The "Language Inquiry," a collection of 100 statements about attitudes toward language, was devised to help teachers evaluate themselves and determine their students' ideas about language so that they could better plan what materials and strategies to utilize in a course. By indicating the degree of his agreement with each statement in…

The inaugural address of the president of the National Council of Teachers of English, delivered at annual convention of NCTE (59th, Washington, D.C., November 28, 1969). (SW)

The inaugural address of the President of the National Council of Teachers of English presented at annual convention of NCTE (59th, Washington, D.C., November 28, 1969); appears also in "Elementary English," vol. 47, no. 4 (April 1970), 467-74. (SW)

This collection of articles commenting on "Webster's Third New International Dictionary" (1961) is concerned with the problems, theory, and practice of lexicography. The following specific topics are covered: the function of the dictionary, repetition in dictionary definitions, the new dictionary's reflection of current language usage,…

THE SCIENCE OF LINGUISTICS CAN, IF INTELLIGENTLY APPLIED, AID THE TEACHER OF ENGLISH IN CONVINCING STUDENTS THAT LANGUAGE IS A MEDIUM THEY CAN CONTROL BY LEARNING ABOUT ITS STRUCTURE. KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROCESSES BY WHICH CHILDREN LEARN LANGUAGE WILL LEAD ENGLISH TEACHERS TO RECOGNIZE THE STRENGTH OF BEHAVIOR PATTERNS IN USAGE AND NONSTANDARD…

Standards, like schools and the teaching profession, are inherently undemocratic.

The three Summer Institute articles in this publication urge teachers of English language arts to base their teaching on an awareness of how language operates and on an understanding of children's needs. Among the topics dealt with are the central role of literature in the English curriculum, the need for teachers to attend to children and accept…

FROM EITHER A FEAR OF STUDENTS OR A FEAR OF LANGUAGE AS IT ACTUALLY EXISTS, MANY ENGLISH TEACHERS HAVE PERMITTED GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS TO DOMINATE THE NEW ENGLISH CURRICULA AND CONSEQUENTLY HAVE MADE LINGUISTICS IRRELEVANT. THESE TEACHERS PREFER THE MANIPULATION OF GRAMMATICAL SYSTEMS AS AN END IN ITSELF RATHER THAN THE USE OF LINGUISTICS TO…

THIS REPORT BY THE COMMISSION ON ENGLISH OF THE COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION BOARD (CEEB) IS BASED UPON 5 YEARS OF STUDY INTO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH PROGRAMS FOR AMERICAN COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENTS IN ORDER TO PROPOSE ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS FOR SUCH STUDENTS AND WAYS OF MEETING THOSE STANDARDS. THE COMMISSION'S 14 PRINCIPAL RECOMMENDATIONS ARE…

IMPROVING THE READING ABILITY OF CHILDREN OF THE "HAVE-NOT" POPULATION, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF CULTURAL SUB-GROUPS, REQUIRES THE TEACHER'S ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHILD'S SPOKEN LANGUAGE. CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED AND CULTURALLY DIVERGENT CHILDREN HAVE PRONUNCIATIONS AND VOCABULARIES DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF AVERAGE STUDENTS, BUT THE TEACHER SHOULD RESIST…

The six essays in this collection indicate the new specializations and the shifting boundaries of the English teaching profession. John C. Gerber surveys the effect of recent research on the teaching of language, literature, and composition; on curriculum revision; and on teachers' professional attitudes. J. N. Hook defends the practical value in…