How Should Reading and Composition Be Brought Into [Clearer] Connection? [1898]

Indeed the primary goal of reading and composition instruction is to enable children to understand reading, writing, and the meaning [of texts], fostering their capacity for expressing ideas. In contrast, encouraging the development of children's knowledge and morals is merely an auxiliary or subordinate objective. With the progress and development of educational thinking, the language used in textbooks has become simpler to accommodate children's mental capacities. Because of the simplicity of the language, it is enough to confirm the readings of different characters and lecture on the meaning. When instructing reading and composition, teachers should have students write down dictated vocabulary, short phrases, simple sentences, etc., occasionally modifying these, in order to deepen their understanding of how kana (i.e., phonetic characters) and vocabulary are used. Writing therefore belongs to exactly the same functional category as elaboration; it is thus a crucial element for the teaching of composition.