Throughout much of the 20th century, English departments were the crown jewels of the humanities. Exposure to great literature was often considered essential for students expected to assume lead roles in business, law, government, and society. Today, English departments have lost their position at the center of the American university. Enrollments…

This program profile examines efforts by WPAs at York College, a senior college in the CUNY system, to adapt to externally imposed changes and develop a locally meaningful writing program. 1999 marked the end of remediation at four-year (senior) colleges in The City University of New York. The elimination of developmental writing at CUNY's senior…

The emergent field of translation studies is still struggling to find a home in American universities in a time of severely strained budgets and overextended departments. Drawn to the issue, by the experience of a successful inaugural introductory course at the University of Alabama, these authors have found that a fruitful place for translation…

This exploratory, qualitative research explored the extent that course syllabi in the Departments of English in 13 public and 9 private universities in Taiwan reflect the inclusion of syllabus components to promote learning as recommended in the literature in the United States. Research questions included: what components can be inferred from the…

Undertaken during a period when changes in the assessment of English in public examinations at 16+ were becoming embedded in classroom practice, this comparative research explores where poetry is located within the newly aligned examination assessment frameworks of New Zealand and England. It comments on how these frameworks are locally…

This essay provides an account of The Ohio State University's (OSU) rhetoric department during the tenure of Joseph Villiers Denney, arguing that he appropriated and repurposed national trends in education and rhetoric in ways that complicate the narrative of rhetoric and composition's decline in the late nineteenth century. In this essay, the…

As is known, writing is an indispensable part of language education. As far as English Language Teaching Departments are concerned, writing courses, especially Advanced Writing Skills, are taken as a course of higher importance. However, forming a syllabus for Advanced Writing Course for English Language Teaching Departments is not an easy matter.…

In his seminal work connecting composition studies and sustainability, Derek Owens (2001: 8,6) notes that "learning how to live sustainably ought to be our primary cultural concern and, as such, must play a central role in our curricula". Within composition studies, Owens suggests that sustainability might begin with the study of the environment,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the collegial coaching model of staff development used by 8 English teachers at one Georgia high school. The 8 teachers worked in 4 groups of 2 to develop curriculum, design lessons, and create assessments for one grade level of students. The theoretical foundation for the collegial coaching model dates…

Presents seven practical and two abstract problems encountered when composition was removed from an English department by the dean during the spring of 1998. Lists four main reasons for moving composition out of English including: organization; quality; lack of commitment; and pedagogy. (SG)

Suggests that verbal and visual literacy are interdependent and that English departments should take on the task of heightening visual literacy. (AEA)

Reviews the history of a college English department from the 1960s through the mid-1980s. (MM)

Spotlights one site where the new curriculum calls the English department at Louisiana State University toward further change: the juncture between the undergraduate and graduate curricula. Illustrates the benefits of adopting a document that articulates curricular goals. Describes a five-year curriculum revision process. Attaches excerpts from a…

Describes a five-meeting cycle which enables a high school English department to cooperate in making constructive curriculum changes. (DD)

Offers a case study in curriculum change that reveals a very different experience--one that demonstrates a discipline more alive than ever. Presents a story of how the lively canon debates prompted the English department at Montclair State University to restructure the English major. Finds that the culture wars, critical theory, poststructuralism,…