A survey of English majors at the University of Southern Maine concerning the subject of curricular reform allowed a professor involved in the planning of the project to compile several "dos" and "don'ts" in an appendix titled "A Few Basic Principles of Questionnaire Design." These guidelines, however, require some…

In "Management and the Activity Trap," George S. Odiorne points out that many organizations become so enmeshed in activity that they lose sight of their goals and the activity becomes an end in itself. This paper applies Odiorne's description of the activity trap to modern English departments. It points to examples that indicate that English…

An internship program developed in the English department at the University of Maryland provides English majors with the opportunity to sharpen their abilities and to gain preprofessional experience, while employers gain the chance to discover the talents and skills of English majors. Students in the program earn four credits for the semester…

This paper discusses the roles and responsibilities of the linguist in the English department and also the roles and responsibilities of the English department in relation to the linguist. Discussed are such topics as the exclusivity of some English departments, linguists. grievances against some English departments, linguists' expectations for…

In a response to the Minnesota Conference on the Future of Doctoral Study in English, argues that English departments can define future study in English by focusing on the trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Claims that, taken together, the three disciplines are potentially concerned with all issues involved in how we use words to make, do, and…

In a response to the Minnesota Conference on the Future of Doctoral Study in English, asserts that the English faculty in two-year colleges should not be omitted from discussions of graduate study in English. Offers several recommendations for graduate education in English, particularly in relation to the implications for instructors in two-year…

Offers advice to English department chairs on the behavior of academic departments. (AEA)

As the 21st century begins, the clicking of computer keyboards is increasingly interrupting the calm of literary classrooms. The sound of new technology now marks the world in which students grow up and will live, how they learn, and in essence who they are. How do educators cope and make it all work? On a typical day this could happen: the…

An essay, often called a personal essay, familiar essay, lyric essay, the disjunctive or spiral essay, is a piece of writing which takes its form in the shifts and turns of a particular mind at work. The essay is a piece of writing which pays attention to and sometimes plays with form; often uses images and figures that are familiar with poetry;…

This paper reports on the travails of the writing center at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. The paper recounts how the center has been forced to move physically several times in the past few years and has battled a budget crunch as well. It explains that, although the English Department has been allocating enough money from its budget to…

Suggests and discusses four strategies for English departments to consider in the 1980s: technology, standards, consolidation, and leadership. (AEA)

Problems of "dialect" exist in the field called "English," which is constituted by both composition and literature. The "ghettoization" of composition has created a hostile underclass, and many compositionists try to "pass" as literarists or at least unconsciously adopt the vocabulary and rhetoric of the…

The way job positions in English studies are conceptualized, advertised, applied for, and awarded is defined by the conventional contours of literary study. The precision with which the "Job Information List" breaks down literature positions by national and historical categories reflects the desire of a great many departments to hire and…

In forming a new curriculum for the English Department at Louisiana State University, the Literature Concentration Subcommittee faced a daunting array of competing demands. How can students gain a perspective on the terrain of literary studies, including canonical and non-canonical texts? How can they experience the rich diversity of the…

This paper discusses some of the problems posed by external testing, including the social and racial complexities and the serious intellectual issues raised by the nature of a "standardized" examination. It is argued that these and other problems are likely to intensify to an unprecedented degree during the next several years as a result of…