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The Limitations of Self‐Paced Instruction in Latin
Author(s) -
Lacey Douglas N.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
foreign language annals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1944-9720
pISSN - 0015-718X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1980.tb01363.x
Subject(s) - syntax , grammar , mathematics education , reading (process) , reading comprehension , computer science , comprehension , psychology , transition (genetics) , linguistics , pedagogy , artificial intelligence , programming language , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
After four years of experimentation with self‐paced instruction in elementary and intermediate latin at The Ohio State University, evidence has demonstrated that this mode of instruction works quite well at the skill‐building levels of the language, but becomes unwieldy and ineffective at the intermediate levels. Part of the reason for this result is the fact that most Latin programs expect to have the students reading continuous prose by at least the third or fourth term of study. The transition from grammar and syntax to reading comprehension seems to work best in the classroom, where students can learn more from a group effort than they could from a one‐to‐one meeting with an instructor. Likewise, the self‐paced program at the intermediate levels becomes much more of a tutorial, in which time is consumed in a most inefficient manner, since the same material will have to be covered by an instructor with individual students rather than with groups.