Summaries of trends and issues in the teaching of English that have been identified by four commissions of the National Council of Teachers of English are presented in this report. The first summary in the report, by P. Bryant of the Commission on Composition, stresses the need for prospective English teachers to be well-grounded in the techniques of writing as well as in a current knowledge of how students learn, raises the question of teaching academic discourse, stresses the role of writing in a core curriculum, and raises the need for quality software used with microcomputers in the teaching of writing. The second summary presented is by D. England of the Commission on Media and identifies the following concerns and issues: new ways of integrating media into the teaching of English, computer use skills relevant to English and the language arts, declining visualization ability as a result of visual media, and the effect of computers on student thinking skills. In the third summary, by E. Lundy, members of the Commission on Curriculum express concern over the role of the humanities in a healthy technological society, the need to support the development of sound writing instruction at all levels, and the need to support curricula built on the best of current theory and practice. The final summary offered is by D. Turner of the Commission on Literature and identifies eight trends and issues, among them the decline of student exposure to literature, school board insistence on the use of anthologies, growing censorship, and inadequate teacher training in literature. (HOD)