METHOD
By oral reading, we mean the giving of the thought obtained from a printed page to others through the medium of the voice.
There is first the training of the eye in taking in a number of words at a glance—a mechanical process; then the interpretation of these groups of words—a mental process; next the making known of the ideas thus obtained to others, by means of the voice—also a mechanical process.
The children need special help in each step. We are apt to overdo one at the expense of the others.
1. Eye-training is the foundation of all good reading. Various devices are resorted to in obtaining it. We will suggest a few, not new at all, but useful.
(a) A strip of cardboard, on which is a clause or sentence, is held before the class, for a moment only, and then removed. The length of the task is increased as the eye becomes trained to this kind of work.
(b) The children open their books at a signal from the teacher, glance through a line, or part of one, indicated by the teacher, close book at once and give the line.
(c) The teacher places on the board clauses or sentences bearing on the lesson, and covers with a map. The map is rolled up to show one of these, which is almost immediately erased. The children are then asked to give it. The map is then rolled up higher, exposing another, which also is speedily erased—and so on until all have been given to the children and erased.
2. The child needs not only to be able to recognize groups of words, but he must be able to get thought from them. The following are some devices to that end:—
(a) Suggestive pictures can be made use of to advantage all through the primary grades. If the child reads part of the story in the picture, and finds it interesting, he will want to read from the printed page the part not given in the picture.
(b) Where there is no picture—or even where there is one—an aim may be useful to arouse interest in the thought, i.e. a thoughtful question may be put by the teacher, which the children can answer only by reading the story; e.g. in the supplementary reader, "Easy Steps for Little Feet," is found the story of "The Pin and Needle." There is no picture. The teacher says, as the class are seated: "Now we have a story about a big quarrel between a pin and a needle over the question, 'Which one is the better fellow?' Of what could the needle boast? Of what the pin? Let us see which won."
(c) Let all the pupils look through one or more paragraphs, reading silently, to get the thought, before any one is called upon to read aloud. If a child comes to a word that he does not know, during the silent reading, the teacher helps him to get it—from the context if possible—if not, by the sounds of the letters which compose it.
As each child finishes the task assigned, he raises his eyes from the book, showing by this act that he is ready to tell what he has just read. The thought may be given by the child in his own language to assure the teacher that he has it. Usually, however, in the lower grades, this is unnecessary, the language of the book being nearly as simple as his own.
The advantage of having all the pupils kept busy, instead of one alone who might be called upon to read the paragraph, is evident. Every child reads silently all of the lesson. Time would not permit that this be done orally, were it advisable to do so. When the child gets up to read, he is not likely to stumble, for he has both the thought and the expression for it, at the start.
While aiming to have the children comprehend the thought, the teacher should not forget, on the other hand, that this is the reading hour, and not the time for much oral instruction and reproduction. There are other recitations in which the child is trained to free oral expression of thought, as in science and literature. Such offhand oral expression of his own ideas is not the primary aim of the reading lesson. Its purpose is to lend life to the recitation.
3. Steps 1 and 2 deal with preparation for the reading. Up to this time, no oral reading has been done. Now we are ready to begin.
Children will generally express the thought with the proper emphasis if they not only see its meaning but also feel it. Suppose the children are interested in the thought of the piece, they still fail, sometimes, to give the proper emphasis. How can the teacher, by questioning, get them to realize the more important part of the thought?
(a) The teacher has gone deeper into the meaning than have the children. Her questions should be such as to make real to the children the more emphatic part of the thought; e.g. in the Riverside Primer we have, "Poor Bun, good dog, did you think I meant to hit you?" John reads, "Do you think I meant to hit you?" The teacher says, "I will be Bun, John. What is it that you do not want Bun to think?" ("That I meant to hit him.") "But you did mean to hit something. What was it you did not mean to hit? Tell Bun." ("I did not mean to hit you.") Now ask him if he thought that you did. ("Did you think I meant to hit you?")
(b) When the story is in the form of a dialogue, the children may personate the characters in the story. Thus, getting into the real spirit of the piece, their emphasis will naturally fall where it properly belongs.
(c) Sometimes the teacher will find it necessary to show the child how to read a passage properly, by reading it himself. It is seldom best to do this—certainly not if the correct expression can be reached through questioning.
Many a teacher makes a practice of giving the proper emphasis to the child, he copying it from her voice. Frequently, children taught in this way can read one piece after another in their readers with excellent expression, but, when questioned, show that their minds are a blank as to the meaning of what they are reading.
In working for expression, a great many teachers waste the time and energy of the pupils by indefinite directions. The emphasis is not correctly placed, so the teacher says, "I do not like that; try it again, May." Now, May has no idea in what particular she has failed, so she gives it again, very likely as she gave it before, or she may put the emphasis on some other word, hoping by so doing to please the teacher. "Why, no, May, you surely can do better than that," says the teacher. So May makes another fruitless attempt, when the teacher, disgusted, calls on another pupil to show her how to read. May has gained no clearer insight into the thought than she started out with, no power to grapple more successfully with a similar difficulty another time, and has lost, partly at least, her interest in the piece. She has been bothered and discouraged, and the class wearied.
Sometimes when the expression is otherwise good, the children pitch their voices too high or too low. Natural tones must be insisted upon. A good aid to the children in this respect is the habitual example of quiet, clear tones in the teacher.
Another fault of otherwise good reading is a failure to enunciate distinctly. Children are inclined to slight many sounds, especially at the end of the words, and the teacher is apt to think: "That doesn't make so very much difference, since they are only children. When they are older they will see that their pronunciation is babyish, and adopt a correct form." This is unsound reasoning. Every time the child says las for last he is establishing more firmly a habit, to overcome which will give him much difficulty.
In the pronunciation of words as well as in the reading of a sentence, much time is wasted through failure to point out the exact word, and the syllable in the word, in which the mistake has been made. The child cannot improve unless he knows in what particular there is room for improvement.
Children in primary grades should be supplied with a good variety of primers, readers, and simple story books. In the course of their work they should read through a number of first, second, and third readers. Much of this reading should be simple and easy, so that they can move rapidly through a book, and gain confidence and satisfaction from it. In each grade there should be several sets of readers, which can be turned to as the occasion may demand. It is much better to read a new reader, involving in the main the same vocabulary, than to reread an old book. This use of several books in each grade adds to the interest and reduces to a minimum the mere drills, which are to be avoided as much as possible.