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'…

This paper asserts that an English department that wishes to involve other departments in helping to improve students' writing skills must proceed through four distinct phases: (1) preparation of a rationale for involving other departments in the teaching of writing; (2) administration of a writing-attitude inventory to colleagues in other…

In 1977, to determine current conditions in the teaching of English, a questionnaire was distributed from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) headquarters to a selected sample of secondary schools. Four populations were chosen for study: schools that had participated in a 1968 study, schools that had consistently produced winners 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)

Updates and supplements a previous survey by Chapman and Tate. Indicates the type and number of specialized nonfiction writing courses available for graduate and undergraduate English majors and discusses changes in course offerings and enrollment between 1975-76 and 1985-86. (SD)

Several problems of college English departments--the increasing proportion of part time students, the need to provide literacy for all college students, and the unemployability of the department's graduate students--are described. A trend toward hiring community college faculty members to help solve these problems is described. (RM)

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)

Surveys freshman English directors in order to help define the role of the writing center director. Discusses how writing center directors are viewed within English departments. Appends the questionnaire used. (MS)

Analysis of six reputational rankings of English departments since 1925 indicates most of the highest-ranking departments have been in private universities. There has been great stability in the highest-ranked departments during this period, with few entering or leaving the group. (Author/MSE)

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…

English or rhetoric and composition faculty must work to collapse disciplinary boundaries in their institutions. The challenge facing English departments is to collapse the "we-they" mentality, to develop productive partnerships with other departments, and to develop a healthy respect for other disciplines. At Yavapai College in Arizona,…