This special journal issue recounts the first 74 years of the Illinois Association of Teachers of English (IATE). Sections discuss the following topics: (1) IATE's founders; (2) its association with the National Council of Teachers of English; (3) changes in the educational system over the 74-year period; (4) trends in English education during…

The fact that technical writing is a form of discourse and not just a craft to be learned for a specific purpose means that it has at least three implications for the structure of writing programs. First, it is a method of writing development that is "you-centered" rather than "I-centered." Second, it is a heuristic for perceiving and organizing…

When writing laboratories first opened over 30 years ago, only a few faculty members and administrators had a firm notion of what constituted a writing center, and these notions differed from campus to campus. The pioneers of the discipline had little beyond instinct and imagination to guide them--and a nagging notion that there is one true path…

The rhetorical inventions of Kenneth Burke can help writers gain new perspectives on their topics and can put new life into the process of learning to write. The pentad, Burke's instrument for interpreting actual and potential motives, can help develop lines of thought that might never occur without some such model. Other inventional systems such…

Adolescent literature should deal with the problems of adolescents, should provide them with pleasure, and should say something to them. The adolescent novel is a bridge through a difficult age, a bridge from literature for children to literature for adults, and a bridge to major literary works. Adolescent novels can also be used to approach a…