Observations on the Question of General Language

Abstract

There are some things ideal in theory which prove impractical in application. The general-language idea is one of these. Obviously, anyone who would discuss the pros or cons of such a course should have had abundant opportunity to observe it in operation on an adequately comprehensive scale and under circumstances sufficiently favorable to warrant reliable conclusions. For a year and a half the writer has been intimately identified with the organization and actual teaching of general language in one of the large junior high schools in California. The work was first offered during the school year 1925-26 in ten-week cycle classes to all pupils in the high seventh grade. It was abandoned the following year for financial reasons and resumed in the autumn of 1927 as an exploratory course for all eighth-grade pupils. In the latter case the classes met on alternate days for one semester, three times a week during the first half and twice a week during the second. The experiment involved approximately a thousand pupils and six teachers. It may be added that the course was introduced entirely on the initiative of the foreign-language department and undertaken with more than usual enthusiasm by both pupils and teachers. The indifferent success which the experiment met was therefore due primarily to deficiencies inherent in the course itself rather than to any prejudices or preconceived ideas on the part of the teachers respecting its ultimate value or expediency. The objectives of the work, derived from a careful study of current literature in the field, were as follows: i. Prognostic-guidance aims a) To acquaint pupils with the methods and techniques of foreign-language study