The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-05
Clear Appreciation Needed.

tional symbols which his race has agreed
upon.
Clear Appreciation Needed.
THE English language is psychologist
| ally speaking two languages for there
are two sets Of symbols to be associated
with every eXperience-one with sound
symbols, the other with sight symbols.
IN any written language the symbol enters
| the eye and is expressed through the fin
| gers which write or set the types for the
| printed page. oIn any spoken language the
/ symbol enters the ear and becomes ex-
pressed through the vocal organs. The
! oral reading and oral language concerns
| the symbols understood by the ear and
/ expressed through the throat, tongue, lips
ana other physical organs OF speech.
! IN the foregoing analysis il has been
/ suggested that there are two functions
even to oral language. One is the func-
tlon OF appreciation and the other is the
function of expression Appreciating is
listening and understanding Expression
| - thinking and speaking. Between these
Two functions there seems to be an es-
tabllshed relationship. Our appreciations
| usually pfecede and enveiOp our express
slNeness. Clear expression demands as a
basis clear appreciation. knowledge of a
deflnlte sort is always important to de-
clsive and effective action. But in the
learning stage experiment in expression
/ OF consequent increasing in skill may
be the best method for gaining clear and
effective knowledge Our ability to an
| preciate as it widens enlarges our ability
TO express. And as expression grows our
appreciation enlarges. The literary ap-
preclatlon which comes from the use of
tne story and the poem is not alone sig
nlflcant in .ministering to understanding
and enjoyment-it has a direct influence
upon the power of expression through Ian
guage.
Three Problems Appear.
If any given course of study in the
SUBJECT OF reading is carefully analysed
Z he
pear TO be dominant each at a different
| time. These problems are % the mastery
of mechanics in beginning reading; (2). the
quick acquisition of thought i'm the silent
reading of the later primary grades and
80 the sensing of feeling in the interpTe-
tat1OnS Of the literature of the grammar
grade. But this order in the treatment of
our problems in the common practice of
our schools while it represents funda-
mental types of difficulty, may not nee
essarily give the proper order and ar
rangement OF the treatment of these diff
ficulties.
while one problem may be dominant
the subordinate problems should not be
neglected If teaching is TO be truly effect
i've. From the very first mastery of me-
chanics reading should mean the appre-
citation of thought and literary feeling
The same treatment should be character
istic of oral language. where from the
start children should not only write words
but their ideas and feelings about things
The story and the poem. therefore. will
be a force in oral reading and in oral
language not only in the more advanced
stages of the subject. but from the very
beginning.
Because the story and the poem deal
with literary forms of language where the
aesthetic elements of beauty are involved.
their main service in oral reading and
language is to minister to the cultivation
of literary taste. Most of our higher grade
work in literature has been failure be
cause there have been no adequate foun-
datiOns in the development of a taste for
literary form and feeling in the lower
grades. A literary taste for the complex
types found in our complex classic litera-
ture is no more to be expected without
ian adequate preliminary training in the
simple fOundatiOnal elements of literature.
than is a sudden Understanding of COM
pick TeasOnings in advanced arithmetic
without the preliminary training in the
simple stages CT primary number one.
Elements of Beauty.
Taste in oral reading and language
Will depend on the child's obtaining in
creased power to appreciate the various
elements Of beauty. In literature this
beauty may be contributed from three
sOurces-these are: % the beauty of ma
terial, Some words are more beautiful
intrinsically 10 the ear than other words
The mere sound of harsh is less pleas
ing than the sound OF "gentleness." Gold
Is a more beautiful material than lead.
silk than cotton. % The beauty OF form
such as we find in rhyme, meter, etc,
certain vases of a more beautiful form
than others. (39 The beauty of meaning
the subject of one poem may revive asso-
Citations of feeling far more delightful
than certain others In literature all three
Of these elements contribute TO its beauty,
and the training of children's taste in lit
erature through the story and the poem
must take into account the growing sensi-
uiveness Of the child, the beauty of sound,
the form and of meaning. The extent of
child'S appreciation of these elements will
necessarily depend upon his experience.
1t IS the business of the teacher to give
such stories and such poems as will be
within the childs maturity and to add to
his life such experiences as will make the
appreciation of more difficult forms and
meanings possible. Usually the teacher
mas committed two errors: % The clas-
steal stories and poems have been given
to the child regardless Of their inadapt-
ability and the child's mastery has been
merely mechanical and memorial. 81 Or.
the teacher has pandered to the present
power Of the child and provided no new
experiences which make the growth in
taste so that more difficult and more
beautiful literary creations may ultimate
ly come within his power.