AN EXPERIMENT IN READING

Abstract

T HIS is the report of an experiment performed in a classroom of the University of Chicago High School on March 5, 1931, at the time of the visit of Professor Michael West, Principal of the Teachers College, Dacca, Bengal, India. The class concerned was a second-year French class which was in its fourth semester of study. This class started the study of French in the University High School under the following conditions: During the first two semesters there were but four recitations per week and no home assignments. During the second year, that is, the third and fourth semesters, as ten pupils of the class were Seniors, the teacher had permission to make moderate home assignments. The class had been taught by the Organized Direct Method. Professor West expressed the desire to get evidence of their ability to read. As the pupils were reading Le Voyage de Monsieur Perrichon, we decided to use an entirely different text, L'Abbe Constantin, for the experiment. Professor West helped us prepare twelve questions based on pages seven to twelve of the American Book Company's edition of L'Abbe Constantin, questions that would test the pupils' ability to get the thought of the material read. The first half of the class period was spent in a discussion of Le Voyage de Monsieur Perrichon. When this twenty-five minute period was over, the pupils were given the test on L'Abbe Constantin. The instructor read the first two pages to the class, i.e., pages five and six, giving explanations as far as possible in French. The pupils were then told to read silently the next five pages, which included 1,070 words. When a pupil finished reading, he indicated the fact by rising. He was then instructed to close his book, to turn his chair around, and to answer the questions written on the back blackboard. The answers were written in English. Inasmuch as the books were closed, it was a test of memory as well as of comprehension.