One section of the special issue, Directory of Assistantships and Fellowships for Graduate Study in English and the Teaching of English: 1971-72 and Directory of the Chairmen of Freshman Composition Programs in the Nation's Colleges and Universities," which is available from the National Council of Teachers of English, 508 South 6th Street,…

A middle ground, between picky concern for correctness and mushy libertarianism, must be found on which to base effective freshman composition courses. (JH)

Special Issue

As composition teachers, we need to learn to stop evaluating the student writer's values and assumptions, and rather evaluate what he does working from those assumptions. (JH)

In response to burgeoning nontraditional student enrollments in freshman composition at the University of New Orleans, the entire English faculty has begun to teach all levels of composition courses. Benefits from this development have included student appreciation, an improvement in faculty morale, and a tightening of academic standards. (DF)

There are three standard complaints given by teachers of freshman composition: (1) college freshman students are inferior to English majors and graduate students, or inferior to freshmen from when the teachers were in college; (2) the subject matter of a writing course is inferior to that of literature courses; and (3) those who teach composition…

A study of the reliability of writing evaluation by teachers from various departments at Bowling Green State University is reported. One hundred papers from the Writing Proficiency Examination given by the Department of English to all students completing the freshman composition sequence were selected for evaluation. Thirty volunteer faculty…

To determine if there are significant differences between the first-semester freshman composition grading standards of public two-year and four-year institutions in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a composition instrument was mailed to 120 freshman composition directors from two-year and four-year member institutions. The…

Part I of this book attempts to provide students with an understanding of the "academic enterprise" as a whole, and specifically the structures, people, money, myths and practices which create that peculiar enterprise known as freshman English, an experience through which the majority of college students must pass. Part II offers students a…

Crucial issues facing the departments of English in the 1960's prompt a reexamination of literature-oriented curriculums, staff preparation, enrollment trends, and international needs in the teaching of English. The implications of a shortage of qualified beginning instructors with a Ph.D. in literature suggest that teachers be trained in the…

Surveys eliciting descriptive information on English programs were sent to the deans of instruction, department chairpersons, and faculty in 21 Alabama community colleges; 17 colleges provided institutional data, 19 of 19 department chairpersons returned the survey, and 80% of the English faculty responded. The survey requested information on: (1)…