of reading in class, to practice it before a group, and then to record it on a disk or tape or wire recorder.

The climax of the activity comes when their reading is played back to them. Even though the stimulus for careful preparation has resulted in marked improvement in their oral reading, they will note that there are still many defects in their delivery. Here the skillful teacher will draw from the speaker and his classmates the ineffective characteristics of his oral presentation. Other students will be encouraged to make similar recordings and after hearing their readings to make analyses of their delivery patterns. A long-range program of improvement can then be mapped out by each student with the help of his teacher; then after a few months and again before the end of the school year, other recordings of the same type may be made to measure improvement. Thus, a language arts teacher may use professional recordings not only to develop literary appreciation and understanding but also to promote better listening habits and more effective oral communication skills.

Many other follow-up activities may grow out of the listening experience. After hearing the recording of Masefield's "Cargoes," students may discuss modes of transportation used in different historical periods and the attractiveness of modern vehicles of transportation. Following the discussion, some of them may wish to "prove" that Constellation planes, the Twentieth Century Limited, the S. S. Queen Elizabeth, Greyhound busses, and the latest automobile designs are artistically and functionally superior to means of transportation used in the past. Others may wish to discuss the validity of the symbols used in "Cargoes" and the implication that industrialization has led to much ugliness in this century.

Writing activities may also be related to the subject matter of recordings. "In the teaching of creative writing, recordings have a peculiar value," states Lydia L. Anderson, teacher of English at Grant High School, Portland, Oreg. "It is possible, for instance, to transcribe student interviews with professional writers and later to play them to other students. This was done when the members of a writing group at our high school interviewed the late Ernest Haycox on the writing of stories. Also records of music can be played to establish different moods for writing, especially poetry. Students' poetry has been recorded and made available to encourage other pupils to write. Groups have made such records, telling how they got the ideas for their verse and then reading their poems. One particularly useful record cut by the audio-visual department was a transcription in which a student, Dick Nelson, read "Thanatopsis: 1947" and "Idyl of the Gorge," two of his poems that were given very high mention in the Atlantic Monthly student writing contest. To these were added the comments of the judges, which always accompany papers that place in this contest."

Both drama and famous addresses are excellent sources for ideas which may motivate students to express themselves in writing. "The Declaration of Independence," "The Gettysburg Address," "Americans of Foreign Birth," "On a Note of Triumph" (commemorating VE day) "The Sermon on the Mount," and speeches of Hitler, Roosevelt, and Churchill are only a few of the addresses which are on recordings.

Consideration by the class of the effectiveness of great leaders and orators in communicating their messages for particular purposes can lead to a valuable exercise in the study of language. After hearing recorded speeches by political, military, and business leaders who employ different language patterns, students may discuss the effectiveness of vocabulary in relation to audience, the levels of usage employed, the length of sentences, the degree of formality in diction, grammatical principles observed, use of figures of speech, regional and cultural influences on dialect, and other aspects of the speakers' language. Analysis of speeches by men such as Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt will help to make some students conscious of the importance of vivid and colorful language in making meaning clear. Comparison of speeches by Roosevelt and Churchill with recorded addresses of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Edward Everett may help boys and girls to realize that language is steadily evolving and changing in style, grammar, diction, syntax, and usage.

Youth who listen to speeches about strongly controversial subjects may also be led to appraise the relative honesty and validity of the messages which are conveyed. Recordings of a political or "selling" nature may be listened to and discussed with these questions in mind:

1. Who is the speaker?

2. What is his purpose?

3. How does he appeal to prejudices and emotions?

4. How well informed does he seem to be?

5. How much of his language is emotional or irrational?

6. How does the context (audience, time, place) of the message influence the language used?

7. How accurate are the speaker's statistics and other data?

8. How complete is his treatment of the subject?

9. What effect may his message have on groups with divergent points of view?

The importance of training students to listen with alert, analytical, judicious minds while living in a society where their thinking and behavior are subject to the influence of words coming from politicians, promoters, and purveyors of foreign ideologies is generally accepted in the educational world. Now, with the communicative forces of the radio allied with those of the motion picture in the medium of television, this need is even greater than it was in the past few decades.

The importance as well as the difficulty of teaching listening skills by means of recordings has been reported by Mrs. Eleanor H. Matthews, teacher in English and Social Studies at Girls Polytechnic High School Portland, Oreg. She writes,

The teacher must realize that intelligent listening, like retentive reading or forceful communication of ideas in writing and speaking, is a complex skill not possessed by a great many supposedly literate persons, both young people and adults. When I first use recordings with a class, I find it essential to play and replay passages until the class begins to discard ineffective audio-habits and develop some patterns of attentive listening.

Typical of the undesirable audio-habits that must be recognized and overcome are the following:

1. Distorting meaning by seizing upon one familiar word from an entire

passage.

2. Ignoring qualifying words which alter whole areas of meaning.

3. Giving wrong literal interpretation to figurative language; failing to grasp symbols.

As the class becomes aware of the need to overcome these and other audiohabits, the teacher must guide the development of desirable patterns of attentive listening. Important among these are the following:

1. Distinguishing between main thoughts and illustrative examples. Following parallel constructions.

2.

3. Recognizing "stop-and-go" signals in language (e.g., summarizing statements, transition phrases, new-thought introductions).

4. Converting symbolic language into literal.

5. Seeking out the organization of the entire talk: introduction, body, conclusion.

Not until pupils have begun to acquire satisfactory audio-habits can teachers use recordings for anything more than a temporary stimulation of interest. But the teacher who is able to add intelligent listening to his pupils' skills has helped them toward the goals of intellectual maturity and independence of judgment.

Storing of Records

Where should records which become the property of the school be stored when they are not in use? If the school has an audio-visual aids or instructional materials department, adequately staffed, the disks may be well cared for and housed by that department. However, where there is no instructional materials center, many school libraries handle recordings and lend them out to the teachers and students. Records are thus subject to much more frequent use as well as to damage, rapid wear, and breakage. In other schools, however, the English office houses most of the literary recordings. The great advantage in this arrangement is that the records are easily accessible and are more likely to be played when they are needed. Requisition delays are thus obviated for the busy English teacher. However, the records may not be stored

under as favorable conditions in the English office as when they are housed in the audio-visual aids room or even in the school library. The English office should also have at least one light, portable record player. In most cases, local conditions will determine the type of housing arrangement which is most desirable.

Conclusion

Commercially produced phonograph records are only one of many modern instructional aids which are available to the language arts teacher today. Tape recorders, wire recorders, radio and television receivers, and numerous types of projectors are helping the English teacher to clarify and extend the meaning of the verbal symbol to her students by means of sound and picture. Although the recording does not have the initial "glamour appeal" of some of the more recent inventions, it does possess the advantages of availability and simplicity of use. Almost every student knows how to operate a record player; the equipment needed is quite inexpensive, portable, and dependable; and the program desired may be played at the time and the place that the teacher and class choose. But most encouraging of all, as the following bibliography shows, is the great variety of excellent literature recorded by famous artists which is available for use in the language arts classroom.

USE OF RECORDINGS

ADAMS, HARLEN M., and MURPHY, GEORGE E. Speak, Look, and Listen. Chicago, National Council of Teachers of English, 1944.

BERNSTEIN, JULIUS C. Recording and Playback Machines: Their Function in the English Classroom. English Journal, 38: 330–341, June 1949.

BRODERICK, GERTRUDE. Catalog of Radio Recordings. Office of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington 25, D. C.- -Recording and Radio Teaching Aids. Players Magazine, 28: 133, March 1952.

BURROWS, R. M. Recommended New Recordings. Audio-Visual Guide issues. DALE, EDGAR. Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching, New York, Dryden Press, 1947. DANIELS, E. S. Record Talk. Instructor, March 1952 and other issues.

DEARING, BRUCE. Experiments with Audio-Visual Aids. College English, 13: 319-326, March 1952.

DENT, ELSWORTH. The Audio-Visual Handbook. Chicago, Society for Visual Education, 1946.

EXTON, WILLIAM, Jr. Audio-Visual Aids to Instruction. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1947.

HORN, DAVID. Taking Advantage of the Boys. English Journal, 36: 324–325, June 1947.

KINDER, JAMES. Audio-Visual Materials and Techniques. New York, American Book Co., 1950.

LEWIN, WILLIAM. How to File Phonograph Records. Audio-Visual Guide, 18: 28, September 1951.

MCBEAN, DILLA W. Phonograph Records to Stimulate Reading. Educational Screen, 27: 224-226, May 1948.

MCKOWN, HARRY C., and ROBERTS, ALVIN B. Audio-Visual Aids to Instruction. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1949.

MILES, J. ROBERT. Recordings for School Use: A Catalog of Appraisals. Yonkers, N. Y., World Book Co., 1942.

NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION. Audio-Visual Materials of Instruction, 48th Yearbook, Part I. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1949. OVERTON, GERTRUDE H. The Phonograph-It Helps Literature over Rough Spots. Clearing House, 24: 356, February 1950.

REID, SEERLEY, and Day, DANIEL. Radio and Records in Education. Review of Educational Research, 12: 305–322, June 1942.

SHEEHY, EMMA DICKSON. Recordings on the March. Teachers College Record, 49: 119-125, November 1947.

TYRREL, WILLIAM G. Musical Recordings for American History. Social Education, 12: 213-218, May 1948.

WEEKS, RUTH MARY. A Correlated Curriculum. New York, N. Y., D. AppletonCentury Co., 1936, p. 22-36; 156–179.

WELLS, HENRY W. Literature and the Phonograph. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 29: 68-73, February 1943.

WOLFE, BARBARA A. Evaluating Poetry Recordings for Children. Audio-Visual Guide, 17: 29-30, September 1950.

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