High School English Instruction and Its Relation to a College Program in the Communications Skills

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50

50

..

67

..

...

67

58

o3

42

Varying Practices— This tabulation must not be interpreted to mean that elaborat© sentence analysis is no longer bein used as an instructional technique in high school English courses. Diagramming, parsing, and nomenclature drill was practiced to some extent In all of th© schools visited but the emphasis is definitely on the techniques as indicated above.

Table VII (Cent,d ) In most of th© schools employing workbooks, a major portion of the Instructional time allocated to the teaching of grammar, punctuation, and usage, consisted of filling In of forms In the workbook exercises accompanied by occasional class discussion* In several of the Class t> and Class C schools, the writer received the Impression that for all practical purposes systematic instruction in grammar, punctuation, and usage, was the workbook per so., and the amount of time allotted to Instruction In these areas was the time necessary to complete th© filling in of forms In the workbooks• Some Incidental instruction in these areas, consisting of correction of errors In the speaking and writing activities of the students, was done In all of th© schools visited*

punctuation, and in usage as they occur in the speaking and writing activities of the students in the English courses. Instruction In Exposition, Argumentstion, Criticism, And Narration None of th© schools in this investigation provided instruction In exposition, argumentation, criticism, and narration aa separate units or topics.

English instructors

In th© schools investigated appoar not to have clearly de­ fined these topics in their own thinking.

As a result, they

receive rather incidental treatment in the English courses and students have only a general notion as to the nature of exposition, argumentation, criticism, and narration.

Much

of the instruction in types of communication stems from the writing activities in the classroom rather than having th© writing activities relate to the type of communication under consideration. All of th© schools Indicated that students receive Instruction In organization.

Without exception this in­

struction involved practice in general outlining with th© emphasis on outlining selections from books and periodicals rather than organizing ideas and detail for exposition or argumentation.

There seemed to b© no provision for in­

struction in the organization of ideas according to the

basic sequences*

Much of the instruction in organization

appeared to be incidental in nature* Instruction In Writing The amount of writing high school students do and th© courses in English which prescribe the various types of writing are shown in Tables ¥111 to XII*

Only 15 per cent

of th© high schools provided for writing activities involving argumentation*

Precis writing received very little emphasis

in th© Class D schools*

Not only did fewer Class D schools

mak© provision for precis writing than did the other schools, but the amount of precis writing In those Class D schools that do provide for it was much lass than in th© other schools* It is worthy of note that the students In a sub­ stantial proportion of the schools do expository and narrative writing In the junior and senior courses In English.

Although

these courses have traditionally been literature courses, con­ siderable emphasis is given to formal work in communication* Table VI shows th© emphasis on grammar, punctuation, and usage and Tables X, XI, and XII point out the emphasis on writing. Perhaps a weakness of the English program in high schools is not the amount of writing high school students do but is rather th© types of writing they do and th© proportion­ ate emphasis each type receives. Th© amount of writing high school students do as

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Table ¥111 Kinds of Writing High School Students Do In Various Courses In English -yi*.■■■"r=r a • Per cent of Schools Prescribing s Class j Class : Total TYPE : Class i Class : • .. a. __ * -.T>... SSchools ........ ....... . ■ ........ JL .3___ !i . -

Friendly Letters

100

87

100

100

Business Letters

83

75

67

83

rjry

Narrative Themes

67

87

100

67

81

Expository Themes

100

100

67

67

85

Argumentative Themes

--

37

— -

17

15

62

83

33

62

Precis Writing

67

96

Varying Practices--Th ere was found to b© wide variation in regard to th© types of writing required of students enrolled In the English courses* One Class A school Included a unit on letter writing In the course-of-study for English 9* In three of the schools the students were members of an organi­ zation referred to as “pen Pals,1* the purpose being to stimulate letter writing among students from different schools* The letter writing activities in these schools consisted of correspondence with members of this organization from other schools* One school Indicated that all letter writing activities occurred in connection with offerings in business education* Only four schools required the students to write well-organised argumentative themes* The students In on© of th© Class B schools wrote an extensive book review for each six weeks period In English literature. The teacher classified these as research papers* Much of th© writing of the students was of a general nature and was loosely classified by the teachers into the types presented In this tabulation* Teachers indicated that most of the writing was an account based on personal experience or some imaginative event* Only two schools required students to writ© extensive papers which Involved research to any considerable degree* A majority of the themes were short papers consisting of several paragraphs*

■- % t i

o

Table IX Writing Done by High School Students

Median Number Written In Various Classes of Schools 5 Class : Class s Class 3 Class s Total : A i B s C D % I 1

«

«

A XJTi2i

Friendly Letters

12

Business Letters Narrative Themes Expository Themes Argumentative Themes Precis Writing

9

10

8

9

8

8

10

10

8

4

7

12

8

7

18

9

8

10

9

---------

3

---------

2

3

25

34

21

9

20

Varying Prac tlcea— The re was found to b© very little uni­ form! ty of practic© among schools and even v/ithin schools in regard to the amount of writing required of students enrolled in the English courses. For example, one Class D school assigned only two themes In each of its English courses per year. However, these themes were extensive research papers organized very much In the manner of theses. On© Class D school and three Class B schools required th© students to write two or three well-organised argumentative themes while none of the other schools Included argumentation in the curriculum. The number of expository themes written by students in different schools varied from two per year to one per week. Similar variation was found among th© other types of writing required of students. Precis writing was not as popular in the Class D schools as in the larger schools.

Table X Course® in English Providing Expository Writing

COURSE

i Per cent of Schools Prescribing $ Class % Class : Class : Class i Total ’Schools B -,.,^■■^^4....A... .2 j D_ 2 -C 1 111,11,11 111,111 :Schools "

9

50

75

83

83

73

English 10

33

75

67

83

65

American Lit.

33

62

67

33

50

English Lit.

33

50

67

33

46

Current L i t •

---

Business Eng* Grammar Journalism

---

---

— -

---

---

---

— •*«»

*—

---

-----

Varying Practices- - Tv/o of the Class D schools In this tabulation provTded Instruction in spelling at the 9th grad© level only. One of the Class C schools provided this Instruction at the 10th grade level only. All of th© teachers interviewed indicated that some work was done In spelling but those not Included In the tabulation Indicated that the work was done Incidentally in connection with errors occurring in writing activities.

teachers, In general, were not trained in methods of teach­ ing spelling*

Th© general pattern of instruction consisted

of the assignment of a word list with subsequent testing to determine the number of words the students are abl© to spell correctly*

There was very little attention to the

teaching of rules In spelling* The Alms Of High School English Instruction In regard to the aims of the English curriculum, schools have not formulated statements of the objectives of instruction in English anymore than they have develop­ ed eoursoa-of-study for the English curriculum.

The writer

Is of th© opinion that there would be considerable agree­ ment among English teachers as to what they are trying to accomplish, in a general way, In the English courses, namely: to develop the ability to express oneself in acceptable English^ to develop the ability to use normal conventions In mechanics of writing, etc.

To obtain a picture of what

English teachers ©re doing specifically to further the general objectives of education, it is necessary to be familiar with th© nature and content of the English program In the high schools, as well as with methods of instruction* These are presented to some extent In the foregoing pages and ©re summarised in Tables I to XIV.

General Scholastic Ability of High School Seniors j . i"nn ■■'.sas .‘.uiiWi.vui.irtisaauamJau tssxas iw a d h feai m .trjg g .iaas ^ p ^m tuittniaw B aras

•rnm.'fi'i1 v iam i,„iii.u:

The composite score on th© Iowa Tests of Edu­ cational Pevelopment was used as a measure of the general scholastic abilities of high school seniors*

Figure 1

presents the distributions of composite scores of high school seniors classified according to school size and total schools in the sample*

The lower extremity of the heavy

line of each verticle graph represents th© 25th percentile and th© upper extremity the 75th percentile*

Th© short

crossbar in the heavy portion of th© graph represents th© median or 50th percentile.

The lower and upper extremities

of the light verticle lines extending from each end of the heavy line represent th©

10

th and 90th percentiles respective­

ly, and the extremities of the broken lines include th© middle 96 per cent of all of the composite scores obtained for the corresponding group.

The scale at the left of the figure is

expressed in standard scores established for this battery of tests • For purposes of this study, th© distributions of composite scores become more meaningful when expressed in relationship to general scholastic ability required for success in college and to the distribution of composite scores of high school seniors who attend college.

Science

Research Associates, in th© pamphlet Your Scores on tbs

40 35

30

98+k

ile

25 r %-We 7F+h %-ile 20 50+h

%'de 15 r 25+h %-ile

lOth

lOr

%'tle

2nd

%'de

4 —

Class

Fi j . l

Class

A B D is trib u tio n s Iowa Tests

Class

Clas^

Total

C D of Com|posite Scores on E d u catio n al Development".

Iowa Tests of Educational Development and What The j ho an published for distribution to high school students partici­ pating in the Iowa fall Testing Program, states In general, If you plan to go to college, you should be above average on all or most of th© tests. Experience has shown that students who are below the high school average when they graduate^ from high school seldom do well in college.^ Phearman, In a study comparing high school seniors who attend college with those who do not, found th© follow­ ing to be true concerning th© composite scores obtained by high school seniors who attend colleges The median percentile rank on th© Iowa Teats of Educational Development of youth enrolled in college was 7 o •?, the third quartlie point of this group had a percentile rank of 90.5, and those at the first quartII© poijnt had a per­ centile rank of 51.5.10 He points out further that 22 par cent of the students attending eollag© had a percentile rank of nlntyone or above, 47.1 per cent had a percentll© rank of seventy-four or above, and 77.7 per cent had a percentile rank of fifty or above.

Only 10 per cent of the student©

in the lowest quartlie on these tests enrolled In college. 9• Your Scores on the"Iowa Teat’a^of'"1MucatiQnairnSeveXopmint and What They Mean, publi she'd 'Ey Sc ten c © He search Associates, Chicago, 111. W W M lll.l II il

I 'H IH i .1 1,

"

'" "'*1"

H 'M W inW M — ii-' W

*

m

3D. L. T. Phearman, Comparisons of High School Graduates Who Co To Col 1 eg© 1Wl tfa.' Ihos'e Who Do Hot Co To College, unpuETlsHed""'Ph• D •"’HTsserEat'ion, STal’ e UnTversY^iy&t" Iowa, 1948#

It Is or interest to note that the range of general scholastic abilities of high school seniors Is approximately the same for all classes of schools. Achievement of aHigh School Seniors in t w i s n r x w a ' g ' i r j iWKHgffl q s s ;a i'ii;a.i';ii'.Trs»,i'.p,v8i ass a s

Txiift/.ff.'i'iW.'.NWffgww'fflTiT.awt.fflBi.

jesses

Heading and Writing

^ ■ ^■ *■ ■ ^ 111hi. 1 ,1 -fjri

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tj-

t

iJW fc

The attainments of high school seniors In reading and writing was measured by the reading tests of the Iowa Testa of Educational Development and the English Placement teat, the General Vocabulary test* the Hate of ReadIng test, and the Theme Yifriting test of the Freshmen Entrance Examination Program*

Hie distributions of scores obtained on these tests

are presented In graphic form on the pages following.

F’igures

2 to B are similar to figure 1 and are to be read In the same manner.

’ The scales to th© left of figures 3, 4* and 5 are

expressed In standard scores established for the Iowa Testa of Educational Development. are expressed In raw scores•

The scales In the other figures For purposes of comparison, the

distributions of scores obtained by entering freshmen at the State University of Iowa are Included. Figure 2 compares the scores obtained by high school seniors with those obtained by colleges freshmen on the English Placement test.

Hie range of the middle 50

per cent of tha scores obtained by the individuals In th© Class 0 schools Is slightly less than the rang© of th©

t

38 fh I %- He -

I



T O fh %-Ue 0

T

-r

T

T

7 3 fh

%'Jle

3 0 +h

% :Tfe

25+h

j

% -ile

I

I OH)

T

i

x

!

2 .nd

^

%- i l e

i_

x

.X

Class A

.2

Class (3

C lass G

Class D

Total

SU[ F re s h m e n

Comparison of Scores on Test op English Placements

ratddle 00 per cent of any of th© otiier high school groups, which la to he expected la t w students represented*

of the small number of

It will be noted that 76 per cent

of entering college freateen equal or exceed the ©edlen score obtained by high school seniors* Unpublished data reported by Pressey and uoblnson concerning progress in. the elimination of errors In English composition from the third grade into college Is in close agreement with the resul ts obtained in this study*

They

state the following concerning Instruction In the mechanics of written composition: The most striking pro;tf«as la evidently inad© in the first eight grades| such slight gains as appear thereafter way conceivable be"the result more of poorer students leaving school than of English instruction in high school and college* Analysis showed that nmnj of the *ferrors1* after tbs eighth grade were on nice .points which liberal authorities would not consider errors at a l l *1 1 The distribution of scores on the reading teste of the Iowa Teafrs of Educational Development are shown In figures 3 $ 4, and 5*

Hie median or middle score made by

high school seniors on each of these teste, regardless of classification, was exceeded by at least 75 per cent of the college freshmen*

The distribution of scores* for Class D

school® consistently ranks at or below the distributions

irrrrr Mew £>•

54 35

%'ii6 30 .

T

25

%-ile

50 fh % -ile 2 5 Hi

%.le lotfi %-ile

2nd_

%-ile

O Class A

Class 0

Class C

Class D

Total

SUI Freshmen

FTg•3 Com parison of Scores on Test of In t e r p r e ta t io n of R ead in g

M a t e r i a l s In t k e

S o c ia l

S tu d ie s *

35

T I I 30

96th %~;Je

T

I T

I i 1

25

I I I I X

T

i I I r i i i

T I

I I I X i I

90fo %-ile

75+h %-ile

f

90fh

20

15

lOffi %- schools but that the middle score made by high school seniors as a total Is exceeded by exactly 75 per cent of the entering college freshmen*

More

than 50 per cent but less than 75 per cent of the College freshmen exceeded the median score made by Individuals In the Class B schools In this study* extent, Methods* and Attainments of Communication Skills The aims of th© Communication Skills Program are best stated by direct quotation from th© Assignment Syllabus prepared by the Communication Skills Staff of the University of Iowa* ..•this program should attempt to provide the degree of skill In writing, speaking, and reading that Is necessary for effective partici­ pation In both college and non-college life, and furnigh a basis for subsequently increased skill in these respects as knowledge and experience are enlarged•^ There are three programs of training in Communication

61 45

r

40

T

-i-

98 th %-ile

9 0 th °7o-

lie

75th %-»le

%-ile

% -ile

Class Fig

A

Class

Class Class Total S ill A 6 C D F re s h m e n Comparison oj Scores on Test op Theme W r i t i n g .

Skills at the State University of T.ov;a:

(a) a one semester

accelerated program for freshmen who denonctrate, on the entrance examinations, above-avex*age abilities in reading, writing, and speaking $ (b ) a iriain pro grata consisting of two semesters of Instruction in reading, writing, and speaking for entering, students falling in the middle (30 per. cent on the freshmen entrance examinationsj and (c) a r ©medial program for those freshmen having considerable deficiency in one or more ar^as of communicatIon* In the accelerated and main programs, students registered for a given hour eve divided according to apparent needs Into speaking emphasis, writing emphasis, and general sections*

The remedial course provides Indi­

vidualized training in the basic principles and techniques of reading, writing and speaking* At the end of the course a student takes a compre­ hensive examination similar to the entrance examination*

If

on this examination he demonstrates college level of pro­ ficiency in communication, he is certified as having met the graduation requirements in this area*

If he fails to do so,

he Is required to take additional work in one or more of the skills until he Is able to demonstrate the necessary level of proficiency# A student is said to have attained college level

of proficiency in communication when his scores on the comprehensive examination are at or above the following percentile ranks based on the distributions of scores of entering freshmens Test

A few*

Percentile Rank

English Placement

50

Reading Comprehension

50

Expository Theme

70

Speech

70

about 5 per

cent* areexempted upon entrance to college.

It must b© pointed out that there is some flexi­ bility In th© limits Imposed as graduation requirements.

If

a student performs exceptionally well on most of the bests and happens to dip in one score he may still b© considered to have met th© graduation requirements. Figures 2, 3, and

8

afford a comparison between

the attainments of entering college freshmen In Communi­ cation Skills and the attainments of students graduating from high school. It will be noted that approximately 25 per cent of

the high school

seniors have attained college proficiency

in

the recognition of errors In punctuation* capitalization,

choice of words, etc., as measured by the English Placement test.

Slightly over 25 per cent of the high school seniors

have attained college proficiency in reading comprehension as measured by the Teat of Interpretation of Reading h&terlala in the Social Studies and less than 25 per cent of the high school seniors have attained college proficiency in theme writing as measured by the Theme Writing test*

Chapter IV s m m m

Atm

c o n c lu s io n s

The purpose of this in.vestiga.tlon was to provide a description of (a) th© general scholastic abilities of high school students,

(to) the aims, methods, and content

of high school courses in English, and (c) the attainments of high school graduating classes In reading and writing. To establish a basis of comparison, a description of alms, methods, and content of Communication Skills courses at th© State University of Iowa was provided with an account of

th© attainments of college freshmen upon

completion of the course* Th©

composite score on th© Iowa Tee fa of Edu­

cational Development was used

as a measure of the general

scholastic abilities of high school seniors. Information concerning th© nature and content of high school English courses was obtained by Inter­ viewing th© senior English teacher In th© schools selected for this study*

to finterview guide1, which embodied the 1 general areas suggested by Communication Series English,

was used to standardise th© interview.

Y .^ C o S im io a tro n lS ^ Program, Volume XX, issued by the Department of Public Instruction, Des Moines, Iowa, and published by th© State of Iowa, 1948*

Performance of high school seniors on th© reading tests of th© Iowa Tests of Educational Development, and th.® English Placement Test, the General Vocabulary Test, th© Rate of Reading Test, and the Theme Writing Test of th© *— y — f m Mm *■ n »r

w— mmma+

u m i i iim iiNm iiimf w u ifci

*»*«***«

vi

Freshmen Entrance Examination Program was used as measures of the attainments of high school seniors in reading and writing» The Information obtained in the Interview was tabulated In terms of th© per cent of schools conforming to practices in regard to content and methods of instruction in English.

Th© results of the tests were presented in

graph ic fo r m . The Information and data obtained in the present study appear to support the following conclusions* 1.

A majority of the schools In Iowa offer

four courses in English:

English 9, English 10, American

literature, and English literature*

Some of the larger

schools provide additional off©rings, Including such courses as current literature and business English*

A common

practice among the smaller schools Is alternation of American literature and English literature from year to year with resulting combination of classes. 2*

Graduation requirements In English for most

schools consists of at least three units in English#

A

i V/ considerable) number of the smaller schools require four units in English for graduation. 3.

Standard informal English is emphasized in

the high school English curriculum*

3om© schools teach

both standard formal English and standard informal English* with the latter receiving the greater emphasis* schools teach only standard informal English#

Other This sample

shows 46 per cent of the schools practice the former and 46 per cent practice the latter*

On© school Indicated

instruction in standard formal English exclusively. 4.

The content of English courses in about

half the schools of this sample is determined entirely by the content of the textbooks currently in us© in the English classes.

Only 4 per cent of the schools were

using courses-of-study in English developed by th© school staff.

Forty-two per cent of the schools modified the

content of the textbook to some extent by using suggestions 2 from the Communication Series English. 5.

Systematic instruction in grammar* punctu­

ation, and usage is provided at all grade levels in almost all schools.

From 19 to

66

per cent of th© instructional

time for th© various courses is devoted to systematic in­ struction in these areas*

2. ' TbTST

Only two courses (current

literature and journalism) were found to provide incidental instruction in these areas. 6

.

Much of the instruction in grammar, punctuati

and usage consists of filling in forms in workbook exercises. Fifty-eight per cent of the schools used this technique* Forty-two per cent of the schools used corrective drills prepared by teachers, group drills based

011

common class

errors* and correction of Individual errors in speaking and writing*

Elaborate sentence analysis is receiving some

attention in most schools. 7*

High school English courses do not provide

systematic instruction in exposition, argumentation, criticism* and narration in the sense that these areas are treated as separate units or topics*

Instruction in types of communication

stems from the writing high school students do rather than having the writing activities relate directly to the type of communication under consideration. 3.

Th© writing activities of high school students

In the English courses of this sample consist of friendly letters, business letters, narrative themes, expository themes, argumentative themes, and precis writing.

A sub­

stantial majority of the schools provide writing activities of all types except argumentation* occurs In English 9 and English 10.

Most of the letter writing Much of th© expository

writing occur© In English 9 and English 10 although approximately 40 per cent of the schools provided training In exposition in American literature and English literature* Argumentation received very little emphasis In the high schools in this study.

TJarration received about the same

amount of emphasis as did exposition in the high school English courses*

Much of the writing is an account of a

personal experience or an Imaginative event*

The topics

about which students writ© most frequently ar© personal experiences, hobbles, athletics, lives of famous peo.pla, and adventure * 9*

A number of schools are making some provision

for the teaching of reading in high school English courses. However, none of the schools integrating reading Instruction with high school English had a well-organised reading program based on sound educational principles*

A few schools maintain

special offerings in reading for retarded readers*

Much of the

superficial nature of reading instruction in high school English is probably the result of lack of training of English In­ structors in the teaching of reading. 10*

A majority of the schools provide for spelling

Instruction in the high school English courses*

The general

pattern of Instruction consists of the assignment of a word list with subsequent testing to determine the number of words

students are able to spell correctly•

Word lists ax*e obtained

from English textbooks, Communication Series English,

or

consist of words spelled incorrectly in writing activities' in the English classes.

There is no uniform practice among

schools as to the English, courses which provide for the teaching of spelling*

In most instances students are not

given effective methods of word study*

Very little attention

is given to the teaching of rules in spelling* 11*

The results of the English Placement test

indicate that a little over 25 per cent of high school seniors exceed the median score obtained by entering college freshmen on this test and that the range of scores of antering college freshman is much higher than that of high school graduates in general* Entering college students are also considerably superior to high school seniors in reading comprehension, reading rate, general vocabulary, and theme writing as measured by the reading tests of the Iowa Testa of Educational Development, and the Heading Hate test, the General Vocabulary test, and the Theme Writing test of tiia Freshmen Entrance Examination Program respectively*

The median score on each

of these tests was squalled ox- exceeded by 75 per cent of entering college students.

rT jKTd -L 1 U

U •

The question as to whether instruction in Communid­ eation Skills at th© State university of Iowa Is remedial in character or is at a collegiate level may now be considered In light of th© findings of this study#

It has been pointed

out that the high school of today Is to a large degree a common school and that the educational needs of all high school youth must be met#

It was pointed out further that the

high school is committed to the training of citizens primarily and to preparing students for college work secondarily. Students who are going to college and the much larger number who are not are taught In th© same classes and in the same curriculum*

This must necessarily be so because most Iowa

high schools are too small to support a diversified program# The results of this study indicate that approximately 25 per cent of the students graduating from these high schools have attained a proficiency In reading and writing judged to be of collegiate level according to standards established by the Communication Skills Staff of the College of Liberal Arts# This, then, leads to the conclusion that high schools are unable to bring all students, under existing conditions, to this level of competency in reading and writing#

It is

suggested, therefore, that colleges and universities recognize this and accept th© products of these high schools as they are and provide such instruction as Is necessary to bring them to the level considered desirable for college graduates#

~V], 4’

BIBLIOGRAPHY Books 1*

Blair. G.M*, Diagnostic and Remedial Teaching in Secondary Schooled The feaemTllafi c'o'»T Mew York, TT947 •

2* Coleman, U* H . , Written Composition Intereata of Junior and Sen!oF' 1"Mi gH. 'ScBbo it" Pupi'la,""'SontrlbuTTona to SSduoatIon,T SoT SB4,' Bureau of FuS 1 Icationa, Teachers College, Columbia university, Hew York, 1931* 3*

A College Program in the Communication Skills, an A s s i g m e n t ^yiIa^uiH>y the Staff, College of^Liberal Arts, m e State university of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 1947 «

4* "Communication Series English Grades 9-10,w Iowa Secondary School Cooperative Curriculum program, Volume' Yt II, issued' by Departm'eri'tJ'of""Pubil'c instructlon, The State of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, 1948* 5*

6

"Communication Series English Grades 11~X2,* Iowa Secondary School Cooperative Curriculum Program, Yolume XX, ''"Issued' "By department of Public Ins truetion, The State of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, 1048*

* Pries, Charles C«, American Baglish Grammar, English Monographs Ho* 10, ^IfT«’ "T 1 "ifittTi-' iiri©£ i of' 'Teachers of English, B* Appleton-Century Company, Hew York, 1940*

7* Gates, A* I*, The Improvement of Heading— A Program of Kernedlal MelSoda,Th ir& ffiifXoh, ,',,J'L l£© Macmillan Co *, 19477----------8

* Leonard, Sterling A., Current English Usy e , English Monographs Ho* I, The national Council ofTeachers of English, The Inland Press, 1932*

9* Marekwsrdt, A* H*, and Walcott, F » G#, Facts About Current English usage, D. Appleton-Cantury ‘ C ompany, Mew'f ork, 1938‘7 10* McGrath, E* J*, et» al*, Toward General Education, The Macmillan Company, S e w f o r k , TfT§'ffi7’T'

11 • N a tio n a l S ociety f a r tha Study o f M u e & tlo a , Reading in the Hi&h School and C ollege * 47th Y©arbookV 'fhe T B l W » l i y O?sB E I c « S r > r a 1TJhloago, i l l . , 1948. 12* Pooley, Robert C*, Teaching English pgage* D* Appleton-Century Company , 1-1l e w 'YorS*" T § W S T IS* Pressey, S* I**, and Robinson, F* P*, Psychology and. jhe Hew Education, Harper and Brother©1 ,"1 ' ¥ew fork, 1044* 14 * **A Proposed Design for Secondary Education in Iowa, * Iowa Secondary School Cooperative Curriculum Program, l^olume ll, "IssuedT '"by‘' D e p a r f ^ F u b f r c I n s'trSc£Ion, The State of Iowa, Des Moines, Xowa, 1947* 15* Stroud, James B*, Psychology In Education* Longmans, Oreen and Company,HS^iFYork7 T34&Z Serials and Pam IS* *Pifty-Seeond Biennial Report,” Department of Public Instruction, Th© State of Iowa, Des Moines, Xowa, 1944* 17* ”The Hatur© and Purposes of the Iowa Tests of Education­ al Development, * published by Department of Iowa Testing Programs, The State university of Iowa, Iowa Olty, Iowa, and Science Hasearoh Associates, Chicago, 111*, 1948* 18* ”Beport of Scores for Freshmen in Liberal.Arts,w university Examinations Service, The State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, September, 1949. (This is a confidential report for us© by members of th© staff of th© State University of Iowa)* 19* Robinson, H, A*, ”A Hot© on th© Evaluation of Collage Reading Courses,” Journal of Educational Psychology, Volume 41, 1950, pp*''8 S~S 6 # 20. Weber, Christian 0*, MK©ading Inadequacy as Habit,” Volume 40, 1949, journal of Bdwatlonal pp * 427-•$5*3 • 01* Witty, Paul and Brink, William, ^Remedial Heading practices in th© Secondary School,” Journal of Educational Psychology* Volume 40, ln §W,pp.T9S-205 *

a *

22* "Your Scores 010 tin© lows. Tests of IsldTiioalloiiLSl Development and What They Mean,w published by the Department of Iowa Testing Programs, The State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, and Science Research Associates, Chicago, 111* (Mot dated) Manuscripts 23* Blommers, Paul J*, "Rate of Comprehension of Heading: Its Measurement and. Its Relation to Comprehension,w unpublished Fh* D. dissertation, State University of Iowa, 1943* 24* Fhearman, L* T*, "Comparisons of High School Graduates Who Go To College With Those Who Do Hot Go To College,tt unpublished Fh* D* dissertation, State University of Iowa, 1948,

'-k

APPEHDIX

School

City

Enrollment

Class

General Information: 1.

Does your school have a course-of-study in English developed by your own staff members?

2.

If not, how is the content of the English courses offered in your school determined?

3.

What courses in the field of English are offered in your school at each of the following grade levels? Ninth Grade

Tenth Grade

Eleventh Grade

Twelfth Grade

Ij-. What are the graduation requirements for your school in the field of English? Teaching Usage 5.

Does your course-of-study in English provide for instruction in usage of standard formal English, standard informal English, or both?

6.

If both are provided for, what emphasis is placed on each?

7.

Which courses in English provide for instruction in usage?

8.

What items of usage are taught in each of the courses listed in (7) above?

9.

How much time is allotted for the teaching of usage in each of the courses listed in (7) above?

10r What techniques are used in teaching usage? (i. g. Workbook drills corrective drills based on common class errors in usage, etc.)

11.

Does your course-of-study call for the use of diagnostic testing to determine usage errors common to the classes and peculiar to the individuals in the classes?

12.

Is remedial instruction provided for students with particular weaknesses in usage?

13.

If so, what is the nature of this instruction?

Teaching Punctuation I**.

Does your course-of-study in English provide for instruction in punctuation?

15.

Which courses in English provide for instruction in punctuation?

l6.

What items of punctuation are taught in each of the courses listed in (1*0 above?

17.

How much time is allotted for the teaching of punctuation in each of the courses listed in (l4) above?

Teaching Grammar 18.

Does your course-of-study in English provide for instruction in basic grammar?

19.

Which courses in English provide for instruction in basic grammar?

20.

What items of grammar are taught in each of the courses listed in (18) above?

21.

How much time is allotted for the teaching of grammar in each of the courses listed in (l8) above?

80 22.

What techniques are used in teaching grammar? telling stories in audience situations, etc.)

(i. g. Workbook drills,

Teaching Exposition 23.

Does your course-of-study in English provide for systematic instruc­ tion in exposition?

2*K

Which courses in English provide for instruction in exposition?

25.

How much time is allotted for the teaching of exposition in each of the courses listed in (2*0 above?

26.

What is the nature and content of the instruction in exposition? (Research required, personal material)

Teaching Argumentation 27.

Does your course-of-study in English provide for systematic instruc tion in argumentation?

28.

Which courses in English provide for instruction in argumentation?

29*

How much time is allotted for the teaching of argumentation in each of the courses listed in (28) above?

30.

What is the nature and content of the instruction in argumentation? (i. g. Research required, personal material).

Teaching Narration 31.

Does your course-of-study in English provide for systematic instruc tion in narration?

32.

Which courses in English provide for instruction in narration?

33.

How much time is allotted for the teaching of narration in each of the courses listed in (32) above?

What is the nature and content of the instruction in narration? (i. g. Research required, personal material)

Teaching Organization

35*

Does your course-of-study in English provide for systematic in­ struction in organization? (i. g, Paragraphing, outlining, writing topic sentences)

36 . Which courses in English provide for instruction in organization?

37*

How much time is allotted for the teaching of organization in each of the courses listed in (36) above?

38 .

What is the nature and content of the instruction in organization? (i. g. Research required, personal material).

83 39.

Which of the following types of writing are provided for in your course-of-study in English? Grade Number Type Course Level Required Friendly Letters

_____________

Business Letters Narrative Themes Expository Themes Descriptive Themes Argumentative Themes Critical Themes Book Reviews Precis Writing Anything else

*+0.

Do students select the topics about which they write themes or are the topics about which the themes are written assigned by the teaching staff?

*+1.

What are some examples of topics about which students write themes? (Collect about ten examples)

*J-2.

What criteria or standards are used in evaluating the writing done34t by students in your English courses? (Research, grammar, punctua­ tion, organization, content, concrete and specific development of an idea).

Teaching Reading 43*

Does the course-of-study in English for your school make provisions for systematic instruction in reading? In which courses does the course-of-study in English provide for systematic instruction in reading?

*4-5.

Does the course-of-study provide for instruction in increasing the rate of reading for all students enrolled in these courses?

*4-6.

If so, what techniques are used for increasing the rate of read­ ing? (Speeded reading drills, reading rate tests, etc.)

*4-7.

Are daily records of progress in rate of reading kept for all students?

*4-8.

How much time is devoted to instruction in increasing the rate of reading in each course?

do ^9.

Does the course-of-study provide for training in comprehension?

50,

If so, what techniques are used in teaching vocabulary? (Word analysis, use of phonetic knowledge in word attack, etc.)

51.

What specific aspects of comprehension, other than vocabulary, are provided for in your course-of-study at each grade level? (Read­ ing phrases as meaningful units, finding apecific information, etc.) Ninth Grade

Tenth Grade

Eleventh Grade

Twelfth Grade

52.

Does your course-of-study provide remedial techniques for the retarded reader?

53.

Is testing a part of your instructional program in reading?

5^.

If so, what tests are used and what is the purpose of the testing?

T e a c h in g S p e l l i n g

55.

Does the course-of-study in English for your school provide for systematic instruction in spelling?

56.

In which courses does the course-of-study provide for systematic instruction in spelling?

57.

Does the course-of-study in English provide a basic word list at each grade level?

58 .

What is the source of this word list?

59.

Are all pupils required to study all words in the basic spelling list?

60 #

If not, how are the words to be studied determined?

61.

Are the students given some approved method for a direct attack in the study of the words in the spelling list?

62 .

What is the general pattern of this direct attack for the study of spelling words?

63 .

Does your course-of-study provide for the teaching of rules in spelling?

6k.

If so, how are the rules to be taught selected?

65 . How much time per week is devoted to spelling instruction per week at each grade level?

SCHOOL

City

Please list the courses in high school English which you have completed and those in which you are now enrolled. (High school includes grades 9-12) Grade No. of Course Level Semesters

Estimate as best you can the number of themes you have written for each of the courses listed above. No. of Course Themes

What are some of the topics about which you have written themes?

Were these topics teacher assigned or were you permitted to select your own topics?

If you were requested to write'three themes what are the topics about which you would like to write?