There are four ways of teaching the meanings of words or forms:
(1) _By immediate association_, as when we point to the object represented by a noun.
(2) _By translation_, as when we give the student the nearest native equivalent.
(3) _By definition_, as when we describe the unit by means of a synonymous expression.
(4) _By context_, as when we embody the word or expression in a sentence which will make its meaning clear.
These four manners are given here in what is generally their order of concreteness; it is interesting to note in this connexion that translation is not nearly so 'indirect' or 'unconcrete' as the extreme 'direct methodists' have led us to suppose.
It is for the teacher to judge under what conditions each of these four manners of teaching meanings may be appropriately used.
No work is likely to be successfully accomplished if the student is not interested in what he is doing, but in our efforts to interest the pupil we must take care that the quality of the teaching does not suffer. Habit-forming work has the reputation of being dull and tedious. The remedy, however, would not be to abandon it in favour of work which in itself is or seems more interesting (such as reading, composition, and translation exercises), for by so doing we should merely be leaving undone work which must be done. The true remedy is to devise a number of varied and appropriate exercises in order to make the habit-forming work itself interesting.
The most ingenious and interesting arithmetical problems alone will not assist the student in memorizing the multiplication table, and the most ingenious and interesting sentence-building devices alone will not cause the student to obtain the necessary automatic command of the fundamental material of the language.
There are notably six factors making for interest (and the observing of these will not in any appreciable degree violate the eight other principles involved), viz.:
(1) _The Elimination of Bewilderment._--Difficulty is one thing: bewilderment is another. The student must, in the ordinary course of events, be confronted with difficulties, but he should never be faced with hopeless puzzles. Rational explanations and good grading will eliminate bewilderment and, in so doing, will tend to make the course interesting.