Do We Need a New Basic Vocabulary for High School Latin

Abstract

DO WE NEED a new or altered or implemented basic vocabulary i n high school Latin? What purposes should a basic vocabulary serve ? Are these purposes consistent with the overall objectives of the study of Lat in? What is the existing basic vocabulary for high school Latin? What purpose is the College Board List designed to serve? One question ata time, and we'll save the first question for the last. In the Classical Investigation of 1924, 98 percent of the teachers of secondary school Latin judged the ultimate objective of increased ability to understand the exact meaning of English words derived directly or in directly from Latin, and increased accuracy in their use as valid for the course as a whole. Growth and development of English vocabulary is then a worthy objective of the study of Latin as expressed in the opinion of the teachers. It follows that this can be best achieved through the Lat in vocabulary at the high school level. The degree of success in amount of transfer and gains made resulting from a study of Latin has beenmeas ured in controlled experimentation conducted by Greenough and Kittredge, Douglass and Kittelson, Thorndike and Ruger, Pond, Otis, Harris, Ham blen, and Haskell, to mention only a few. Reports of their investigations indicate that the range of comprehension by high school students of Eng lish words of Latin derivation was all the way from negligible to consid erable. The extent and significance of the Latin element in our language are generally known. Is it not natural, therefore, to expect that stud ents of Latin, who are doubly exposed to that element in our language, should far surpass those students who must acquire their knowledge of that element incidentally? The crux of the problem appears to be wheth er or not the vocabulary of high school Latin contributes to a represent ative English vocabulary, and whether it is adequate as a means for the development of a better understanding of English words of Latin deriva tion. The Latin Word List, more commonly referred to as the College Board List, prepared by the College Entrance Examination Board, is the accepted basis of high school Latin vocabulary. The choice of words included in the College Board List is based upon the examination of so large an amount of Latin literature that the use of the list is not likely to restrict greatly the reading in the schools. The method of choice gave a preference to those words that are most useful, both in reading