A Comparative Study of the Objectives, Methodology, and Effective Results in the Teaching of Eleventh Grade English under Standard English Practives and under an Experimental Journalism Program with a View to Achievement in Compostion, Reading, and Research Skills

The bulk of the evidence which appears in this study came into being as a result of a curriculum experiment . As in the case of most experiments, the inventor required support from forces without whose presence the experiment would continue endlessly in a state of theory. The theory of Communications, a high school English course adapting journalistic practices to the standard English program, became an experiment in practice through the support of many such strategic forces First and foremost among these forces were those Who made the alteration in the curriculum at St. Mary\u27s possible. Sister Mary Thomas Rita, B.V .M., principal, and Sister Mary Ramona, B.V .M. , Provincial Superior, both encouraged the experimental move despite the fact that the course would have to hold a required status in the eleventh-grade curriculum. Since the initial success of the course both women have encouraged revisions, improvements and adaptations of the course in other high schools seeking an answer to the journalism problem. Second among these forces, perhaps in point of time only, were those persons who supplied a scholarly foundation to the course, particularly the methods employed in teaching it . The faculty of the College of Journalism, Marquette University, whose organization and presentation of journalism study has determined to a great extent the organization and presentation of the Communications course, have a very real place in this experiment. In particular, Professor David Host has advised and guided the development of the research necessary to this study, a study that could potentially multiply the course from a unique experiment to an accepted· curriculum innovation. Third among these forces were the guinea pigs to the experiment, more than 120 high school juniors whose interest and industry often surpassed the facilities available to them and often exceeded the expectation of their teacher. To the extent that these forces existed , the experiment came into being . To the extent that the experiment was made possible, so, too, this study and the projected conclusion that the evidence appears to support