A comparison of the results obtained from the teaching of shorthand by the word unit method and the sentence unit method.

Abstract

Reading by the sentence unit method was suggested by Comenius as early as 1631. Experiments have been made in reading, penmanship, and music which indicate that there is more rapid progress when a larger unit is used as the basis. In the teaching of shorthand, however, the prevalent method is still to first present principles and to apply these principles by writing isolated words. It seems, therefore, pertinent to inquire if this method is the better. The object of this 6tudy, then, is to determine if possible whether or not elementary shorthand can best be learned by beginning with isolated words and gradually going from these to phrases and finally to sentences or by the more comprehensive method of beginning by writing sentences.The aim of the word unit method-the conventional method-is to teach the principles of shorthand to students so that they may apply them accurately to the words in the text and to a few other common words. At the first meeting of the class the shorthand characters to be taught are written upon the blackboard and the students are taught to recognize them by repeated reading. After careful analysis of the forms there is a writing drill of isolated character strokes. When the vowels are introduced the students are drilled on the names of the groups and the three sounds of each group. On following days words using the new sound or principle are written on the board and students are drilled in reading and writing them. The usual test given is a list of words applying the principles learned.The aim of the sentence unit method 1 is to familiarize students immediately with the activity as it is going to be practiced and instead of presenting character for character, the word and sentence are