(g) There may be accuracy or inaccuracy in meanings. The meaning of a word may vary considerably according to its context. Open in the sense of open the door has not the same meaning as open in the sense of open the box. Most English words have two or more meanings; the foreign words which are assumed to be their equivalents may also have two or more meanings, but the foreign word does not necessarily have all the meanings of the English word, and vice versa. The branch of linguistics which deals with meanings, synonyms, translations, definitions, etc., is called ‘semantics’; special forms of work have been devised to ensure semantic accuracy on the part of the student.

The principle of accuracy may be expressed as follows: Do not allow the student to have opportunities for inaccurate work until he has arrived at the stage at which accurate work is to be reasonably expected.

If we force him to speak French before he has been sufficiently drilled in French sounds, we are forcing him to pronounce inaccurately. If we tell him to do French composition before he has acquired the necessary habits of inflexion, compounding, and sentence-building, we are inviting him to do inaccurate work. If we compel him to talk to us in French before he has become proficient in conversion and similar drills, we are virtually compelling him to speak pidgin-French and, incidentally, to form the habit of doing so. In opposition to the principle of accuracy, we are frequently told that “It is only by making mistakes that we learn not to make them,” and that “Only by going into the water can we learn to swim.” These are cheap proverbs, and we may as easily coin others such as: “It is by making mistakes that we form the habit of making them”; or, “He who has not learnt to swim will drown when thrown into deep water.”

The method of trial and error, to which we have already alluded, is in direct opposition to the principles of accuracy; it is the method of sink-or-swim, of die-or-survive, of flounder-and-grope-until-you-hit-on-the-right-way. To replace this method by something less cruel is the function of such things as guides, teachers, and pedagogic devices. For let us remark that the environment of the young child who acquires language spontaneously, as explained in Chapter [I], is such that error has little or no chance of surviving; the persons with whom he is in contact are providing him continually with accurate models of whatever the dialect may happen to be; he is given no chance of imitating wrong models, and he is not intelligent enough to create them himself in any appreciable degree. Furthermore, the young child as a matter of fact does not begin to use language until he is fairly proficient in the important speech-habits; he rarely or never uses a form of speech until he has memorized it by hearing it used by others.

One of the most important advances in the art of language-teaching will have been made when the principle of accuracy is understood, accepted, and adopted by all who are engaged in this work either as teachers or as trainers of teachers.

We have seen, then, that there are seven branches of language-study in which accuracy (or inaccuracy) may be developed. In connexion with each of these there exist methods, exercises, and devices designed to inculcate right habits and to prevent the formation of wrong ones. There exist also sciences upon which most of these are based. The methods dealing with sounds, stress, intonation, and fluency are based on the data furnished by phonetics, and without a knowledge of this science the teacher is unlikely to secure accuracy in these branches. The (so far empirical) science of grammar is the basis of those methods and exercises calculated to ensure accuracy in inflexions and sentence-building. Orthography (possibly a science, though this is doubtful) is the basis of spelling work, and the new (and so far empirical) science of semantics will furnish the necessary data for all methods, exercises, and devices concerned with meanings.

In addition to these specific sciences, methods, exercises, and devices, there are general forms of method of the strategical order, the effect of which is to ensure general accuracy. As these are practically identical with gradation, we reserve their consideration for the next chapter.

CHAPTER X
GRADATION

Gradation means passing from the known to the unknown by easy stages, each of which serves as a preparation for the next. If a student who is willing to learn and is capable of learning finds his lessons too difficult, if he fails to understand or to apply correctly the explanations we give him, if his rate of progress is too slow, if he forgets frequently what he has already learnt, and if his oral or written work is characterized by an excessive degree of inaccuracy, it is perfectly certain that his course and his lessons are badly graded.