At the completion of the fall semester, 1979, a study was conducted at Essex County College to determine the status of the 182 students who had received an "R" grade in a basic communications skills course (COM-080) in fall, 1978. The "R" grade is given to students who have made progress in a developmental course, but who have not attained "C"…

A personal account of an English instructor's experiences with poetry therapy--the use of poetry to help people get in touch with, and begin dealing with, their problems and feelings--is provided in this paper. Among the topics dealt with are the following: the scope of poetry therapy, the instructor's early dissatisfactions with traditional…

Although English teachers must spend 40 to 60% of their teaching time in developing the listening, composition, reading, and speech skills of their students, most college English programs allow only 8% of the professional course time for teacher preparation in these skill areas. Even in those colleges that offer a language arts major, the majority…

THIS STUDY REPORTS AN EXPERIMENT ON THE HYPOTHESIS THAT GRAMMAR-RELATED SENTENCE-COMBINING PRACTICE WILL MEANINGFULLY ENHANCE THE NORMAL GROWTH OF SYNTACTIC FLUENCY. TRADITIONAL STUDIES ON ERROR THERAPY AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE ARE REVIEWED, AND DESIGN AND RATIONALE ARE INFERRED FROM THE RESEARCH OF BATEMAN AND ZIDONIS. RULE LEARNING, PATTERN…

Those high school students who are unmotivated slow-learners living in a "sense-oriented" world respond to instructional units centered around a sense-oriented medium--the motion picture. A unit incorporating "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (a motion picture), "Hurricane's Corner" (an editorial about a fighter), and…

This publication devoted to Negro American literature contains both critical articles and book reviews. Carl Sandburg's consciousness of and attitude toward the Negro is explored by William A. Sutton; the moral dilemma inherent in slavery as revealed in Charles Waddell Chesnutt's short story, "The Sheriff's Children," is presented by Gerald W.…

The criticism of fiction involves an evaluation of the popular imagination, and consequently the literary critic functions as a challenger of the conventional spirit and behavior of his times. Imaginative literature covers a large part of man's knowledge, for distinctions between works of imagination and works of reason (poetry versus philosophy)…

The purpose of this 10th-grade unit on language is to pose, for students, basic and tentative questions about the rhetorical uses of language. Examples are provided which designate the modes of language: Daniel Fogarty's story of rhetoric to show language which informs; materials from Northrop Frye to show language which inquires; a John F.…

To provide English departments with current information about graduate enrollments and requirements and to ascertain the influence of Don Cameron Allen's study, "The Ph.D. in English and American Literature," the Association of Departments of English mailed questionnaires to 400 chairmen of departments of English. The information obtained from 223…

THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHS, CHARTS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS, THE DIFFICULTIES OF COMMUNICATION ARE PRESENTED IN THIS BOOK. TOPICS CONSIDERED FIRST ARE THE RECEIVING AND EVALUATING OF SENSORY EXPERIENCE, AND THE TRANSLATING OF THIS EXPERIENCE INTO SYMBOLS, INTO THE SILENT LANGUAGES OF TIME, COLOR, AND SPACE, AND INTO COMMON WORDS. THE EMPHASIS IS THEN SHIFTED…

IN THIS COLLECTION OF SIX SPEECHES FROM THE YALE CONFERENCE, EACH AUTHOR DISCUSSES THE MEANINGS OF SPECIFIC WORKS OR IDEAS IMPORTANT TO ENGLISH TEACHING. SPEECHES ARE BY (1) SCOTT ELLEDGE, WHO PROPOSES COMPOSITION ASSIGNMENTS WHICH ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO "EXPLAIN" IMAGINATIVELY, (2) JAMES FOLSOM, WHO DISCUSSES THE WAYS IN WHICH A SHARPENED…

THE ASSOCIATION OF DEPARTMENTS OF ENGLISH COLLECTED INFORMATION FROM DIRECTORS OF FRESHMAN ENGLISH FOR A REPORT ON COLLEGE PROGRAMS IN FRESHMAN COMPOSITION. THE FIRST SECTION OF THE REPORT, A DISCUSSION OF TRENDS IN FRESHMAN COMPOSITION, INDICATES THAT LINGUISTICS AND THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE HAVE NOT BECOME A PART OF THE FRESHMAN ENGLISH CURRICULUM.…

FOR A REPORT ON COLLEGE PROGRAMS IN FRESHMAN COMPOSITION, THE ASSOCIATION OF DEPARTMENTS OF ENGLISH OBTAINED SYLLABI AND COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FROM DIRECTORS OF FRESHMAN COMPOSITION AT 66 COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. AMONG THE DATA ASSEMBLED FOR THE FULL REPORT (AVAILABLE AS TE 500 190) ARE THE DESCRIPTIONS OF FRESHMAN ENGLISH PROGRAMS AT TWELVE…

The Special Projects Committee of the Illinois Association of Teachers of English undertook a survey of the 345 junior high school English Departments in the state to determine their organization and work. Questionnaires were sent to each department chairman. Responses from 166 schools yielded information about (1) grades included in the junior…

A scrutiny of the discipline of English focuses on the needs of the junior college, the place of pedagogy, and the training of instructors. The attitude of the public toward the discipline of English is discussed, as is the present image of English as a means for training English majors rather than for developing teachers. In conclusion, emphasis…