Dr West New Method (Reading Method)

 Dr West New Method (Reading Method) -1920s-1950s

It is introduced in Dr West’s book “Bilingualism, with special reference to Bengal(1926)”

Dr Michael West had been in India in 1920s- 30s. He worked as a principal of a training college in Bihar and director of education in Dhaka (Bangladesh).

Direct method is a reaction against translation method; This new method is a reaction against the Direct method.

In India, learners learning to read is easy then to speak. Pupil should be initiated to read with care and derive pleasure from it.

(Reading is the shortest road in learning to speak and write)

Thorndike and Lodge prepared a list of 5000 words out of four million words in his book titled “The teachers word book (1921)”. He also prepared first to 500, second 500. Dr West used it.

Principles

Ø Reading comprehension should be given importance in teaching

Ø Separate readers with selected and graded vocabulary should be provided.

Ø 6 levels or plateaus with books known as Graded Readers.

Ø Mother tongue can be used judiciously in teaching learning process

Ø Dr. West says “readers was better models than errors of inefficient teachers.”

Ø This method believes that reading aspect must be such a skill which helps the students to acquire other skills easily (reading is the shortest road in learning to speak and write)

Ø Becoming proficient in reading doesn't require much external help or guidance (as in speaking) new vocabulary ratio one is 1:50

Ø The size of vocabulary should be as small as possible. the words introduced for the first time should be repeated a number of times as to make it familiar to the learner. (New vocabulary is be introduced after every 50 words in the ratio of 1:50)

Importance of reading (oral vs aloud reading)

Ø Dr. West believed that oral reading is preparatory to silent reading. In addition, oral reading strengthens silent reading.

Ø Dr. West believes that Indian pupils require the ability of reading English more than the abilities of speaking and writing. This reading, according to him, should be silent not oral.

Ø Dr. West says Indian students are withdrawn from school without completing the prescribed years of study. Hence, he proposed that they must learn something of English which gives a permanent value to them in their late life. This he calls as the surrender value

Ø Surrender value is the proportionate amount of benefit which a pupil derives from attending an incomplete course of instruction.

Ø In the opinion of Dr. West, efficiency in reading at initial stages of learning to read will enable pupils to acquire proficiency in speech and writing. They will be able to speak and write with speed and accuracy

Ø He believes that reading a language is easier than speaking it

Ø Indian learners haven’t the environment of English so speaking and reading have to be taught elaborately to Indian learners. Speaking requires active vocabulary but in reading we must be familiar with the passive vocabulary.

Ø West says the ideal speaking vocabulary is the most easily used set of words capable of expressing the largest number of ideas.

Ø He feels a minimum number of 2000 words are adequate for day-to-day ordinary conversations

Ø That is general service list of English words (1953) chosen from 10 million words. It has two main categories:

      1.Structural words: which gives structure to language

      2.Content words: they make  up context and subject matter

Advantages

Ø Stresses the reading skill.

Ø Emphasizes silent reading, which encourages self-learning and comprehension.

Ø Silent reading is free from phonetical difficulties, the learner finds it easy to read.

Ø It develops a taste for the study of literature especially short stories.

Ø As vocabulary is very much controlled, so reading comprehension skill is easily developed.

Ø Frequent repetition of vocabulary new words increases the vocabulary of the learners.

Ø If a learner is withdrawn from the school before completion of the course, gets the relative benefit out of it due to the surrender value.

Ø Suitable for large classes with limited facilities with low learner motivation.

Ø Also useful for low grade teacher.

Ø Hypothesis of this method: “Indian Learners need more reading skills than oral skills.”

Demerits

Ø Overestimated the value of passive work as an aid to active work. His assertion that silent reading paves the way for speech training and skill in writing is not correct. Now it is agreed that the best way to learn a language is through speech.

Ø Right pronunciation of language can’t be developed in this method since it emphasizes on silent reading. The key to right pronunciation is listening and speaking not reading the language.

Ø It is incomplete method as it doesn’t give equal importance and weightage to all the four-fold skills. It lays emphasis on only reading. Reading alone makes the learning of the language dull and monotonous.

Ø This is not a psychologically sound method as listening and speaking are not learned first. It first started with the reading and writing.

Ø The readers(=books) planned by doctor West are bulky.

Ø Scarcity of train teachers are another problem.

Ø Book written by doctor Michael W suggesting the ways of using the new method readers (=books) is “Teaching English under difficult circumstances”