Outlines the duties of English department heads and what their areas of expertise ought to be. (Author/JM)

Proposes that English faculty and department heads often have a negative view of members of the administration. Describes how department heads can establish personal and departmental integrity and maintain it. Suggest that this is the best way to succeed in relations with administrative deans. (HB)

Argues for deemphasis of hyperspecialization and narrow departmental structures and an emphasis on collective efforts, interdisciplinarity, and beyond-the-campus connections. Outlines shortcomings of Ph.D. programs in rhetoric and composition: (1) lip service paid to language and languages; (2) not enough attention on teaching; (3) neglect of…

Discusses two danger signs for writing across the curriculum (WAC) program survival, dealing with their cross-curricular structure, and their heavy dependence on just one person for their health and continuation. Outlines two cases from the history of writing instruction at the University of Michigan providing a precautionary tale for both kinds…

Writing teachers and theorists face political and pedagogical dangers because of their increasing tendency to align themselves against each other on the side of either rhetoric or composition. As the differences between the two schools widens, writing teachers stand to lose political ground in English departments and their students stand to lose…

The English Microlab Registry (EMR) was first designed as a database, or research tool, for planners of English microlabs in order to give them access to information about all aspects of microlab management. But EMR also provides descriptive data about what a microlab is and may well provide insight into whether those labs will survive. An…

The battle over whether literature or composition should dominate English instruction is the consequence of a perception that composition instructors who do not use literature as their primary source material have nothing substantial to offer in its place. A survey of 19 colleges and universities in New York revealed that institutions with a…

As the demographics of higher education, the role of higher education in society, and society itself all change, graduate education in English will inevitably change. The functions of graduate study in English are to prepare (1) teachers of English, (2) scholars who can advance critical theory and the understanding of language and the writing…

Facing the problem of a wide discrepancy in grading standards for student essays, the English department at a Texas community college developed a standardized method of grading students' expository and persuasive essays. The department established a committee of 10 full-time instructors whose objective was to standardize grading for all required…

In an attempt to predict the future of composition instruction in college English departments, this paper first reviews the development of freshman English and the so-called writing crisis and then reflects on the ongoing argument over composition course content. The present state of the English department of a midwestern college is described in…

Discusses the activities and accomplishments of the Canadian Council of Teachers of English (CCTE), especially with regard to its Teacher Education Commission's "Statement on the Preparation of Teachers of English and the Language Arts." (MS)

A disturbing gulf between the culture of the United States and that of Singapore, was noted by an American English professor after spending the 1986-87 academic year as a Fullbright lecturer in Singapore's Department of English and Literature and again after returning for the 1991-92 academic year as a visiting professor. Cultural differences were…

English departments must become involved in the training of teachers of writing at every level rather than concentrating exclusively on literary scholarship. (HOD)

Suggests that the reform of English departments where overburdened composition teachers teach underprepared students must begin with a sense of historical perspective examining the genesis of the freshman writing course and the large numbers of college students who must enroll in it. (TB)

There is a growing movement within the field of "rhetoric and composition" to separate the more theoretical, abstract, and prestigious rhetoric from the more practical composition. Evidence cannot irrefutably prove that professionalization is creating an opposition between the two elements of the discipline with a privileging of rhetoric, but…