This scripted dialogue is a fully documented story about the history and conditions of one group of post-secondary teachers of English. The narrative focuses on the proposal of this group of "permanent" temporary writing instructors from Western Illinois University to convince administrators to change their status to tenure track by…

The violence of any literacy acquisition in the contact zone between the powered, the disempowered, and the empowered is never clearcut. But, nevertheless, calls to theory literacy from the late 70s and early 80s have been answered with a rush. Michael Berube writes that "graduate school in English seems to have a very bad effect on people…

By the late 19th century, the new universities in the United States had become so closely intertwined with the research imperative that their future depended on their position at the center of knowledge creation. The tension between the liberal arts college and the "modern" research university initiated a process of differentiation that…

Film is not often taught for itself and by itself; it is too often viewed as the handmaiden of literature. More often than not it is taught in English departments because: (1) like novels, poems, plays and philosophical arguments, it is a humanistic text; (2) film writers and directors have historically turned to literary texts as their source…

Many English handbooks and "grammars" fail to offer sound advice to writers about matters of exactness in diction and precision in sentence structure. A gap between linguists and English teachers, the literary bias of most graduate departments of English, and a national obsession with the all-powerful capabilities of common sense, have…

Within the academy the commonly held definition of plagiarism--using another's words, ideas, or stylistic individuality without attribution--is widespread, appearing on most English course syllabi. Judicial guidelines are followed: neither stealing nor ignorance of the law is to be sanctioned. Furthermore, penalties for students can be severe: a…

A survey of English majors at the University of Southern Maine concerning the subject of curricular reform allowed a professor involved in the planning of the project to compile several "dos" and "don'ts" in an appendix titled "A Few Basic Principles of Questionnaire Design." These guidelines, however, require some…

This article discusses six approaches that English departments might use before censorship problems arise. Two reactions to the article are also included. (RC)

Between budget cutbacks, fewer students, and more competing majors, English departments and faculty are in serious danger. (JH)

Considered the problems of teaching literature versus social attitudes ingrained against learning about literature. (RK)

In "Management and the Activity Trap," George S. Odiorne points out that many organizations become so enmeshed in activity that they lose sight of their goals and the activity becomes an end in itself. This paper applies Odiorne's description of the activity trap to modern English departments. It points to examples that indicate that English…

An internship program developed in the English department at the University of Maryland provides English majors with the opportunity to sharpen their abilities and to gain preprofessional experience, while employers gain the chance to discover the talents and skills of English majors. Students in the program earn four credits for the semester…

Presents the results of a survey conducted to determine the teacher workload in institutions of higher education, concluding that over one-third of the English teachers teach too many students or too many courses or both. (RB)