ERIC ED335699: Trends and Issues in English Instruction, 1991. Reports on Informal Annual Discussions of the Commissions of the National Council of Teachers of English.

25 Pages·1991·0.4 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 212 997
ED 335 699
Piazza, Stephen, Comp.; Suhor, Charles, Comp.
AUTHOR
TITLE
Trends and Issues in English Instruction, 1991.
Reports on Informal Annual Discussions of the
Commissions of the National Council of Teachers of
English.
National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana,
INSTITUTION
PUB DATE
91
25p.; For the 1990 Trends and Issues Report, see ED
NOTE
315 793.
Reports - Descriptive (141)
PUB TYPE
MRS PRICE
MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
Curriculum Development; *Educational Trends;
DESCRIPTORS
Elementary Secondary Education; *Language Arts;
Literacy; *Literature Appreciation; *Mass Media Role;
Mass Media Use; Minority Groups; Politics of
Education; Postsecondary Education; *Reading
Instruction; Whole Language Approach; Writing
(Composition); Writing Evaluation; *Writing
Instruction
Educational Issues; *Teacher Empowerment; Teacher
IDENTIFIERS
Researchers
ABSTRACT
Information on current trends and issues in English
instruction, compiled by the directors of six National Council of
Teachers of English commissions, is presented in this report, the
eighth annual report by the commissions. The commissions and their
directors represented in the report are: (1) Commission on Reading
(Patrick Shannon); (2) Commission on Composition (Sharon Crowley);
(3) Commission on Language (Jesse Perry); (4) Commission on
Literature (John Pfordresher); (5) Commission on Curriculum (Richard
Adler); and (6) Commtssion on Media (Barbra Morris), Some of the
subjects discussed in the report include concerns about the
widespread increase of legislative actions regarding teaching, narrow
concepts of literacy, current teaching practices in literature
classrooms at all levels, cultural literacy and how it impedes the
acquisition of literacy, writing instruction as a political act, the
misuse of the term "whole language," appropriate use of computers in
English classrooms, changing approaches to evaluation and assessment,
active learning, teacher education, media education, media use in the
schools, writing assessment and the politics thereof, language arts
textbooks, the use of computers in the classroom, ability grouping,
and local curriculum development. (SR)
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TRENDS AND ISSUES IN ENGLISH INSTRUCTION, 1991
National Council of
Reports on Infcrmal Annual Discussions of the Commissions of the
Teachers of English
Compiled by Stephen Piazza and Charles Suhor, NCTE
Commissions of the
During their meetings at the recent Annuai Convention, the six
professional trends and
National Council of Teachers of English informally discuss
NCTE or unanimous
issues. While the ideas below do not constitute official positions of
informed points of view.
opinions of a particular commission, they do offer challenging,
commissions.
This is the eighth annual trends and issues report by the
EDUCATION
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CONTENTS
Commission on Reading (Patrick Shannon, Director)
3
Commission on composition (Sharon Crowley, Director)
5
Commission on Language (Jesse Perry, Director)
8
Commission on Literature (John Pfordresher, Director)
11
Commission on Curriculum (Richard Adler, Director)
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Commission on Media (B4rbra Morris, Director)
3
The Commission on Reading (Patrick Shannon, Director) recognizes and
applauds recent interest in extending the teacher's role concerning the development,
implementation, and assessment of literacy education programs in schools. Site-based
management teams (e.g. The Rochester, NY, City School District), school-university
collaboration (e.g. Institute for Research in Teaching at Michigan State University),
teacher research (e.g. The Center for Establishing Dialogue in Teaching and Learning),
and innovation in classroom and broad based assessment (e.g. the recent provincial
assessment in Ontario) can increase teachers' effectiveness in their efforts to support
students' reading and writing. These and other efforts to reinvolve teachers in all phases
of literacy education, which model the importance of literacy in the lives of teachers, will
help students make connections between literacy and their lives.
Members of the Commission express concern that this interest is not more
widespread, and they identify several barriers to its progress. The barriers develop from
reductionist definitions of reading as phonics, writing as spelling and grammar, and
language as English. Federal and state legislators and other groups have used such
definitions to thwart growing interest in change. For example, the failed Armstrong
amendment to the National Literacy Act of 1989 would have withheld funds from
literacy projects that did not teach phonies explicitly. Federal funding for a national
assessment of reading (the new NAEP test) and for a study of phonics (Adams'
Beginning to Read) has refueled talk of a national curriculum based on elemental skills.
Following the federal government's lead, several states have retreated from
commitments to develop the language and literacy of both native languages and English
Finally, some religious
for nonEnglish speaking and limited English speaking students.
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groups and business leaders have increased their efforts to censor innovation toward
greater teacher and student choice in literacy programs based on vague references to
traditional American values.
The Commission calls for an increase in efforts to support teachers in their
continuing efforts to develop as reflective practitioners who openly discuss their
definitions of language, learning, and literacy among themselves and with their students
and the public through extended inservice programs, support groups outside school, and
forums for teachers writing about their beliefs and practices.
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1. The Commission on Composition (Sharon Crowley, Director) laments the
widespread assumption that the adoption of so-called "cultural literacy" will enhance
literacy acquisition. Rather, the commission warns, adoption of this philosophy of
instruction may actually impede the acquisition of literacy. We find in the cultural
literacy curriculum no attention to literacy development in children, nor is there
attention paid to the social contexts in which reading and writing are acquired and
practiced. We see no evidence that cultural literacy programs are concerned with
students and their development; rather the curriculum is imposed from the top down,
Moreover, the curriculum is
with little regard for children's readiness to receive it.
teacher-centered.
The cultural literacy curriculum represents a sort of "trivial pursuit" approach to
education; for example, traditional grammar is divided up into small discrete bits of
information which are presented to students without regard for the sequence in which
they ought to be acquired, their relationship to other features of grammar, or the
relation of these to reading and writing acquisition. The commission further deplores
the non-representative character of the cultural literacy curriculum, as well as its lack of
knowledge about children's literature.
2. The commission reaffirms its longstanding opposition to the imposition, from
without, of standardized assessment criteria on writing teachers, their students, and their
curricula. How composition is tested has much to do with how it is taught. NAEP
findings show some effects of writing process instruction, but--apparently--do not find
that kind of instruction to be common or widespread, or well-inculcated into students'
writing habits. The commi3sion fears that this state of affairs may be attributed, in part,
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to the use of standardized, so-called "objective" forms of assessment.
This year the commission takes special note of a prevailing misuse of portfolio
assessment. Content requirements for portfolios are being imposed. This results, once
again, in writing curricula being determined for teachers and students by an external
source. The portfolio is also being treated as a permanent record, rather than as a
representation of a students' writing to and for a local, time-bound, community of
classmates and teacher. Ideally, portfolios evolve from work that is generated in the
context of classroom reading, writing, and discussion. The commission laments, once
again, that a complex educational strategy has been imposed on teachers without their
being given opportunities to weigh its worth and its relevance to their preferred
educational strategies.
3. The commission reminds members of the English profession that
"composition" should not be construed as "English-only" composition. Very soon a
majority of the students with whom we work will not spevk English as their native
language. This does not mean that teachers of written English must become
multilingual, but it does mean that teachers should not overlook the special acquisition
problems that face students for whom English is a second language. Specifically, the
commission recommends that teachers encourage students to do freewriting and to use
other heuristic techniques in their native languages; urge students to use their native
languages in small-group discussions; and teach them to translate written work into and
out of their native languages as a means of reinforcing and supporting their acquisition
of English.
4. The commission cautions against the widespread assumption that writing, and
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writing instruction, can be carried on outside of politics. Writing instruction which
concentrates solely on form ("the essay," "the research paper") is necessarily conservative.
Instruction which concentrates on the composing process is liberal to the extent that its
adherents wish to empower students. Radical approaches to writing instruction are now
in circulation, as well. The commission does not wish to debate the merit of any of
these approaches; it simply wishes to remind teachers that writing instruction is always a
political act, since it is practiced within institutions which are themselves imbricated in
the politics of the community and the culture they serve. The commission does affirm
its desire that the professional judgements made by individual teachers be respected by
their colleagues.
5. The commission reaffirms its longstanding policy that writing instruction
should engage students, as well as teachers, in as much writing practice as is possible.
The commission questions the assumption that students and teachers in writing classes
across the nation are actually permitted to do a great deal of writing.
6. As another area of longstanding concern, the commission reiterates its fear
that postsecondary writing instruction is still being carried out, for the most part, by
part-time teachers and graduate students who are overworked and underpaid. Once
again, the commission deplores this state of affairs, since it exploits teachers and
undermines their capacity to provide students with quality writing instruction.
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with
The Commission on Language (Jesse Perry, Director) is greatly concerned
is a term applied to
the misuse of the term "Whole Language." Whole Language
learning, the reading
classroom curriculum that has grown out of studies of language
Whole language classrooms are places where children
process, and the writing process.
Some publishers
learn language while using language in functional, meaningful contexts.
materials are
misuse the term "whole language." Although valuable whole language
children's trade books
being produced, some publishers are merely pasting pictures of
language materials."
onto workbooks and calling them "whole
learned. The
The Commission is still concerned with language and how it is
appropriateness in describing
Council has been sensitive to the importance of situational
increasingly detail descriptions
language patterns. The Commission applauds a trend to
the situation. Language
of language variation depending upon the audience and
differences and do not build on a respect for and understanding of
programs which deny
learners bring to the school
the different linguistic backgrounds and strengths that
declared "at risk."
contribute to the dropout rate for students who have been
dichotomy between
The Commission is concerned with the attempt to create a
dichotomy is created by viewing language learning as a
oracy and literacy. This
learning. Focusing on oral
hierarchy where oral language mastery must precede literacy
who may already be literate
language mastery is a real barrier for non-English speakers
sometimes viewed as
in another language and for minority dialect speakers who are
of
English. All learners should be exposed to the integral nature
never "mastering" oral
between all forms of meaning
language and to the interplay and inter-connectedness
be attained.
construction if high levels of literacy and oracy are to
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The Commission continues to be interested in language arts textbooks grades K-6.
The newest editions of many publishers' texts do not incorporate the best current
knowledge about language and its operation, nor are they structured to encourage
teachers' best instructional practices. Textbooks, therefore, should be carefully examined
in order to insure that they:
(1) integrate the strands of language arts (2) emphasize
descriptive information about the language rather than formal grammatical usage (3)
present only those drills and exercises that students transfer to real language use in
reading, writing, or speaking.
The Commission continues to express concern about the quality of undergraduate
teacher education. In revising teacher education programs in English, the Commission
believes the needs of English teachers above and beyond those of standard English
majors should be considered. What serves as the traditional major on most campuses
today emphasizes literature, giving some lip service to theory, and pays little attention to
other aspects of verbal communication.
Many American schools continue to divide students by measurzs of ability or
achievement and assign them to homogeneous, leveled groups for instruction. While
such tracking may be an educationally sound practice in certain rare circumstances, it
presents many grave problems which usually outweigh its benefits. Such practice also
denies students opportunities to experience a variety of language styles, both formal and
informal.
The English Only Movement still holds a concern for the Commission.
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