GRADED READINGS IN MODERN LITERARY TELUGU--PRELIMINARY EDITION.

THE 16 CONTEMPORARY TELUGU SELECTIONS IN THIS READER WERE SELECTED TO ACQUAINT THE STUDENT WITH A VARIETY OF POPULAR LITERARY STYLES AND TECHNIQUES WHILE INSTRUCTING HIM EFFICIENTLY IN IMPORTANT READING SKILLS. ALL TELUGU MATERIAL IS WRITTEN IN DEVANAGARI SCRIPT. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION AND SHORT PARAGRAPHS CONCERNING EACH AUTHOR ARE WRITTEN IN ENGLISH. THE AUTHORS HAVE TRIED TO EXPOSE THE STUDENT EARLY AND REPEATEDLY TO THOSE FEATURES OF THE LANGUAGE WHICH OCCUR MOST FREQUENTLY. IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE MOST FREQUENT FEATURES OF THESE SELECTIONS, THE ENTIRE TEXT WAS FED INTO A HIGH-SPEED ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AND ANALYZED FOR FREQUENCY. THE ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE FREQUENCIES WERE DETERMINED FOR EACH LEXICAL WORD IN THE TEXT, AS WELL AS FOR SOME 90 INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES. A SPECIALLY DEVELOPED FORMULA WAS APPLIED TO ASSIGN TO EACH SELECTION A "SCORE" BASED ON THE LENGTH OF THE SELECTION, THE RELATIVE FREQUENCY OF THE WORDS AND AFFIXES IT CONTAINED, AND THE PROPORTION OF HIGH-FREQUENCY WORDS AND AFFIXES IT CONTAINED. ON THE BASIS OF THESE SCORES, THE SELECTIONS WERE ARRANGED IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY APPEAR IN THIS READER. IN THE EARLIER READINGS LOW-FREQUENCY WORDS WERE REPLACED WITH HIGH-FREQUENCY EQUIVALENTS AND THE INTRODUCTION OF CERTAIN DIFFICULT AND LESS FREQUENT GRAMMATICAL MATERIAL WAS POSTPONED UNTIL LATER IN THE TEXT. BY THE END OF THE EIGHTH STORY, MOST OF THE GRAMMAR USED IN THE TEXT HAS BEEN INTRODUCED, LEAVING THE SECOND HALF OF THE TEXT FOR REINFORCEMENT, ADDITIONAL VOCABULARY, AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE STUDENT'S READING EFFICIENCY. ADDITIONAL VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES INCLUDE A NEWSPAPER READER (AL 000 905) AND A GLOSSARY FOR BOTH READERS (AL 000 906). (JD)