Speech delivered at the Annual Meeting, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), November 28, 1969, in Washington, D.C. (DS)

Describes how one English teacher revised course goals and journal writing assignments to promote better thinking and writing in a college literature course. Concentrates on the way "Beowulf" was taught and the kinds of writing about it that were produced by students as a result. (HB)

By limiting sentence combining to the arena of syntax and skills, an individual's own thinking is seriously constricted. Any linguistic act is simultaneously two games at once--an "inner game" of intention and strategy, and an "outer game" of actual performance. According to this formulation, all language events are intentional, purposeful, and…

Sentence combining can act as a corrective for the large number of language arts lessons and activities that emphasize errors. Based on familiar sentence patterns, sentence combining provides models of effective language use and encourages students to examine and try more expressive and interesting styles of speaking and writing. Sentence…

All English teachers share an occasional uneasiness about whether English really matters. Three major sources for this uneasiness are: (1) English teachers are uncertain about their basic purpose. Historically, the emphasis in the English profession has shifted from sharing the best that has been thought and said, to literary history, to rigorous…

Freshmen enrolled in regular and remedial sections of English were surveyed to determine the amount of instruction and practice in expository composition received during high school. Results showed that the total amount of instruction was relatively low for both groups of students: only 15% of remedial students and 25% of regular English students…

Pressure exerted by parents, college instructors, and politically mandated accountability systems have forced English teachers to reevaluate the effectiveness of secondary school curriculums. The temptation to return to the rote-learning and grammar drills of the past, although accentuated by these demands, should not be yielded to. Real English…

This paper argues that the "back to basics" movement represents a simplistic assessment of the problem it is trying to deal with. It is not necessary for the English curriculum to "return" to narrowly defined basic skills because the English curriculum, in fact, never left them, and that is the real problem. Language…

Questionnaire surveys of university faculty and students were employed to assess the writing needs of undergraduates in the life and social science divisions of the University of California, Los Angeles. Findings were to aid the UCLA Department of English in developing a new freshman composition program, based on specific skill deficiencies.…

This paper discusses and makes specific recommendations for teaching freshman composition courses. First, the teacher must introduce the subject matter of the course to the students in an interesting way. Next, the teacher must instruct students in the basic language skills, such as spelling and grammar. Finally, the teacher must instruct the…

This paper discusses the inadequacies of elementary and college education, stating that since teachers expect students to write poorly, they do. Four risks which college writing teachers must take are: offering to help teach writing in grade schools and high schools; encouraging their colleagues to relax their standards; encouraging the acceptance…

This "working paper" offers 16 sample projects (integrated programs of work built around a central situation or idea intended to aid in the development of communication skills and the personal and social development of students) which are divided into five types: (1) minor projects--short projects which introduce the approach, built around some…

The nine essays in this document are concerned with "what, ideally, should make well-balanced, efficient programs in English for students in grades 9-12 in the comprehensive secondary schools of the future." James Sledd maintains that leaving teachers free to guide students in reading good books and in writing is more important to a successful…

This paper discusses the rationale and teaching methods for a six-week unit, for a high school freshman English Class, on perception, semantics, and writing, which places special focus on developing tension in student writing. The first four objectives of the course focus on perception and the next two focus on semantics. The seventh…