Educators of graduate students of English who are simultaneously teaching undergraduate composition courses should focus on how the study of institutional history might shed light on contemporary praxis. The Cultural and Critical Studies Ph.D. Program in the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) English Department combines an innovative approach…

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…

A survey investigated the structure of doctoral programs in English education. Upon request, 24 universities (out of 36 approached) sent varying kinds of information regarding their programs, including department or program brochures, university-wide graduate bulletins, and explanatory letters. Results indicated great diversity, allowing only…

The structure of the university English department in Third World countries is examined with respect to curricula, objectives, policies, and traditions. Examples are drawn from Arab countries, India, Pakistan, and several African countries. The typical syllabus in English has offered a complete coverage of English literature, but little emphasis…

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…

The purposes of the Basic Writing Skills Assessment Project, begun in the spring of 1977, were to provide a review and assessment of the existing English proficiency program and to develop a data base on which generalizations might be made about the status of writing skills at Plymouth State College. This report was written on the basis of…

The English department at Central College (Pella, Iowa) has implemented a program that involves the entire faculty in the development of students' basic skills. The program's support system for students and faculty includes the following components: a skills laboratory staffed by a full-time skills coordinator and by trained student tutors…

When the composition program at Kansas State University (Manhattan) was radically reoriented from one that emphasized the writing product to one that stressed the writing process, a number of problems surfaced. Teachers, for example, had difficulty in adjusting from being purveyors of rules and forms to being facilitators whose job was to help…

Presented at a writing center conference by English department faculty members from around the United States--all involved with writing centers--the papers in this collection relate personal experiences and discuss many of the problems faced by writing centers. The ten papers deal with the following topics: (1) the progress and future of writing…

Teachers in all disciplines must demand good writing from students if they want their writing to improve. When good writing is demanded only in English classes, students develop a double standard for their writing. To make teachers in other departments aware of their responsibility for the quality of student writing, English teachers can take the…

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…

This document consists of six separate items: (1) a description of graduate courses in English education at Youngstown State University; (2) an outline for a summer workshop on the teaching of writing; (3) the welcoming letter sent to workshop participants, which includes the list of required readings; (4) a summary of workshop participants'…