of the Catholics of this country. We owe it to them to make this a perfect work, a home in which our students may pursue, in safety and comfort, the courses of study for which their parents have sent them to the University. For their sake as well as for the sake of the University, I earnestly trust that all who hear me now or to whom my words may come, will do whatever they can towards completing this structure and thereby extending to greater numbers of our young men the benefits of Catholic education. In my own name and in the name of the Trustees, I desire again to thank all who have had a share in this noble undertaking and have afforded us so many reasons for pressing forward in our efforts for the cause of God and His Church.

DISCUSSION.

TEACHING THE CHILD TO SPELL.

Should a spelling-book be used; and if so, in what grades? Should spelling be taught by the oral or by the written method or by both? What is the cause of the bad spelling which is so prevalent among our school children?

The above are typical of a multitude of questions concerning the method of teaching spelling which have reached me during the past year. Brief answers might readily be made to each of these questions, but the matter is of such importance that a somewhat fuller development seems advisable.

We teach children to spell in order that they may be able to write correctly. Oral spelling has no real value apart from the aid which it may lend to correct writing, and hence at first sight it would seem to be difficult to justify it, since it is a roundabout way of accomplishing the end which we have in view. However, the process of learning to spell is not as simple as this might seem to indicate.

When the child of six enters school he usually possesses a large spoken vocabulary which is more or less accurately developed in accordance with the language spoken in his home environment, whereas he seldom possesses any written language. In other words, his center of hearing in the temporal lobe of the brain has been enriched by a large number of well developed word memories which function in controlling his organs of speech and in leading him into an understanding of what the people around him are thinking and saying. The school undertakes to develop similar word memories in the visual area of the

occipital lobe and the practical question which confronts the teacher in the primary grades is how to proceed in this new line of brain development. Shall she follow the lines in the development of the visual area which have been followed with such success in the development of the auditory area? That is, shall the child be taught the meaning of the written word from its relationship to the thing signified and ignore for the time being the existence of the auditory word-memories which the child already possesses? Or shall she proceed from the oral vocabulary to build up the relationships between the oral and the visual words, translating the one into the other, and resting content with this indirect connection between the written word and the concept for which it stands? Or shall both methods be employed simultaneously?

This is merely stating our questions in psychological terminology; but this statement is valuable to the teacher because it reveals to some extent the physiological basis of the process involved in learning to spell and at the same time it seems to point the way to a satisfactory answer to many questions which are continually arising concerning the work of teaching spelling.

One would expect that better immediate results might be looked for from the oral method, in so far as it borrows the large oral vocabulary which the child possesses for the foundation of written language; but, on the other hand, such a procedure might be expected to yield very poor final results since the foundation laid is not strong or abiding and, above all, since it is not direct. If the teacher has no other interest in the matter than to exhibit at the end of the year the number of words which the children are able to spell correctly, she will naturally turn to the oral method as the sole one to be employed or at least as a valuable auxiliary. Whether or not such a procedure would result in a permanent impairment of the future man's power to clearly and easily grasp the thoughts ly

ing back of the printed page, does not concern such a teacher.

On the other hand, where the real interests of the child control the work of education, the axiom is likely to be festina lente. Put in secure foundations, use only such methods as will tend to secure the best final results. The teacher who takes this view of the matter will be likely to lay chief emphasis on the visual method of teaching spelling and to use the oral method, if at all, in a secondary capacity. She will find many reasons for pursuing this course among the considerations which make for the context method of reading.

Our aim in teaching the child to read should be to enable the man to think clearly and connectedly the thoughts presented by the written page. The written words serve their real function when they call up into the focus of consciousness the chain of thought while they themselves remain in the indirect field of vision. The less conscious we are of the word and the more vividly conscious of the thing the better. Above all, the relationship of thought to thought, in which the processes of judgment and reason consist, must not be enfeebled or obscured by the intrusion upon the field of mental vision of resemblances and relationships between the groups of words used as a means for bringing the thought complexes into consciousness. It is considerations such as these which lead to a realization of the incalculable injury which is being done to the minds of our children by the abuse of phonic methods, and whenever the phonic method is used to facilitate the child's finding or calling new words it is an abuse. The phonic method has its real value in connection with the speech center; its function is to perfect pronunciation and it should not be allowed to intrude itself into the process of developing in the brain of the child visual images of words. It will readily be understood that a similar objection may be urged against the oral method of

teaching spelling. In so far as the oral method may aid in pronunciation and syllabification it is valuable, but these are secondary considerations in view of the main end to be attained in teaching spelling, which is correct writing, a process which depends mainly upon the clearness of the visual word image and associated muscle memories.

The processes involved in reading, writing and spelling are most intimately related and our methods of developing and perfecting them should also be closely related. The most important part of the work consists in developing in the child's mind a clear, strong image of the thing signified and an adequate word image which, in all the subsequent work of the mind, may serve as a means of calling up the image of the thing, while the word image itself remains subconscious.

Four distinct elements are involved in this process: 1. The development of a thought or of a mental image of some objective reality. 2. The development in the visual area of a written word which has been adopted as a symbol of the thought in question. 3. The linking together of these two images. 4. The relative strength of the two images so as to secure the easy possession of the focus of consciousness by the thought and the automatic and subconscious functioning of the word-picture.

If we are to succeed in the work here outlined, we must begin with the development of the thought and when this is strong and clear in the mind of the child, we should develop the word and link it to the thought. In each subsequent recurrence of this dual image the one first developed will tend to be the stronger and accordingly will maintain its place at the center of the field of vision. This tendency will be further strengthened by the development of the relationships in the thought system. If, however, this process be reversed and the words be developed before the concepts for which they stand, the words will tend to maintain their place at the center of consciousness