Degree Of Proficiency Research Articles

Foreign Languages and the Emergency

T HE importance of the contribution which modern foreign languages can make to the present war emergency has been recognized by the United States Government. Because of the rapid development of communication by radio, transportation by airplane, and the international character of all world problems, the ability to speak and read foreign languages has and will continue to become more and more important. In this connection a high degree of mastery of languages studied is imperative. A mere general knowledge of several languages or a mere smattering will not suffice either in or out of combat if we are to realize the full implication of our contacts as communication and transportation develop almost to a superb degree. Good pronunciation, comprehension, and an accurate reading knowledge of one or more foreign languages is of particular importance. Classroom instruction should definitely point toward these goals. The ability to understand and to speak, as well as to read, is fundamental in the present world situation. Language clubs or luncheon meetings where a foreign language is spoken under competent direction are valuable supplements to classroom activity and should be encouraged in every possible way. High-school students of ability should be encouraged to elect as early as possible one of the modern foreign languages and should carry this language through the high-school course and if possible into college. This will assist in attaining a high degree of proficiency in understanding and dealing with the problem of a world society. Students with a special linguistic background obtained at home or elsewhere-be it Polish, Russian, Scandinavian, Oriental, or other-should be encouraged to make their experience known to school authorities. These experiences should be enriched and encouraged to increase the accuracy and completeness of their knowledge by whatever means may be available. The present situation presents a challenge to administrators, teachers, and students to make work in the modern foreign languages as effective as possible in meeting the developing world situations.

The Measurement of Achievement in Archery

The Problem.?At the present time the only available records of achievement in archery are tournament scores, made by expert and ex perienced archers under highly competitive conditions. These scores represent a high degree of proficiency and skill, and as such may be con sidered as a measure of achievement, Obviously such scores are not comparable with those made by beginning students in archery. It is therefore necessary for the instructor to establish a new standard of achievement for the inexperienced archer. With this in mind it seems logical to assume that the standard of achievement should be based on the actual performance of a group of students with no previous ex perience. Previous Investigation.?Most of the literature of archery is devoted to the historical aspects of the subject, or to a detailed description and analysis of the technic of shooting with the bow and arrow. The writer knows of only one source of information which bears directly on the problem under investigation. This is the study conducted by K. S. Lashley,1 whose subjects were confronted with the problem of acquiring accuracy in shooting with the bow and arrow by the trial and error method of learning. The degree of accuracy was measured in terms of the distance from the point wrhere the arrow struck to the center of the target. It was found that the general laws of learning operate in the acquisition of skill in archery as in the other acts of skill. Also, there was a ? ' close correspondence between the distribution of practice and the amount of improvement, a given amount of practice being more efficient when distributed through many short periods than when concentrated in a few long ones. ' '

Reduction of Over-Ageness

Every school system is confronted with the problem of over ageness. Children do not move forward at the same rate of speed, and, as the course of study is planned for the so-called average child, the slow pupils have difficulty in maintaining their rank. Also average or gifted pupils do not always reach a degree of proficiency in their work which warrants their promotion at the end of a semester or term.

Statement of the principal circumstances respecting the united siamese twins now exhibiting in London

The twin brothers, of whom an account is given in this paper, were born of Chinese parents in 1811, at a small village in Siam, distant about sixty miles from Bankok, the capital of the kingdom. When the intelligence of their birth had reached the ears of the King of Siam, he gave orders that they should be destroyed, as portending evil to his government; but on being assured that they were harmless, and would be capable of supporting themselves by their own labour, he changed his intention, and suffered them to live. About six years ago Mr. Robert Hunter, a British merchant resident at Siam, saw them, for the first time, in a fishing-boat on the river, in the dusk of the evening, and mistook them for some strange animal. It was only in the spring of last year that permission could be obtained from the Siamese Government to bring them to England. They were taken to Boston, in the United States, where they landed in August last, and six weeks afterwards embarked for England, and arrived in London in November. They are both of the same height, namely, five feet two inches, and their united weight is 180 pounds. They have not the broad and flat forehead so characteristic of the Chinese race, but they resemble the lower class of the people of Canton in the colour of their skins and the form of their features. Their bodies and limbs are well made. The band of union is formed by the prolongation and junction of the ensiform cartilages of each, which meet in the middle of the upper part of the band, and form moveable joints with each other, connected by ligamentous structures. Under­-neath the cartilages there appear to be large hernial sacs opening into each abdomen, into which, on coughing, portions of the intestine are propelled, as far as the middle of the band; though in ordinary circumstances these herniæ are not apparent. The entire band is covered with common integument; and when the boys face each other, its length at the apex is one inch and three quarters, and at the lower edge not quite three inches. Its breadth from above downwards is four inches, and its greatest thickness nearly two inches. In the centre of the lower edge there is a cicatrix of a single navel. It possesses little sensibility, and is of great strength; for upon a rope being fastened to it, the twins may be pulled along without occasioning pain; and when one of them is lifted from the ground, the other will hang by the band alone without sensible inconvenience. For the space of about half an inch from the median line of the band, the sensibility of the skin appears to be common to both. The following experiment was tried upon them by Dr. Roget. A silver tea-spoon being placed on the tongue of one of the twins, and a disk of zinc on the tongue of the other, the moment the two metals were brought into contact, both the boys exclaimed “Sour, sour;" thus proving that the galvanic influence passed from the one to the other through the connecting band. Their strength and activity are very remarkable. They can throw down, with perfect ease, a powerful man. They run with great swiftness, bend their bodies in all directions, and in their sports often tumble head over heels without the least difficulty or inconvenience. In all the bodily actions in which the concurrence of both is required, such as running, jumping, playing at battledoor and shuttlecock, they exhibit a wonderful consent or agreement without the appearance of any previous communication of their intentions. The intellectual powers of each are nearly equal, and they have both attained the same degree of proficiency in the games of chess, draughts, and whist. They both possess great powers of imitation. In their respective physical constitutions, however, several differences are observable. Chang, as the boy on the left is named, has more vigorous health, and greater regularity of functions, than his brother, whose name is Eng. In general they take their meals and obey the calls of nature at the same time. Asparagus, eaten by either of the twins, communicates its peculiar odour exclusively to the urine of the one who has eaten it.