798 tRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 



he should always adopt a clieerl'ul bedside maimer, but he must see that his 

 prescriptions are carefully compounded, and that his orders are faithfully carried 

 out ; before he prescribes he must discover ivhy the patient is sick. 



The School lieport. — The inspector is often placed in a serious quandary when 

 writing his report. If it is constructive, as it should he, the school committee or 

 governors are apt to mistake suggestion for censure, and often form very unjust 

 opinions of the teaching staff. Even if the committee understands the report, the 

 parents often do not, and it is doubtful whether the publication of such reports is 

 desirable. 



The frequent changes of inspectors in a given district has a very disturbing 

 effect on the work of the schools. It takes a considerable time to know a large 

 number of schools and teachers, and first impressions are sometimes wrong. An 

 inspector must be left for several years in the same district before his constructive 

 work can bear fruit. 



Uniformity of Inspection Standards. — One of the chief charges brought by 

 teachers against the present inspection system is the want of uniformity in inspec- 

 tion standards. What passes for ' good ' with one inspector is only ' fair ' with 

 another. The remedy lies with the chief inspectors. They should see that the 

 instructions to inspectors (which are the common property of teachers and 

 inspectors) are clear, definite, and sufiicient, and that these are strictly observed. 

 More frequent conferences among inspectors, and a loyalty to the decision of the 

 majority, are desirable ; there are very few questions on which real disagreement 

 is possible. 



In conclusion, it may be pointed out that the inspector has a magnificent field 

 for scientific research around him. He can watch, foster, and institute educational 

 experiments of all kinds ; and by encouraging teachers to meet together to discuss 

 the details, aims, and methods of their professional work, in which he should 

 show keen interest himself, he can secure educational progress in his sphere of 

 influence. 



3. Processes involved in the Acquirement of a Foreign Language. 

 By Professor J. J. Findlay. 



1. The investigations which the autlior undertook commenced in 1891 (after 

 the visit of Professors Passy and Vietor to England) and have been continued 

 under varying conditions up to the present. The specific problem presented for 

 discussion is the mental processes at work in acquiring a foreign language 

 (leaving on one side the ultimate aims presupposed by a teacher). 



2. The author observed and noted {n) his own experiences; (Jb) those of 

 fellow-students when acquiring a foreign tongue ; (c) children and students in 

 small classes, sometimes taught ' intensively,' {d) classes in a school in Cai-difl, 

 1898-1903, in which he was able, with exceptional freedom, to direct a co-ordinated 

 scheme of teaching, extending over five years ; the classes were taught by 

 a number of able assistant masters, who co-operated on common principles of 

 teaching : the results were annually examined in detail by the Central Welsh 

 Board (younger scholars orally, older scholars also in writing for junior and senior 

 certificates) ; these reports are available for reference. 



3. The important phenomena may be summarised thus : — (1) The process is 

 fundamentally one of acquiring habits of automatic reaction in the association 

 of foreign symbols with ideas. (2) Distinctions between reading and hearing, 

 speaking and writing are of minor importance. (3) The employment of language 

 (native or foreign) is a synthetic, not an analytic process ; the recognition of 

 the single symbol is merely a step (and often an unnecessary step) towards the 

 immediate recognition of the general sense of a passage. But an equivalent in the 

 vernacular may often be suggested for a moment and then encouraged to sink 

 below the threshold of consciousness. (4) In contrast to other arts (compare e.g., 

 golf) the special hindrance encountered in acquiring a second language is due to 

 the extraordinary resistance of the native speech ' centre.' (6) Hence to the beginner 

 the path of least discomfort is to interpret the foreign symbol through the native 



