A second edition of this bulletin has made possible some revision. No essential changes have been made, but considerable new material has been added. Some parts have been developed at greater length in order to explain the methods more fully. The most important addition is the outline for the study of composition and style, which has been included for those teachers who desire to review the various phases of rhetorical theory in preparation for teaching composition or reading. The bibliography has been extended to include a number of standard reference books on various phases of the English work. The books have been selected on the basis of their practical value to the teacher in the work actually required in the high school course in English, and of the possibility of assisting the teacher to build up for himself, at reasonable cost, a good working library. In order to accomplish the latter purpose the less expensive reference books have, as far as possible, been chosen, and the price and the publisher of each have been given. I PURPOSE OF THE COURSE The main objects of the teaching of English as presented in the Report of the Committee of Ten[1], are (1) “to enable the pupil to understand the expressed thoughts of others;” (2) to enable him “to give expression to thoughts of his own;” (3) “to cultivate a taste for reading, to give the pupil some acquaintance with good literature, and to furnish him the means of extending that acquaintance.” Other subsidiary objects may be accomplished by the study of English, the Report points out, but these should never be permitted to encroach upon the main purposes. While these purposes are considered separately, and are apparently separated in arranging the course of study, the Report continues, their mutual dependence must constantly be kept in mind. By studying the thoughts of others as expressed in the literature read in or out of the class room, the pupil can be led to see how to express his own thoughts more effectively. All reading of good literature should tend to cultivate a taste for reading, and all study of good literature should lead to a better appreciation of what is best in expression. The survey of the history of English and American literature accompanied by the reading and study of characteristic selections of every period, will open up to the pupil the whole field of literature in English and will furnish him the means of judging intelligently of what he reads. This interdependence of the main purposes of the study of English requires the closest correlation of every phase of the English work. Footnote 1: Report of Committee on Secondary School Studies, p. 86. Since the English work is divided into two principal parts, reading and composition, it may be well to consider briefly the purpose of each in relation to the main objects just considered.