By means of an extensive literature review, this paper attempts to determine what should be taught in a community college writing program with a diversity of students in a sequence of developmental and transfer English courses. The existence of a laboratory and separate reading courses is assumed. The paper begins by citing studies of the…

In order to minimize the dread which students and teachers alike often feel toward freshman composition courses, it is important to involve students in reading and writing assignments which are of interest and importance to them. Autobiography, as a subject for study and a focus for writing, can be a great motivator and an expediter of the…

A teacher's small group experiences in a graduate seminar in affective teaching techniques provided insights that carried over to a freshman composition course. At the beginning of the semester the 26 seminar members, meeting in one group, concealed their insecurities by bombarding each other with obscurities. Similarly, beginning composition…

The use of improvisational drama to foster classroom communication about works of literature and about controversial topics of concern to students is described in this paper. After discussing the values of improvisational drama in the English classroom, the paper outlines a five-day sequence of exercises and activities involving relaxation,…

The essays composed by 84 remedial and 77 nonremedial college freshmen were analyzed for some features proposed by Mina Shaughnessy as being characteristic of basic writers. The students were enrolled in either a beginning remedial class (098), a class at the next level of remediation (099), or a regular English class (101). The essays were…

THIS POETRY UNIT FOR 11TH-GRADERS ILLUSTRATES HOW VERSE STRUCTURE AND POETIC TECHNIQUES CONTRIBUTE TO A POEM'S MEANING. IN PART 1, IMAGERY, METAPHOR, SYMBOLISM, IRONY, PARADOX, AND MUSICAL AND RHYTHMICAL SOUND PATTERNS ARE DISCUSSED AS WAYS OF SAYING THE "UNSAYABLE" AND OF REINFORCING THE MEANING AND MOOD OF THE POEM. THE POEMS OF SUCH…

THIS 11TH-GRADE LANGUAGE UNIT ON ADVERBIALS IS DESIGNED TO SHOW THAT THE TRANSFORMATION WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR THE EMBEDDING OF RELATIVE CLAUSES ALSO EXPLAINS THE PRESENCE OF ADVERBIAL CLAUSES, THEREBY REINFORCING THE PRINCIPLE THAT THERE ARE GENERAL RULES WHICH EXPLAIN ECONOMICALLY MANY COMPLEX LANGUAGE STRUCTURES. THE TEACHER VERSION FOR THE UNIT…

THIS DERIVED-ADJECTIVE UNIT FOR 11TH-GRADERS EXPLAINS THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE OF SOME WORDS ENDING IN "-ING" AND "-EN" WHICH ARE DERIVED FROM VERBS AND USED IN NOUN PHRASES. THE TEACHER VERSION CONTAINS A SHORT OVERVIEW OF THE UNIT AND ANSWERS TO THE EXERCISES IN THE STUDENT VERSION. THE LATTER CONTAINS EXPLANATIONS AND…

AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, IN THE SUMMER OF 1966, OVER 50 EDUCATORS FROM THE UNITED STATES, ENGLAND, AND CANADA PARTICIPATED IN THE FIRST ANGLO-AMERICAN SEMINAR ON THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH. THIS REPORT, WRITTEN FOR THE ENGLISH TEACHING PROFESSION, IS NOT A SURVEY OR SUMMARY OF THE CONFERENCE, BUT RATHER IS AN ELABORATION OF THE CONSENSUS OF THE SEMINAR.…

FOR WANT OF LEADERSHIP OR CONCERN COLLEGE ENGLISH DEPARTMENTS HAVE PERMITTED HALF OF THE NATION'S ENGLISH CLASSES TO BE TAUGHT BY TEACHERS WITHOUT ENGLISH MAJORS AND HAVE GRADUATED VAST NUMBERS OF COLLEGE ENGLISH MAJORS PLANNING TO TEACH WITH LITTLE OR NO PREPARATION IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE OR COMPOSITION. IN ADDITION, THE DEPARTMENTS OFTEN HAVE…

THIS COURSE DESCRIPTION RECOUNTS A FOURTH-GRADE TEACHERS EXPERIENCE OF MOTIVATING AND ASSISTING INNER-CITY SLUM CHILDREN TO DEVELOP COMPOSITION SKILLS AND INCLUDES THE THREE UNITS SHE TAUGHT--(1) "LEARNING TO BE SPECIFIC" AND "LEARNING TO DESCRIBE SENSE IMPRESSIONS," (2) "LEARNING TO DESCRIBE PEOPLE," AND (3)…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS INVESTIGATION, MODELED AFTER A RPOFESSIONAL LOAD STUDY BY THE ALBERTA TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION, WAS TO ASSESS THE STATE OF ENGLISH TEACHING IN A NUMBER OF EAST LONDON SECONDARY SCHOOLS. SOME ASPECTS OF THESE FINDINGS WERE THEN COMPARED WITH CONDITIONS IN ALBERTA, CANDADA. INTERVIEWS WERE HELD WITH 69 EAST LONDON TEACHERS AND THE…

FIVE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN NEW YORK STATE REPORT THEIR PROGRESS IN DEVELOPING NEW APPROACHES TO THE EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS, WITHOUT REGARD TO EXISTING REQUIREMENTS OR REGULATIONS. THE REPORTS ARE CONCERNED MAINLY WITH THE PREPARATION OF SECONDARY TEACHERS OF ENGLISH, BUT EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMS FOR TEACHERS OF HISTORY,…

A NUMBER OF STEPS MUST BE TAKEN BY THE TEACHER OF CULTURALLY DEPRIVED ELEMENTARY STUDENTS TO PROVIDE THEM WITH AN OPTIMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT SO THAT THEIR INTELLECTUAL RETARDATION CAN BE CORRECTED AND REVERSED. BECAUSE MUCH OF THE ALIENATION THAT THE DISADVANTAGED STUDENT FEELS IS THE RESULT OF A CURRICULUM WHICH STRESSES FUTURE GOALS AND DWELLS…

THE "ENGLISH IN EVERY CLASSROOM" PROGRAM IS PRIMARILY CONCERNED WITH MOTIVATING "GENERAL" STUDENTS, FROM KINDERGARTEN THROUGH JUNIOR COLLEGE, TO FEEL THE PLEASURES OF AND NECESSITY FOR READING AND WRITING. TO REINFORCE THEIR LITERACY, STUDENTS ARE SATURATED WITH APPROPRIATE, ATTRACTIVE PAPERBACK BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS, AND MAGAZINES. WRITING…