When the ideology of individualism is used in composition studies to create a hero image for the writer/teacher, the effect is to exclude from the "hero status" people who do not fit the requirements of the ideology. However beautiful and powerful a story it may be, for instance, Mike Rose's "Lives on the Boundary" puts forth…

As English departments face the 90s and beyond, the pressure will only rise to define and justify the role of the English professor in the academy. Three current debates suggest the indeterminate future of English departments, which now represent a multi-faceted discipline. First, the canon debate must be resolved; second, the teaching role of the…

Explores national trends in community college English departments. (RB)

Submitting scholarly manuscripts and journal articles to university presses and professional journals can result in a lengthy period of frustration for the author. One possible solution is a code of ethics and practices to which publishers subscribe, although authors would have little or no control over it, and a certain amount of self-policing…

Composition researchers are poised to offer new answers to the three questions which are at the heart of ideological definition: what exists; what is good; and what is possible? Researchers must consider the impact of computer-assisted composition programs (often called "style checkers") as well as the basic word processor. Style…

Based on the premise that an English teacher needs to be a scholar, this paper outlines the benefits of rhetorical theory for the teacher, and suggests an approach for teaching theory to part- and full-time composition faculty. The major benefits, for the teacher, of learning rhetorical theory include: (1) becoming more professional; (2) improving…

As composition teachers, we need to learn to stop evaluating the student writer's values and assumptions, and rather evaluate what he does working from those assumptions. (JH)

Junior and senior high school English department heads in Massachusetts were surveyed as part of a project to provide a clearer picture of the extent and diversity of the department head's role and responsibilities, to offer recommendations to make the job more manageable and satisfying, and to provoke discussion and positive action. Separate…

The Department of English at Wayne State University is planning to introduce a doctoral program directed to the processes involved in the composition of expository prose. Students admitted to the program will be trained primarily in linguistics and cognitive psychology, though they will also work in communication theory and rhetorical analysis.…

Departments of English and English education need to integrate concepts of career education that are based on the theory that people are constantly in the process of developing ideas about themselves in relation to their careers. Although institutions of higher education have been slow to implement career education, in recent years English…

The official position on the workload of college teachers of English adopted by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) discusses factors bearing upon the determination of a reasonable teaching schedule. Evaluation of student composition, grading fatigue, class size, conference hours, research, committees, clubs, lectures, and class…

If effectively organized and executed, team taught courses provide students and teachers alike with unique opportunities for involvement and feedback in the classroom. Students do not just get feedback from one instructor, but rather are evaluated by several staff members, resulting in a more accurate evaluation of student work. Team teaching…

The study of children's literature, of the prose and poetry that compels children to become and to remain readers, properly belongs in the college English department. The importance of accepting children's literature as a legitimate course in the humanities may be seen in the following three reasons: teachers with a background in, and critical…