Research on writing tasks suggests that cognitively demanding tasks are important for student learning. Though a great deal is known about high-quality writing instruction, less is known about how teachers, through their instruction, support students to complete tasks at a high level. This qualitative study examines three preservice teachers'…

Introduces queer theory as a development in literacy and cultural theory that English teachers and their students will find applicable to reading, writing, and thinking about academic and social texts. Demonstrates how this theory might be applied. (TB)

Argues that it is only with a sense of what literacy as a historic and culture-specific technology has achieved that educators can begin to realize the possibilities for reshaping students' literacies as social practices. (MG)

Assesses English education since the Dartmouth Conference in 1966. Observes that the personal growth model which emerged from the conference is more difficult to implement than the skills model and the traditional heritage model. Claims that the emphasis on examining writing settings reflects the search for a broader context for the personal…

Argues for more blurring of the roles of teachers, students, and researchers. Examines models and metaphors in process instruction (specifically the Jazz Metaphor), and shows how new "blurred" roles for teachers and acceptance of a range of methods can be applied in working with future teachers. (KEH)

Studies the ways in which three graduate students applied theoretical and pedagogical tools in a collaborative independent study course. Concludes that the students' use of research tools was more consistent with the teacher's understanding of profitable uses than was their appropriation of the conceptual tools advanced in the course readings. (TB)

Examines some of the research and theories on the role of metacognition in cognitive development, argues that students in English education classes can become better informed about their own learning strategies by engaging in self monitoring, and suggests several ways to introduce metacognitive activities in an English methods class. (HOD)

Suggests reasons why a gap exists between what is taught in methods class and what is found in many English classrooms, including the methods instructor's credibility, how methods classes themselves are conducted, and accountability of process-based teaching. Suggests ways the gap might be bridged. (SR)

Considers the schools of thought in language and learning, and examines how their theories and propositions affect teachers. Characterizes the teacher as a professional manager and discusses what it means to be such a person. Investigates what managers and teachers know and need to know-in-practice. (KEH)

In this paper the authors focus on one early-career teacher, co-author Natalie Gibson, whose initial teaching experiences were mediated by educational settings shaped by these different and often conflicting traditions. Their study of Natalie's early-career trajectory is concerned with understanding her effort to develop a conception of…

Claims that there are many writing teachers, not just a few English/language arts teachers who are so designated, and that writing is already taught across the curriculum. Argues that teacher educators must reconsider their exclusive concern with methods and focus on teachers' theories of teaching and learning. (MS)

Describes the field experience component of a course for preservice English teachers called "Language in the Secondary Classroom," in which preservice teachers collaborate as equals with high school students, experiencing for themselves the real potential of adolescent learners and the contexts which allow for that potential to emerge.…

In this article, the authors try to extend the complex and provocative conversations at the Conference on English Education Summit. They argue on several critical programmatic issues, including the need for greater program coherence, the continuing dilemma of the gulf between schools and universities, and both the promise and the problems of…