whelming majority do not. Nor do most colleges require future elementary teachers to study grammar and usage, as is indicated by the following data.

ARE STUDENTS PREPARING FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHING REQUIRED TO COMPLETE A COURSE IN GRAMMAR AND USAGE?

In more than three-fifths of the colleges, students prepared as elementary teachers are not required to complete work in grammar and usage. How teachers without language preparation can be expected to direct the study of American English is a matter for great concern. The teaching of the structure and the operation of language requires special knowledge which can be developed only through disciplined study. The data suggest that most elementary teachers are inadequately prepared to cope with such linguistic material."

Other Special Requirements

The colleges were asked to indicate whether students preparing for elementary teaching were required to complete a course in any of the following important areas:

See discussion of the content of such courses on pages 61-69 and the data which reveal that few students receive good language training.

Perhaps less necessary for all elementary teachers, but important for some, is specialized work in speech correction and creative dramatics. When asked if such courses are required, the colleges reported as follows:

More than seventy per cent of the programs include a requirement in speech, the only one of these special offerings required of a majority of

students preparing to teach elementary education. Only 19.7 per cent of the programs specify study in composition beyond the freshman level. Even fewer institutions require courses in the oral interpretation of literature (11.2%), speech correction (9.8%), or creative dramatics (4.4%). Some knowledge of these fields can be important to the elementary school teacher, even though all teachers may not be able to take work to an equal extent in every field. At present only a small percentage of teachers complete work in any one of these special subjects.

HOW MANY SEMESTER HOURS ARE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS REQUIRED TO COMPLETE IN PROFESSIONAL COURSES DEALING WITH THE METHODS OF TEACHING AND CONTENT OF READING AND THE

If the preparation of the elementary teacher in language, composition, and literature is limited, his preparation in courses in professional education related to English teaching at the elementary level is also weak. More than two-thirds of the institutions report that no more than 5 semester hours are required in the methods of teaching and the content of reading and the language arts.

Coupled with the finding reported earlier that an average of 8.1 semester hours of English (beyond the freshman course) is required of such students, these data indicate that the average elementary program requires only a combined total of 12 or 13 semester hours of work in English and in the teaching of English at the elementary level. This median figure represents not more than 10 per cent of the 120 semester hours required for graduation in most four-year programs. As preparation to teach a subject that embraces two of the three R's, this requirement is surely insufficient.

IN WHAT SPECIAL AREAS OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ARE STUDENTS REQUIRED TO COMPLETE A COURSE?

Seventy-three per cent of the programs require a course in children's literature, 76.3 per cent require work in reading, and 56.6 per cent in the language arts other than reading. Since two-thirds of the elementary education students do not complete more than 5 semester hours in courses on the teaching of the language arts, some of the offerings must be combined or presented as one- or two-hour courses. The finding that only slightly more than half of the programs require work in the language arts is especially distressing in view of the limited preparation of these students in grammar, usage, and the structure of the English language.

Because questions arise concerning the relative emphasis within courses in children's literature, the institutions were asked to indicate in which department the course is offered. The replies were as follows:

The course in children's literature is offered in the department of English in over one-third of the responding schools and in the department of education in almost as many. Only 7.5 per cent of the schools offer the course in library science.

ABCT

ARE STUDENTS PREPARING TO TEACH ELEMENTARY SUBJECTS REQUIRED TO COMPLETE A GENERAL COURSE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL METHODS?

Total

In more than half of the institutions a general methods course is required, although this practice seems to vary in different kinds of schools. In some colleges such a course is required in addition to the special courses on methods of teaching English in the elementary school.

HOW MUCH of the time in the general methods course IS DEVOTED TO THE TEACHING OF READING AND THE OTHER LANGUAGE ARTS?