Lippincott's Horn-Ashbaugh Speller For Grades One to Eight

It is the intention of the authors to include sufficient discussion and directions to teachers so that this book may be taught with the highest possible degree of efficiency. Under general directions to teachers will be found a discussion of those points which concern all teachers regardless of grade. In addition, preceding the word list for each grade will be found supplementary directions to aid the teachers in facing the problems peculiar to that grade.
Special attention is called to the elaborate provision for making the pupil intelligent and responsible in his attack on his own spelling problems. This result is achieved by the testing plan which discovers to the pupil his deficiencies; by the standard scores which enable him to compare his accomplishment with that of other children; by the efficient method of study which is provided; and by the unusually rigorous follow-up work given in the review lessons. The authors therefore present this book to the pupils and teachers of the United States as a contribution to the solution of the problem of developing a nation of good spellers.
The Authors.
December, 1920.


How the Teaching of Spelling May be Improved. —The teaching of spelling may be improved in three ways: first, by selecting a better list of words for the pupil to study; second, by placing before the pupils of each grade the words that are most appropriate for them; and third, by introducing economical procedures in learning. The first is the problem of the course of study; the second, the problem of grading; and the third, the problem of method.
The Vocabulary. —To solve the first problem one must insure that the pupils will study all words they are likely to use in life outside the school. One must also insure that the pupils' time will not be wasted through their being required to learn words which they will never use. This problem has been solved for you by the authors of the text. The vocabulary of the lessons is taken from a compilation which Doctor Horn has made of ten scientific investigations of the words used in writing letters. These investigations, taken together, represent the careful analysis of over three-quarters of a million running words of correspondence. If you will analyze one letter, you will see what a very great amount of work these investigations have required. It seems very unlikely that any word commonly and frequently used should have been overlooked in all of these investigations.