen-
tence, instead of writing the sentences as given him.
The boys' dislike for this sort of work made the
experimenter feel that the contextual method did
not get a fair trial. This shows, for one thing,
how wide is the gap in the mind of the typical boy
between learning and using spelling.

In Table XII is shown the number of errors on
both the daily tests and the final test.

TABLE XII

DAILY TESTS

Lesson type Lesson type

Graphic Oral
Contextual Column Contextual Column Total

Pupil A 3 .. .. .. 3

Pupil B 6 . . 5 1 12

Pupil C 1 .. 2 2 5

Pupil D 4 .. 1 .. S

Total 14 0 8 3 25

FINAL TEST

Pupil A 24 31 25 19 99

Pupil B 9 8 12 12 41

Pupil C 6 11 6 10 33

Pupil D 9 12 11 10 42

Total 48 62 54 . 51 215

98 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

The astonishing increase of errors on the final
test may be thought to demonstrate that all the
Effectiveness of teaching had been ineffective. It
the training j^^^y ^g gaid that the group if

given the final test without preliminary training
would scarcely have missed a greater proportion of
the one hundred sixty words. But there are at least
two reasons for believing that the training had a
beneficial effect. In the first place, a large number
of words shown by the experimenter's diary to have
given trouble in the daily study were spelled cor-
rectly on the daily tests, and many of them were still
spelled correctly on the final test. The influence of
the immediate correction of errors also was evident,
since of the twenty-five words missed on the daily
tests only fifteen were missed by the same persons on
the final test, and of these fifteen only one was mis-
spelled the same way both times.

Comparing now the results of daily and final tests,
we find that the efficiency of the different types of
Comparison presentation in the daily tests is

of methods almost exactly the reverse of that

in the final test. The graphic-contextual type
changes from fourth to first place, and the graphic-
oral from first to fourth place. In the daily tests
the contextual appears inferior to the column
method in the ratio of twenty-two to three errors.
But this large number of errors in the graphic-
contextual and oral-contextual should hardly be re-
garded as the inevitable accompaniment of context-

METHODS OF PRESENTATION 99

ual spelling, because no such striking relation was
shown in the experiments described in the previous
chapter, and because the class recognized clearly
in the context the words on which they had been
drilled, and doubtless wrote them with all the care
usually taken with words in isolation. Their care-
lessness in the study of the contextual lesson must
have been the cause of the errors. However, on
the final test the contextual presentation was slightly
superior.

The reason for the "slump" on the final test is
not far to seek. It seems plain that intensive study
of ten fairly difficult words, terminating in prac-
tically perfect immediate recall, is no criterion of
real learning for spelling purposes. The pupil holds
the words for the moment almost as in a memory
span, and is tested on his receptivity rather than
his retentivity. Yet a large part of all spelling
work in the schools is apparently of this snap-shot
order. Thus the boy A is an excellent speller in
the spelling class, but not elsewhere. All the ex-
periments show it, and his teacher confirms it.*
The other boys show the same tendency, but not
so markedly. Two weeks seem a sufficiently long
period for pupils to lose a spelling lesson as fully

*One of the writers often thinks of the German girl in a
district school who exceeded him in "headmarks" in the
course of the term. But on examination day his turn came.
The artificial daily superiority of his competitor had vanished,
and he counted two or three "headmarks" in a single recita-
tion while she shed bitter tears.

lOO THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

as they are likely to lose it in a much longer time.
Such a view is upheld by the division of the lessons
shown in Table XIII, in which it is shown that
the final test occurred from forty-five to forty-nine
days after the original presentation of lessons one to

forty words comprising

ed twenty-seven on the

ten, ct(j\ ; and so on with all the

Lj| XIII

m m

Vl;, ,..,..■

E R

R O R S

m «W

Tool

poiifiS^u

»-la inclusive

'§1 _ 28

13-16 inclusive

12-19

1- 8 inclusive

28-49

115

9-16 inclusive

12-28

100

It is evident that the method of presentation is
not the determining factor, but that it is subordi-
nate to the vital element of time. This problem
is doubtless to be solved by the proper use of the
review.

The oral presentation showed temporary results

in its favor, and retained on the final count also the

_ . slender advantage of one hundred

Processes in °

graphic and five to one hundred ten. But an

spe ing analysis of results indicates that

the superiority of the oral over the graphic is an in-

METHODS OF PRESENTATION loi

dividual matter rather than a general one. For A the
oral is far better ; for B the graphic clearly excels ;
for C and D there seems to be no choice. This
does not consider the visual element; for provided
the study is from script, the visual factor is the
same in both cases. The contrast is between two
types of motor activity, the hand-motor and the
articulatory, though the auditory element is neces-
sarily involved in oral spelling. Some children,
however, spell almost constantly with their lips
while writing, even when, for purposes of experi-
ment, they are forbidden to do so. B does this
a great deal. That there may be so small a dif-
ference between the actual processes in oral and
written spelling has not been generally recognized.
All investigations of absolutely pure types of pres-
entation have interest only for the psychologist;
for the teacher they have little significance, since
apparently no child will ever use a pure type in
study unless blindfolded, bound or gagged.

The point that has been urged in favor of the
oral method is the fact that an error is detected
Advantages of ^s soon as made, a point which

each method q^j. discussion thus far has more

than once emphasized. This advantage can not be
gained in written spelling except when there is ade-
quate and careful supervision of study. We have
already said, however, that written spelling is the
final test of spelling efficiency, and it is certain that
there is not full transfer from oral to written

I02 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

ability to spell. It may further be said to the disad-
* vantage of oral spelling that it confines the pupil
practically to the column as against the contextual
method.

It should not be forgotten that in neither the
graphic nor the oral methods of teaching spelling is
Showing a pupil it certain that a child will on his
his error own initiative become conscious of

his errors and remove them. The boys in these ex-
periments proved this repeatedly. When one boy
misspelled a word orally and another spelled it cor-
rectly after him, the first often could not state
what his error was or even where it was. When
one on being asked to respell a word missed at
first spelled it correctly, he could not tell what was
the trouble with his first spelling. When a word
was written incorrectly, by accident perhaps, and
the writer of it and others who had written it cor-
rectly were called upon to locate the error, they
were exceedingly slow in finding it, or they failed
altogether. This was probably due to the fact that
they examined the word as a whole, just as adults
do in reading.

(The only sure way for a pupil to correct an error
is for him to do the thing himself, under guidance
when necessary. Too much of our attempted cor-
rection of spelling errors has been based on the as-
sumption that one pupil, or perhaps the teacher, can
correct the errors of another pupil. One can correct
only one's own errors, not those of another. In writ-

METHODS OF PRESENTATION 103

ten spelling, teachers ought to require that each
pupil should correct his own error by rewriting the
word correctly from the first. Errors in oral spell-
ing must be treated in the same way. Pupils, too,
should always show where their errors lie; but it
is not insisted that they should reproduce the in-
correct forms. By the exercise of care in certain
directions, it should be possible to utilize oral spell-
ing occasionally all the way up through the grades.
It may release erroneous associations without de-
lay, break the monotony of the written lesson, and
become a device for the arousing of some healthy
rivalry of a kind that does not always impress one
as he views the class writing its lesson.

CHAPTER VII

SPELLING EFFICIENCY AND COMPOSITION

IT has been more or less generally believed that
spelling ability bears a direct relation to the
quality and the quantity of one's writing. To
ascertain the relation between spelling and com-
position, a concluding experiment was undertaken
with C and D. Facility in composition was held
out as the aim of the work, in order to insure free-
dom on the part of the boys, and to eliminate the
effect which the personality of the experimenter
might have on the subjects' consciousness of spell-
ing.

For eight days the boys were met a half -hour
each morning, and six compositions were prepared.
Plan of the the topics being "Boating on Lake

^o^^ Mendota," "Fishing Around

Madison," "Coasting in Our Town," "Other Win-
ter Sports" (principally skating, snowballing and
hockey), "How I Spent the Fourth" (of July),
and "Our Trip to Colorado." These boys had
grown up in the hilly city of Madison, which is
surrounded by lakes; their own home is on the
shore of Lake Mendota ; and their experfences had

104

COMPOSITION 105

been much the same. The composition on the
"Fourth" was written July tenth, so all details were
still fresh in their minds. The trip to Colorado
had been taken by both boys together the preceding
summer. Each boy said more than once that his
subject was larger than he could exhaust in the
given time. To reduce the delay in getting started
in writing, and to increase spontaneity, there was
a brief discussion of each topic in advance; and
this resulted in a short outline being placed on the
board. To illustrate: in the first composition the
writers were urged to put themselves in the place
of a boy living in a flat prairie country at a distance
from any body of water, except the creek or com-
munity "swimming hole," and to describe all those
things very; familiar to them, but new and interest-
ing to the imaginary correspondent. They were
directed also to describe the different kinds of boats
on Mendota, the structure and motive power, and
the advantages and disadvantages of each for spe-
cial purposes.

The following tables show certain facts with re-
gard to the six compositions. In the first two col-
The data umns of Table XIV are given the

gathered ^^^jij number of words in each

composition. In the second two appear the addi-
tions to the vocabulary previously employed by each
writer in this series of compositions. Columns V
and VI were secured by dividing Columns III and
IV by Columns I and II respectively, and multiply-

io6 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

ing the result by one hundred. Thus they represent
the addition per hundred running words of com-
position to the vocabulary previously used in this
series. The top figure in Columns III- VI inclusive
is high, of course, because no words whatever are
left out of consideration. In the other figures the
common words already used are eliminated, and the
effect is steadily intensified.

TABLE XIV

AMOUNT OF COMPOSITION VERSUS BREADTH OP
VOCABULARY

Composition

Running words

Addition to vocab-
ulary previously
employed

Addition per 100 run-
ningworas to vocab.
previously employed

C 1 D

First

Second . . .

Third

Fourth*.. .

Fifth

Sixth* ....

141
127
137

181
116
199

199
132
143
370
327
421

66
43
28
52
37
37

77
42
38
92
67
77

47
34
20
29
32
19

39
32
27
25
20
18

Total...

901

1592

263

393

In Table XV an attempt has been made to com-
pare accuracy in writing with the amount written.
In the first column are listed for the entire series
the number of mechanical errors, such as omission
of words and the use of the wrong word, as a for as

• Fifty minutes were given to compositions four and six. In tallying
the vocabulary, all forms of a verb were regarded as one word; also both
numbers of a noun. All compound words of doubtful unity were reck-
oned as two words; likewise all adjectives and the adverbs to which
they give rise. All proper names were discarded.

COMPOSITION

107

or an, the for them, and other lapses. In Column
II the same data are given, but with reference to
the length of the compositions. In Column III
the total number of genuine misspellings in the
compositions is given, followed in Column IV by
the relation of misspellings to breadth of vocabulary
used. But there may have been a number of lapses
included here still, especially when a word did not
occur elsewhere in the entire series of compositions
to give the writer an opportunity to set himself
right. Such is probably the case; otherwise the
figures of Columns V and VI would not be so
much less than those of Columns III and IV re-
spectively. The table can not be derived, of course,
without employing the totals of the first four col-
umns in Table XIV.

TABLE XV

AMOUNT OF COMPOSITION AND BREADTH OF VOCAB-
ULARY IN RELATION TO LAPSES AND
MISSPELLINGS

Pupi ]

Lapses

Dififerent words
misspelled in
compositions

Different words
misspelled in

both the compo-
sitions and subse-
quent column test

Per 100 running
words of comp.

2
0

Per 100 words
of vocabulary

C
D

18
49

2.
3.08

19
28

7.22*
7.12

5
10

1.90
2.54

• C's slight inferiority here is due to the fact that many of his occa-
sional misspellings were probably lapses. Note his marked superiority the
rest of the way through the table.

io8 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

The first fact to attract the investigator's atten-
tion in the course of the tests was the delay of C
Organization ^^ch day in starting to write. Of

of ideas course, D showed some hesitancy,

too, a characteristic even of older students when
they are called on to write upon any new theme.
There is always a preliminary pause for the or-
ganization of ideas. But even with previous dis-
cussion of the general subjects treated, and ex-
hortation "just to tell it right off," this delay in
C's case amounted to from five to eight minutes
each day. For this reason, the last two topics
were chosen with a view to offering a change from
description to narration in writing. But the ad-
vantage of the change was not evident; the dis-
parity between the two boys seemed to be widened.
The investigator was confident that when the "Trip
to Colorado" was carried over to the second day,
C, being right in medias res, would get readily to
work ; but the usual pause was observed. This, the
first of several factors, will account for from ten
to fifteen per cent, of D's broader vocabulary.

Again, C, as related in Chapter VIII, was trou-
bled by his spelling conscience. In the entire course
The spelling 0^ the experiment, D never once

conscience asked how to spell a word. He

simply wrote it as he thought it ought to be, or, as
he once put it, "without doing any thinking at all."
This, by the way, has been his attitude throughout.
He writes down a word the first way it comes into

COMPOSITION 109

his mitid, and does not often make a change. C,
on the other hand, dehberates and worries over
many words, and he can often see two or more
ways in which a word may be spelled after
he has written it. While C spends time in serious
reflection, D goes swiftly along expressing his
thoughts without much regard to spelling.

A third factor which interfered with C's writing
was his attention to good form and exactness of
Attention to Statement. He would object, for

technique instance, to saying two feet if

three would seem to be nearer the truth. But though
D did not bother about exactness, still his state-
ments appeared to be just as exact as C's, possibly
because he had a better command of number, or
more vivid imagery. The best proof that D did
not stop to consider these matters was his failure
to ask questions of the investigator, which C often
did. C in oral expression showed the same ten-
dency to consider carefully before he spoke. When-
ever he made an error in his composition or formed
a letter wrongly, he had to erase; but D would
write the correct form over the incorrect with little
regard for appearances. At the close of the ex-
periment, each boy was asked to write in his ex-
ercise book, "This is my best handwriting." This
effort, contrasted with the legibility of their general
writing, made it plain that C executed up to his
standard more closely than did D. D's composi-
tions would be illegible in high degree, if one should

no THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

try to make out isolated words, while C's were
perfectly and easily legible.

Another factor closely connected with the last
one mentioned is writing tempo. Copies of a sim-
Rapidity of P^^ extract from Stanley's Trav-

^"^^"^8 els in Africa were given the boys,

and they were directed to copy it for twenty-five
minutes as fast as the requirements of legibility
would warrant. The quality of writing submitted
by the boys on this occasion was much the same
as that appearing in their compositions; but the
words on the average were considerably longer. C
copied two hundred eleven words and D two hun-
dred ninety-one words in the twenty-five minutes.
It does not seem probable that in any composition
period, C ever wrote over half as many words as he
could have copied; but D did somewhat better.
Probably neither would have felt in his composi-
tion writing the limitation of his speed in hand-
writing, except for the lack of automatism in
spelling.

In actual spelling efficiency, as noted in this test
and numerous others, C is plainly superior to D,
The results whether the method be oral or

summarized written, isolated or contextual.

D*s errors are from twenty-five to one hundred
per cent, more frequent. D wrote seventy-five per
cent, more than C in a given period of time, and
used a vocabulary about fifty per cent, richer. If
we take the first nine hundred running words

COMPOSITION III

of D's compositions, we find a vocabulary of just
four words less than the total for C, though the
latter has the advantage of one more subject in
such a reckoning. D is far superior in both facility
and variety of expression. There also appears to
be greater initiative, individuality and life in his
work, greater sincerity in his treatment of a theme,
more of concrete statement, and more interest felt
by the writer in what he writes. In respect to form
alone is he inferior to C.

It therefore does not appear, so far as C and D
are concerned, that actual spelling efficiency is a
dominant factor in producing facile and effective
writing, or that it introduces variety by enriching
the vocabulary. Time lost in organizing ideas, con-
sciousness of spelling difficulties and pitfalls, and
unnecessary stickling for form and exactness, are
far more important forces in determining effective
written expression, or the reverse.

CHAPTER VIII

SOME SPECIAL FACTORS IN SPELLING

IT is proposed to bring together in this chapter
a number of facts gathered in the entire course
of the experiments and not mentioned in the pre-
Leaming to read ^^^'"^ chapters. Incidental to
in relation to the collection of the spelling pa-

eaming o spe ^^^^ ^^^ other information which

formed the basis of Chapter II, the university and
the high-school students were asked to describe the
method by which they had learned to read. In-
structors were told how to explain the question.
The answers were as follows :

TABLE XVI

Method of learning No. of cases Average on spelling test

to read H. S. Univ. H. S. Univ.

Alphabetic 32 25 68 85

Word or sentence 6 10 65 83

Phonic 15 9 59 81

Combination of meth-
ods 4 11 83 89

Answers indefinite

or lacking 12 15 56 86

The frequency with which the alphabet is taught
at home at an early age, and the combination of

112

SOME SPECIAL FACTORS 113

methods in school may be responsible for the con-
fusion and uncertainty in the answers of some of
the students. Many older people can sympathize
with the one who wrote: "I do not remember how
I learned to read. It seems as if I have always
known how."

To the adult who will take time for introspection,
it will be apparent that he does not grasp a new word
as a whole, but proceeds analytically from the start.
He sees it not as a complex unit but as a compound
of essential elements. These he unites to form the
word ; but the syllable may be an intervening unity
with some. But is this the experience of one who is
well advanced in reading before he learns his let-
ters ? Will not one so taught always tend to acquire
new words as wholes, which may do very well for
reading but not for spelling? The troubles en-
countered by one who takes an habitually phonetic
attitude toward words, most of them so unphonetic
as they are in English, are surely very great. What-
ever be the best method of teaching reading, we
must assume that spelling is going to be hampered
by any method which does not train a child at first
to see the various letters in a word and to execute
them in their proper order regardless of their
sounds. The students exarhined in this investiga-
tion who worked from the phonic or the word-sen-
tence over to the alphabetic method in reading at an
early stage made the best showing of all in their
spelling. Their rapid progress in their reading had

114 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

evidently promoted the acquisition of an effective
vocabulary, their sense of phonics had been devel-
oped, and they had learned to resolve words into
letters.

The extent to which fear of making errors affects
one in spelling is interesting and important. In the
Fear of making group of four boys already re-
*"°" ferred to, C was much the best

speller of the group in the beginning, and he pos-
sessed a high degree of self-confidence. But his
own mistakes, and the numerous and grotesque ones
of his fellows observed by him at every exercise,
gradually undermined his assurance, and seemed to
interfere with his efficiency. At the last, he was only
slightly superior to B and D, in contrast with his
marked superiority at the start. In his compositions,
he came to ask aid in spelling easier and easier
words. One of the writers has felt the same sort
of disturbing influence as a result, apparently, of
the continued examination and comparison of mis-
spellings in the course of the present work. Both
C and the experimenter came out of the series of
tests injured rather than benefited in their spelling,
as far as freedom and self-confidence are concerned.
A, B and D did not seem to anticipate trouble as
C finally came to. They appeared not to have de-
veloped a fear of a misstep that might happen at
any time, as C did.

A special precaution should be referred to here.
Work on the correction of mistakes should be a

SOME SPECIAU FACTORS 115

Seeing and hear- matter of individual instruction
ing mistakes whenever possible. It is serious

enough for one to have to look over his own errors,
without having to see those of others. B was
peculiarly susceptible to mistakes made in his hear-
ing. In his study of a lesson, he might not have
any trouble with a given word, but in the test a
little later he might produce the same misspelling
as that made by another in the study period. Of
this trait he seemed wholly unconscious. But in
contrast with C, he appeared able to recognize this
as a personal weakness, when he was reminded of
it, and to labor consciously and efficiently for its
eradication.

B and C showed that they both often attempted
to "reason out" their spelling. They tried to decide
Can one reason one word on the basis of others,
out a spelling? saying — "It seems as if it would
be spelled like this word or this one." B once
asked how the order of i and ^ in a certain word
could be remembered. The investigator explained
that it was just the reverse of a similar word, and
an exception to the rule. D suggested that one
ought "just remember it." As a result of this
attitude, B and C drew many analogies from other
words. B wrote, for example, prestidge (suggest-
ing bridge), dishartened (using hart), inborne (us-
ing borne), and holesail (showing double confusion
of homonyms). The other boys did the same thing,
but to a less extent.

ii6 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Auditory similarities between words do not appeal
to some persons at all, though such similarities are
Auditory and prominent with others. B and C

visual types would often in a joking way

make clever rhymes of the words of the lesson,
and others. Any spelling device based on the mean-
ing of words did not appeal to B, because he spelled
in terms of sound. To illustrate, he spelled frus-
trate without the first r. He was shown the differ-
ence in the pronunciation of what he had written
and what he should have written. The mistake
seemed to amuse him greatly, and after class he
ran about writing on the board "fuss straight."
Few would have thought of such a combination.
When some of the class had trouble with the first
two syllables of malefactor, it was suggested, in
harmony with the meaning of the word, that most
malefactors were of the male sex. This device, B
pointed out, might lead to mail factor. Hence he
missecj m^^ef actor on the final test. To remedy
derth, it was suggested that he think of the word
made by leaving off d, earth. This stuck by him,
because it was based on sound. In respect to audi-
tory spelling, A works in contrast to B and C. A
never relies on mere sound in spelling, unless the
word seems wholly strange and he has nothing but
the sound to guide him. Three times each, C and D
spelled malign as maline. Although A could not
spell the word correctly, he never once omitted the

SOME special; factors 117

g. Unlike B, he never spelled with his lips when

he wrote.

We must not from this description of differences

infer that therjs are spellers who rely wholly on one

sort of imagery. Dominance of
No pure types , . ,

certam types must be recognized,

but that is as far as one may go. People frequently

talk of "eye-s^Wtrs" and 'Var-spellers." But there

was no pure type in the group studied in these

experiments. When A spelled meaver for neither

and was asked what he had written, he pronounced

meauer as any good speller would have done. There

is probably no such thing as a strict unphonetic

speller. When a word is strange, one will always

spell as it "sounds." Again, B and C have both

said time and again that "it doesn't look right."

One of the writers knows of one peculiar case which

must have approximated the pure visual type. A

foreign schoolmate who spoke English very well

became much interested in spelling, and studied her

lessons diligently. If the teacher should pronounce

first to her the second word of the lesson, she would

probably spell the first. And this was in an oral

spelling class. The fact that the class was being

conducted according to the auditory-articulatory

method did not affect the pupil's exclusive reliance

on visual imagery.

In Chapter III several typical sources of error

were discussed with respect to their cause and fre-

ii8 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Dominant type quency. Cantinued work with a
of error fg^ subjects reveals the fact that

the frequency of occurrence of any type of error
varies widely for different persons. The disposi-
tion of some to rely largely on analogies has been
mentioned. Other cases in point are the mistakes
due to failure to double a consonant, and those
resulting from the unnecessary doubling of a
consonant. A, B and C are much more likely
to make an error by not doubling the conso-
nant than the opposite, while D does just the
reverse. A has a way of catching the wrong
pronunciation of the word, perhaps leaving out
syllables; and he will invert the order of two
successive letters in either oral or written spelling.
Another failing of his is the frequent interchang-
ing of s and c when they have the same sound.
The elided vowel is a constant source of difficulty,
and made trouble for each member of this group.
The old-fashioned oral spelling made a fetish
of syllabication, while the new-fashioned written
Syllabication spelling in many schools often

as an aid ignores syllables completely.

Words are written as wholes in the spelling lesson,
because they are to function as wholes in actual
use in the future. Some of the spelling text-books
do not present words syllabicated for study. The
useful purposes which syllabication may serve have
already been pointed out'; but the question arises
whether the visual images of words are not con-

SOME SPECIAL FACTORS 119

fused by having the words chopped up into pieces,
in which form they will not be used in real life.
C did not seem to have any preference in the matter,
but there was some complaint from A and B to
the effect that words studied orally with the sylla-
bles written apart did not look familiar when finally
written as wholes. Probably the advantages of syl-
labication may be gained without any of its dis-
advantages, if the words are presented in syllables,
but written at least once as wholes before any test
is imposed. For unless he is a pure audile, if
there is such a type, the, pupil needs while studying
a word to see it as it is finally to appear.

In the course of these experiments some effort
was directed toward ascertaining the correlation of
Traits that make spelling ability with Other simple
good spellers traits. This was prompted by the

desire to discover the cause of A's curious spellings
of the more difficult words, and his failures with
the more simple ones. It had been suspected that
this boy had defective vision, since he had been
observed frequently rubbing his eyes. He was
strong in all his school work except spelling and
oral reading, though his articulation in conversation
was defective. An optician had pronounced his vis-
ion normal. The Snellen test showed A, C and D to
have both eyes of normal acuity, but B's right eye
was below normal. The simple test for astigmatism
indicated that B has some trouble with his left eye
and C some trouble with both. This may assist

I20 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

in explaining C's frequent omission of a letter here
and there in a word. The "A" test — the simple
canceling of all A's on a page of letters with the
pupil working at maximum speed — placed B first,
C second and D third, with respect to both speed
and accuracy. A was fourth in speed, but ranked
between B and C in accuracy.

Attention was then directed to the hearing of
the boys. A had written in an early lesson inprove
for improve. After some questioning it was found
that, though the word had long been familiar to him
and had been used by him, he had always thought it
was inprove. This, coupled with his phonetic pro-
nunciation of his misspellings of various new
words, suggested that he had some degree of deaf-
ness. But in a test with Seashore's audiometer,
an instrument for grading very delicately the loud-
ness of sounds, he was apparently able to detect
a fainter sound than any of the other boys. This
was preceded and followed by several tests on ability
to discriminate or identify the sound heard. Both
letters and simple words were tried: The general
result indicated that A's discrimination was only
slightly mferior when the proper apperceptive basis
was laid. For instance, if it were announced that
the choice were to be made from the letters of the
alphabet or from a specified list of simple words,
he would hold his own ; but if the choice were made
from a wide range of simple words, and he were
given no cue beforehand, he would fall behind the

SOME SPECIAL FACTORS 121

others. Memory span for letters and for words,
viz., ability to reproduce accurately a series im-
mediately after it is presented, did not vary much
between the members of this group — ^not enough
to explain spelling differences. In fact, the series
of psychological tests on simple traits demonstrated
nothing for this group that correlated at all highly
with spelling ability, except possibly A's defective
auditory discrimination.

PART II
THE SPELLING VOCABULARY

CHAPTER IX

POPULAR VIEWS OF SPELLING NEEDS

WE may now turn from the problems of learn-
ing to spell to the question of what should
be taught in spelling. The typical layman, were
Present theory he compelled to select a speller

and practise fQj- jjjg children, would probably

give preference to that text which presented word
lists composed of the more difficult and unusual
terms. Evidence of this may be seen in the keen
interest and appreciation shown by many adults in
the successful mastery of "hard" words by the
young. Within the last few months, observations
have been made in different schools with special
reference to the word lists of the spelling lessons.
A number of lists used for tests or spelling matches
in different parts of the country have been collected,
and educational literature has been searched for
opinions as to what constitutes a fair attainment
in spelling for graduates of the elementary school.
Public school-teachers and administrators of long
experience have been interviewed, and the opinions
of university professors engaged in studying the
problems of education have been gathered. The

125

126 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

question put to all these persons was: How many
words should a child be able to spell when he fin-
ishes the eighth grade ? Estimates made by the vari-
ous persons mentioned ran all the way from five
hundred to fifteen thousand words.

The basis for making an estimate was learned
in a number of cases. One person said one thou-
sand words, because of his conviction that this num-
ber is considerably beyond the ability of many
eighth-grade pupils as taught at present; and so
we should be satisfied with one thousand. Two
others gave an answer based on the assumption that
one word per day with its inflected forms is as
much as a child can learn. Another calculated about
twice as many on the principle that a child can
learn two words per day. Two men estimated from
eight thousand to ten thousand words, one of them
on the theory that the child should be able to spell
from two-thirds to three-fourths of his reading vo-
cabulary, the latter having been calculated by ex-
periment. The principle implied in most of these
estimates appears to be that a child needs to know
the spelling of an enormous number of words, and
that it is the duty of the school to have him mas-
ter as many as possible. Some fairly close canvass-
ing indicates that the average elementary speller
contains upward of six thousand words, though
there is great variation, as will be seen later. In
most of our larger public schools, the spelling-book
is supplemented by words selected from the child's

POPULAR VIEWS 127

regular studies. A rough estimate of the number
of words presented to the typical pupil of a first-
class elementary school, for purposes of spelling,
gives from eight thousand to ten thousand. It
should be added that those school men who said
that four thousand words or less would be a rea-
sonable requirement had nevertheless made a prac-
tise of using in the schools under their supervision
spellers containing the usual number of words.
This is merely an additional indication of the lack
of a critical attitude toward the problem.

Before proceeding to any examination or criti-
cisrn of the content of these long spelling lists, it
Purpose of ^^Y be said that the purpose of

spelling teaching spelling should be to

give the pupil the ability to write readily such words
as he may have occasion to use in the typical sit-
uations of real life. We should keep clearly dis-
tinct at all times the three sorts of vocabularies
— the reading, writing and oral vocabularies. Now,
spelling relates to the mastery of the second of
these — the writing vocabulary. Some reader may
be inclined to hold that it is of value for a person
to know how to spell all the words of his reading
vocabulary. This would assuredly be true if there
were any necessary connection between knowing
how to spell a word, and recognizing that word
when again presented, or recalling its significance.
But there is no evidence to show that such a con-
nection exists; indeed, plenty of evidence to the

128 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

contrary can be gained by any observant teacher
any day in the schoolroom. For example,
every experienced teacher knows well the con-
stant struggle which is necessary to prevent
children learning glibly the spelling of many
words which mean nothing to them, while poor
spellers often have no trouble in getting the
meaning of the words of their text-books. Many
people, too, become intelligent readers of a for-
eign language without learning its spelling to
any extent. As to the oral vocabulary, it is no
doubt much nearer the writing vocabulary in
scope than is the reading vocabulary. But it is
perfectly obvious that efficiency in the oral use of
a word does not arise from a knowledge of its
spelling. It is possibly true that if an individual
mispronounces a word he will be helped sometimes
if he be given its spelling; but if the word be
unphonetic, and the spelling be impressed upon him,
he is more likely to be hindered than helped in its
pronunciation.

It is sometimes asked whether the brief focusing
of a child's attention on the spelling of a word,
even though he does not halt long enough thor-
oughly to master it, may not help in transferring
it from his reading to his oral vocabulary. There
are probably but two factors that determine the
effective adoption of a word into one's oral vo-
cabulary. They are the content and the pronun-
ciation of the word. The content, however, must

POPULAR VIEWS 129

come, not from the mechanical arrangement of the
letters to form the word, or its spelling, but from
its relation to other familiar words in the context.
The pronunciation may be gained by the child from
his knowledge of phonics, or it may come by imi-
tating the pronunciation of another person. But
attention given to the literal elements of a word
in order to make out its correct pronunciation will
ordinarily fall short of what is necessary in order
to insure its correct spelling, except in the case of
words so thoroughly phonetic that neither spelling
nor pronunciation is at all difficult. Before the
child can fluently use a word orally, he must grow
accustomed to its sound as a whole, by hearing
others pronounce it, and by pronouncing it him-
self, first in reading, then in conversation, so that
he may come to feel at home with the word.

The foregoing statement of the purpose of teach-
ing spelling should not be let pass without an addi-

- -. ^ tional word of explanation or

Immediate versus ^

ultimate values qualification. By "words which

in spe ing ^^ pupil will have occasion to

write in the typical situations of real life," is meant
only those which he will have need for after his
school-days are over. The proper names found in
Scott's Lady of the Lake and in the early chapters
of United States history were a part of the spelling
work in one class room which the investigator vis-
ited, yet none of the names in the list, with the
exception of a few Christian names, is likely ever

I30 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

to be written by more than five per cent, of the
members of that class in later life. Practically
all of the comparatively few who will make use of
these words are those who will continue their study
along special lines, or who will enter teaching.
When the instructor of this class was asked re-
garding the motive in this work, she remarked, with
some show of surprise at such a question, that
"otherwise the class would not spell accurately in
their papers on United States history and the writ-
ten language work based on the Lady of the Lake."
Now there is no support for the notion that appre-
ciation of either history or literature is in any way
linked up with the spelling of the proper names in-
volved ; indeed there is much evidence on the other
side. One of the chief dangers in the "incidental'*
teaching of spelling is to be found in the disposi-
tion to bring in more or less technical terms from
the various studies, as in the case of history and
literature. Of course, no one would countenance
the conscious misspelling of any words by pupils.
It would be advisable for them to come to feel
that any word, no matter how rare, should be spelled
correctly. On the other hand, the teacher should
give the children the privilege of using the diction-
ary, or should inform them outright of the spelling
of infrequent words, instead of including such in
the regular spelling lists.

Let us now turn to a consideration of the lists
of words found in spelling text-books. While every

POPULAR VIEWS 131

Pruning One is likely to agree to the gen-

word lists gj.^j proposition that such lists as

are at present taught contain some useless words,
there is still a lack of agreement as to what should
be omitted. For instance, a distinguished educator
has recently said — "I have on file a very carefully
selected list of twenty thousand words, no one of
which a grammar-school graduate should miss. . . .
It includes only forty-five salt and fresh water
fishes." He is apparently counting as separate
words all standard variations of the various parts
of speech, except those adding s, so his list would
probably shrink to sixteen thousand or seventeen
thousand words if reduced to a dictionary basis by
eliminating all these standard variations. Yet it
is to some inconceivable that a grammar-school
graduate will ever write the names of forty-five
fishes, unless he becomes a catcher or raiser of
fish, or an ichthyologist. What about the millions
of our people who live far from the seas and the
lakes? The same author writes a little later, "A
good standard dictionary to-day contains over four
hundred thousand words, not counting plurals of
nouns and other standard variations. Of these a
quarter would be useful to average men if they
could learn them, which is, however, obviously im-
possible." We can not but regard this number of
words as altogether beyond reason. One hundred
thousand words useful to the "average" man!
Shakespeare appealed to all sorts of men, irrespec-

132 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

tive of race, with only fifteen thousand ; and Milton
with a modest eight thousand was able to express
himself in a wide range of literature of permanent
value. Life, to be sure, is more complex to-day
than ever before; but the limits of the ordinary
man's mind still are set, and year by year increas-
ing specialization decreases the range within which
a modern man must make his adjustments. In
addition to this, one may be led to very erroneous
conclusions by comparing an "average" man of the
twentieth century or any other time, with the Mil-
tons or the Shakespeares who have played so promi-
nent a role in building our language.

There are two fundamental objections, implicit
or explicit, that one will meet in attempting to cut

down our spelling lists. The first
Reasons for op- • -i, i. j i.- • *

position to cur- ^^ the exaggerated notion, just

tailment of vo- alluded to, of the use an "aver-
cabulary

age ' man has for a big vocabu-
lary. This arises partly from the fact that in pass-
ing on the eligibility of a word for a place in the
spelling lists of an elementary school, one almost
habitually bases his judgment upon his feeling as
to whether he personally has ever used that
word in written communication. This is not to be
wondered at, since to each of us our own experi-
ence is easily accessible, and that of others is usually
remote or unknown.

The second difficulty encountered in pruning
word lists lies in the prevailing domination of our

POPULAR VIEWS 133

elementary by our secondary schools, and our sec-
ondary by our higher institutions. Each higher
institution has felt justified, until very recently at
least, in prescribing for the lower school the sub-
ject-matter which is thought necessary to prepare a
small portion of its membership for the superior
school. The new movement to make courses of
study adapted to the needs of the majority rather
than the minority of pupils in the schools has thus
far had no effect worth noting on spelling. In the
pursuit of an inquiry relative to the spelling needs of
elementary-school pupils, the writers have met with
such suggestions as that they should cover the corre-
spondence of an ex-senator, or study a newspaper
of national reputation, whose columns are filled
by highly trained writers. An intelligent lady
argued tenaciously that the term Mukden (of
recent military significance) should be taught be-
cause the child "may have to write it some time."
No one has proposed that Cherokee or Apache, or
even Spanish, Igorrote, Chinese or Hindu be made
a compulsory study in the elementary school be-
cause some of the children may become interpreters
or missionaries; yet the probability of the latter is
surely much greater than that a considerable num-
ber of future United States senators, metropolitan
newspaper correspondents, or writers of world his-
tory are sitting in every schoolroom in the land.

Of course, in all education of whatever grade,
we must take some chances. If one be given a

134 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

special education he may prove a misfit, and may-
harm rather than help society ; or the child or youth
may die before he reaches his productive years,
thus entailing not only a heavy family loss, but
a large social one as well. On the sociological
side, at any rate, education can never become an
exact science. There is nothing we can teach a
child and be certain that it will function later. The
best we can do is to select our materials in such
a way that there will be a high degree of proba-
bility that they will all be of service in the later
life of nearly all the pupils. This is the more true
since one hears constantly the complaint that the
program of study is overcrowded, and that many
subjects really worth while have to be omitted. No
one of special vocational or professional aptitude
or inclination should ask to have the course for all
distorted in order to minister to his peculiar needs.
But if it becomes apparent that a large percentage of
the pupils of a school are destined to enter a par-
ticular calling, classes may be formed for instruc-
tion in the essentials of this special business; and
among those essentials may well be included the
spelling of a number of technical words relating
to this calling.

CHAPTER X

DETERMINING THE WRITTEN VOCABULARY OF TYPI-
CAL AMERICANS

HAVING in view the matters discussed in the
last chapter, the writers have undertaken an
investigation of the spelHng needs of American
An experimental children. Not many attempts of
study of spelling this character have yet been
made; but recently a survey
was made of the word list employed in the issues
of several Buffalo Sunday papers.* It was discov-
ered that in about forty-four thousand running
words of composition taken from the newspapers
in question, about six thousand different words and
forms of words were used. This number would
shrink perhaps a thousand or more if reduced to
a dictionary basis, as already defined. The astound-
ing fact appeared that seven words constituted over
one- fourth of the whole number. Chancellor at-
tempted to ascertain from a number of letters that
came to his desk the one thousand most important
words.f This when reduced to a dictionary basis

* Eldridge, Six Thousand Common English Words. Ni-
agara Falls, N. Y.
t Journal of Education, May 26, 1910.

136 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

shrinks to eight hundred eighty-three words. No de-
tailed statement, however, is made as to the manner
in which the study was conducted, or as to the busi-
ness and education of the correspondents. The Hst
is not arranged in a strictly alphabetical order,
consequently about a dozen words are repeated.
No note is made of the comparative frequency of
the different words, so that one is left in doubt as
to whether frequency was actually studied at all.
An interesting study of this matter was made
recently by the Russell Sage Foundation.* The

results were published in Febru-
Ayres' study ....

of spelling ary, 1913, withm about a week

vocabularies ^^ ^j^^ ^-^^^ ^j^^^ ^^^ writers con-

cluded, the task of tallying the frequency of occur-
rence of all words in over two hundred thousand
running words of correspondence according to a
method to be described presently. Doctor Ayres se-
lected the first word of each line in two thousand
letters chosen from a variety of sources. In this
way twenty-three thousand six hundred twenty-nine
words were tallied out of a total of one hundred ten
thousand one hundred sixty. The total number of
different words and different forms of words oc-
curring one or more times was found to be two
thousand one. Of these, the five hundred forty-
two occurring six or more times were published in
the order of their frequency. Seven hundred fifty-

♦ Ayres, The Spelling Vocabularies of Personal and Bust'
ness Letters.

THE WRITTEN VOCABULARY 137

one of the two thousand one occurred but a
single time. Although the present study is in sev-
eral respects different from that of Ayres, his data
will be used as a check and basis of comparison
at a number of points.

In searching for a standard to employ in esti-
mating the writing vocabularies of typical individu-

^ , , als in American life, and in dis-
How to find the . .

needs of the "com- covermg what words are found

men people most commonly in the written ex-

pression of ordinary people, it was finally decided to
use the family correspondence of a group of adults.
It would be a safe guess, probably, to say that most
of the spelling needs of nine-tenths of our people
relate to correspondence of a varied nature with
relatives and friends. Ordinary business corre-
spondence is attended to by stenographers, or is
almost a negligible quantity as far as spelling is
concerned. It is moreover of a stereotyped and
usually quite technical character. For every kind
of business and for every profession there are spe-
cial needs; but in these we are not interested, since
it is spelling for the common school that we are
considering. It is likely that Ayres' lists do not
quite indicate the needs of most people, because it
is probable that in his study family correspondence
was neglected, to the exaggeration of the import-
ance of business letters. Sincerely shows a fre-
quency of one hundred forty-two, truly of one hun-
dred sixty-six, respectfully of sixty-three and love

138 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

of only sixteen. Since the average length of the
letters examined was only fifty-five words, surely
no great proportion could have been of a family
character, and only a very few could have dealt
with the "tender emotion."

In the present investigation it was determined
not to include a large amount of correspondence
between particular friends, because they often have
only a single line of interest. The vocabulary of
such correspondence would therefore tend to be
highly specialized. For a like reason, the corre-
spondence of immature persons has not been used
in this study to any great extent. The child's
interests are not those of an adult. Many of the
responsibilities of the latter are not felt until one's
majority is reached. No doubt the framing of a
course in spelling for elementary pupils should in-
clude a number of words which an examination of
the spontaneous compositions of children of differ-
ent ages shows to be useful in child life, but which
plays only a small part in the average adult's con-
sciousness. This matter is discussed fully later on.

But after all it is family letters that tend
more than any other form of correspondence to call
out a vocabulary dealing with the whole range of hu-
man interests. Family correspondence is not open
to the usual valid objection to composition tests of
spelling, viz., that the writer avoids some words,
the spelling of which is uncertain, and selects others
whose spelling is known. The errors which the

THE WRITTEN VOCABULARY 139

investigators found in much of the correspondence

examined were not calculated to betray reserve or

embarrassment over spelling. When a word was

needed, the correspondent proceeded to spell at it,

if it were unfamiliar. On the other hand, there

is in adult family correspondence no endeavor to

diversify one's vocabulary for the production of

special literary effects, such as characterizes all

writing for publication, and renders it valueless for

our present purpose.

In collecting the material for investigation, the

conclusion has been reached that spelling has dis-

_ ,. , . tinctly declined in importance in

Declining im- ■' ...

portance of the last generation, and is still

^^^ *"^ declining. It is entirely possible

that if the present tendency continues for another
century, the spelling reformers and their opponents
will have only a skeleton to fight over. This result
has followed from the decay of letter-writing, which
in turn is the result of various social changes. Any
one who will take the pains to make personal ob-
servations can verify every point that is made here-
after relating to the decay of spelling needs.

Among the conditions that have produced the
changes referred to may be mentioned first the plen-.
ti fulness of newspapers, magazines and books.
Books and magazines supply the intellectual stimu^
lation which the daily, weekly or monthly mail once
furnished. Those who migrate to a new home,
leaving behind acquaintances, friends and relatives,

I40 THE CHILD AND HIS SPFXLING

often have the local paper follow them at a nominal
cost. Or if they do not subscribe, the "home- folks"
bundle up the papers occasionally and forward them,
naturally without writing, because that would en-
tail additional expense for postage. Those in the
new home may not send their own local papers
regularly to the "home- folks" ; but any items of
special interest they clip out and enclose in a letter.
Or if anything in the way of a story or witticism
impresses them as unusually good, it is cut out and
sent along too. The clippings often constitute the
bulk of the letter.

In the second place, there is vast improvement
and greater freedom in means of communication.
Postal rates have been lowered, not for first-class
matter only, but for all classes of mailable matter.
The use of telegraph and telephone is coming
within the reach of more and more people. With-
out cost, or for a few cents at most, people can
telephone some distance across country or from
town to town, transact business, or reach decisions
that by correspondence would require several let-
ters. Travel is increasing out of all proportion to
population. Annual vacations, holiday rates and
all sorts of excursions are substituting visiting and
personal conference for letter-writing. Friends a
hundred miles or two apart may not write for
months; but once or twice a year they may come
together and visit over their joys and sorrows.

Again, the changing status of women in the home

THE WRITTEN VOCABULARY 141

and new business methods, are shifting the burden
of letter- writing. Though the mother was in the
early days the teacher and intellectual leader of the
family, her other responsibilities were much heavier
than to-day. She no longer goes into the fields to
work; much of the family raiment is purchased
ready-made; and more or less of the food is pre-
pared outside of the home. With these changes,
women have become to some extent a leisure class.
They still do most of the reading and practically
all of the writing for the family. A rather ex-
tensive inquiry among friends and acquaintances
has shown it to be impossible to secure more than
perhaps one-tenth as much written matter in gen-
eral from the pens of men as from those of women.
In this inquiry, households were found where men,
perfectly able to write, do not, from pure disin-
clination to undertake the task, produce a letter
from one year's end to the other. They confine
themselves to signing legal papers. Professional
men, possibly from their greater facility in expres-
sion, are less derelict in this connection. Yet as
many of them as can afford it are known by sten-
ographers to dictate much of their most private
correspondence as well as their business letters. In
these times a scholar can write a book without
doing any spelling himself.

Lastly, the development of the post-card as a
means of communication has proved highly destruc-
tive of letter-writing. Special cards are issued for

142 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's
Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter and so on. At such
times it is the custom to "remember everybody."
If the intervals are unduly long, the "remembrance"
comes to hand in the form of some local view or
comic card. The most novel and extreme form is
the short letter already written for the correspond-
ent. "Arrived at Kalamazoo on the . . . inst."
The writer fills in the date. Then follow a number
of statements, such as "Like the town," "Am well,"
"Having a good time," "The boys (or girls) are
good-lookers," "Remember me to the rest." After
each statement is a place for "Yes" or "No," or
check for "Yes," leaving the other spaces blank.

Many people, of course, are bound to be seriously
disturbed at any movement that would tend to limit

No imminent dan- ^ ^'^'"'''^ knowledge of spelling
ger of_ hampering to the demonstrated demands of
® ^ ^ those living a generation ahead of

him. It will be asserted that if the art of written
expression is on the decline, we should strive to
train our children in the opposite direction, and
not hamper them by reducing their writing vocab-
ulary. All such persons should recall the fact that
the decline of letter-writing is traceable to social
factors, as has been shown. In no sense has it
resulted from teaching the spelling of too few
words. The truth of the whole matter is that
every one who has finished the elementary school
is carrying around in his head for years afterward

THE WRITTEN VOCABULARY 143

hundreds, if not thousands, of words that he never
writes. And is it not possible that the learning of
these words extracted from his short school-days
valuable time which should have been devoted to
really vital instruction that he failed to get because
there was "not enough time" ? Moreover, this large
expenditure of time and energy in learning to spell
has not apparently produced good spellers. If we
want good spelling, shall we not put the pressure
on the most vital words, instead of on the less vital,
or non-vital ones?

Suppose that by a restriction of spelling lists a
child should later find himself hampered with ref-
erence to a few words. They are all in the diction-
aries, pocket editions of which are easily secured.
Further, why can he not learn to spell a few words
after he leaves the elementary school? Why not
carry spelling through the high school and even the
university if necessary? As a matter of fact all
intelligent adults are learning to spell every now and
then. Many words commonly written to-day were
found twenty years ago in the supplement of the
unabridged dictionary. It should be remembered
that the business of the common school is to pre-
pare children for the life of two decades hence,
while school texts, more especially spellers, are apt
to reflect the needs of many decades past.

CHAPTER XI

SOURCES AND CHARACTER OF DATA

IT has been the aim in this investigation to study
individual needs rather than to secure a com-
posite of the vocabularies of many persons, so the
Sources of writers confined their request for

the data correspondence to a limited num-

ber of persons — thirteen in all. Five of these per-
sons were men and the other eight were women.
Various degrees of academic training are repre-
sented, ranging from schooling equivalent to three,
grades of the present elementary school perhaps,
up to a year of graduate work in a state university.
Different sorts of interest and vocation are sam-
pled in a fairly typical way. That the correspond-
ence examined was not local or sectional in its
character may be inferred from the statement that
it bore not fewer than forty different postmarks
from widely separated portions of our own country
and from some foreign lands. This variety of en-
vironments should be of assistance in gaging de-
mands for the spelling of proper names, though
travel plays slightly too important a part to make
the letters truly typical. Of course, it is under-

144

SOURCES OF DATA 145

stood that no person knew at the time of writing
that any of his work was to be utilized in this study.

For the sake of completeness and definiteness,
the following brief account is given of each of the
thirteen persons at the time they produced the let-
ters used by the writers :
'" S., fifty-six years of age, mother of a family.
Her education was probably equivalent to the
course of an ordinary elementary school. She con-
tributed twelve thousand running words, written
to her adult children and their families.

P., daughter of S., aged twenty-seven, mother of
a family. Attended high school and took one year
of university work. A voluminous letter-writer,
accustomed to recount all the details of family life.
Contributed forty thousand running words, taken
from her letters to her mother, husband, brother
and other near relatives.

C, husband of P., aged thirty. Had high-school
education and completed a technical course at the
university, now a civil engineer managing a factory.
Contributed five thousand running words, taken in
about equal portions from letters to his wife and
her relatives on the occasion of a trip to California.

W., son of S., brother of P., aged twenty to
twenty-five. Graduate in state university, teacher
in public high school. Contributed forty thousand
running words, written to his wife mainly before,
but in part after, marriage.

H., wife of W., aged nineteen to twenty-four.

146 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

graduate of elementary school. Contributed forty
thousand running words, written to W. mainly be-
fore, but in part after, marriage,

E., sister of H., aged twenty-seven, graduate of
elementary school. Bookkeeper and stenographer.
Contributed five thousand running words, written
to her mother and sister,

N., mother of H. and E., aged sixty- four. Had
meager educational opportunities. She says she
never finished the third reader. Contributed five
thousand words,, written to her daughters,

A., aged sixty, mother of a family. Attended
the academy of an earlier day, then spent three
years in a seminary of good standing, afterward
taught for several years. Contributed twenty- four
thousand words, written to her sisters from her
Connecticut home, later from England, France and
Germany.

G., aged twenty-five, postgraduate in classical
languages in state university of Middle West.
Teacher in girls' private school. Contributed five
thousand words, written to her mother, mostly with
regard to social life and personal matters outside
of school.

O., aged eighteen, high-school graduate, from
a home of unusual intellectual and social opportuni-
ties and stimulation. Contributed eight thousand
words, written to her parents while at home and
away from home.

J,, aged about forty, lawyer and public man in

SOURCES OF DATA 147

a small city. Graduated from state normal school,
and spent two years in law school. Contributed
six thousand words, written to a public-school su-
perintendent, on whose board J. once served. The
letters were written before and after the two men
had severed their official connections.

M., aged about twenty-three, graduate of state
normal school, spent one year tutoring at Washing-
ton, then became principal of a city elementary
school. Contributed five thousand words, written
while serving in the two capacities above named.
They were addressed to an older brother, also a
teacher, but contained little "shop talk."

B., aged twenty-eight, spent two years in high
school, and then took a course in the business col-
lege, is now a bookkeeper and stenographer in a
wholesale grocery house. Contributed five thou-
sand words, addressed to a brother, along business
and personal lines.

Another kind of material utilized in this investi-
gation came from three spelling-books described
below. Their vocabularies were arranged alpha-
betically that they might be checked up with the
vocabularies of the correspondents, and with one
another, in order to discover the underlying prin-
ciple, if any were followed, in the selection of ma-
terials for the spelling text-books of to-day, and
to test readily the validity of such principles by
the concrete material derived from the correspond-
ence. Two of these spelling texts appeared in 1908,

148 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

and one in 191 2. They are published by two lead-
ing text-book companies, and one of the books
might, perhaps, be considered the most-used ele-
mentary spelling-book in the country. These three
texts were chosen because it was believed that they
exemplified the better, not the poorer, attempts in
modem text-book construction. They will here-
after be referred to as Spellers A, B and C.

Speller A is divided into two books, giving work
stated to be for grades III-VIII inclusive. "A
large number of English words that present no diffi-
culty have been excluded" (Preface). The

publishers make the following claim for this book :
"Only those words have been admitted which be-
long to the writing vocabulary of the average per-
son. The many words that are known in reading,
but that are seldom if ever used by the average man
in writing, have been excluded. Words that pre-
sent no spelling difficulty and need no study have
also been omitted."

Speller B is divided into seven books. Just how
it is intended that the work of these should be ad-
justed to the eight grades is not stated ; perhaps the
most reasonable assumption is that no book is allot-
ted to Grade I. The feature of this book is the use
in adjacent sentences of the words presented in

the column lessons. " About six thousand

words, not counting different forms of verbs and
nouns, are thus presented in use. Excepting a few
of the most simple words used in Books I and II,

SOURCES OF DATA 149

no word is used in a sentence before it is given in

the column About six thousand more words,

classified as 'additional' and 'less common' words

are given in columns following the regular

sentence presentation" (Preface).

Speller C outlines work for the entire elementary-
course, except the first half of the first year. A
large number of dictation and completion exercises
are presented. Many of the former are selected
from literary masterpieces, and contain large num-
bers of more or less uncommon words. A state-
ment made in the introduction as to not requiring
pupils to learn uncommon words evidently meant
that any unusual literary names (those applied to
literary characters, not the names of the authors
themselves) should be omitted. Everything save
directions to pupils has been included in cal-
culating the vocabulary of this text. However,
in the case of word-building exercises, the words
actually found in the book, and not those built by
the pupil, have been taken into account. The
French and Latin words and phrases are marked
in the text, "For reference only."

Test lists used in different parts of the country
on important spelling occasions would not be of
No consideration much value in this investigation.
of test lists jf judged by the criterion of their

frequency of use in after life, they would be found
wanting. However, one must not forget that the
purpose of these competitions is not normally to

I50 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

teach pupils how to spell, but to make them fail
to spell, so that the question. of personal superiority
can be settled. Hence it is to be expected that
comparatively rare words must be drawn in very
largely before a decision can be reached. No one
can doubt, though, that special test lists for every-
day purposes in the regular school work should be
graded carefully, that they should consist of words
that people often use, and that a pupil's promotion
in spelling should depend on his capacity for spell-
ing words that he is later to use in expressing him-
self.

In the arrangement of vocabularies in this in-
vestigation, several rules of procedure have been
Rules of l^^pt in mind, and followed as

procedure consistently as possible. First of

all, the dictionary basis has been adhered to. This
has resulted in the appearance in every list of nouns
in the singular number and nominative case only,
though a few plurals appear in cases where the
plural is the form habitually employed. The sin-
gular of no such word is then permitted in the list.
The same policy is followed relative to another
group of words, such as news, afterwards, besides,
etc. But the various forms of the personal pro-
nouns are so highly disparate that all variant forms
are included, except ours, you/rs and theirs. Like-
wise only the positive degree of adjectives is in-
cluded, except that the comparative or superlative
occurs for the few which lack a positive form. So

SOURCES OF DATA 151

also of verbs; the present infinitive is considered
the root form. To illustrate, for the verb to be,
the forms, is, are, was, were, being, been, are al-
ways checked as be. The justification for such
procedure is, first, that it simplifies the problem;
and, second, that an individual who has any real
use for a root word will doubtless have also a real
use for its inflected forms, though of course some
of the derivatives may have a very different fre-
quency of use from the root word itself.

In the second place, words of identical spelling
and like pronunciation are not differentiated in the
lists. For instance, might is always referred to
may, whether it be the past tense of the latter,
or the noun meaning power or strength. As far as
dealing with the lists in spelling texts goes, it is
impossible to tell, when we see might in a column,
whether it is a noun or a verb. Hence we need to
act similarly in dealing with correspondence. And
while from some points of view it would perhaps
be desirable to know whether in spelling we should
stress might as a noun or as a verb, it is probable
that as long as the phonic elements are the same, if
the child learns to spell the word merely as one
part of speech, he will spell it correctly in its other
forms, barring a homonymic interference. Many
simple words, like hoe (noun and verb), pin (noun
and verb), etc., come under the principle just men-
tioned.

In the third place, words of identical spelling but

152 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

dissimilar pronunciation are included but once.
This, too, was necessitated by the fact that words
like grease and canon do not always have their pro-
nunciation indicated in the columns of the spelling-
book. Difficulty with or confusion in the use of
such words can be obviated by teaching them with
both their meanings and their appropriate pronun-
ciations. This need not often involve the teaching
of an uncommon word, or a common word with
an uncommon signification, unless the teacher is
injudicious enough to go outside his own reading
vocabulary.

/, a and o have been excluded from consideration,
for while they are technically words, they are also
mere letters, and the question of spelling obviously
does not enter in. All syncopations are entered as
though written in full, except the single one,
o'clock, which is standard and preferable to the
full form on all occasions. A few of the more
common apostrophized forms would have been in-
cluded, had it been possible to tell where to stop;
but I'll leads on to I'd, and you'd, and finally
Zi*ho'd, so all such forms were regarded as if the
words had been written in full. In dealing with
the correspondence, all abbreviations are treated as
if written in full, except Mr., Mrs., etc. and O. K.,
and the initials of persons. These latter are totally
disregarded. The reason is that aside from o'clock,
and the abbreviations just mentioned, the knowl-
edge of the spelling of a word may be presumed

SOURCES OF DATA 153

to have preceded the knowledge of its abbreviation,
and for the additional reason, that the abbrevia-
tion in all except the most familiar correspondence
is not yet recognized as good form. Baby talk
is excluded, but large numbers of colloquial ex-
pressions, if justified by the dictionary, are in-
cluded. The Standard Dictionary has been used
in determining the eligibility of such words.

Some arbitrary standard had to be recognized
in the treatment of numbers, so it was decided to
exclude from consideration all dates, all street
numbers, all quantities of money expressed in deci-
mal fashion, all hours of the day when in the
standard form (e.g., 5:45), all numbers over one
hundred, except round numbers like a thousand,
ten thousand, or a million. Such a course seems
advisable, because the exemptions made are properly
expressed by figures.

All words with hyphens have been considered as
two words. Foreign words and expressions scarcely
naturalized have been kept in a segregated list in
the examination of both spelling texts and corre-
spondence. Proper names of every sort have also
been segregated into a special list. They are noted
as to frequency in all the correspondence, but not
considered a part of the vocabulary of any person,
since changing associations in the local environment
will constantly introduce new names. Consequently
proper terms are skipped in counting off the two
hundred thousand words of correspondence. Words

154 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

which become proper names only in specific connec-
tions, as seen in the expressions, Kansas City, or
Franklin Street, and even there retain their general
significance, are not considered as proper names.

The vocabulary found in the correspondence of
each person has been kept entirely separate from
The arrangement everything else, so that, as ex-
of words plained above, we might gain

some view of the extent of individual needs, and,
what is still more important from the point of
view of the public school, we might examine the
general agreement or community of needs.
Though the frequency of each word is given in the
lists of this study, the words are not arranged ac-
cording to frequency because, in the first place, if
one examines a "frequency" list one finds it diffi-
cult to tell whether a particular word is present,
to say nothing of the probability of clerical mis-
takes leading to duplications. With Ayres' list no
doubt extraordinary care was exercised, yet in the
published portions at least three words are repeated,
which alters more or less seriously their position
in the list. Second, a word which has a given fre-
quency and is universally used should be given a
more prominent position in the list than one which
occurs somewhat more frequently but serves only
three-fourths as many persons, showing that its idea
is less universalized or permits of ready expression
in other ways. In the present study, the word
big has almost exactly twice the frequency of busy,

SOURCES OF DATA 155

yet It does not occur in the letters of two of the
thirteen correspondents, because its idea can be ex-
pressed by large. Neither of these two persons is
among the three who fail to use large. But busy,
for which no ready substitute seems to be offered,
is employed by every subject. Illustrations could
be multiplied ad libitum. Third, where the corre-
spondence of a limited number of persons is studied
in detail, as in the present case, the prominence
given to a somewhat unusual word by two or even
one of the subjects might place it in an entirely
false light if frequency were the basis of arrange-
ment.

CHAPTER XII

WORD LISTS DERIVED FROM CORRESPONDENCE

THE plan followed in tabulating the data of
this investigation has been to divide the total
vocabulary of the thirteen correspondents into four
The method of alphabetical lists. List I con-
classifying data tains words used by all the corre-
spondents; List II, those used by a majority of
them; List III, those used by more than one but
less than a majority; List IV, those used by one
writer only. Immediately after each word is placed
its frequency in the two hundred thousand nmning
words. In the third column is noted how many
of the three spelling-books. A, B and C, contain
it. In the fourth column stands the list in which
the given word comes if only the women corre-
spondents be considered. In the fifth column the
same information is given from the standpoint of
the men correspondents. All vacant spaces in Col-
umns III, IV and V signify non-occurrence. In
Column VI the letters A and C indicate respectively
whether found in Ayres' published list of the five
hundred forty-two most frequent words, or in Chan-
cellor's list of the thousand most common words

156

WORD LISTS 157

in every-day use. Columns IV and V are omitted
in List I, since they would be simply a succession
of I's.

LIST I

186 WORDS WORDS USED BY ALL THE CORRE-
SPONDENTS _

M. o I "■ "I IV

about 889 2 AC

after 365 2 AC

afternoon 389 2 A

again 256 3 AC

all 1369 2 A

almost 153 3 C

also 166 3 A

an 346 1 AC

and 8252 2 AC

another 166 2 A

any 630 2 AC

around 143 2 C

as 1368 1 A

ask 186 2 A

at 1240 1 A

away 193 2 A

back 299 2 AC

be .....9711 2 AC

before 361 2 AC

boy 171 2 AC

build 89 3 AC

busy 71 3 AC

but 1771 2 AC

by 439 2 A

can 1190 3 AC

cannot 392 1

church 159 2 A

come 946 2 AC

course 202 3 A

day 916 2 AC

dear 481 2 AC

do 2498 3 AC

down 384 2 AC

enough 158 3 A

even 360 2 AC

ever 222 2 AC

158 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING
I II III IV

every 232

far 96

feel 473

few 166

find 217

first 237

for 2263

four 172

friend 90

from 895

get 1667

give ' 309

glad 235

go 1981

good 837

guess 128

have 4562

he -. 1166

hear 279

help 224

her 1061

here : 613

him 459

his 441

home 496

hope 259

hour 170

house 367

how 433

if 1050

in 2511

it 3607

just 763

keep 205

know 790

last 631

late 102

leave 348

let 208

letter 800

like 653

little 778

live 117

long 279

look 386

make 633

man 206

many 314

WORD LISTS 159

I II III IV

me 1377

mine 67

morning 478

much 947

must 399

my 1457

need 114

never 247

new 220

next 302

nice 198

night 547

no 335

not 2878

nothing 71

now 489

of 3252

off 175

old 294

on 1175

one 1117

only 419

or 680

other 344

ought 97

out 703

over 427

own 176

part 109

pay 168

people 160

place 217

pretty 249

put 254

quite 159

rest 125

right 242

run 101

same 110

say 906

see 789

seven 66

several 56

she 1542

show 71

six 124

so 1729

8ome 750

i6o THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

Boon 196

spend 103

start 143

such 224

suppose 164

sure 179

take 635

talk 149

tell 669

than 321

that 2614

the 7606

their 210

them 636

then 456

there 862

they 925

thing 414

think 1178

this 1236

though 148

three 251

through 160

time 893

to 7553

too 408

town 165

train 148

try 199

two 601

up 782

us 368

use 160

very 644

visit 102

want 643

way 271

we 2218

week 605

well 672

what 479

when 766

where 162

which 256

while 204

will 3068

wish 262

with 1314

[II

Ill

WORD LISTS i6i

I II

write 867

year 254

yesterday 317

yet 180

you 4099

your 1117

LIST II

577 WORDS — WORDS USED BY A MAJORITY OF THE

CORRESPONDENTS

I II III IV i' V VI

able , 100 2 II I C

above 25 2 III I

accept 12 3 III I A

account 31 2 II I A

across 38 3 II I C

act 27 2 III II C

add 15 2 III I C

address 35 3 II II A

advantage 15 2 III I

afraid 79 3 II IV C

afterward 12 1 II II

against 25 2 III II C

age 32 2 II II

ago 81 1 II I A

ahead 23 2 II II

air 21 2 II II

allow 18 3 II III A

alone 43 3 II III A

along 91 1 I II

already 45 2 II II C

always 153 3 II II AC

among 23 3 II II AC

amount 28 2 II II

answer , 108 3 II II A

anxious 29 3 II III

anything 190 1 I II A

anyway 33 11 III

appreciate 17 2 III II A

arrive 75 2 II I A

asleep 20 3 II IV

attempt 13 1 II III

attend 42 2 III I A

aunt 170 3 I II C

automobile 47 8 II III

/Jl.-I

i62 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

avenue 32

awful 91

awfully 26

baby 39

bad 244

badly 23

bank 30

basket 16

bath 35

beat 36

beautiful 67

because 263

become 36

bed 170

begin 97

believe 168

beside 48

between 40

big 141

bill 38

birthday 31

bite 67

black 32

blame 12

block 33

blood 18

blow 21

blue 43

board 125

body 15

book 104

both 140

bottle 12

bottom 12

box 95

bread 30

break 45

breakfast 62

bring 91

brother 74

brown 21

burn 28

business 99

butter 22

buy 122

cake 39

caU 151

car 77

[II IV V

2 11

III

3 I

III
III

2 I

III

2 I

1 I

2 I

3 I

III

2 I

III

3 II

3 I

1 I

2 I

3 I

2 I

III

3 I

2 I

III

2 I

III

2 I

III

2 I

III

2 I

III

3 I

1 I

III

2 I

3 I

3 II

3 I

III

2 I

3 I

2 I

III

2 I

III

2 I

1 I

3 I

2 I

1 I]

[ II

WORD LISTS 163

I II

card 95

care 119

careful 25

carry 47

case 27

catch 38

cause 25

cent 118

certain 20

certainly 71

chair 36

chance 39

change 86

charge 29

cheap 22

cheese 11

chicken 25

child 160

chop 11

city... 77

class 74

clean 117

clear 60

clock 10

close 129

cloth 18

clothe 70

coat 46

coffee 24

cold 167

color 26

comfort 16

comfortable 14

common 15

company 69

compare 13

concern 11

condition 21

continue 11

cook 36

cool 41

copy 19

com 15

cost 78

count 24

country 36

couple 37

cover 85

III

i64 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II III

crazy 29

cross 27 2

cup 12 2

cure 13 2

cut 81 2

dance 38 2

dark 36 2

date 24 2

daughter 12 3

dead 24 3

deal 63 2

death 27 2

decide 65 3

degree 11 2

die 27 3

difference 19 2

different 45 2

dinner 182 2

direct . 13 2

disappoint 34 3

dish 31 2

divide 9 3

doctor 152 3

dollar 37 2

door 63 2

doubt 22 3

dress 174 2

drive 39 2

drop 31 2

dry. 33 2

during 47 1

dust 29 2

duty 24 3

each 93 3

early 65 3

earth 10 2

eat 126 2

effect . 13 2

eight 66 3

either 62 2

electric 10 2

eleven 31 3

else 67 3

enclose 30 2

end 67 2

enjoy 107 2

equal 14 3

especially 87 1

WORD LISTS 165

I II III IV V VI

everybody 37

everything 105

examination 26

except 78

excuse 15

expect 147

expense 19

experience 13

express 20

extra 33

eye 66

face 68

fact 40

fail 23

fair 35

fall 68

family 84

fast 35

fat 15

father 87

fear 20

fellow 63

fifteen 40

fifty 30

fight 16

fill 38

fine 170

finish 150

fire 61

fit 33

five 161

fix 47

flat 21

floor 42

folk 167

follow 28

foot 68

forenoon 123

forget 75

fourth 16

free 27

front 37

full 51

fun 28

funny 31

further 22

game 64

gate 13

III

i66 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II III IV V VI

gather 12

general 11

girl 410

glass 26

grade 24

grand 22

great 168

green 29

grind 33

grip 13

grow 38

hair 46

half 120

hall 24

hand 90

hang 43

happen 45

happy 92

hard 186

hardly 65

hat 45

hate 18

head 74

health 13

heart 51

heat 27

heavy 38

herself 36

high 101

himself 28

hold 72

hole 17

horse 21

hot 81

hotel 52

however 37

hurry 36

hurt 60

idea 28

imagine 62

impossible 17

improve 17

inside 16

insist 17

instead 50

intend 44

interest 68

into 125

III

.WORD . LISTS 167

I II III IV V VI

invite 64 2

iron 71 3

job 60

join 13 1

Idd 47 1

kill 13 3

kind 100 2

kiss 84 2

kitchen 38 2

lady 65 2

land 23 2

large 65 2

lately 10

learn 56 3

lesson 17 2

library 11 3

life 70 3

light 52 3

line 82 2

listen 11 3

lose 52 2

lot 162 1

love 626 3

lovely 47 1

low 32 2

lunch 43 2

machine 15 3

mail 105 3

manage 23 3

matter 56 2

may 288 3

maybe 64

meal 23 3

mean 106 3

meet 173 3

mention 33 3

mighty 21 1

mile 65 2

mind 83 1

minute 79 3

miss 45 2

moment 16 2

money 98 3

month 124 2

mother 275 2

move 78 2

music 22 3

myself 80 1

III

II
III

III
II

III

i68 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

name 52

nature 10

near 54

nearly 38

necessary 32

neck 48

neither 12

nerve 11

nine 58

noise 11

none 33

noon 76

north 132

note 36

notice 22

number 55

o'clock 162

offer 27

office 72

often 70

oh 54

once 96

open 55

order 63

otherwise 16

our 401

ourselves 26

outside , . . 12

owe 22

pa 137

pack 80

package 20

paint 9

paper 105

park 82

parlor 30

party 47

pass 60

past 53

pen 17

per 38

perhaps 110

person 34

piano 18

pick 17

picture 95

pie 30

piece 62

III

, AC

III

WORD LISTS

169

I II

pUlow 28

pin 18

plan 70

play 172

pleasant 61

please 89

plenty 21

point 18

poor 84

porch 27

possible 48

post 29

postscript 57

potato 33

power 8

prepare 18

present 60

price 43

probably 85

professor 13

promise 33

pull 30

quarter 25

question 62

quick 17

quiet 26

quit 36

rain 104

raise 22

rather 101

reach 64

ready 100

real 69

realize 28

really 79

reason 46

receive 148

red 39

regard 38

remain 19

remember 98

rent 62

report 18

request 9

return 72

rich 14

ride 84

III

IV V VI

II IV

II IV c

II I

II II

III I

II I

II II

II I

II II

III I

II I

III I

II I

II II

II I

II II

II I

II II

III I

I I

II I

: c

III

; AC

II I

I I

II I

III I

II I

II II

II I

III

[ AC

II I

[ C

III I

[ A

III I

i A

III I

II 11

[ C

lyo THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II III IV V VI

ring 16

road 16

rock 26

roll 14

roof 13

room 240

safe 13

satisfy 29

save 46

scare 10

school 231

seat 34

second 47

seem 274

select 9

sell 29

send 385

serve 30

service 45

set 38

settle 39

seventy 22

sew 69

shall 612

shop 31

short 91

sick 132

side 90

sight 24

sign . . i 18

silk 15

since 185

sister 123

sit 95

sixty 28

size 28

skirt 46

sleep 104

small 76

smoke 34

snow 23

something 164

sometime 71

son 12

sore 33

sorry 92

sort 32

sound 24

III

WORD LISTS

171

I II

south 30

speak 76

special 18

spell 29

spoil 14

spot 12

spring 44

stair 71

stand 83

state 25

stay 215

step 30

stick 18

still 105

stock 34

stop 124

store 47

^tory 42

stove 33

street 181

strike 24

strong 43

student 16

study 41

stuff 29

style 18

success 16

suggest 9

suit 91

summer 79

sun 24

supper 94

surprise 39

sweet » 40

table 39

taste 15

teach 37

teacher 90

ten 107

terrible 52

thank 31

thick 11

thin 21

third 65

thirty 39

thoroughly 11

throw 24

ticket 37

III I

V V VI

2 I

I II c

3 I

I I AC

2 I]

I II A

2 ]

1 I]

I II C

2 I]

2 ]

I II C

3 ]

I III C

2 ]

I II AC

2 ]

I II A

2 ]

I III C

I II AC

2 ]

I II C

I II AC

2 ]

I II C

2 ]

I II C

2 ]

I n AC

2 ]

I II C

2 ]

I II C

2 J]

3 ]

I II A

2 I]

3 ]

3 I]

I II AC

2 I]

I II A

I II C

3 ]

I II AC

1 ]

I III

2 ]

I I A

3 ]

I III C

2 ]

I II AC

2 ]

I II C

3 I]

2 I]

I II AC

2 1

I I C

3 ]

I II A

2 ]

I III A

2 U

I II C

3 ]

I IV C

2 1

2 ]

I II C

1 I]

3 ]

I II C

3 II

I II A

172 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II III

tight 16 2

tifi 103 2

tire 112 2

together 73 3

tomorrow 170 2

top 21 1

treat 20 2

tree 36 2

trip 100 X

trouble 93 3

trunk 39 2

turn 69 2

twelve 29 3

twenty 105 3

twice 34 3

uncle 72 3

under 42 2

understand 47 2

university 31 2

unless 57 2

until 240 3

upon 22 2

usual 38 3

vacation 10 3

waist 52 3

wait 113 3

walk 108 3

wall 23 2

warm 71 2

wash 117 2

waste 14 3

watch 19 3

water 54 3

wear 112 3

weather 77 3

west 35 2

whatever 24 2

whether 102 2

white 67 2

who 208 1

whole 54 3

why 80 2

wife 45 3

win 22 3

wind 28 2

window 35 3

winter 72 2

WORD LISTS

173

I II III IV

without 104 2 II

woman 50 3 I

wonder 96 3 II

wonderful 28 2 IH

word 74 2 II

work 357 -2 II

world 28 2 III

worry 52 3 II

worth 40 2 II

wrong 27 3 III

yard 30 2 III

yellow 11 3 II

yes 56 1 II

young 104 3 II

yourself 21 1 III

AC
AC

A
C
C
C
A

LIST III

2207 WORDS WORDS USED BY LESS THAN A MA-
JORITY OF THE CORRESPONDENTS
I II III IV V VI

absence 5 3 III III A

absent 4 3 II

absolutely 7 IV II

academy 3 3 IV IV

accent 3 2 III IV

accommodation 6 1 III ,

accompany 7 3 III III

accomplish 15 2 III III

accord 6 2 III III

accuse 2 3 IV IV

accustom 2 2 III

ache 28 3 II IV

acid 3 3 III

acknowledge 3 3 IV IV

acquaint 8 2 III III

acquaintance 4 3 III IV

acquire 3 3 III IV

acre 5 3 IV III

action 10 2 IV III

active 2 2 IV IV

actually 5 I III II

acute 3 2 III

addition 4 3 III III

additional 4 1 IV III

adjoin 2 1 III

•X.

174 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

adjourn 2

administration 3

admire 6

admission 2

admit 7

adopt 6

advance 7

advertise 4

advice 4

advise 7

affair 17

affect 3

affectionate 4

affectionately 17

afford 12

afire 2

agency 6

agent 13

aggravate 6

agree 15

agreeable 6

aid 6

ail 3

aim 4

aisle -2

alarm 4

album 2

alcohol 3

algebra 4

alike 4

alive 7

alley 2

aloud 6

alphabet 2

altar 2

alter 5

alteration 2

although 61

altitude 5

altogether 6

amateur 2

ambition 5

amuse 4

anesthetic 2

angel 3

anpy 6

animal 7

ankle 5

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 175

I 11 III IV V VI

anniversary 4

announce 3

announcement 3

annually 2

anybody 12

anyhow 20

anywhere 6

apart 8

apartment 12

apiece 9

apparatus 6

appeal 4

appear 9

appearance 2

appetite 6

apple 24

application 6

apply 4

appoint 4

appointment 3

appreciative 2

approach 4

appropriate 4

approve 7

approximately 3

apron 15

apt 2

area 2

argue 4

argument 6

arm 67

arrange 12

arrangement 10

arrival 6

art 6

article 7

artificially 2

ashamed 5

aside 6

assembly 3

assist 5

assistant 4

associate 4

association 9

assume 2

assufe 11

attack 6

attendance 6

III

176 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

attention 8

attentive 2

attic 6

attorney 3

attraction 5

auction 2

autobiography 2

average 7

aviary 2

avoid 5

await 7

awake 12

awaken 3

awhile 16

bachelor 7

backward 6

bacon 8

bag 11

baggage 6

bake 44

balance 7

bald 3

baU 29

banana 2

band 11

banquet 19

bar 2

bare 10

barely 5

barn 13

barrel 6

barrier 2

base 16

baseball 10

basement 3

bat 8

bathe 8

bathroom 14

bawl 2

bay 8

beach 10

bead 5

bean 18

bear 20

beautifully 7

beauty 5

bedroom 16

bedtime 3

III

WORD

LIST

177

III

bee

III

beef

III

beer

III

beforehand

III

beg

behave

III

behind

III

behold

bell

III

below

III

bend

III

berry

III

berth

III

bet

betimes

III

beyond

III

bicycle

bid

III

bind

III

bird

III

birth

III

biscuit

III

blank

blanket

III

blaze

III

bleed

III

bless

III

blind

III

blister

III

bloody

bloom

III

blossom

III

blot

III

blouse

III

bluff

III

blush

III

boarder

III

boat

III

boil

bone

III

bonnet

III

bookcase

III

border

borrow

III

boss

178 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II III IV V VI

bother 17 1 II IV

bow 6 3 III IV

bowel 11 III

bowl 3 3 III

brace 2 2 IV IV

braid 6 3 III

brain 5 3 III II

branch 2 2 IV IV

brand 2 2 IV IV

breast 2 2 III

breath 3 3 III IV

breathe 11 3 III III

brick 9 2 III III C

bride 2 1 III

bridge 10 2 III III C

bright 15 3 III III

brightly 2 1 IV IV

brilliant 2 3 IV IV

brisk 2 1 III

broach 2 1 IV IV

bronchitis 6 2 III

bruise 3 3 III IV

brush 8 2 III IV

bug 3 1 III IV

buggy 4 2 IV III

bugle 2 1 III

bull 3 2 IV IV

bum 6 III IV

bump 2 1 III

bunch 14 2 III III

bundle 7 2 III IV C

bungalow 7 III IV

burden 4 2 III III

burial 4 2 III

burner 6 III

burst 2 2 III

bury 7 2 III

bus 11 III III

bush 3 2 III

bushel 9 3 II C

bust 2 III

button 19 2 III C

cab 4 1 IV IV

cabbage 7 3 III

cabin 4 3 III IV

cafeteria 14 III IV

calculation 2 1 IV IV

calendar 2 3 IV IV

I II

caller 8

camel 2

camera 3

camp 10

camphor 3

cancer 2

candidate 5

candy 19

canoe 5

canon 6

canvas 2

cap 11

capacity 6

cape 4

capital 2

capitol 10

captain 4

carbon 4

carefully 4

careless ^. 2

carelessness 3

carnation 3

carpenter 3

carpet 4

carriage 7

cartoon 2

cash 7

casserole 7

cast 3

cat 4

catalogue 3

catarrh 4

cave 6

ceiling 4

celebrate 2

celebration 2

cellar 12

cement 4

cemetery 4

center 7

central 2

chain 4

chairman 2

channel 4

chapel 24

chaperon 12

chapter 2

character 4

IS'l

179

III

III
III

III

i8o THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLLNG

I II

charity 3

charm 7

chase 6

Chautauqua 17

cheaply 2

check 14

cheek 10

cheerful. 8

chest.... ^ 2

chief 2

childhood 4

childish 2

chill 7

chilly 5

chimney 2

china 4

chip 2

chocolate 3

choice 9

choir 18

choke 2

choose 6

chore 9

cigar 3

circle 6

circular 4

circumstance 6

circus 10

cistern 12

citizen 2

civil 4

claim 6

classical 2

clause 2

clerk 6

climate 10

climb 6

clip 15

closely 2

closet 20

cloud 6

cloudy 9

club 16

coach 8

coal 17

coast..... 10

coll^ 11

collect 6

III

WORD LISTS i8i

I II III IV V VI

collection 7

college 36

comb 11

combination 2

combine 3

comedy 3

comfortably 6

commence 8

commencement 10

comment 4

commission 3

committee 4 3 III IV AC

communication 4

companion 3

comparison 2

complain 8

complete 9

completely 4

compliment 4

concert 4

conclude 9

conduct 10

conductor 3

confess 4

confidential 6

confine 3

congenial 3

congress 2

connect 6

connection 13

consent 6

consequence 4

consequently 4

consider 10

considerable 13

considerably 8

consideration 3

consist 6

conspicuous 2

constant 3

constantly 6

construct 2

consult 2

consumption 5

contain 8

contemplate 2

contend 2

content 14

III

Itt

III

i82 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II III IV V VI

contest 16 2 IV IV

continually 6 1 III III

contract 13 2 III II

contrary 2 2 IV IV

contrast 2 2 IV IV

contribution 3 2 III

control 4 3 IV II

convenient 3 2 III IV A

convention 8 2 II

conversation 6 2 III II

convert 2 2 IV IV

convey 2 3 IV IV

conveyance ■"> 2 IV IV

convince 5 2 IV II

cooky 8 1 III

corner 13 3 III III C

corporation 2 2 III

correct 12 3 III III

corset 5 1 III

cottage 5 3 III

cotton 7 3 III C

couch 13 3 III III

cough 28 3 III

counter 4 2 IV IV

county 15 1 IV II

courage 3 3 IV IV C

court 17 3 III III

cousin 36 3 III III C

cow 4 2 IV III

cozy 2 3 III

crack 4 2 III

cracker 5 2 III

cramp 6 1 III IV

cranberry 2 2 III

crawl 2 2 IV IV

cream 22 3 II IV

create 2 2 III

creature 2 3 IV IV

credit 7 2 III III

crestfallen 2 IV IV

critical 4 2 III III

criticize 4 2 IV III

crochet 2 2 III

crocodile 3 1 IV IV

crop 8 2 III III

crow 2 2 III

crowd 18 3 III II

crown 3 2 III IV

WORD LISTS 183

I II III IV V VI

cruel 2 3 IV IV C

crutch 6 2 III IV

cry 60 2 III IV

cucumber 2 3 III

cuff 3 1 III

cultivate 5 2 III

culture 3 2 III IV

cupboard 8 3 III IV

curly 6 IV IV

currant 2 3 III

curtain 20 3 III IV

cushion 6 3 III IV

custard 13 3 III

custom 7 3 IV III C

customary 2 2 III

cute 13 1 III IV

daddy 20 III

daily 13 3 III II C

dainty 2 3 III

dairy 5 3 III IV

damage 6 3 III IV

damp 2 2 III C

dancer 2 IV IV

dandy 5 1 III III

danger 9 3 IV II C

dangerous 3 IV III

dare 10 2 III III C

darkness 3 2 IV III

darling 42 1 III IV

darn 6 2 III IV

daytime 3 IV IV

dean 3 1 III

debate 18 2 IV III

debt 4 3 IV III ^

deceitful 2 1 IV IV

decent 6 2 III IV

decision 5 2 III III

deck 3 2 III IV

declamation 4 1 IV IV

declare 2 2 III

decline 4 1 IV IV

decorate 3 3 IV IV

decoration 3 1 III IV

deed 2 2 III

deep 10 2 III II C

deer 2 2 III

defeat 6 1 II C

definite 2 1 III

'Tn

184 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

definitely 6

delay 11

delight 9

delightful 10

delightfully 2

deliver 8

delivery 7

demonstrate 3

dentist 21

deny 5

depart 2

department 4

depend 5

deposit 5

depot 34

deprive 2

descend 3

describe 5

description 3

descriptive 2

desert 6

deserve 5

design 2

desirable 2

desire 13

desk 8

desperately 2

despondent 2

dessert 3

destination 2

destitute 2

destroy 2

detail 6

detain 3

determine 11

develop 2

development 2

devil 8

diamond 2

dictionary 4

diet 2

difficulty 2

dig 6

dine 17

diner 5

diploma 2

direction 10

directly 6

III

V VI

III

III
III

III

IV A

III

IV c

III

II AC

III

III A

WORD LISTS i8s

I II III IV V VI

dirt 16

dirty 31

disagreeable 8

disappear 2

disappointment 4

disaster 4

discharge 2

discord 2

discourage 7

discover 3

discuss 3

discussion 2

disease 7

disgrace 2

disgust 4

disjoint 2

dislike 3

dismal 2

dismiss 7

dismissal 5

display 2

dispose 4

disposition 2

dispute 2

distance 15

distant 5

district 11

disturb 3

ditch 5

diversion 2

dividend 4

division 2

dizzy 3

dog 9

doll 11

dome 2

domestic 4

donation 2

dose 4

double 7

doubtless 5

dozen 25

draft 26

drag 3

draw 17

drawer 24

drayage 2

dread 7

III

IV .

Ill

III

III
III

III

1 86 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

dreadful 7

dreadfully 4

dream 20

dresser 4

dressmaker 3

drift 4

drink 16

driver 6

drown 3

drug 2

due 9

duet 2

dull 4

dusty 3

dwell 2

ear 10

earn 8

earnest 9

ease 2

ea^ly 14

east 24

eastern 6

easy 19

economical 3

economize 3

edge 4

edition 2

educate 4

education 12

effort 16

egg 25

eighteen 18

eighth 3

eighty 11

elaborate 3

elbow 6

elect 18

election 7

elope 2

elsewhere 3

embroider 3

embroidery 4

emergency 2

employ 8

employee 11

employer 2

employment 5

empty 4

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 187

I II ni rv V VI

enable 2

encourage 3

encouragement 3

engage 8

engine 11

engineer 10

enjoyable 6

enlarge 2

enroll 3

enrollment 2

enter 10

entertain 11

enthusiasm 2

entire 8

entirely 22

entitle 3

envelop 19

envy 4

epistle 3

equally 3

erect 2

errand , 9

error 4

escape 4

escort 2

especial 2

essential 2

establish 5

estimate 3

eve 18

event 6

eventually 2

everlasting 2

everywhere 5

evil 2

exact 6

exactly 8

examine 7

exceed 4

excellent 9

exceptionally 2

exchange 2

excitement 6

excursion 12

exercise 25

exhaust 3

exhibit 3

exhibition , 2

III

i88 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

-i?i-

I II

expectation 4

expensive 12

expire 2

explain 16

exposition 2

exposure 2

expression 2

extend 4

extent 3

extreme 3

factory 20

faculty 14

fade 6

failure 3

faint 2

fairly 12

faith 8

faithful 3

false 2

familiar 2

famous 2

fancy 9

fare 20

farm 15

farmer 5

fascinate 2

fashion 7

fasten 5

fault 17

favor 8

favorable 4

favorably 2

favorite 3

fearful 7

feast 2

feat 3

feather 5

feature 3

fee 4

feed 10

fellowship 2

fence 8

ferry 6

fever 29

field 7

fierce 8

fifth 5

fig 2

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 189

I II

figure 15

file 6

fin 2

final 6

finally 23

finance 4

financial 4

finger 9

firecracker 3

fireman 3

firm 2

fish 12

flannel 3

flavor 2

flight 3

flour 3

flower 14

fly 24

foggy 6

fold 4

foliage 4

fond 5

food 16

fool 16

foolish 20

football 36

force 6

foreign 4

forever 6

forgive 4

fork 2

form 12

formal 4

fort 2

fortunate 9

fortune 5

forty 28

forward 21

foundation 8

fourteen 7

frame 12

frank 4

fraternity 3

freak 2

freeze 6

freight 9

frequent 2

frequently 6

[II

III

III
III

III

I90 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

-"I II ni IV V VI

fresh 16 2 III III C

freshman 6 1 III IV

friendly 6 1 III III

friendship 2 2 III

frighten 2 2 IV IV

frost 9 2 III IV

fruit 26 3 III III C

fry 12 1 III IV

fudge 15 1 IV IV

fully 8 III III A

function 2 2 IV IV

fund 2 1 IV IV

funeral 9 2 III IV

fur 7 3 III

furnace 4 2 III IV C

furnish 18 1 III II

furniture 8 3 III

fuss 4 1 III

future 10 2 III II C

gain 8 3 III III

gallery 8 2 III

gang 2 1 IV IV

garden 4 2 III III C

garment 4 2 IV IV

gas 6 2 III C

gasoline 7 2 III

gasp 2 1 III

gay 6 1 III IV

gem 9 2 III

generally 7 1 III IV

generous 2 2 III

gentle 3 3 IV IV

gentleman 6 2 III III A

genuine 3 3 IV IV

geography 5 3 II

geometry 16 1 IV III

lift 8 2 III III

giggle 2 1 III

illnce 3 2 IV IV

gloomy 8 III IV

glorious 3 2 III

glory 2 2 IV IV

glove 6 2 III

glue 3 3 III IV

gold 11 2 IV III AC

golden 7 2 IV III

goodby 69 II IV

goodness 7 X II IV G

WORD LISTS

I II

goodnight 38

goody 3

goose 5

gorge 6

gosfjel 3

govern 2

government 3

gown 17

grab 3

gradually 2

graduate 5

grain 4

grandma 29

grandmother 3

grandpa 14

grandparent 2

grant 3

grape 13

grass 18

grate 7

grave 6

gravy 5

gray 20

grease 2

greatly 12

greet 4

griddle 3

grin 2

grocer 2

grocery 11

groom 2

grove 2

guard 5

guest 8

guide 11

guild 4

guilty 3

gum 2

gun 4

guy 4

gymnasium 6

gymnastic 2

ha 14

habit 10

ham 2

handkerchief 14

handle 6

handy 4

ISi

191

[II

III

III
III

III

III
III

192 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

happily 4

happiness 5

hardship 2

harm 2

harmony 5

harness 2

harvest 3

hash 3

haste 4

hasten 2

haul 4 ^

hay 6

headache » . . 24

heal 3

healthy 5

heap 4

heartfelt 2

hearty 3

heaven 4

heavily 6

heel 3

height 5

hello 6

helper 3

helpful 4

hen 5

hence 5

herald 2

hereafter 3

hesitate 3

hide 10

highly 5

hike 3

hill 12

hilly 3

hinge 2

hint 2

hire 14

history 18

hoarse 3

hog 6

holder 2

holiday 19

hollow 2

holy . 3

homelike 3

homely 4

III

III
III

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 193

I II

homesick 8

honest 10

honestly 2

honey 3

honor 3

hood 2

hook 5

hop 2

hopeful 3

horn 5

horrible 7

horrid 3

horseback 3

hose 3

hospitable 2

hospital 16

household 7

housekeeper 4

housekeeping 6

housework 3

hug 31

huge 2

human 6

humble 3

hundred 17

hungry 8

hunt 12

husband 25

hustle 10

hymn 6

hysterics 4

ice 20

icy 2

ideal 2

identify 2

ignoramus 4

ill 8

illness 7

imitate 3

immediately 7

immense 4

immensely 6

impatient 2

importance 6

important 6

impose 4

impress 6

impression 5

III

III
III

III

194 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I ir-

impressive 2

improvement 4

inaugurate 3

inch 9

incidentally 5

include 18

inconvenience 4

increase 11

indeed 12

indefinitely 2

indescribable 2

indigestion 2

indigo 2

individual 5

industrious 4

industry 2

influence 9

inform 7

informal 3

information 4

injure 2

injury 4

ink 5

innocent 2

inquire 10

inspect 2

inspiration 2

install 2

instance 6

instant 2

institute 21

instruct 2

insult 2

insurance 16

insure 4

intention 2

intermission 2

interrupt 5

interruption 5

intimate 5

introduce 3

introduction 3

intrude 3

invalid 3

investment 2

invitation 14

iris 2

itch 2

III

II
III

III

III.

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 195

I II III IV V VI

item 6 2 III IV

itself 4 1 III III

jam 2 2 III

janitor 17 3 III III

jar 2 1 IV IV

jaw 10 1 IV IV

jealous 13 3 III IV

jelly 14 3 II

jewel 2 3 III C

joke 8 2 III III

jolly 4 3 III IV

journey 9 3 III III

joy 2 2 IV IV C

judge 17 3 III IV C

judgment 9 3 III III C

juice 6 3 III C

jump 11 2 II IV

junior 12 3 III II

junk 2 1 IV IV

justice 6 2 IV III

justify 3 2 IV III

key 5 2 III IV

kick 4 3 IV IV

kidney 4 1 III

kimono 5 1 III IV

kindly 7 1 II A

kindergarten 6 1 IV III

kindness 3 III IV AC

king 4 2 III IV

kitten 3 2 III

knee 11 3 III IV

knife 3 3 III C

knock 8 3 III III

knowledge 4 3 IV IV C

kodak 4 2 IV IV

labor 8 3 III III A

lace 18 2 III III

lack 12 2 III II

lake 23 2 III III

lame 7 1 III

lamp 4 2 III IV

landlady 6 III III

language 2 3 IV IV

lantern 3 3 IV IV

lap 16 2 III IV

lard 4 1 III

largely 2 IV IV

laugh 75 3 III IV C

196 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

III

launch

2
3

III
III

launder

laundry

III

law

lawn

III

lawyer

III

lay

III

layer

III

lazy

III

lead

III

leader

III

leaf

III

league

lean

III

lease

III

leather

III

lecture

III

leg

III

legging

III

legislature

III

lemon

III

lemonade

III

length

III

lens

III

level

III

lie

III

lien

lift

III

lighten

III

likely

lily

limb

III

limit

3
2

III
III

III

limp

linen

III

lip

III

liquor

2
2

III
III

III

list ,

literary

literature

lively

III

liver

III

load

III

loaf

loan

III

local

III

locate ,

III

location

III

WORD LISTS 197

I II

lock 11

lodge 4

logic 8

lonely 8

lonesome 14

loop 3

loose 5

loss 8

loud 2

lovable 3

lover '. 7

lovingly 12

luck 5

lumber 2

lump 2

luncheon 7

lung 16

luxury 6

ma 97

mad 30

madam 3

magazine 9

maid 5

niain 8

majesty 2

majority 6

male 3

mama 176

manager 2

manly 3

manner 10

manufacture 4

marble 3

march 2

mark 10

marriage 2

marry 81

mash 2

mason 4

masonic 3

mass 3

master 7

mat 6

match 6

mathematics 2

matron 7

mattress 7

meantime 2

[II

III

III
III

198 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

measure 8

meat 19

medical 3

medicine 24

melt 8

member 29

memorial 4

memory 7

mend 38

mercy 3

merely 6

merry 6

mess 7

message 3

method 4

mid 19

middle 20

mild 2

milk 14

million 4

mince 4

miner 3

minimum 2

minister 20

minus 2

miserable 7

mislead 2

missionary 6

misspell 2

mistake 22

misunderstand 4

mitten 6

mix 11

mixture 3

mob 3

mock 2

modern 6

mohair 2

monkey 2

monthly 6

moon 4

moonlight 2

moose 2

mop 4

moral 2

mortgage 2

mostly 6

moth 3

[II

III

WORD LISTS 199

I II III IV V VI

motion 6 3 III IV

motor 7 3 IV IV

mountain 25 3 III IV C

mouse 5 2 III C

mouth 17 2 III IV

movement 3 1 III IV

mud 10 1 III II

murder 3 2 IV IV C

muscle 3 3 III IV

muscular 3 2 III

museum 10 3 III

musical 8 1 III III

muslin 4 3 III IV

muss 3 1 III

mutilate 3 2 III

mystery 2 2 III

nail 4 2 III IV C

nap 22 1 III

napkin 4 3 III

narrow 7 2 III III C

national 9 3 III III

native 2 2 IV IV

natural 10 3 III III

naturally 7 1 II

naughty 4 3 III

navy 2 1 IV IV

nearby 18 III

neat 4 1 III C

necessity 2 3 IV IV

necktie 3 1 IV IV

neglect 2 2 IV IV

negro 3 2 IV IV

neighbor 17 3 II IV

neighborhood .2 1 III

neighborly 2 III

nephew 2 3 IV IV

nervous 11 2 II IV

newspaper 17 2 III IV C

nicely 19 III III

nightgown 6 III

nineteen "8 3 III IV

ninety 13 2 III IV C

ninth 7 1 III IV

nod 3 III IV

noisy 5 III

nonsense 3 2 IV IV

nor 18 1 III III

normal 10 1 III III

{v\i)N'\^^'^

200 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

III IV V VI

^S^^^ / ^ noticeaJb^ W : . ^. ... 2 III

OGjify, ;-rv: 2 3 III

notion 6 2 III III

notwithstanding 3 III

nurse 6 3 II C

nut 4 2 IV IV C

oatmeal 3 1 IV IV C

object 12 2 III IV

objection 4 3 III IV

obligate 6 1 IV IV

oblige 4 3 III AC

observation 8 1 IV III

observe 5 2 III III

occasion 7 3 IV III

occasionally 4 1 III III

occupant 3 2 III

occupy 11 3 III II

occur 8 3 III

ocean 7 3 III III C

odd 7 2 III IV

offend 4 2 II C

officer 4 3 III III

official 6 1 IV IV

oil 17 3 III IV C

oUve 3 2 III IV

omit 2 3 IV IV

onto 6 III

opera 6 3 IV II

operation 8 1 III III

opinion 4 3 IV III

opportune 2 2 IV IV

opportunity 15 3 III II

opp>ose 5 2 III

opposite 5 3 III III

opposition 4 2 IV IV

orange 19 2 II IV C

orchard 6 3 III IV

ordinary 3 3 IV IV

organ 7 3 IV III

organize 4 2 IV IV

original 2 3 IV IV

outcome 4 1 IV IV

outfit 3 IV III

outlook 2 IV IV

outrage 3 1 III

oven 4 3 III

overalls 6 1 III IV

WORD LISTS 20I

I II III IV V VI

overcoat 5 1 IV III

overdo 5 III

overflow 2 1 III

overhaul 2 III

overlook 5 1 III III

overturn 2 IV IV

oyster 4 3 III

pad 3 1 III

paddle 2 3 III

page 6 2 III IV

pail 7 3 III

pain 22 3 III III C

pair 30 2 III IV A

pale 2 3 III

palm 2 3 IV IV

pan 13 2 II IV

pancake 5 IV IV

panel 2 2 IV IV A

pant 7 1 IV IV

pantry 4 3 IV IV

papa 66 1 III III

parade 4 3 III IV

parcel 4 3 III

pardon 2 3 IV IV

parent 4 3 IV III C

partially 3 III IV

particular 14 2 III II AC

particularly 14 1 III II

partly 7 1 III IV C

passenger 8 3 III IV

patch 3 3 III

patent 2 1 IV IV

path 3 2 IV IV

patience 2 3 IV IV

patient 7 3 III IV

patron 2 2 IV IV

patronize 6 1 III III

pattern 22 3 III

pave 5 1 III IV

pavement 2 3 III

payable 2 2 IV IV

payment 6 2 IV IV

pea 2 2 III

peace 6 3 III II C

peaceful 2 IV IV

peach 9 3 III IV C

peak 3 3 IV IV

peanut 2 3 III

202 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

pear 4

peck 6

peculiar 3

peep 2

peer 2

peg 2

pencil 5

penny 6

pepper 2

perfect 15

perfectly 28

perform 2

performance 4

period 6

peritonitis 2

permanent 3

permission 9

permit 7

persimmon 2

personal 3

personality 3

personally. 4

persuade 6

pet 2

petition 2

philosophy 2

phone 20

photo 3

photographer 2

physic 3

physical 6

physically 2

physiology 3

pickle 8

picnic 11

picturesque 2

pig 2

pile 11

pink 27

pint 4

pipe 6

pitch 2

pitcher 2

pity 6

plaid 3

plain 14

plainly 6

plait 7

III

II
III

III

WORD LISTS 203

I II

plant 13

plaster 6

plate 10

platform 2

player 4

pleasantly 3

pleasure 29

pledge 2

plum 11

plush 3

pocket 10

pocketbook 4

poem 2

poetry 11

poison 6

policy 8

polish 3

p>olitical 4

pond 3

poorly 7

popular 8

population 2

pork 7

porter 6

portifire 2

portion 3

pose 2

position 8

positively 4

possibility 4

possibly 17

postage 6

postal 22

poster 2

postman 3

postpone 4

pound 27

pour 3

practically 8

practise 27

prairie 2

pray 3

prayer 16

preach 14

preacher 9

precinct 2

precious 3

prefer 9

[II

III

204 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

prejudice 2

preliminary 6

preparation 6

preparatory 3

prescription 3

presence 3

preserve 4

preside 4

president 11

presidential 2

press 15

presumably 2

presume 12

pretend 4

prevent 7

previous 5

previously 2

pride 6

primary 7

principal 9

print 4

private 10

privilege 6

prize 14

probable 5

problem 8

proceed 3

prod 2

produce 3

professional 2

profit 2

program 18

progressive 3

promenade 5

promptly 2

pronounce 3

proper 9

properly 5

property 4

propitious 2

proportion 2

propose 2

proposition 8

prospect 4

protect 2

proud 14

prove 13

provide 6

III

V VI

III

II A

III

III
III

III c

III

IV AC

III

II AC

III

IV c

III

WORD LISTS 305

I II

provoke 2

public 11

publish 2

pudding 14

puff 4

pug 2

pullman 10

pulse 6

pump 9

pumpkin 2

punish 2

pupil 18

purchase 6

pure 4

purpose 4

push 2

puzzle 4

quarrel 9

quart 19

quartet 4

queen 6

queer 7

quest 2

quickly 3

quietly 5

quilt 6

quinine 3

race 5

rack 7

radiator 2

rag 13

rail 4

railroad 7

railway 2

rainy 16

raisin 3

rake 5

rally 3

ranch 7

range 11

rapid 4

rapidly 8

rate 17

ravine 2

raw ; 2

razor d

readiness 3

rear 2

[II

III

2o6 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

reasonable 8

receipt 8

recent 2

recently 8

reception 8

recess 7

recital 2

recognize 3

recollect 2

recommend 3

recommendation 4

record 7

recover 6

reduce 4

refer 6

reference 6

reBt 2

refreshment 6

refund 2

refuse 8

regain 2

regret 4

regular 26

regularly 7

rejoice 2

relate 4

relation 6

relative 6

release 2

relief 5

relieve 19

religious 4

relish 2

remainder 2

remark 7

remedy 5

remembrance 3

remind 9

remodel 3

remove 6

renew 2

renter 2

repair 6

repay 3

repeat 4

repetition 2

reply 14

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 207

I II

represent 6

representative 3

republican 3

require 6

reset 4

residence 6

resident 2

resign 11

resort 2

respect 12

respectable 4

tesponsibility 7

Restaurant 17

restful 2

restless 7

result 12

retire 5

reunion 9

reverend 5

reverse 4

review 6

rheumatic 5

rheumatism 19

ribbon 9

rice 5

rid 4

rig 3

rip 6

rise 11

river 12

roar 6

roast 6

rob 3

rocky 2

roller 2

roomer 3

root 3

rope 4

rose 6

rosy 2

rough 12

round 20

route 8

row 12

royal 7

rub 13

rubber 6

ruffle 7

[II

III

III
III

III

2o8 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I IT

rug 21

ruin 2

rule 9

runner 6

rush 13

sack 2

sacred 2

sacrifice 2

sad 7

sadly 2

safely 8

sail 17

sailor 4

saint 2

sake 11

salad 9

salary 14

sale 9

salesman 3

salt 17

sample 4

sand 3

sandwich 4

sanitary 4

sarcastic 2

sash 3

satin 7

satisfaction 6

satisfactory 11

sauce 12

saucer 4

scale 3

scalp 3

scant 2

scar 3

scarce 3

scarcely 14

scarlet 3

scatter 3

scenery 9

schedule 4

scholar 9

scholarship 2

science 7

scissors 3

scold 9

scorch 2

scorcher 2

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 209

I II

score 12

scout 4

scramble 3

scrap 6

scrape 2

scraper 2

scratch 2

scream 4

screen 4

scribble : 3

scrub 10

sea 15

seal 6

search 2

season 23

secret 6

secretary 4

section 11

secure 12

seed 2

seek 3

seldom 7

self 6

senior 9

sense 9

sentence 3

separate 8

6ef)arateiy 5

serious 13

sermon 17

session 4

seventeen 6

seventh 2

severe 6

shade 21

shadow 6

shake 14

shamefully 2

shape 23

share 7

sharp 8

shave 4

shed 2

sheet 19

shelf 3

shell.... 2

shine 13

ship 12

III

2IO THE CHILD AND * HIS SPELLING

I II

shirt 34

shock 8

shoe 32

shoot 5

shore 7

shortly 10

shoulder 12

shout 2

shove 3

shower -12

shrink 2

shudder 2

shut 4

sickness 10

sideboard 2

sidewalk 3

sightseeing 10

signature 2

silent 2

silly 17

silver 12

silverware 2

similar 6

simple 6

simply 11

sin 2

sing 31

single 10

sink 6

sir 10

sirup 7

situate 5

sixteen 13

sixth 2

skate 4

skim 3

skimp 2

skin 11

skip 2

sky 3

slap 3

slave 2

sleeper 5

sleepy 16

sleet 2

sleeve 24

sleigh 7

hlice Q

[II

III

III
III

III

III
III

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 211

T II III IV V VI

slick 3

slide 7

slight 7

slightly 2

sling 2

slip 15

slipper 12

slow 8

slowly 3

slumber 2

smart 16

smell 6

smile 5

smooth 4

snake 2

snap 3

sneeze 9

soak 5

soap 7

sober 2

sociable 2

social 26

socialist 3

society 14

sock 7

soda 2

sofa 7

soft 17

soil 6

soldier 6

sole 8

solid 2

solo 2

solution 2

solve 4

somebody 8

somehow 3

somewhat 18

somewhere 11

song 25

soreness 6

sorrow 4

soul 17

soup 11

sour 2

source 2

southern 13

space 4

III

212 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

span 2

spare 14

speaker 6

specialist 2

speech 6

spick 2

spirit 8

spit 4

spite 6

splendid 6

spoon 5

sfKjrt 7

spout 2

spread 15

sprinkle 12

squabble 2

square 33

squarely 2

squeeze 11

stable 4

stack 3

stag 4

stage 3

stain 2

stalk 2

stamp 9

standard 7

star 7

starve 4

statement 6

station 24

stationery 2

statistics 2

steadily 4

steady 2

steak 13

steal 4

steam 6

steamer 15

steel 2

steep 3

stenographer 3

stew 5

stiff 4

sting 8

stingy 4

stir » 6

stitch 6

III

III
III

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 213

I II III IV V VI

stomach 23

stone 9

stool 3

stoop 3

storage 5

storm 15

stormy 3

straight 15

straighten 9

strain 8

strange 25

strap 3

straw 9

streak 2

strength 6

strenuous 6

stretch 3

string 9

strip 3

stroll 6

strongly 4

struggle 4

stubborn 2

stump 3

stunt 7

stupid 3

stylish 6

subject 16 2 III III AC

submit 3

substantial 2

substitute 3

suburb 3

succeed 15

successful 11

succession 2

sudden 6

suddenly 3

suffer 20

sufficient 3

sufficiently 4

sugar 8

sup;gestion 3

suite 2

sum 4

sunny 6

sunshine 8

superintendent 9

superior 6

III

III
III

III

:i4 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

supplement 2

supply 4

support 2

surely 38

surround 4

suspect 4

swallow 3

sweat 14

sweater 7

sweep 24

sweeper 2

sweetness 3

swell 16

swim 6

swing 10

swipe 2

switch 4

sympathize 2

sympathy 7

system 9

tabernacle 3

tablet 4

tack 3

tackle 3

tact 3

tag 2

tail 7

tailor 3

talker 2

tall 5

tan 16

tank 3

tape 4

tart 2

task 2

tax 3

taxicab 3

tea 29

teakettle 2

team 27

teapot 6

tear 17

tease 3

teaspoon 2

telegram 14

telegraph 3

telephone 15

temperance 2

III

II
III

III

III
III

III

III
III

III

III
III

III

WORD LISTS 215

I II

temperature 5

temple 8

tempt 7

temptation 5

tenci 3

tendency 4

tender 5

tenement 3

tennis 2

tenor 2

tent 16

tenth 3

term 7

terribly 8

test 13

text 7

thankful . 10

thanksgiving 6

theater 10

themselves 12

thereabouts 3

therefore 10

thermometer 3

thirteen 8

thorough 4

thousand 6

thread 2

thresh 2

throat 14

throughout 2

thumb 4

thunder 6

thus 7

tickle 6

tidy 2

tie 12

tile 10

timid 2

tinker 3

tiny 3

tip 5

tiresome 3

toast 6

toilet 2

tomato 9

tombstone 2

ton 4

tone 6

III

III
III

III

III
III

III

II
III

III

2i6 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

tongue 7

tool 2

toot 14

tooth 21

torture 2

total 4

touch 12

tour 3

toward 18

towel 14

tower 3

toy 3

trace 2

track 11

trade 7

traffic 2

tramp 2

transfer 8

travel 24

traveler 4

treatment 11

trial 11

tribe 2

trick 4

trifle 6

trim 9

triumph 3

trolley 5

trot 2

true 31

truly 8

trust 10

truth 13

tub 5

luck 4

tune 3

tunic 2

turkey 10

twelfth 2

twin 4

twist 2

type 3

typewriter 5

typhoid 4

ugly 3

umbrella 5

unable -4

unanimous 2

III

.WORD LISTS ai7

I II III IV V VI

unbearable 2

uncomfortable 8

undershirt 3

undertake 4

underwear 16

undo 4

undress 7

uneasy 2

unfinished 2

union 17

unlikely 2

unload 3

unlock 2

unnecessary 2

unpack 4

unpleasant 6

unreasonable ,.... 2

unusual 5

unusually 2

unwise 2

upset 3

urge 4

unne 2

useful 10

useless 4

usually 17

utter 2

vacant 4

vague 2

valley 16

valuable 4

value 7

variety 4

various 8

varnish 2

vary : . . . 4

vaudeville 2

veal 3

vegetable 9

vegetation 2

velvet 6

ventilate 2

ventilation 2

verse 4

vessel 8

vest 4

via 3

vice 2

III

III
III

III

III
III

III

2i8 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I II

victrola 2

vigor 3

vinegar 4

violin 7

visitor 8

voice 11

volume 9

vomit 7

vote 25

wage 5

wagon 4

wake 15

waken 7

wander 6

war 7

warmly 3

warn 5

wave 4

weak 17

weakness 2

wealth 4

wealthy 3

weave 2

wed 16

weed 2

weekly 9

weigh 31

weight 5

welcome 16

western 7

wet 16

wheel 11

whenever 8

whereby 3

wherever 8

whimper 2

whip 5

whiskers 3

whisper 4

whistle 3

whoever 3

wholly 4

wide 7

widow 4

width 4

wiggle 2

wild 9

windmill 2

III

WORD LISTS 219

I n m IV V VI

windy 7 III IV

wipe 5 2 III

wire 8 2 III III

wireless 4 III

wisdom 3 2 IV IV C

wise 9 2 III IV C

within 6 1 III IV C

wonderfully 6 1 III IV

wood 17 3 III III C

woodwork 2 IV IV

wool 4 3 . Ill

worthless 2 IV IV

worthy 6 2 III

wrap 6 3 III III

wreck 3 3 III IV

wring 3 3 III IV

writer 2 III

yeast 3 3 III C

yell 8 1 III IV

yoke.. 9 2 III IV

youngster 6 III III

zero 3 1 III

Lack of space forbids the presentation of List
IV, but its general character is revealed by the
statement that eighteen hundred four of its two
thousand two hundred thirty words occur only once.
This is thirty-four and sixty-nine hundredths per
cent, of five thousand two hundred words, the total
of the four lists. Ayres found the closely similar
figure of thirty-seven and fifty-three hundredths
per cent, for the proportion of vocabulary occurring
but once.

In the two hundred thousand running words thus

tallied, a total of twelve hundred nine different

_» proper names occurred, with a

Proper names r r

in the corre- combined frequency of about nine

spondencc thousand seven hundred forty.

220 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

In tallying proper names, terms which were
identical in spelling except for a final s, such as
Steven and Stevens, William and Williams, etc.,
were accounted a single word instead of two. All
nicknames, pet diminutives, and spellings based on
personal predilection were reduced to the standard
orthography. The envelope addresses were consid-
ered as far as they came into the writers' hands,
since nothing in the matter of correct spelling is
more germane to efficiency than the address, as our
Dead Letter Office shows. The inclusion of ad-
dresses, the relationship of certain correspondents
to one another, and the much greater volume of
correspondence from certain persons than from
others, accounts for the unusual frequency of some
names. The same plan of division into four lists, as
outlined above, has been followed with the proper
names, but the columns showing sex differences
(IV and V) have been eliminated because they
yield data so meager as to be non-significant. As
presented below. Lists II and III have been purged
of the following classes of names for an obvious rea-
son: All towns of less than 10,000 inhabitants,
all strictly local publications, organizations and
streets; and all family names, except those of his-
toric characters, or of men in the public eye. This
elimination decreased List II only slightly, but re-
duced List III over a third.

WORD LISTS

221

LIST I

I WORD
Saturday 199

LIST II
30 WORDS (33 WORDS BEFORE ELIMINATION)

August 49 3 A

Charles 184 1

Chicago 85 2

Christmas 133 3 A

December 34 3 A

Ella 112

Fannie 15

Friday 188 1 A

Hamilton 91

Harry 28 1

Hepsy 230

Illinois 137 3

January 36 2 A

July 20 2 A

June 27 2 A

Madison 169

May ; 42 1

Miss 113

Monday 150 1

November Zl 2

October 44 3

Ralph 124 1

St. Paul 22

September 60 2

Sunday 311 2

Thursday 98 3

Tuesday 135 2

Wednesday 101 3

William(s) 433 1

Wisconsin 128 2

A
A
A
A
A

LIST III
197 WORDS (312 WORDS BEFORE ELIMINATION)

Adam 4

Albert 3 1

Albuquerque 5

Alfred 20 1

Alice 100 1

Allen 2

Allie 4

American 28 1

April 15 2 A

Arthur 4 1

Avis 21

Baptist 6 2

Belleville 2

Bible 4 1

Blanche 2

Boston 2 1

Bryan 6

Burlington 2

Byron 2

California 42 2

Canada 2 1

Canterbury 2 1

Carl 7

Catholic 12 2

Champaign 48

Chesapeake 2 1

Chinatown 2

Christian 16 2

Claude 8

Colorado 17 1

Columbus 4 1

Congregational ... 2

222 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Coronado 5 1

Daisy 3

Daniel 17 1

Danville 54

Davis 4

Delos 6

Donald 8 1

Dora S

Dorothy 41

Drake 3

Easter 9

Edna 3

Edward 25 1

Eleanor 3

Eliza 9

Elizabeth 19 1

Ellen 13 1

Elmer 2

Emma 7 1

England 20 2

English 16 2

Episcopal 8 1

Epworth 6

Ethel 2

Etta 27

Europe 4 3

Evan 2

Everett 2

February 14 3 A

Florence 11 1

Florida 14 1

France 11 1

Frances 5 1

Francis 8 1

Fred 4 1

French 12 1

Frenchman 2

Gabriel 8

Gene 4

George 30 3

Georgia 14 2

German 18 1

Glasgow 5 1

God 45 1

Grace 32 1

Hallowe'en 3 1

Harold 14 1

Harvey 5

Hattie 49

Hazel 3

Helen 199 1

Herbert 9

Howard 4

Huldah 21

Indiana 7 3

Indianapolis 7 1

Iowa 5 2

Irishman 2

Italian 6 2

Italy 5 2

Jack 5 1

Jackson 15

Jacob 2 1

James 3 1

Jessie 36 1

Jewish 2

John 15 1

Johnson 4

Joliet 4 1

Joseph 76 1

Julia 47

Kansas 21 1

Kate 54 1

Katharine 8 1

Kenneth 6

Latin 8

Lee 3

Lincoln 4 2

Lloyd 5 1

Logan 4

Lois 4

Lola 3

London 39 2

Lord 3

Loring 15

Los Angeles 12 1

Lottie 11

Louis 169

Lucy 32 1

Lutheran 3

March 20 2 A

Margaret 12

Marion 12

Mary 9 2

Mason 16

Matthew 5

WORD LISTS

223

Maud 6

Methodist 9 1

Mexican 2

Michigan 2 1

Milan 2

Milwaukee 14 2

Minneapolis 6 1

Minnesota 28 1

Minnie 6 1

Mississippi 4 2

Missouri 10 2

Mitchell 12

Mollie 12

Mormon 3

Morris 8

Nancy 4

Nebraska 3 1

Ned 6 1

Nellie 6

Nevada 3 1

New York 17 2

Northwestern 5

Oakland 5

Ohio 4 1

Oliver 2

Omaha 6 1

Oregon 4 1

Ottawa 11

Pacific 7

Pansy 313

Pasadena 3

Paul 3

Pennsylvania 2

Perry 22

Peter 7

Presbyterian 3

Prince S 1

Raymond 5

Robert 3 1

Rome 3 2

Roosevelt 7

Rose 10

Rosecrans 2

Roy 9 1

Ruth 61 1

Sacramento 11

Samuel 4 1

Sampson 4

San Diego 43

San Francisco 20

Santa Claus S 1

Santa Fe 2

Sheridan 3

Spencer 3

Springfield 7

Stanley 20

Stella 7

Susan 41 1

Swiss 2

Taft 8

Tennessee 2 1

Terre Haute 6

Texas 13

Thanksgiving 27

Theodore IS

Thomas 4

Titanic 3

Walter 9

Washington 23 2

Wilson 17

Yellowstone 2

A presentation of List IV of the proper names
will be unnecessary. Of eight hundred sixty-two
names found in it, five hundred forty-four
occur but once ; and the vast majority are mere local
names of families, or given names more or less un-
common. Only one hundred one of the five hun-
dred forty-four are found in any of the spellers.

224 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Since each of the three spellers consulted con-
tained one or more special lessons on foreign terms

S t t b 1 - "^^ ^^^ ^^^y ^"^^y naturalized in
tion of foreign American speech, a special list of
^^^^^ these terms was kept separate as

they occurred in the correspondence. Thirteen such
words occurred with a total frequency of fifteen.
Elite alone occurred more than once. Only six of
the thirteen were found in any of the spellers.

CHAPTER XIII

SPELLING TEXTS AND SPELLING NEEDS

LET US first examine the word lists of the three
y spellers previously referred to, and see in how
far the ordinary text meets the requirements in re-
Vocabularies of spect to a spelling vocabulary.
spelling-books The relation of the vocabularies

of the three texts, excluding proper names and for-
eign terms, is as follows :

Speller Speller Speller
ABC

143 5,785 1,082
633 633

132 .... 132

3,101 3,101

1,613 1,613 1,613

Words found in one text only

Words found in Spellers A and B.
Words found in Spellers A and C.
Words found in Spellers B and C.
Words found in all three texts....

Total for each text 2,521 11,132 5,928

Total of different words for all texts, 12,489.

The variation among these books with respect to
extent of spelling vocabulary indicates that the mak-
ers of spelling-books differ in their opinions as
widely as have the educators whose estimates have
already been cited in Chapter IX. Not only in re-
gard to total number of words are there striking
differences, but also in regard to community of

225

226 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

vocabulary. Though Speller A has less than forty-
three per cent, of the vocabulary of C, hardly sev-
enty per cent, of the list is the same as C's. That
is, the chances of finding any given word of A*s vo-
cabulary in C are less than seven in ten. Conversely,
the chance of finding any given v^^ord of C's vocab-
ulary in A is less than three in ten. Of the total
twelve thousand, four hundred eighty-nine different
words, only sixteen hundred thirteen, or less
than thirteen per cent., are common to all the
spellers.

If the lists of the spelling-books be tested by the

lists secured from the correspondents, it develops

that four thousand, three hun-

cabularies°of^ " ^^^^ fifty-one different words, or

spellers and only thirty-five per cent, of the

correspondents , , • t i

total, ever appeared m the letters.

To determine the extent to which the judgments of
the three authors united was more reliable than the
judgment of any one author, the one thousand, six
hundred thirteen words common to the three texts
were followed out in the correspondence. Seventy
per cent, of these appeared in the correspondence —
twice as large a proportion as for the total twelve
thousand, four hundred eighty-nine words. How-
ever, it would seem that so short a list as sixteen
hundred thirteen, if at all well chosen, should
be represented by much more than seventy per cent,
of its strength among the five thousand, two hun-
dred different words of the correspondence. Fur-

TEXTS AND NEEDS 227

thermore, one would normally expect that this
seventy per cent, (eleven hundred thirty-six
words) would fall most heavily in List I (see page
157), less heavily in List II (see page 161), and
not to any large extent in List IV. However, they
were distributed as follows:

51 fell in List I, constituting 27.4% of said list
193 fell in List II, constituting 33.4% of said list
620 fell in List III, constituting 28.1% of said list
272 fell in List IV, constituting 12.2% of said list

Clearly then, the spellers examined have not placed
emphasis where it is most needed.

Passing now to the proper names listed in the
spellers, one finds a still greater lack of harmony.

Speller Speller Speller
ABC

Words found in one text only 167 53 177

Words found in Spellers A and B 13 13

Words found in Spellers A and C 41 ... 41

Words found in Spellers B and C 24 24

Words found in all three texts 25 25 25

Total for each text 246 115 267

Total different words for all texts, 500.

Speller B, with a general vocabulary about twice as
great as C's, and four times as great as A's, has less
than one-half as many proper names as either of
the others. Only five per cent, of the total of five
hundred proper names are common to all three
spellers, and only twenty-one per cent, show any
degree of community. As far as one may general-
ize from these three spellers, the chances of finding

228 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

the same proper name in two spellers picked up at
random ranges from sixteen in one hundred to
forty-two in one hundred. If it were desirable so
to do, curious differences might be pointed out,
showing a tendency of one book to "specialize" in
American geography, and another in foreign geog-
raphy and history, or perchance in Christian names.
Two hundred sixty-nine of these five hundred
proper names do not appear at all in the list of
twelve hundred nine proper names found in the
correspondence, and five of the twenty-five com-
mon to all the spellers were among these two hun-
dred sixty-nine.

But the climax of disparities between the texts
is seen in the lists of foreign terms found in the
spelling-books. They tabulate as follows :

Speller Speller Speller
ABC

Words found in one text only 12 62 24

Words found in Spellers A and B 2 2

Words found in Spellers A and C 4 .. 4

Words found in Spellers B and C 6 6

Total for each text 18 70 34

Total different words for all texts, 110,

Not a single term was common to all the texts, and
less than eleven per cent, of the total showed any
degree of community. Only six of the whole one
hundred ten appeared in the correspondence;
nor were any of these six among the twelve found
in more than one speller. Had the compilers of

TEXTS AND NEEDS 229

these books taken words at random from a French
dictionary their offerings could hardly have been
less related to the pupil's needs.

But if a complete inventory be taken of the data
of the last chapter, we must go further than to say
Limitations of that the spellers contain a vast

any speller amount of useless material. They

have failed to some extent to include the necessary
words, as the following table shows :

WORDS FOUND IN NONE OF THE SPELLERS

General.

List I — I (in).

List II — II (anyway, azv fully, crazy, every '
thing, job, lately, maybe, pa, per, sick,
silk ) .

List III — 202 (the type is shown by such as the
following: adverbs, e. g., absolutely;
nouns on verb stems, e. g., alteration,
announcement; unusual compounds, e.
g., afire, apiece; verbs on adjective
stems, e. g., straighten; compounds of
simple words, e. g., miywhere, bed-
time; prefixes in in- and un-, e. g.,
inland, unsatisfactory ) .

List IV — 625 (many of the same type as for
List III, though the number of new
stems is larger).
Proper.

List II (after elimination) — 7 out of 30.

List III (after elimination) — 99 out of 197.

List IV— 761 out of 862.

Foreign terms — y out of 13.

230 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

From such an exhibit it might seem that our
spellers should be larger rather than smaller. Every-
one of the thirteen correspondents referred to in
Chapter X contributed in varying amounts to the
two thousand, two hundred thirty words of List
IV. There seemed to be on the part of every per-
son a specific demand for words not used by any
of the other twelve. This being true, it becomes
evident that no speller can fill the need of individ-
uals completely. In view of the plastic state of our
language, with the constant accretion of words from
various sources and the decadence of standard
words so that they become obsolescent or obsolete,
the unabridged dictionary itself can not meet all
possible needs of every person. The individual Qb-
viously must make new linguistic as well as other
new adjustments from time to time throughout his
life.

That the vocabularies of different persons vary
widely is generally believed ; but their variation may
Individual writing "ct be in any sense due to the
vocabularies number of words people know

how to spell. If a connection of this sort did
exist, one might be justified in putting such em-
phasis upon spelling as was the practise a genera-
tion ago. It has furthermore not been demon-
strated that the vocabulary of a liberally educated
person is wider in written expression than that of
one not so highly trained. It was to shed some light
upon this problem that the extent of each corre-

TEXTS AND NEEDS 231

spondent's vocabulary was carefully noted as far
as could be done with the limited quantity of corre-
spondence. The running words of each correspond-
ent's letters were counted off a thousand at a time.
A record was made of the number of different
words employed on the first thousand; and the
number of new words introduced in each succeed-
ing thousand was also recorded. Not less than five
thousand running words was accepted from any
correspondent, since it was felt that this number
was necessary in order to gain a fair idea of the
extent of a person's vocabulary. It will be seen
from the table exhibiting the data thus gained (see
following page) that no person fully exhausted his
vocabulary; nor, as already suggested, does it seem
probable that any normal individual's vocabulary
could be exactly ascertained if his correspondence
were pursued indefinitely.

Some interesting revelations are made by this
table. N. exceeds in vocabulary her daughter E.,
who has had at least twice the schooling her mother
enjoyed. However, N. notices everything of a per-
sonal nature, and feels a keen interest in people.
E. writes mostly about herself, and hence has a
narrower range of experience to communicate. H.,
another daughter, only slightly exceeded N. in vo-
cabulary used at the end of five thousand running
words. At the end of twelve thousand running
words S. exceeded both her adult college-educated
children, P. and W. In neither spelling capacity

232 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

O
X

w
en

§2

W W5

coo

FloX

tp03

qi6I

qJ8T

qJi.T

iP9I

I^jox

V9I

^^T

1^81

q^ST

^ni

FJOX

^lOI

M56

qi8

qi9

tog

qjf

PJ8

pas

»si

c
(«

9
O

ts§5;

)«S

OSOKN

<D CO 1-1

ic a trs

^a:

ao<4icoi

I i-( CO C-)

tCOCOlO

I p -^ CD<
1^00 lOl

Oi OS (M
O Ci ^

gcoos

^ OOO

I CO I
>GOl

(N oort ■

»-t 1—1 1

oco-<»< o<

St-C5
00 00

;s3

(M (N 00<N 00 I

<-H OOJ

in c» i-H

rN-H— i.-(i— (T-('Hr-(<— l(M— <i-(l— I

05 -31 c<5<

03«<N(
«CNCO<

ie»5ei*(N

CO t^ t-H
(NCCCO

(i^ s < c/j o d w z ^ -^u S PQ

I^JOJ.

1-^

q^Of

sa s;

V6S

sss s

V88

0(N (N

^U8

ss s

tP98

ss s

moX

II 1

MJQ8

ss g

»P^8

lo^ ^

PJ88

»-t ■* 00
OTr-t Tl

P«58

53^ S5

»si8

SS S5

I«loX

2159
1359

2078

qi08

(NOO 04

qj6s

q^83

TjIrH rH

qus

^s; ^

V93

IB^OX

1967
1254

1941

qigz

?S2 ^

qifs

«S®Si

PJSS

S(M-*S 1

pass

(MOOODIQ 1

^SIS

m
en

^ C-y-

TEXTS AND NEEDS 233

nor reading vocabulary is there any comparison to
be made between her children and herself; but S.
is a wide reader, and has acquired rather cosmo-
politan interests. It could hardly need plainer dem-
onstration than these two instances afford that writ-
ing vocabulary is dependent, not on spelling ability
or formal education, so much as on largeness of
view and breadth of interest, which in many cases
is favorably affected by education. Changing
scenes and the character of one's correspondent
also affect the size of one's vocabulary. C. made
an unusual record on his first thousand words,
because of a nervous habit of jumping quickly from
theme to theme in his ordinary letters. In his diary
of domestic and local happenings he falls to a very
common record on his second thousand words; but
thereafter he eclipses all others in recounting the
sights and events of an extended trip through the
West. P., after falling slightly behind W.
at twenty thousand, overtakes and easily passes
him in describing the experiences of travel
and of changed surroundings. A. too has a very
ordinary record until she begins to write of her
European tour, when she quickly shoots ahead of
all the others. G. falls sensibly behind O. at five
thousand, because she, a graduate student, is under-
going routine life as a teacher, while O., a high-
school graduate, is visiting relatives and friends most
of the time and experiencing frequent changes of
scenes. Practically all interruptions in the descent

234 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

of the number of vocabulary accessions from thou-
sand to thousand for each correspondent can be
explained on the bases already mentioned.

In the list published by Ayres, a total frequency
of seventeen hundred fifty-seven is assigned to
y b 1 ■ • proper names, Mr., Mrs., I and

family and other a, words not considered in the
correspondence p^.^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ gj^^^ j^^ ^^^.^g,

study the unpublished portion of his list comprised
twelve per cent, of the total number of running
words, it seems likely that some two thousand run-
ning words of his study (seventeen hundred fifty-
seven increased by twelve per cent.) would have
been disregarded in making up our own general list.
Put otherwise, he tabulated about twenty-one thou-
sand five hundred running words according to our
mode of reckoning (twenty-three thousand six hun-
dred twenty-nine decreased by about two thou-
sand). His published list of five hundred
forty-two different words shrinks to four hundred
sixty-seven by the elimination of proper names and
reduction to a dictionary basis. If the same per-
centage of shrinkage holds for the unpublished por-
tion of his list, his total of two thousand one
distinct words shrinks to about seventeen hundred
twenty-five.

We have, then, Ayres' composite vocabulary of
seventeen hundred twenty-five in a total of twenty-
one thousand, five hundred running words to com-
pare with four individual vocabularies in the pres-

TEXTS AND NEEDS 235

ent study (see table on page 232). At twenty-
one thousand five hundred A. and P. were each
about a hundred words above Ayres' composite
vocabulary, W. was seventy-five above it, but
H. had fallen a long way behind. It is impossi-
ble to believe, in view of the length of our general
List IV, that any ordinary individual could show
a vocabulary equal to that gleaned from hundreds
of persons combined, except by being placed in a
situation where he would have occasion to discuss
a greater range of interests. The explanation in
this case is that family correspondence and letters
of a friendly nature call for more diversified ex-
pression than stereotyped business communications,
however miscellaneous in character.

This individuality of spelling vocabulary, while
naturally directed somewhat along technical lines

„ ,.^ of vocational importance to the

Sex differences

in spelling Several writers, is a more uncer-

vocabulary ^^[^ quantity in many ways than

sex differences in writing vocabulary. All words
in general Lists I, II and III were inspected in or-
der to furnish a list of words which show a wide
variation in use as between the sexes. "Wide vari-
ation" was construed as meaning a change from
List I of one sex to List III of the other, from List
II of one sex to List IV of the other, from List III
of one sex to non-occurrence in the other, or any
greater degree of change. Words with a frequency
of only two, however, were not taken into account.

236 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

The two lists, one showing dominance with the
women, the other with the men, were then subdi-
vided according to a scheme set forth below.

WORDS DOMINANT IN LETTERS OF WOMEN

A. Articles of food, terms relating to consump-
tion or preparation thereof :

appetite

candy

goose

plum

apple

casserole

grape

pork

bacon

cheese

gravy

pudding

bake

chicken

griddle

sauce

banana

chocolate

grocery

sirup

beef

cook

jelly

soup

berry

cooky

juice

starve

biscuit

cracker

lard

stew

boil

cream

milk

stove

bread

custard

orange

toast

breakfast

dessert

oven

tomato

burner

fish

oyster

vegetable

butter

food

pail

yeast

cabbage

gas

pan

cake

gasoline

pear

B. Articles of wearing apparel, textiles, terms
closely related thereto:

apron

embroider

shoe

bead

embroidery

plaid

silk

belt

flannel

plait

skirt

braid

fur

plush

sleeve

button

gem

rip

stitch

cape

glove

rubber

tape

chain

handkerchief

ruffle

tie

cloth

legging

sample

undershirt

clothe

mend

sash

velvet

corset

mitten

satin

waist

cotton

nightgown

. scissors

wool

cuflF

patch

sew

dressmaker

pattern

shirt

TEXTS AND NEEDS

237

C. Parts of bendy, care of same, personal ap-
pearance :

arm hair
bathe head
bowel kidney
fat

litnb

neat
nose

stomach

stylish

swell

D. Animals :

animal fish
chicken goose

kitten
moth

mouse

E. Esthetics, color:

admire bloom
art blossom
beautifully disgust
black gallery

glorious
lovely
museum
muss

orange
perfect
tan

F. Diseases, their treatment, concrete sensitivity
for good or ill, terms closely related thereto :

ache

afraid

aggravate

ail

alarm

bronchitis

burial

bury

camphor

chill

cough

crazy

cure

dentist

die

dizzy

dread

envy

fond

headache

prescription

heal

pulse

horrid

relief

hospital

sick

hysterics

swell

lame

tease

medicine

tiresome

nervous

vomit

nurse

zero

G. Parts of house, furniture and furnishings:

basement

bathroom

bedroom

bowl

closet

cottage

furniture

grate

mat

mattress

napkin

pillow

plate

portiere

quilt

saucer

spoon

teapot

towel

tub

H, Measures :

barrel
bushel

peck
pint

pound
quart

tape
weight

238 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

I. Correspondence:

envelope
ink

pencil

postage

stamp

homelike

housekeeper

housework

Other domestic activities and relationships:

scrub
sweep

launder
maid

mop
roomer

Unclassified (possible membership in List K or
L indicated in parentheses) :

accommodation contribution

acid

crack

acute

cultivate

affectionately

daddy

alcohol

dean

alike

description

altitude

detain

anniversary

dispose

asleep

draft

assembly (L)

driver

bag

east

baggage

economize

balance

elaborate

behave

elsewhere

bet

empty

beyond

entirely

bid

errand

birthday

eve

blind

exhaust

bottle

farm

bush

fill

caller

firecracker

carelessness

fold

carpenter

fuss (K)

carriage

game

channel

goodby

Chautauqua

goodness

check

greet

chore

grip

circular

companion

handy

connect

harvest

consequently

heap

hearty

helper

hilly

hunt

improvement

interrupt

jump

kill (K)

knife

launch

law (L)

lively

load

logic

lonely

loop

loose

luck

mass

matron

maybe

memorial

merry

message

missionary

muscular

mutilate

nap

naughty

nearby

neighbor

noisy

notwithstand-
ing
oblige
occupant
onto
overdo
package
pad
parcel
phone
pipe
pond
pour
precious
presume
progressive
pronounce
puff
quietly
rainy
rake
ranch
readiness
remodel
respectable

rig

rope

rub

sail

sailor

sale

satisfactory

scramble

TEXTS AND NEEDS

239

scream

sentence

shoot

sidewalk

sink

sixty

skim

slice

slick

smooth

socialist (L)

soft

somewhere

spell

sprinkle

temperature

unpack

stir

tent

unusual

stoop

thankful

vessel

storage

thereabouts

wagon

strength

thin

warmly

strenuous

thorough

weekly

strip

tinker

whistle

stupid

tiny

widow

sunny

tour

wind

surely

toy

wipe

tail

trifle

wireless

tank

trolley

woman

telegraph

twin

worthy

WORDS DOMINANT IN LETTERS OF MEN

K. Terms of aggression, contest and domina-
tion, physical and mental :

argument

defeat

attack

effort

control

fight

convince

force

loss
oppose
permit
solve

struggle
submit
successful
suspect

L, Institutional life and social organization:

administration convention enroll preside

agency county inaugurate public

associate customary majority representative

college discuss member term

Unclassified (possible membership in Lists A- J
indicated in parentheses) :

above

altogether

descend error

absent

amuse

directly especially

absolutely

assure

dismiss fact

attend

dismissal favor

add

await

dividend feature

admit

civil

drift final

advantage

danger

earn follow

agreeable (F)

definitely

education fourth

aid

deny

encouragement geography

240 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

guilty

literature

physiology

service

guy

mention

portion

shadow (E)

harmony

method

practise

standard

honor

naturally

prefer

stenographer

hopeful

nature

probable

suddenly

human

necessary

proceed

sufficient

impress

occur

prod

term

inconven-

offend (F)

produce

thus

ience (F)

opera

recess

trust

increase

outrage (F)

refer

upon

injury (F)

personal

reference

value

instance

personality

religious

violin

intrude

personally

wage (s)

kindly

pet

reverse

SUMMARY OF SEX DOMINANCE

List Women Men

A 58

B 50

C 13

D 7

E 15 I

F 37 5

G 20

H 8

I 5

J 9

K 2

L 3

Unclassified 183

Total 410 128

Deduct counted twice 6

True total 404 128

16
16
90

Probably no two persons could agree that all words
have been properly assigned in these lists on sex

TEXTS AND NEEDS 341

difference, inasmuch as a certain term may be used
in a variety of situations. Thus it happens that
some words occur in two lists. Only three or
four of the eight women correspondents were at
the time of their writing carrying heavy domestic
responsibilities, so it may be inferred that general
social conditions, if not heredity, have impressed
certain traits upon femininity, and thus established
a^ort of feminine type of spelling vocabulary. Lists
K and L are likewise in harmony with contempo-
rary sociological, psychological and biological re-
search and theory, in pointing out a masculine type,
though the totals for sex dominance show that the
feminine type is much more homogeneous than the
masculine, another fact which is in harmony with
contemporary thought. It is predicted that adjust-
ment of elementary-school courses to sex needs will
sooner or later cause some differentiation in spelling
work required of boys and girls. At present a
certain amount of incidental spelling in connection
with the special subjects, such as domestic science,
manual training and civics, offers most hope of a
satisfactory solution.

In the course of a discussion which one of the
writers held recently with two grammar-school boys

_ , . , . on the applicability of their spell-

Relation of time ff J f^

economy to spell- mg lessons to their composition,
ing needs ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ declared that he had

no idea of ever using many of the words of the
speller, since he was familiar with plenty of short

242 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

common ones that did just as well. How far an
adult's narrow writing vocabulary is a matter of
choice for the sake of economy, rather than a result
of lack of culture, it is impossible to say except in
individual cases. But as bearing upon this matter,
a quotation may be given from a recent writer in
the Chicago Tribune* who discussed the subject —
*'Is Letter-Writing Becoming Passe?" She says:

"We have no time for long dissertations, either
about books or scenery, or our inmost feelings and
impressions. Letter-writing has ceased to be re-
garded as a pastime; to the majority it is nothing
less than a stern duty with little pleasure in it. And
as a duty it must be performed accurately with no
superfluities or digressions. We rarely find our-
selves 'wishing to' write a letter, but we frequently
'have to' do so, and to get the business over both
quickly and efficiently we gather up all the facts to
be communicated and set them down in as few
words as possible."

A young business man in a personal letter not
long ago said :

"Our vocabularies are certainly limited, and the
rush of business seems to be in some ways against
their development. I know that very often in dic-
tating I substitute a common word for one which
is more applicable but less likely to be understood
by the foreign class addressed. The average reader
won't consult a dictionary, nor puzzle long over
difficult words."

♦March 9, 1913.

TEXTS AND NEEDS 243

That such conscious or unconscious economy is
a vital force in the selection of a writing vocabulary-
appears from the tabulation of general List I and
the first and last ninety-three words of Lists II, III
and IV, by number of syllables.

One

Two

Three

Four

Fire

■yllable

syllables

Total

List I

152

186

List II

186

List III

186

List IV

186

Even a hasty glance at List I will show that it
contains many words which are commonly mis-
spelled. All teachers know that most of the trou-
blesome words in pupils' papers are relatively short,
so it is clear that the frequency of the short words
is not due to the simplicity of their spelling, but
rather to that passion for conservation of energy
which consciously or unconsciously accompanies all
effort that is not an end in Itself.

Just how great a role these short, sharp Anglo-
Saxon words play in written expression can be best
The words that appreciated from a few compari-
do the work sons. Ayres found that nine

words constituted over one-fourth and forty-three
words over one-half of the whole of the corre-
spondence he examined. Reducing his list to a dic-
tionary basis, we leave the figures practically the
same. The nine remain unchanged, but the forty-
three probably become forty-five. For the lists de-
rived from this investigation, the corresponding fig-

244 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

ures are nine and forty-two, all monosyllables.
Since the exact total of the frequencies in List III
is fifteen thousand, two hundred forty, and that
for List IV is two thousand, nine hundred forty-
three. Lists I and II (seven hundred sixty-three
words) include between ninety and ninety-one per
cent, of the total words written in ordinary corre-
spondence. Not only do such generalizations hold
for a number of persons treated collectively, but
the same conclusion is fairly warranted for any sin-
gle individual. As a test a calculation was made of
the proportions which the nine most frequent words
spoken of above constituted in the correspondence
of each of the thirteen correspondents. The theo-
retical level would be slightly over twenty-five per
cent, for each person ; the actual per cent, in every
case fell between twenty-three per cent, and twenty-
eight and two-tenths per cent., though naturally
there were marked personal variations in the ,fre-
quency of any one word, due to different habits in
sentence structure and the use of alternative ex-
pressions. The forty-two words which constituted
just above fifty per cent, of the total words for all
correspondents taken collectively constituted be-
tween forty-six and fifty-five per cent, for all cor-
respondents taken individually. Lists I and II,
which theoretically would constitute ninety per cent,
for any one individual, actually made up from
eighty-four to ninety-seven per cent, of the total
words written by each correspondent.

TEXTS AND NEEDS 245

An interesting check on the results given in the
preceding paragraph was gained from an entirely
different source. The files of the Chicago Tribune
for June and July, 191 3, were consulted and a total
of five thousand words was tallied from the com-
munications appearing on the editorial page under
the titles of "The Voice of the People" and "The
Friend of the People." A considerable amount of
ground was covered by selecting only the first un-
capitalized word of each line. The same identical
nine words again made up slightly over a quarter
of the total, the same forty-two words comprised
forty-two and five-tenths per cent, as against one-
half in family correspondence, while Lists I and
II comprised over seventy-nine per cent, of the to-
tal, as against ninety per cent, in family correspond-
ence. It is highly significant that the percentages
remain so nearly the same. The communications
printed in the Tribune are scarcely to be termed
typical of the needs of common people. Unlike
most family correspondence, they deal with many
technical matters and are full of legal terminology
and political discussion. Furthermore, they are
largely impersonal in their nature, and contain so
few personal pronouns as to account for the slight
discrepancy between seventy-nine and ninety per
cent.

CHAPTER XIV
r£sum£ and conclusions

RETRACING the ground we have covered, we
, see that as a result of the study of spelHng
rules with university freshmen and high-school stu-
dents, it was found that, if we omit one particular
rule, those who possessed some knowledge of rules
showed a slight superiority over their fellows in the
university group who knew no rules, and a slight
inferiority in the high-school group. Most of the
persons tested had had thorough instruction in spell-
ing rules at periods ranging from six weeks to ten
months previous to the tests, but they had retained
very little knowledge of them. Much of what they
had remembered was defective, erroneous, and was
not applied in their spelling in the tests. ^ Spelling
rules seem to be for the most part too long and in-
volved, and there are too many exceptions to every
rule to make them easily applied by students. One
short, simple rule to the effect that monosyllables
ending in ie change the same to y before suffixing
ing, is doubtless useful, but it applies to only a half
dozen words.

The attitude of the students themselves respect-
246

CONCLUSIONS 247

ing the value of rules is skeptical. If taught at all
the rules probably ought to come very early in the
child's school life. In later years it is seemingly
impossible to develop a reflective attitude toward
what should be mainly a mere sensori-motor or au-
tomatic process, without producing the disturbed
inhibitory results that usually follow from such an
attitude.

Errors in spelling may be grouped into two
classes. One is the linguistic lapse or chance error
that is due to a wandering of the attention from
the material being written. Lapses are identified
by the correct spelling of the same word on other
similar occasions, or by the promptness with which
the pupil corrects them when he is asked to look
over what he has written. Lapses should be treated
by teachers as less serious than other mistakes, and
they should not draw the teacher's attention from
the more important points to be observed in the pres-
entation of the word. Lapses may be guarded
against by giving pupils opportunity to go over
their work a second time and correct errors before
submitting it. The corrections which they make in
this way should not be penalized so heavily as the
errors that are due to lack of knowledge.

The second sort of mistake is the bona fide spell-
ing error. If misspellings in large numbers are ex-
amined it will be found that for almost any word
from one-third to two-thirds of all difficulties are
occasioned by some special letter or syllable. This

248 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

critical point in a word may or may not be one to
which a rule applies. Its location is best accom-
plished by the tabulation of many misspellings of
the word. The most fruitful causes of error are
(i) misptonunciation on the part of the teacher and
the pupil, (2) the drawing of phonetic analogies
from other words, (3) obscure or elided vowels,
and (4) double or silent letters. Particular causes
of error predominate in particular cases, being de-
termined largely by the type of imagery upon which
one relies in spelling. The types of letters (ascend-
ers, descenders and single-space) which give a word
its distinctive pattern, have much to do with the par-
ticular direction which error may take in that word.
For example, in one word a silent letter is very
likely to be omitted, in another it is almost sure
not to be omitted.

A study of the life history of the acquisition of
some difficult spellings shows the persistent effect of
spelling errors. Whatever be the reason for its
occurrence in the first place, the initial error in the
spelling of a word is apt to persist with great te-
nacity. This warrants the proposition that children
should not be allowed to write their spelling lessons
without careful preliminary study, as they are often
tempted to do by the prevailing practise of leaving
their study undirected and requiring a certain mini-
mum grade for promotion in that subject. So far
as a theory of progress goes in spelling attainment,
there are not two stages in the mastery of words.

CONCLUSIONS 249

but rather four stages. In the first stage a pupi|
habitually misspells a word in a particular manner ;
in the second stage his misspellings begin to vary;
in the third stage occasional correct spelling occurs ;
while in the fourth stage correct spelling becomes
habitual. Not all words necessarily pass through
all these stages. Under proper supervision a word
will never be permitted to become so thoroughly
mislearned by a pupil as to show the same error
time after time. Under normal conditions a word
should pass through only the third and fourth
stages mentioned above.

There is probably no such thing as complete
transfer of the ability developed in column spelling
over to contextual spelling. In the latte:r case lapses
will be more numerous, and words not yet fully
mastered are more likely to revert to an earlier
stage of misspelling. The reason for this is the
dispersion of attention over a larger and more com-
plex field in contextual than in column writing. As
long as loss in transfer occurs at all, the only ulti-
mate test of spelling efficiency must be contextual
writing, and dictated material will serve the pur-
pose much less satisfactorily than original composi-
tion. Isolated spelling may nevertheless be the
more economical means in the preliminary work of
mastering words.

The efficiency of a method of presentation ought
not to be judged by a test on irnrnedia^e recall or
by means of ptjier than regular spelling ni^terial.

250 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

The method of sense presentation and the pupil's
response thereto play a minor role as compared
with the frequency of recall. Within two weeks
after the presentation of a lesson, if there be no in-
tervening review, the lesson is about as nearly lost
as in a much longer period. Graphic spelling can
be taught so as to secure the various advantages of
oral spelling and avoid its disadvantages. Differ-
ences in the effectiveness of the two show up more
plainly for individuals than for a group as a whole.
As long as the spelling list is in advance of the
pupil's needs for expression it is improbable that
the mere teaching of the words in context creates
a less formal situation, as far as spelling is con-
cerned, than to teach them in column. Such a state-
ment is true regardless of the fact that the signifi-
cance of a word can of course best be grasped only
when it is given a contextual setting. Comparative
experimentation is difficult because the "school
habit" of pupils has prejudiced them in favor of
column teaching.

Close study of two pupils indicated that freedom
in original composition, breadth of vocabulary em-
ployed, life, variety and naturalness of written ex-
pression are not the result of spelling ability. Their
only relation to spelling is seen in the effect of un-
due spelling consciousness in retarding facility of
expression. Other minor inferences drawn from
the experiments in Part I are ( i ) the evil influence
on spelling of those methods of teaching reading

CONCLUSIONS 251

which delay too long the mastery of the alphabet,
or direct attention too much away from the letters
of words; (2) the disintegrating effect produced in
one's own spelling by exposing to one the errors
of others; (3) the disadvantage of a reflective atti-
tude toward spelling; (4) the rareness of pure types
of spellers, such as audiles or visualizers; (5) and
the impropriety of dwelling long on syllabication
after pronunciation has been well worked out.

In Part II it was shown that every-day needs are
not consulted in the framing of spelling lists, but
that the dogma of formal discipline, ex cathedra
judgment, and the domination of common schools
by higher institutions have been the forces at work.
We seem to have various ideas regarding the ex-
tent of the vocabulary which a pupil should be re-
quired to spell. But it is not formal education so
much as breadth of interest and variety of experi-
ence which determine the size of one's spelling vo-
cabulary. Sex needs differ sufficiently so that one
may raise a question as to differentiation between
the spelling requirements for the two sexes. There
seiems in actual life to be a seeking after the word
that is the shortest for the writer and the simplest
and most easily understood by the one addressed.
We need to narrow the field of subject-matter in
spelling and cultivate it more intensively.

The examination of a vast body of family corre-
spondence collected from widely separated sources
shows that less than a dozen words do one-fourth

252 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

of our work in writing, that about fifty do a half
of it, and that less than eight hundred do nine-
tenths of it.

The words in Lists I and II (pages 1 57-161 T
should be thoroughly mastered by every elementary-
school pupil. List I with its large number of per-
sonal and relative pronouns, simple adverbs, prepo-
sitions, conjunctions, numbers, auxiliary verbs, etc.,
forms the very skeleton of all English expression.
List II includes a large proportion of the concrete
nominal, verbal and adjectival terms that form the
gist of the content of our expression.

The words in List III come next in importance
and should receive careful attention. They should
be drilled on particularly in the three or four higher
grades, (i) because they are less vital than the
words in Lists I and II for those who may have to
drop out of school early; and (2) because they gen-
erally come to function in the child's life at a later
date than those of Lists I and II. If further prun-
ing is necessary it must begin with List III. Addi-
tional study is needed with a larger number of per-
sons to allow other words of possible but so far
undemonstrated utility to pass out of List IV into
List III. As such study proceeds, standards for
eligibility to List III must be raised, the possible
result being that some words now included therein
will be dropped and replaced by others. To
state it differently. Lists I and II should be consid-
ered as fixing a minimum for the present, and List

CONCLUSIONS 2g3

III as indicating the maximum for elementary
pupils.

To this maximum of two thousand, nine hundred
ninety-three words with their grammatical modi-
fications there must be added a certain number of
useful proper names. The character of this list
will be much more influenced by the local and indi-
vidual environment than the general lists of words
will be. Fifty-seven per cent, of the general list
of five thousand two hundred words comes in Lists
I, II and III, but with proper names this per cent,
drops to twenty-nine. Over a fourth of List II and
over a half of List III of the proper names falls
outside of all the spelling-books. Hence one can
hardly escape the conviction that a child would do
even better to spend his school-days in learning to
spell the names of all his schoolmates and neigh-
bors than in learning the orthography of any con-
siderable number of geographical and historical
terms. Every child should know how to spell the
names of the days of the week, the months of the
year, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Hallowe'en, Easter
and other important festal occasions which are not
of denominational character, the names of a half
dozen of the more prominent local religious denom-
inations, the names of half a dozen of the locally
more important nationalities (not nations), the
names of his nation, his own state and other states
in the same section of the country, the half dozen
chief cities of the nation, and the half dozen largest

254 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

centers in his own state, a select list of possibly
forty given names, half for boys and half for girls,
to include those which seem most common in the
immediate locality. The limit in proper names
would be about a hundred. The lists given in the
preceding chapter are suggestive only of the size
and scope of an appropriate list,

THB END

APPENDIX

WORDS USED SPONTANEOUSLY BY PUPILS

THE three following lists, totaling eleven hun-
dred fifty-eight words, are selected from the
vocabulary which Mr. Homer J. Smith, now of the
Milwaukee Trade School, found in the examination
of seventy-five thousand running words of the
spontaneous compositions of children. Twelve
thousand five hundred words were taken from each
grade from the third to the eighth inclusive. The
children were enrolled in the public schools of Mad-
ison, Wisconsin, a typical city of twenty-five thou-
sand inhabitants. List I includes words used by the
pupils of each grade; List II, all others used by
at least three of the six grades; List HI, those
used in only two different grades. The principle
of selection then is not absolutie frequency of
occurrence, but universality of use through the
grades, a principle similar to that which was
followed in making up general Lists I, It
and III of the preceding pages. It will be ob-
served that the personal, possessive and demonstra-
tive pronouns, the numerals, ordinals and articles,
and about thirty of the most common prepositions,

257

258 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

conjunctions, verbs and adverbs, besides local prop-
er names, are omitted. A careful comparison of
these lists with those given by the authors in the
preceding pages will reveal marked differences be-
tween the vocabularies of children and adults, and
will suggest means of motivation in framing spell-
ing lists for children. The authors are under obli-
gation to Mr. Smith for his permission to utilize
the results of his work.

LIST I

272

WORDS

about

boy

different

find

across

branch

dinner

fire

after

break

dish

fish

afternoon

breakfast

dollar

floor

again

bring

door

almost

brother

down

foot

along

build

dress

forest

always

buy

drink

friend

another

call

drop

front

any

camp

each

game

around

can

early

get

ask

candy

eat

girl

aunt

car

egg

give

away

care

end

glad

awhile

carry

enough

back

catch

even

good

bad

cave

ever

grandfather

ball

cent

every

grandmother

basket

chicken

fall

great

because

child

family

grind

bed

cold

far

grow

before

color

farm

hand

begin

come

fast

happy

big

country

father

hard

birthday

cousin

feel

hay

boat

dance

few

head

bom

dark

field

hear

box

day

fill

help

APPENDIX

hide

much

right

time

hold

must

room

tire

home

myself

run

together

hope

name

same

toward

horse

near

say

town

house

never

school

train

hunt

new

think

tree

ice

through

try

into

nice

seem

turkey

jump

night

send

uncle

just

noise

shoe

until

keep

noon

show

upon

kill

o'clock

since

use

kind

old

sing

vacation

know

only

sister

very

lake

open

sleep

visit

land

other

small

wait

large

outside

snow

wake

last

over

some

walk

late

own

something

want

laugh

pack

soon

warm

learn

pair

spend

wash

leave

party

spring

watch

pass

stairs

water

line

people

stand

way

little

pick

start

week

live

place

stay

well

long

play

stop

while

look

poor

store

whole

lose

pretty

story

will

lot

pull

street

wind

lunch

put

sun

window

make

quite

supper
table

wish

man

rabbit

with

many

raise

take

woman

master

reach

talk

wood

meet

ready

teach

work

mile

rest

tell

write

morning

rich

Thanksgiving

year

mother

ride

thing

LIST II

542 WORDS

yet

account

afterward ago

air

act

against

ahead

alarm

afraid

age

aim

alone

259

26o THE CHILf) ANO HIS SPELLING

also

blue

coffee

edge

among

bluff

comb

either

anger

board

comfort

else

answer

boil

company

enjoy

anyone

book

cook

everything

anything

both

cooky

excite

anyway

bottom

corn

expect

appear

bread

corner

experience

apple

brick

cost

eye

arise

bridge

cotton

face

arm

bright

count

factory

arrive

brown

couple

fail

asleep

buggy

course

fat

asylum

bullet

cover

feed

automobile

bump

cow

fellow

awake

bunch

crack

fence

awful

bundle

creep

fight

burn

cross

final

baby

bury

crow

fine

bag

bush

crowd

finish

bake

busy

crumb

fix

band

butter

cry

flame

bandage

button

curl

flower

bank

cabin

cut

fly

bark

cake

danger

fond

barn

calf

daughter

football

bathe

candle

deal

force

bear

cap

dear

forget

beautiful

capture

decide

form

become

cat

decorate

fox

behind

cattle

deep

free

believe

cellar

deer

freeze

bell

chair

depot

fresh

belong

chance

die

frighten

below

cheese

dip

fruit

beside

cherry

direct

fun

between

chimney

dirt

garden

bicycle

chirp

doctor

gather

bid

choose

dog

glass

bill

Christmas

doll

gold

bind

church

draw

goodby

bird

city

dream

goose

bite

clean

drive

grab

black

clerk

drum

grade

bleed

climb

dry

grape

block

duck

grass

blossom

cloth

during

green

blow

coat

earn

guess

APPENDIX

gm
hair

lamp
lap

neighbor
nest

pound
pour

half

lead

nobody

present

hall

leaf

nose

price

handkerchief

leg

note

pumpkin

hang

lemon

nothing

pup

happen

lesson

notice

purse

harness

let

now

push

hat

letter

number

quarrel

heat

light

nut

quarter

heavy

lightning

oak

quick

hello

limb

office

quiet

hen

lion

often

race

here

listen

once

rag

hickory

load

orange

rain

high

lock

orchard

rake

hike

log

ought

rather

hill

lonesome

ourselves

read

himself

love

package

real

hit

low

pail

receive

hitch

lumber

paper

red

hole

machine

parent

remember

honest

mad

park

hospital

maid

parlor

result

hour

marry

part

return

humble

marsh

pasture

ribbon

hunger

matter

pay

rifle

hungry

may

peek

ring

hurry

meal

pencil

river

hurt

mean

person

road

hut

meat

pet

roar

idle

merry

piano

robin

imagine

middle

picture

rock

inch

milk

pie

roll

inside

mill

piece

rope

instead

mind

pity

rough

intend

minute

plan

round

invite

miss

plant

row

iron

model

please

rug

job

money

pocket

rush

journey

month

point

sack

kiss

mountain

police

sad

kitchen

mouse

pony

safe

knife

mouth

pop

sail

knock

move

popcorn

Santa Claus

ladder

mud

porch

satisfy

lady

need

post

sauce

lagoon

negro

potato

save

261

262 THE

CHILD A

ND HIS

SPELLING

schoolhouse

soil

supply

under

scratch

soldier

suppose

unless

see

somebody

sure

vase

seek

sometime

surprise

village

sell

son

sweat

voice

serve

sorrow

sweep

wade

settle

sorry-

swim

wagon

several

sound

tag

wall

sew

speak

tail

war

shake

sport

tall

wave

shall

spot

team

wear

sheep

spy

tear

weep

shell

squirrel

telephone

wet

shine

star

tend

wheel

ship

station

tent

which

shoat

steal

terrible

whip

shock

steep

thank

whistle

shop

step

themselves

white

shore

stick

thick

why

short

stiff

though

wide

shout

still

thread

widow

sick

stocking

throw

wife

side

stone

tie

wing

sight

storm

tip

winter

silk

stove

today

without

sink

straight

toe

wonder

size

straw

tomorrow

word

skate

stream

tonight

world

skin

strike

top

worm

sled

string

toy

worth

sleigh

strong

track

wrap

slide

stub

tramp

yard

slip

stumble

trip

yellow

slow

such

trouble

yes

smoke

sudden

turn

yesterday

snake

suit

umbrella

young

soak

summer

LIST III

344

WORDS

above

aflame

arrest

attic

absent

agree

arrow

baggage

accident

already

ash (es)

bale

acorn

angleworm

astonish

balloon

advance

animal

attack

banana

adventure

army

attend

barrel

APPENDIX

baseball

cranberry

fasten

interest

bass

crane

fear

jacket

bat

crash

feast

jail

battle

crawl

feather

jewel

bay

creek

fever

joy

beam

cripple

fierce

judge

beat

cruel

fit

keg

beg

cup

flag

key

berry

cupboard

flint

kick

blackboard

cutter

flock

king

blanket

damage

flood

kite

bloom

dandelion

flour

kitten

blot

darling

flow

knapsack

bold

dash

folk

knee

bond

delay

food

lack

bonfire

delight

former

lad

bother

deliver

fort

landlord

breast

desk

forth

lawn

bridle

destroy

forward

lone

brook

diamond

freight

loud

broom

dig

fright

mail

bruise

disappear

furnace

manage

bug

discover

furniture

manual

burglar

disgust

gin

march

canvass

dismiss

graze

market

card

distance

group

match

carpet

dive

growl

mate

cart

divide

guard

maybe

case

dodge

gust

melt

cause

dozen

hale

mend

cement

drag

hammer

mince

change

dragon

hardship

mistress

chase

drown

hatch

mix

chop

dust

hatchet

mound

circle

eagle

haul

muskrat

class

earth

hawk

narrow

clear

easy

heart

nature

clothe

educate

heel

naughty

club

enemy

herd

necktie

coal

engine

herself

nickel

coast

enter

hook

noble

collect

entertain

horn

none

colt

everybody

hose

north

continue

examine

hug

oat

cord

except

ill

occasion

cottage

explore

Indian

offer

cozy

fact

industry

onion

cracker

fair

insect

operate

263

264 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

opposite

raid

society

thunder

order

raisin

soft

ticket

outdoor

ranch

song

tiny

paint

rat

speed

tog

pan

rattle

splendid

touch

pane

remark

spoil

trace

paralyze

ripe

spread

trap

particular

roof

square

treasure

peanut

root

stack

trim

peep

saddle

stain

trousers

pen

scarce

stalk

trunk

picnic

scare

starch

tunnel

pigeon

screen

starve

unload

pile

screw

stock

usual

scorch

strange

value

pine

seat

study

verse

pink

seed

stuff

violet

playmate

select

sunshine

weak

plenty

sense

surrender

weed

plow

shade

surround

wheat

poison

shape

swallow

where

pond

shoulder

sweater

win

position

shovel

swing

wipe

praise

shut

sword

wire

press

sidewalk

tablet

wise

prince

sign

tack

witch

prison

silver

taste

wither

probable

sit

tease

within

puff

slate

theater

wolf

pump

smell

there

worry

punish

smooth

thimble

wound

purchase

smother

throat

yell

REFERENCE FOR FURTHER
READING

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING

THE more important books and articles bear-
ing directly on the problems of spelling are
listed below. It has not been thought desirable to
include in this bibliography the great volume of
controversial literature called out by the agitation
for "simplified spelling." The general literature
dealing with the memory has not been included to
any extent, since much of it can not be shown to
have any bearing on spelling problems. The brief
annotations may possibly be helpful to busy readers.

Abbott, Edwina E. — On the Analysis of the Memory
Consciousness in Orthography. Psychological
Review, Monograph Supplements, Vol. XI,
No. I, pp. 127-158.

Continued experiments with four trained
subjects.
Ayres, Leonard P. — The Spelling Vocabularies of
Personal and Business Letters. Russell Sage
Foundation, February, 191 3. 14 pp.

The first piece of work on the spelling vo-
cabularies of common people.
Bailey, William B. — Some College Spelling. Inde-
pendent, 6y: 345-347-

Errors culled from about five hundred thou-
267

268 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

sand running words of composition by college
students. Spelling ability fairly well corre-
lated with general ability.

Baird, J. W. — The Psychology of Spelling. Bulle-
tin Illinois Association of Teachers of Eng-
lish, Vol. IV, No. 8.

Holds motor imagery most important for
most pupils, as indicated by test of seven hun-
dred children.

Bawden, H. Heath. — A Study of Lapses. Psycho-
logical Review, Monograph Supplements, Vol.
Ill, No. 4.

Burnham, Wm. H. — The Hygiene and Psychology
of Spelling. Pedagogical Seminary, 13: 474-

501.

Summary of investigation of effect of dif-
ferent methods of presentation and other stud-
ies to date.
Carmen, E. Kate. — The Cause of Chronic Bad
Spelling. Journal of Pedagogy, 13: 86-91.

Bad spelling is attributed largely to lack of
habit or ability to observe.
Chancellor, William Estabrook. — Spelling. Jour-
nal of Education, 71 : 488, 517, 545, 573, 607.

Principally important for Mr, Chancellor's
list of the one thousand most commonly used
words.
Charters, W. W.— ^ Spelling "Hospital" in the
High School. School Review, 18: 192-195.

An account of the treatment of poor spellers

REFERENCES 269

in the high school of the University of Mis-
souri.

Comman, Oliver P. — Spelling in the Elementary
School. Ginn & Co., 1902, 98 pp.

The chief feature of this monograph is the
information it gives regarding the famous
Philadelphia experiment in the incidental
teaching of spelling.

Eldridge, R. C. — Six Thousand Common English
Words. Niagara Falls, N. Y., n. d. 64 pp.

A study of the vocabulary of contemporary
journalism.

Foster, William T. — The Spelling of College Stu-
dents. Journal of Educational Psychology, 2 :
211-215.

Qassification and discussion of two thou-
sand errors made by college students.

Gregory, B. C. — The Rationale of Spelling. School
and Home Education, 2^: 84-92, 123-129.

Experimental study of kinds and causes
of error. Plea for more oral spelling.

Henmon, V. A. C. — The Relation Betzveen Mode
of Presentation and Retention. Psychological
Review, 19: 79-96.

Hollister, H. A. — The Passing of the Spelling -Bo ok.
School and Home Education, 30: 64-68, 97-

lOI.

(i ) A history of the rise and decline of the
spelling-book.

270 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

'{2^ A description of an experiment in inci-
dental teaching.
Kline, Linus W. — A Study in the Psychology of
Spelling. Journal of Educational Psychology,
3: 381-406.

A study of the relation of types of imagery
to effective presentation in spelling.
Kratz, H. E. — Studies and Observations in the
Schoolroom. Educational Publishing Com-
pany, 1907. See Chapter XI.

Test of different methods of sense presenta-
tion on several hundred children. Conclusion
highly favorable to visual-auditory-articula-
tory method.
Pearson, Henry C. — The Scientific Study of the
Teaching of Spelling. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 2 : 241-252.

Study of simultaneous versus separate treat-
ment of homonyms.
Rice, J. M. — The Futility of the Spelling Grind.
Forum, 2^: 163-172, 409-419.

Results of test administered to thirty-three
thousand children in over twenty cities of the
country. Conclusions negative as to efficacy
of time and methods. Teacher's personality
the crux. Work should be graded and com-
mon words stressed.
Sandwick, Richard L. — Teaching Old-fashioned
Spelling in an Up-to-date Way. Bulletin I Hi-

REFERENCES 271

nois Association of Teachers of English, Vol.
IV, No. 8.

Scott, Frank W. — A Spelling Lesson. Bulletin Illi-
nois Association of Teachers of English, Vol.
Ill, No. 8.

Shaw, Esther E. — Is Spelling a Failure f Educa-
tional Review, 40: 170-182.

Smiley, W. S. — A Comparative Study of the Re-
sults Obtained in Instruction in the "Single
Teacher" Rural Schools and the Graded Town
Schools. Elementary School Teacher, 1 1 :
316-322.

Spindler, F. N. — Memory Types in Spelling. Edu-
cation, 28: 1 75-1 81.

Suzzallo, Henry — The Teaching of Spelling.
Teachers' College Record, Vol. XII, No. 5.
Treatment of tendencies in method at the
present time. Probably most complete state-
ment of problems up for solution.

Suzzallo, Henry, and Pearson, Henry Carr — Com-
parative Experimental Teaching in Spelling,
Teachers' College Record, Vol. XIII, No. i.
Description of comparative experiments in
class-directed study and independent study.
Resume of preceding references (Suzzallo
and Pearson).

Turner, E. A. — Rule vs. Drill in Teaching Spell-
ing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 3:
460461.

272 THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Wallin, J. E. Wallace— -Hosy the Drill Become Ob-
solescent f Journal of Educational Psychology,
1 : 200-213.

A plea for spelling drill of a specific sort.
Description of the Cleveland (Ohio) plan.

Wallin, J. E. Wallace — Spelling Efficiency in Re-
lation to Age, Grade and Sex, and the Ques-
tion of Transfer, Warwick & York, 1911.
86 pp.

Whipple, Guy Montrose — The Spelling of Univer-
sity Students. Journal of Educational Psy-
chology, i: 31.33.

Whipple, Guy Montrose — Relative Efficiency of
Phonetic Alphabets. Warwick & York, 191 1.
52 pp.

"An experimental investigation of the com-
parative merits of the Webster Key Alphabet
and the proposed Key Alphabet submitted to
the National Education Association."

Wyckoff, Adelaide E. — Constitutional Bad Spellers.
Pedagogical Seminary, 2: 448-451.

Effort at analysis by psychological tests of
traits of a small group of bad spellers.

Journal of Education, 71 : 153, 271, 383, 410, gives
standard lists of words for first four grades
in Milwaukee schools. Plan similar to that
of Cleveland.

INDEX

Accessory, life history of correct spelling of, 69.

ANALOGY, in spelling, 39-41.

Ancient, list showing misspellings of, 25.

Argument, list showing misspellings of, 28.

ATTENTION: dispersion of a cause of errors, 87, 88; to
technique in composition, 109, 110.

AUDITORY, types in spelling, 116, 117.

AUTOMATIC: execution of the literal elements, 89; con-
trol of the larger units, 90, 91.

AUTOMATISM, relative, 88, 89.

Awful, list showing misspellings of, 28.

AYRES'. study of spelling lists, 136, 137, 156-174, 234, 235.

Benefited, list showing misspellings of, 29.

Betrayal, list showing misspellings of, 29.

BOOKS, as affecting the need of teaching spelling, 139, 140.

CAUSES: of errors in spelling, 23-47; need of determining
causes, 23-25.

CHANCELLOR, study of spelling lists, 135, 136, 156-174.

CHICAGO FIRE, table showing result of spelling test on
words relating to, 77, 78.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: examination of communications
printed in, 245; quotation from, 242.

CHILDREN, words used in compositions by, 255-262.

COLUMN : versus contextual spelling, 74-93 ; material and
subjects of test, 74; difficulties of plan, 74, 75; table
showing result of dictation of extract from Robinson
Crusoe, 76, 77; table showing spellings of words taken
from account of the Chicago fire, 77, 78; table summa-
rizing results of tests, 81 ; two methods of measuring
loss by transfer, 81, 82 ; the conventional conclusion, 82 ;
genuine d)Tiamic spelling, 82; table showing results of
original composition test, 83-86; loss in efficiency by
transfer, 81, 82, 86, 87; frequency of errors. 81. 82, 86,
87 ; dispersion of attention a cause of error, 87, 88 ; rela-
tive automatism, 88, 89; automatic execution of the
literal elements, 89; oral spelling first, 89, 90; auto-
matic control of larger units, 90, 91 ; universality of the

275

276 INDEX

COLUMN— Co«/«ni«?(f

principle, 91 ; lack of transfer unavoidable, 91 ; column
spelling tests given to high-school freshmen, 92; use
of words in contextual relation proof of spelling efi&-
ciency, 93.

COMMON PEOPLE, needs of in spelling, 137-139.

COMPOSITION: and spelling efficiency, 104-111; words
used in composition by children, 255-262, See Spell-
ing Efficiency and Composition.

CONTEXTUAL SPELLING. See Column Versus Con-

TEXTUAL SfEXiLING

CORRECTION, method of in experiments, SO, 51.

CORRESPONDENTS, relation of spelling vocabulary of to
word lists in spelling-books, 226-229.

CRITICAL POINT : in a word. 34, 35 ; rules often do not
relate to critical points, 35-37; directing attention to
the critical point in any word, 46, 47,

CURTAILMENT OF VOCABULARY, reasons for opposi-
tion to, 132-134.

DATA : sources and character of, 144-155 ; account of letter-
writers, 145-147; description of spelling-books, 147-149;
fto consideration of test lists, 149, 150; rules of proce-
dure, 150-154; the arrangement of words, 154, 155;
Standard Dictionary used in determining eligibility of
words, 153.

DECLINING IMPORTANCE, of spelling, 139-142.

Dismayed, list showing misspellings of, 28, 29.

DOUBLING LETTERS, as a source of error, 42, 43.

DYNAMIC SPELLING, genuine, 82.

Encouragemeni, list showing misspellings of, 27.

ERRORS : sources and causes of, 23-47 ; need of determin-
ing causes, 23-25; compiling lists of misspelled words,
24 ; sources of error not apparent, 24, 25 ; table show-
ing varieties of misspelling of ancient, 25; foreign, 26;
piercing, 26; sieve, 26, 27; nervous, 27; encouragement,
27; awful, 28; argument, 28; dismayed, 28, 29; betrayal,
29', benefited. 29; prevalence of chance errors, 30; slips
of the pen, oO, 31; treatment of lapses, 32-34; teachers
often fail to discriminate lapses from genuine error,
33 ; critical point in a word. 34, 35 : rules often do not
relate to critical points, 35-37: analogy in spelling, 39-
41; obscure or elided vowels, 41, 42: doubling letters as
a source of error. 42, 43 ; effect oi types of rules on
errors, 43-45; syllabication as a means of avoiding
error, 45, 46; means of directing attention to the criti-

INDEX 277

ERRORS— Continued

cal point in any word, 46, 47; methods of correction of
in test, 50, 51; persistence of certain errors, 54, 55;
persistence of initial error, 64; why errors persist, 65-
67; errors eliminated one at a time, 70; two methods of
measuring loss by transfer, 81, 82 ; loss in efficiency by
transfer, 81, 82, 86, 87; frequency of errors, 81, 82, 86,
87; dispersion as a cause of, 87, 88; showing a pupil his
errors, 102, 103; fear of making errors, 114; seeing
and hearing mistakes, 115; dominant type of error, 118.

FAMILY LETTERS: as affording accurate data for spell-
ing lists, 138, 139; data regarding authors of family
letters, 144-147; word lists derived from, 156-224.

Foreign, list showing misspellings of, 26.

FOREIGN TERMS, used in correspondence, 224.

GRAPHIC, versus oral spelling, 101.

HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS: investigation in respect to
value of spelling rules used by, 10, 11; experience and
training of students tested, 15 ; column spelling tests
given to freshmen, 92; "spelling hospital," 92.

IDEAS, organization of in composition, 108.

IMMEDIATE, versus ultimate values in spelling, 129, 130.

IMPROVEMENT: table showing capacity for improve-
ment. 52; ways in which improvement occurred, 52, 53.

INFREQUENT WORDS, spelling of, 130, 131, 133.

INITIAL MISSPELLING: persistence of, 64; an apparent
exception to the rule, 64.

Intelliqible, life history of correct spelling of, 68.

INVESTIGATION, purpose of present, 5-8.

LAPSES: treatment of, 32-34; teachers fail to discriminate
lapses from genuine error, ZZ.

LIFE HISTORY: of certain spellings, 48-73; words as-
signed in experiments, 48, 49; method of presentation
and study, 49; methods of recitation, 50; methods of
correction, 50, 51 ; table indicating capacity for im-
provement shown in experiments, 52; ways in which
improvement occurred, 52, 53; power of learning and
retaining new words, 53; persistence of certain mis-
takes, 54. 55 ; table showing history of spellings through
tests, 56-62; table showing tenacity of certain misspell-
ings, 6i; persistence of the initial error in spelling, 64;
an apparent exception to the rule, 64; why errors per-

278 INDEX

LIFE HISTORY— Co«/inM^rf

sist, 65, 67; motor habits in spelling, 66; preparation
of the spelling lesson, 66-67; life history of machinist,
67, 68; malignity, 68; intelligible, 68; accessory, 69; os-
tensible, 69; errors eliminated one at a time, 70; four
stages in word mastery, 71; when is a word mastered?
72', mastery more complete in one "modality" than an-
other, 72.

Machinist, life history of correct spelling of, 67, 68.

MAGAZINES, as affecting the need of teaching spelling, 140.

Malignity, life history of correct spelling of, 68.

MASTERY: of a word, 71; when is a word mastered? 72;
mastery more complete in one "modality" than an-
other, 72.

MEN : sex differences in spelling vocabularies, 235 ; words
dominant in the letters of, 239, 240.

METHODS: of determining the written vocabulary, 135-
143; of directing attention to the critical point in any
word, 46, 47; of presentation and study in experiment,
49; methods of recitation, 50; methods of correction,
50, 51 ; of presentation, 94-103.

"MODALITY," mastery of a word more complete in one
"modality" than in another, 72.

MOTOR HABITS, in spelling, 66.

Nervous, list showing misspellings of, 27.
NEWSPAPERS: investigation of lists of words used in,
135 ; as affecting the need of teaching spelling, 139, 140.
NEW WORDS, pupil's ability to learn and retain, 53.

ORAL versus graphic spelling, 101.

Ostensible, life history of correct spelling of, 69.

Piercing, list showing misspellings of, 26.

POST-CARD, as influencing the need of teaching spelling,
141, 142.

PREPARATION, of the spelling lesson. 6S, 67.

PRESENTATION: methods of, 94-103; variance of opin-
ions concerning, 94, 95; plan of investigation of, 95;
four types of, 916; table showing results of test in two
types of, 97; comparison of methods of, 98-100; oral
versus graphic, 101 ; advantages of each method of, 101 ;
showing a pupil his error, 102, 103.

PRESENT-DAY SPELLING: wide-spread criticism of the
teaching of, 1-3; various explanations offered for de-

INDEX 279

PRESENT-DAY SPELLING— Co»t/mM/rf

ficiency in, 1 ; the layman's view of method of teach-
ing, 2; conflicting opinions respecting methods and re-
sults, 3, 4; the layman's remedy, 3.

PROPER NAMES: in correspondence, 219-223; in spelling
needs, 253.

PURE TYPES, never found as regards mode of spelling, 117.

READING, in relation to learning to spell, 112-114.

REASONING, as involved in spelling, 115.

RECITATION, method of in experiments, 50.

ROBINSON CRUSOE, table showing result of dictation
from, 76, n.

RULES FOR SPELLING: value of, 10-22; lack of agree-
ment regarding use of in modern texts, 10, 11; examples
of rules found in spelling texts, 10; investigations of
university and high-school students in respect to value
of rules, 10, 11; word list used to test value of spelling
rules, 11-13; experience and training of students tested,
13, 14; three classes of people in respect to the use of
rules, 16; conscious versus unconscious use of a rule,
16, 17; table showing observance of rules, 17; function
of ie-ei rule, 18; value of rule on final e, 18, 19; value of
rule on final y, 19; value of rule for final ie, 20; stu-
dents' attitude toward rules, 21, 22; effects of types of
rules on errors, 43-45.

SCOPE, of present investigation, 5-7.

Sieve, list showing misspellings of, 26, 27.

SPECIAL FACTORS: in spelling, 112-121; learning to read
in relation to learning to spell, 112-114; fear of making
errors, 114; seeing and hearing mistakes, 115; reason-
ing out a spelling, 115; auditory and visual types, 116;
no pure types, 117; dominant type of error, 118; sylla-
bication as an aid, 118, 119; traits that make good spell-
ers, 119-121.

SPELLING: present-day interest in, 1, 2; differences of
opinion regarding the teaching of, 2; the layman's rem-
edy for apparent deficiency in, 3; hard and uninterest-
ing for pupils, 4; spelling vocabulary, 7-9. See Pres-
ent-Day Spelling; Vocabulary; Rules for Spelling;
Errors — Sources and Causes of; Life History of
Spelling ; Methods of Presentation ; Spelling Needs ;
Written Vocabulary.

SPELLING ABILITY: See Spelling; Spelling Needs;
Life History of Spellings; Written Vocabulary.

SPELLING CONSCIENCE, 108, 109.

28o INDEX

SPELLING EFFICIENCY: and composition, 104-111; plan
of tests, 104; the data gathered, 105-108; table showing
amount of composition versus breadth of vocabulary,
106; table showing amount of composition versus
breadth of vocabulary in relation to lapses and mis-
spellings, 107; organization of ideas, 108; spelling con-
science, 108, 109; attention to technique, 109, 110; ra-
pidity of writing, 110; summary of results, 110, 111.

"SPELLING HOSPITAL," for defective spellers in the high
school, 92.

SPELLING NEEDS: popular views of, 125-134; present
theory and practise, 125-127; number of words a child
should be able to spell when he finishes the eighth
grade, 126, 127; purpose of spelling, 127-129; the writ-
ing vocabulary in relation to the oral and reading vo-
cabulary, 128, 129; immediate versus ultimate values in
spelling, 129, 130; spelling of infrequent words, 130, 131,
133; pruning word lists, 131, 132; reasons for opposition
to curtailment of vocabulary, 132-134.

SPELLING VOCABULARY: 7-9; methods of determining,
135-143; investigation of lists in newspapers, 135; Chan-
cellor's work, 135, 136; Ayres' study of spelling vocab-
ularies, 136, 137; the needs of the "common people,"
137-139; family letters as affording accurate data, 138,
139; declining importance of spelling vocabulary, 139-
142; decline due to newspapers, magazines and books,
139, 140; influence of telegraph and telephone, 140; in-
fluence of increase in travel, 140; women as letter-
writers, 141 ; spelling as an art for the stenographer,
141 ; the influence of the post-card, 141, 142 ; no dan-
ger of hampering the child, 142, 143 ; vocabularies of
spelling-books, 225, 226; individual writing vocabularies,
230-234; of thirteen persons as revealed by successive
thousands of running words of correspondence, 234,
235 ; sex differences in spelling vocabulary, 235 ; words
dominant in letters of women, 236, 237; words dom-
inant in letters of men, 239, 240; the words that do
the work, 243-245.

STANDARD DICTIONARY, used in determining eligibility
of words, 153.

STENOGRAPHER, as particularly in need of spelling, 141.

SYLLABICATION: as a means of avoiding error, 45, 46;
as an aid in spelling, 118, 119.

TABLES: showing observance of rules, 17; showing varie-
ties of misspelling of ancient, 25; foreign, 26; piercing,
26; sieve, 26, 27; nervous, 27; encouragement, 27; awful,
28; argument, 28; dismayed, 28, 29; betrayal, 29; bene-

INDEX 281

TABLES— Continued

ated, 29; indicating capacity for improvement shown
in experiment, 52; showing history of spelHngs through
tests, 56-62; showing tenacity of certain misspeUings,
63; showing result of dictation of extract from Robin-
son Crusoe, 76, 77; showing spellings of words taken
from account of Chicago fire, 77, 78; summarizing re-
sults of tests, 81 ; showing results of original composi-
tion test, 83-86; showing two types of presentation, 97.

TECHNIQUE, attention to in composition, 109, 110.

TELEGRAPH, as affecting the need of teaching spelling, 140.

TELEPHONE, as influencing the need of teaching spelling,
140.

TEXTS: lack of agreement regarding use of rules in, 10, 11;
examples of rules found in spelling texts, 10; data re-
garding, 147-149; and spelling needs, 225-245; vocabu-
laries in spelling-books, 225, 226; relation of vocabu-
laries of spelling-books and of correspondents, 226-229;
limitations of any spelling-book, 229, 230 ; words found
in none of the spelling-books, 229; individual writing
vocabularies, 230-234; vocabularies of thirteen persons
as revealed by successive thousands of running words
of correspondence, 232 ; vocabularies in family and other
correspondence, 234, 235 ; sex differences in spelling vo-
cabulary, 235 ; list showing words dominant in letters
of women, 236-239; words dominant in letters of men,
239, 240; summary of sex interest, 240, 241; relation of
time economy to spelling needs, 241-243 ; the words that
do the work, 243-245. See Spelling Needs.

TIME ECONOMY, relation of to spelling needs, 241-243.

TRAITS, that make good spellers, 119-121.

TRAVEL, increase of as influencing need of teaching spell-
ing, 140.

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: investigation of regarding
value of spelling rules, 10, 11; experience and training
of students tested, 13, 14.

VISUAL, and auditory types, 116, 117.
VOWELS, obscure or elided, 41, 42.

WOMEN : as performing most of the work in family letter-
writing, 141 ; sex differences in spelling vocabulary, 235
words dominant in letters of women, 236, 237.

WORD LISTS: used to test value of spelling rules, 11-13
investigations of lists in newspapers, 135 ; pruning word
lists, 131, 132; derived from correspondence, 156-224
method of classifying, 156, 157; words used by all cor

282 INDEX

WORD LISTS— Continued

respondents, 157-161 ; words used by a majority of cor-
respondents, 161-173; words used by less than a major-
ity of the correspondents, 173-219; character of words
used by one writer only, 219; proper names in the cor-
respondence, 219-223; tabulation of foreign terms, 224;
vocabularies of thirteen persons as revealed by succes-
sive thousands running words of correspondence, 232;
words dominant in letters of women, 236-239; words
dominant in letters of men, 239, 240; words used in
compositions of children, 255-262.

WRITTEN VOCABULARY, methods of determining, 135-
143. See Spelling Vocabulary.

The Childhood and Youth Series

THE Childhood and Youth Series is the first sys-
tematic attempt to give to parents, teachers,
social workers and all others interested in the care
and training of the young, the best modern knowl-
edge about children in a manner easily understood
and thoroughly interesting. The various volumes
present in popular style the results of research in
every phase of child-life, every topic being handled
with strict scientific accuracy, but at the same time
in a simple, concrete and practical way.

Special emphasis is laid on the everyday problems arising in
the activities of the home and school, the street and places of
work and amusement. Each subject is discussed by a prominent
authority, competent to deal with it alilie in its scientific and
practical aspects. It has been constantly borne in mind by the
author of each volume that the Childhood and Youth Series is
intended primarily as a guide for parents and teachers.

Much of the literature that we have had in the past dealing
with such subjects has had no popular appeal or application. It
has been dry, technical and unintelligible for the average mother
— uninteresting to her, at leasL The Childhood and Youth Series,
however, is not academic in any respect; it is intimate and con-
fidential, the authors taking the attitude of friends and advisers
and their style having all the characteristics of convincing heart-
to-heart tallis. If they are always scientific, they are also always
sympathetic.

In the general field of the child's welfare and
progress in mind, body and emotions, the practi-
cal results of the latest scientific study are set forth
in clear and graphic form.

Questions of many and widely varying kinds are considered
—questions which come up every day in the home and in the
school and which parents and teachers find it difficult to answer.
The problems of food, nutrition, hygiene, physical defects and

The Childhood and Youth Series

deficiencies, nerves and nervous energy, sleep, stimulants and uat-
cotics, etc., receive careful treatment Ttie intellectual phases
are considered in other volumes, devoted to perception, mem~
ory, reason and the imagination. Such emotions as fear, anger,
pride, shame and the like are adequately treated.

In matters that have to do with the child's moral and socfal
well-being, all the latest theories are tested and explained. The
causes and prevention of juvenile delinquency receive fullest
consideration.

All the aspects of a rational education based on
the nature and needs of childhood claim atten-
tion here.

The various types of schools, the various methods of teaching
particular subjects, the relation between work and play, learning
and doing, the school and the community, are discussed for the
benefit of parents and teachers.

Another group of volumes deals with special traits of child-
hood and youth, — their reading and dramatic interests, clothes
and personal appearance, the use of money, etc.

The entire series is under the general editorship
of Dr. M. V. O'Shea, Professor of Education, Uni-
versity of Wisconsin, and probably the best and
widest known authority on educational subjects
in America.

Every book in the Childhood and Youth Series
is of value to the parent who wishes the best for
his child and to the teacher who is seeking higher
efficiency.

The Bobbs-Merrill Company

Publishers, Indianapolis

THE best-developed child in America, Winifred
Sackville Stoner, Jr., could speak several lan-
guages and wrote for newspapers and magazines
at the age of five, and yet retained all of the char-
acteristics of a healthy, playful child.

At the age of nine she passed the college entrance examinations,
and now at twelve, she has mastered eight languages, has writtea
nine books, is a teacher of Esperanto, an accomplished musician,
and is stronger physically than the average child of her age.

She is not a GENIUS nor a WONDER CHILD, but
simply a NORMAL CHILD WELL DEVELOPED through
a system of NATURAL EDUCATION invented by her
mother, Mrs. Winifred Sackville Stoner, from whom she
has received her training.

Any mother can do for her child what Mrs. Stoner has done
for her daughter, if she employs Mrs. Stoner's methods.

Any mother can learn Mrs. Stoner's system from her book, in
which she analyzes, outlines and describes her entire plan as
carried out during the education of her daughter from the cradle
to her tenth year.

Natural Education

By WINIFRED SACKVILLE STONER
Director-General Women's International Health League

is a book which every parent should read and study as one of
the first dutiee of devoted and successful parenthood.

Like all the boolu in the famous Childhood and Youth
Series, Natural Education is provided with a special in
troduction by the general editor. Dr. M. V. O'Shea, of the
Department of Education In the University of Wisconsin,
an analytical table of contents, carefully selected lists of
books and magazines for reference, further reading and
study, and a full index.

12mo, Cloth, One Dollar Net

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THE "teen age" is the critical age. Boys and
girls cause parents and teachers more anxiety
between thirteen and twenty than at any other
time. That is the period of adolescence — the
formative stage, the high-school age, the turning
point when futures are moulded.

It is, at the same time, tlie period at wliicti the boy and the girl
are most baffling and difficult to handle; when an ounce of di-
plomacy can accomplish more with them than a pound of dictum.

As a specialist and an authority. Professor Irving King
has prepared a veritable handbook on parental and peda-
gogical diplomacy which will ease the way of parents and
teachers in dealing with children during the formative
period and lead to far better results. He devotes special
attention to the question of co-education and the question
of handling mature, maturing and immature children of the
same age. He clears up the problems so confusing to the
adult mind and offers helpful suggestions.

The physical changes which take place during the early ado-
lescent age ; the intellectual and emotional developments which
parallel them ; and questions of health and school work as well
as practical matters pertaining to the conservation of the energy
and efOciency of high-school pupils are given full consideration in

The High-School Age

By IRVING KING

Assistant Professor of Education, University of Iowa; author of

Psychology of Child Development, Etc

No parent or teacher can read this work without feeling a
keener appreciation of the vital period in the child's life and
without being assisted to a better understanding of how to deal
most wisely with the boy or girl who Is passing rapidly from
childhood to maturity.

THE HIGH-SCHOOL AGE is one of the books in the
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH SERIES, undoubtedly the
most important collection of practical educational works
for parents and teachers ever produced in this country.
As a guide for the home or school it is unexcelled.

12mo, Cloth, One Dollar Net

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Publishers, Indianapolis

GET in tune with childhood. Take the chil-
dren's point of view. Find how work and
play may be united in their lives in happiest and
most effectual combination. See how the monot-
ony of the daily "grind" may be broken and lively,
wholesome, compelling interest be aroused in
home study, school work and tasks of the day.

Saccessful learning depends on successful teaching. The roman-
tic spirit of youth revolts against constraint, and the teacher, be
he parent or pedagogue, can succeed in educating the child only
by establishing between himself and his pupil, the proper sym«
pathetic relation.

Edgar James Swift, Professor of Psychology and Educa-
tion, Washington University, St. Louis, after years of ex-
tended experiment, has learned ways and means of accom-
plishing this and has collected a vast amount of valuable
information concerning methods of turning to educational
advantage the adventurous overflow of youthful energy.

He shows how home and school studies may take on a vital
relation to the actual daily life of children and how enthusiasm
for their work may be inculcated in the young. All this is told,
in a manner to quicken the interest of parents and teachers, in

Learning and Doing

By EDGAR JAMES SWIFT
Author of Mind in the Making, Etc.

Make the child as happy in his work as he is in his play by find-
ing how yon can appeal to his individual interests, tendencies
and intellectual traits, and how the learner may be taught with
the least resistance and greatest efficiency.

This Is precisely the book for every parent and teacher
who wants to make study a pastime and not a drudgery.
It is included in the Childhood and Youth SERtBS, the
important new collection of books for parents and teachers.

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AUTHORS OF BOOKS IN THE

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH SERIES

SARAH LOUISE ARNOLD

Dean of Simmons College, Boston ; author of Waymarks for Teach*
ers, Stepping Stones to Literature, Etc.

J. CARLETON BELL

Professor of the Art of Teaching, University of Texas; Managing
Editor, The Journal of Educational Psychology.

FREDERICK ELMER BOLTON

Dean, School of Education, University of Washington; author of
The Secondary School System of Germany, Etc.

MARY MARTHA BUNNELL

Instructor in Home Economics, University of Wisconsin.

C. WARD CRAMPTON

Director of Physical Education, New York City Public Schools,
author of Physiological Age.

JESSE B. DAVIS

Principal of Central Hifih School, and Vocational Director, Grand
Rapids; author of Vocational and Moral Guidance.

JASPER NEWTON DEAHL

Professor of Education, West Virginia University.

J. CLAUDE ELSOM

Assistant Professor of Physical Education, The University of

Wisconsin.

J. J. FINDLAY

Professor of Education, University of Manchester, England; author
of Arnold of Rugby, The School, Etc., Etc.

ARNOLD L. GESELL

Department of Education, Yale University; author of The Normal
Child, Primary Education.

MICHAEL F. GUYER

Professor of Zoology, The University of Wisconsin; author of
Animal Micrology.

COLONEL L. R. GIGNILLIAT

Superintendent The Culver Military Academy, Culver, Ind.

WILLIAM HEALY

Director Juvenile Psychopathic Institute, Chicago; Associate Pro-
fessor of Ner>'ous and Mental Diseases, Chicago Policlinic; In-
structor Harvard Summer School.

W. H. HECK

Professor of Education, University of Virginia; author of Mental
Discipline and Educational Values, Etc.

The Bobbs-Merrill Company

Publishers, Indianapolis

AUTHORS OF BOOKS IN THE

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH SERIES

FLORENCE HOLBROOK

Principal of the Forestville School, Chicago; author of hound the
Year in Myth and Song, Studies in Poetry, Etc.

DAVID STARR JORDAN

Chancellor of Stanford University ; author of Care and Culture of
Men, Footnotes to Evolution, Etc., Etc.

C. A. McMURRY

Director of Normal Training, Superintendent of Schools, DeRalb,
Illinois; author of A Series of General and Special Methods in
School Work.

JUNIUS L. MERIAM

Professor of School Supervision, University of Missouri ; author of
Normal School Education, Etc.

JAMES T. NOE

Professor of Education, University of Kentucky.

RAYMOND RIORDON

Director of the Raymond Riordon School, on Chodikee Lake, N. Y.;
author of Lincoln Memorial School — A New Idea in Industrial
Education, Etc.

WALTER SARGENT

Professor of Art Education, University of Chicago ; author of Fine
and Industrial Arts in the Elementary Schools.

FRANK CHAPMAN SHARP

Professor of Philosophy, The University of Wisconsin ; author of
Shakespeare's Portrayal of the Moral Life, Etc.

ALFRED E. STEARNS

Principal of Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; author of various
articles in the Atlantic Monthly, Outlook, Etc.

WINTHROP ELLSWORTH STONE

President Purdue University ; Member of the Indiana State Board
of Education.

THOMAS A. STOREY

Professor of Hygiene, College of the City of New York, Secretary
Fourth International Congress on School Hygiene.

M. H. STUART

Principal Manual Training High School, Indianapolis.

BLANCHE M. TRILLING

Director of Women's Gymnasium, The University of Wisconsin.

GUY MONTROSE WHIPPLE

Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, Cornell University;
author of Questions in Psychology, Etc.

The Bobbs-Merrill Company

Publishers, Indianapolis

The Childhood and Youth Series

NATURAL EDUCATION
Mrs. Stoner explains the methods by which she made her
daughter "the best developed cliild in America" mentally, mor-
ally and physically; the simple yet astonishing methods which
make for the health, happiness and wisdom of any normal child.
By MRS. WINIFRED SACKVILLE STONER
Director-General Women's International Health Leagae

LEARNING AND DOING
The way to learn how to run an automobile Is by running It.
Professor Swift shows how this practical principle may be ap-
plied to history, literature and language-study. A book that
breaks up monotony in teaching, stirs enthusiasm, makes the
parent and teacher see the child's point of view.

By EDGAR JAMES SWIFT

Professor of Psychology and Education, Washington

University ; author of Mind in the Making. Etc

THE CHILD AND HIS SPELLING

Can your child spell? Business and professional men think
the children of this generation poor spellers. What's the trouble
with the way spelling is taught at home and in school ? The
authors of this book make a simple but scientific analysis of the
whole question.

By WILLIAM A. COOK

Assistant Professor of Education, University of Colorado; and

M. V. O'SHEA

Professor of Education, University of Wisconsin

THE HIGH-SCHOOL AGE
The "teen age" is the critical age, the dangerous age of ado-
lescence, when the future of the child's life is largely determined
and the bending of the twig inclines the tree. Professor King hero
shows parent and teacher how to solve the difficult and all-im-
portant problems of this crisis.

By IRVING KING

Professor of Education, University of Iowa ; author of

Psychology of Child Development, Etc.

Each volume with Special Introduction by the General Editor,
M. V. O'Shea, Analytical Table of Contents, Carefully Selected
Lists of Books for Reference, Further Reading and Study, and a
Full Index.

Each, 12mo, Cloth, One Dollar Net

The Bobbs-Merrill Company

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The Childhood and Youth Series

THE WAYWARD CHILD
A practical treatment of the causes of juvenile delinquency and
methods of its prevention, by one who has extensive experience
in dealing with the young.

By MRS. FREDERIC SCHOFF

President National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher

Association; President Philadelphia Juvenile Court

and Probation Association ; Collaborator, Home

Education Division, Bureau of Education

FEAR
A comprehensive, concrete discussion of (1) psychology of fear;
(2) varieties of fears found normally in cliildhood and youth; (3)
ways in which fears are expressed and their effects; (4) treatment
of fear in home and school.

By G. STANLEY HALL

President Clark University, Worcester, Mass.; author of

Adolescence, Educational Problems, Etc.

SELF-HELP
Practical aid to parents and teachers in teaching children to
do things for themselves, written by a mother, teacher and keen
student of Madame Montessori, Froebel, Pestalozzi, et al.

By DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER
Author of A Montessori Mother, English^Composition of Rhetoric. Etc.

THE USE OF MONEY
How to train the young to appreciate (1) what money repre-
resents in labor and privilege ; (2) how it may best be expended.

By E. A. KIRKPATRICK

Read of Department of Psychology and Child-Study, State Normal

Schoc.l, Fitchburg, Mass.; author of F'undamentals of

Child-Study, The Individual in the Making, Etc.

THE BACKWARD CHILD
A volume dealing with the causes of backwardness among chil-
dren and also the technique of determining when a child is back-
ward, and practical methods of treating him.

By ARTHUR HOLMES

Dean of the General Faculty, Pennsylvania State College;

author of The Conservation of the Child, Etc.

Each Volume With Special Introduction By the General Editor, M. V.
O'Shea, Analytical Table of Contents, Carefully Selected Lists of Books
lor Reference, Further Reading and Study, and a Full Index.

Each, 12mo, Cloth, One Dollar Net

The Bobbs-Merrill Company

Publishers. Indianapolis

A HUNDRED thousand American mothers
venerate the name of Mrs. Frederic Schoff
(Hannah Kent Schoff). She has dedicated her
life to the work of making the new generation
better, stronger and more efficient, and has been
an inspiration to every woman in the land to do
her full part to insure the future of America.

Through her leadership of the National Congress of Mothers
and Parent-Teacher Associations, she is the presiding genius of
the greatest educational movement this country has known.

As President of the Philadelphia Juvenile Court and Pro-
bation Association, she has had an opportunity to study
the wajrward children of a great city. She has carried on
extensive investigations among men and women confined
in prisons and correctional institutions to learn from them
at first hand to what they attribute their downfall.

By this broad experience she is qualified to speak with
unique authority on the training of children in the home,
and especially on the problem of tlie wayward child.

She makes a forceful appeal to parents both because of their
natural desire to guard ttieir children from all harmful influ-
ences and because they realize that home training, which comes
first of all in every child's life, moulds his morality. If any
parent doubts this, he needs more than ever to study

The Wayward Child

By HANNAH KENT SCHOFF

President National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations;

President Philadelphia Juvenile Court and Probation Association

She shows beyond all doubt that the early training in the home
can make or unmake characters at will, that homes in which
children have been brought up carelessly or inefficiently are
largely responsible for the wayward children who later make
up our criminal population.

THE WAYWARD CHILD is one of the books in the
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH SERIES, undoubtedly the
most important collections of practical educational works
for parents and teachers ever produced in this country.
As a guide for the home or school it is unexcelled.

12mo, Cloth, One Dollar Net

IF YOUR CHILD grows up to be a spendthrift
blame yourself. It is the fault of the training
received in childhood, or the lack of it.

But parents are hard pressed forways and means
of teaching their children how to use money —
how to save it, and how to spend it.

Should a child have a regular allowance? Should he be given
money when he asks for it or only when he really needs it?
Should he be given money as a reward or as a payment for
services? Should he be allowed to work for money at an early
age?

Professor E. A. Kirkpatrick has made a special study of
children to learn their attitude toward money in the
home and the world outside. He has carried on investi-
gations to determine their natural inclinations and decide
how parents may encourage the right inclinations and
curb those which lead to the unhappy extremes in the
use of money — miserliness or prodigality.

The Use of Money

By E. A. KIRKPATRICK

State Normal School, Fitchburg, Mass.; author of Fundamentals of
Child Study, The Individual In the Making, etc.

It offers sound advice, which any parent will be fortunate to
obtain. It tells when the child should begin to learn the real
value of money and how to dispose of it properly, and suggests
methods by which this training may be given. It clears the
mind of all doubt as to how to induce thrift in the child, so that
in later life he will be better equipped, not only for business,
but in the conduct of the household and private affairs.

THE USE OF MONEY, like all the other books in the
famous Childhood and Youth Series, is designed to be of
immediate, practical benefit to the average parent, guard-
ian or teacher.

12mo, Cloth, One Dollar Net

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

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This book Is DUE on the last date stamped below.

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