ERIC ED344218: Trends and Issues in English Instruction, 1992--Six Summaries. Summaries of Informal Annual Discussions of the Commissions of the National Council of Teachers of English.

15 Pages·1992·0.51 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 213 266
ED 344 218
Suhor, Charles, Comp.
AUTHOR
Trends and Issues in English Instruction, 1992--Six
TITLE
Summaries. Summaries of Informal Annual Discussions
of the CommIssions of the National Council of
Teachers of English.
National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana,
INSTITUTION
PUB DATE
92
15p.; For the 1991 Trends and Issues Report, see ED
NOTE
355 699.
Reports - Descriptive (141)
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EDRS PRICE
Curriculum; *Educational Trends; Elementary Secondary
DESCRIPTORS
Education; Higher Education; *Language Arts;
*Literature Appreciation; *Mass Media Role; *Reading
Instruction; *Writing Instruction
*Educational Issues; National Council of Teachers of
IDENTIFIERS
English
ABSTRACT
Information on current trends and issues in English
instruction drawn up by the directors of six National Council of
Teachers of English commissions, is presented in this ninth annual
report by the commissions. The commissions and the three commission
(1) Commission on Curriculum
directors represented in the report are:
(3) Commission on
(2) Commission on Composition;
(Richard Adler);
(5) Commission on Reading
(4) Commission on Literature;
Language;
(Patrick Shannon); and (6) Commission on Media (Barbra S. Morris).
(SR)
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Reproductions supplied by EDRS &re the best that can be made
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1
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:National Council of Teacher, of Fnglish
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SUMMARIES
INSTRUCTION, 1992--SIX
TRENDS AND ISSUES IN ENGLISH
of
Discussions of the Commissions
Summaries of Informal Annual
Teachers of English
the National Council of
Compiled by Charles Suhor, NCTE
Annual Convention, the six
During their meetings at the recent
and
discussed professional trends
NCTE Commissions informally
constitute official
While the ideas below do not
issues.
opionions of a particular
positions of NCTE or unanimous
informed points of view.
commission, they do offer challenging,
and issues report by the
This is the ninth annual trends
commissions.
.PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THS
U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
off.fe of I ducafional Re$earch
MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
and Improvement
EDUCATIONAL RE SOURCES INFORMATION
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C. This document has been rewoduced
as
receved from he perSon or organualron
of vnahng
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INFORMATION CENTER tERICC
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2
NCTE Commission on Curriculum
Trends and Issues
1992 Report
trends
(Richard Adler, Director) identified continuing positive
The Commission on Curriculum
implementing
curriculum development to include the public,
such as expanding involvement for
pluralism, expanding and varying assessment procedures
curriculum practices which emphasize
classroom, and teaching writing across different
(especially in portfolios), using technology in the
formats and to different audiences.
of which have added new
The Commission listed 3 areas of continuing concern, some
Issues statement: (1) Censorship continues and presently
complexities since the 1991 Trends and
Student talk and
fear attacks from special interest groups. (2)
includes self-censorship by teachers who
collaboration
evaluation of individuals in group p ojects and
involvement in learning is increasing, but
of
Increased expansiki of technology in schools is oi,ening new areas
is an ongoing problem. (3)
questions about censorship. Will
information to learners, but with the increased access comes new
less control
censorship attempts? Will teachers experience
increased access to information counter
integrally in the teachirw of readigg.
materials? (4) Quality literature is being used more
over learning
approach is
multicultural literature and toward a response-centered
A continuing increase in the use of
standardized
fragmenting literature to teach phonics, establishing
evident. But concerns remain about
personal or emotional responses.
reading lists, and decreasing attention to
The
English curriculum include the following: (I)
New concerns or issues important to the
of our
for allowing us to explore and make sense
narrative mode has been largely responsible
implement
Teachers should be, encouraged to design and
experiences and of the world around us.
listening and other
narrative mode in writing, speaking,
strategies in which learners practice the
national (and political) level escalate the
(2) Increased attention to curriculum at the
language arts.
daily curriculum to the learners present.
classroom level about freedom to adjust the
concerns at the
decisions? Are all students
does it affect classroom teachers'
If national assessment appears, how
engaging a wider audience.
Curriculum development appears to be
subject to national assessment? (3)
learning centers and
for the development of community
i.e. the public. Concern now exists
for learning centers?
schools. Who develops the curriculum
communities of learners in addition to the
curriculum? (4) Language
in these centers with the school
And who coordinates learning experiences
In the past, little coordination existed
raises serious concerns about coordination.
arts K-16 emphasis
discussion and coordination
(.urriculum. What structures exist for
between elementary and secondary
(5) The Whole Language
levels'?
three levels of elementary, secondary and college
among the
of textbooks and teaching materials.
influencing both the content and design
movement has evolved to
need to exercise care about
philosophy, those who select materials
Given the variety of definitions and
involvement in the
The need for an increase in student
materials labelled "Whole Language." (6)
So that students view
collaboration and process-learning strategies.
learning process has emphasized
these structures aid
attention should be given to how
these experiences as valid learning processes,
collaboration as
exploration of how we learn would establish
learning. Questions, discussion, and
language study per
English today." (7) A declining emphasis on
credible rather than "... a fun time in
classroom is a major concern. Texts
workshop and/or collaborative exercises in the
se in favor of
vocabulary, sentence structure, and other
emphasize, and testing evaluates for grammar, usage,
another. Language
process-learning are not exclusive of one
language topics. Language study and
process-learning or in a collaborative
and could be conducted as
study needs a continued emphasis,
manner.
3
3
Trends and Issues
NCTE Commission on Composition
Of paramount concern in the teaching of writing is an ongoing
commitment to the recognition and encouragement of productive
difference, in students, in faculty, in curriculum, and in pedagogical
methods. We deplore those who use accusations of "political
correctness" as a smokescreen for an attempt to impose their own
uniform standards and restricted curricula on writing classrooms. We
which stratifies differences in terms
urge that the "deficit" model,
tailored to
of lack, be abandoned altogether, in favor of approaches
instead of an
students' individual strengths and needs. In particular,
either/or approach to teaching form and content, where form is
elite
stressed with "underprepared" students and content with
students- or, even worse, when "underprepared" students receive nc
instruction in form because it is felt that their ability to think and
students
say something must be remediated-teachers must prepare
purposefully, pleased with self as thinkers and pleased with self as
communicators.
national
The Commission also views with concern the calls for
will
standards and testing and national curriculum. Such programs
denominator, will
reduce skills and curriculum to the lowest common
discriminate against students and teachers who are different from
lead to
those elite groups who draw up tests and curricula, and will
mechanical skill
the vocationalization of writing, reducing it to a
rather than an analytic tool and a means of thought. Instead, we
assessment, and curriculum-as
encourage local control of standards,
parochial demands.
long as such control does not become hostage to
Local control, at its best, implies the full participation of
teaching
teachers, who should be seen as a source of knowledge about
community, who
and learning, and of parents and members of the local
needs of students and
should be seen as sources of knowledge about the
the needs and resources of the community, in decisions about
in plans
standards, assessment, and curriculum, and, in particular,
the move
for reforms in education. In this regard, we al3o oppose
toward site-based management, which encourages top-down,
nonparticipatory decision making.
in teaching writing, but
We continue to advocate the use of portfolios
definition of the appropriate uses of
we would like to see more
portfolios, to guard E.gainst their simply being converted into a
method of assessment. We encourage the nascent movement toward
of
"assessment across the curriculum," which expands the assessment
include
students' writing abilities beyond the writing classroom to
students' writing in other situatims.
practices of writing,
We reaffirm our commitment to language use-the
reading, and discoursing-as a base for literacy and learning. We
endorse the CCCC National Language Policy, which asserts the
importance of literacy in the language of nurture in acquiring
literacy in the language of wider communication.
q.
Finally, we are concerned that the economic recession will be used as
education, and, in particular, may
an excuse to continue to underfund
be used as an excuse to increase the size of writing classes. Such
policies are short-sighted, in that a refusal to support education and
the acquisition of literacy will only retard economic recovery.
THE LANGUAGE COMMISSION
TRENDS AND ISSUES, 1992
The Commission is concerned about the misuse of the term, "Whole
1.
The term is properly applied to curricula that have grown
Language."
out of studies of language learning, the reading process, and the
Any practice of whole language teaching must
writing process.
incorporate the cultures and language competencies which all students
Some publishers are merely pasting pictures
bring to the classroom.
of children's trade books onto workbooks and labeling them "Whole
Language materials."
The Commission applauds a trend toward increasingly detailed
2.
descriptions of language variation, depending upon the audience and
The recent publication of the second volume (D-H) of
the situation.
indicates a broadening
the 1:)i_ctionary_ofjg_nericar
dialects and languages to
awareness of the contributions of different
American English.
practices
On the other hand, the Commission cannot support the
ability or
of many schools which divide students by measures of
achievement and assign them to homogeneous or leveled groups, thereby
variation.
denying some students opportunities to experience language
narrative
Some schools consider certain students capable of using only
language and therefore withhold from them opportunities to use the
language they do have to learn the discourse of mathematics and
science,
language
The Commission expresses strong reservations about all
3.
differences and fail to build on a
programs which continue to deny
linguistic
respect for and understanding of students' different
It is important to recognize as linguistic
backgrounds and strengths.
their
strengths the stories students bring with them as well as
abilities to develop stories in their own cultural traditions.
strengths create
Attempts to teach language which ignore or deny their
language
for students many of the same kinds of impediments to
learning that result from the English Only Movement.
The Commission is concerned with the attempt to create a
4.
dichotomy between oracy and literacy-to view language learning as a
learning.
hierarchy where oral language mastery must precede literacy
literate
This is a barrier for non-English speakers who may already be
sometimes
in another language and also for dialect speakers who are
viewed as never "mastering" oral English.
Regarding language arts textbooks, grades K-6, the Commission
5.
textbooks do not
notes that the newest editions ot many publishers'
its
incorporate the best current knowledge about language and
facilitate
operation, nor are they structured to encourage or
teachers' best instructional practices.
The Commission continues to express strong concern about the
6.
quality of undergraduate teacher education as well as alternative
Colleges and universities must recognize and
teacher certification.
respond to the needs of prospective English teachers above and beyond
the traditional curriculum for English Aajors which emphasizes
literature, gives lip service to theory, and pays little to no
attention to other aspects of verbal communication.
Alternative certification pr)grams must not become "quick fixes"
Such programs must always be
for getting "bodies" in teaching roles.
The
the exception-no the rule-for training language teachers.
At the same
programs must be used rarely and with extreme caution.
time, all alternative certification programs must be stringently
structured to insure that any language arts teacher so certified is
able to demonstrate a broad knowledge base in the language arts as
well as a range of skills based on what the profession recognizes as
the best current pedagogical practice in languaga teaching.
The Commission applauds such potentially productive uses of
7.
computers as word processing, databases, networking, bulletin boards,
simulations, interactive fiction, LOGO, and electronic mail when they
However, the Commission condemns
enhance students' language growth.
inappropriate computer skill and drill practices and programs which
limit student fluency, flexibility and creativity.
7
Trends and Issues 1991
Literature
The Report of the Commission on
assessing
Teachers and educators, in
Reading literature: Conditions for reading.
*
keep in mind the lives
of a classroom context, should
student reading both inside and outside
homes where
frequently find themselves within
students live today. Younger children
noise and
older members of a family, and where
reading is not the usual activity for the
children come home
reading difficult. Increasingly,
confusion may even make silent, private
food, from light entertainment they
after school, and seek solace from junk
to empty houses
Nintendo game. College
the interactive pleasures of a
fmd in television or radio, or from
obligationslalso find it
and lots of extra curricular
students, facing long lists of assignments
their teachers expect of them.
impossible to read anything beyond what
environment makes free, persmal reading an ever
The current economic and social
college frequently work part time
activity. Young people in high school and
more difficult
Sometimes, in college, students
finances and to pay for their schooling.
to supplement their
circumstances, free reading
degree quickly. In such
take a course over load so as to earn a
afford.
becomes a luxury many cannot
of unjustified and
literature today, we must bewarse
So, in assessing the reading of
people, given the opportunity,
It may well be that many young
unfair student bashing.
education today is partly to
deeply. The challenge for
would read more frequently, and more
students for
made reading a luxury, partly to prepare
fashion a critique of a world which has
become possible.
in their lives when independent reading may
a later time
In the classroom,changes in
of reading.
Reading literature: Promoting the activity
*
environment might all
teaching, and in the classroom
the curriculum, in the approaches to
teachers rely
reading literature. As long as
contribute to intensifying student interest in
questions and
materials such as workbooks, the
solely upon pre-formulated literature
the teacher as
.krid a pedagogy which isolates
activities printed in casebound text books,
to questions of
listener responsible only for short answers
lect.urer and the student as passive
because of the
disinterested in literature, simply
fa.1, students are going to find themselves
Teachers have got to deal with
they encounter literature in school.
manner in which
questions about what
capable of both formulating significant
students as active learners fully
their classrooms from a
questions. They need to convert
they read and of answering those
activity in which shared discussion,
lecturer - listener model to the model of team
teacher
member of the group function as a
performance, writing and research make every
studio-workshop of an
An appropriate analogy is the
and colleague for every other member.
constantly in
students to involve themselves
Just as a sldlled sculptor requires
artist.
of reading
and stone, so the skilled teacher
individual activity, in the shaping of clay
"aesthetic
be creating what Iser calls the
literature should constantly expect students to
work of
of a person reading and reacting to a
object," the responses which are the results
literature.
students for college? Indeed,
Does this way of working with literature prepare
and the
always begin in personal response,
interpretation, no matter how sophisticated, must
reading and thinking
from a dialectical process of
most esoteric forms of analysis emerge
and application to one's
reasoned discussion, evaluation,
which includes subjective reaction,
and with a reading community of,
Interaction with the voice in a text,
sense of "the world."
towards a some for the
in a classroom, leads students
for example, one's fellow students
successfully.
interpretations of a text which work
8
and secondary school
independent reading, primary
To promote an interest in
interesr and
selected for their potential
books which the teacher has
classrooms should feature
about
should be prominently scattered
and discussion, which
for their power to spark thought
but
which they don't know about,
before the students books
in inviting locationsputting
school and in high school need
read. Teachers in middle
which in fact they would like to
should
student readers. Teachers
adolescent literature to attract
actively provide books in
take
discussions of free reading, to
formal assignments an(' in
regularly urge students both in
have
tell others about what they
their own, and after reading them to
up books on
experienced.
A
of electronic technology,
remarkably skipl in the use
Many of today's students are
etc. Rather than being
the use of televisions, computers,
and find themselves attracted to
involvement in literature.
gadgets can help develop student
inimical to reading, these
Hypertext program
interested in "Story Space," a
Commission members were especially
their
environment, with stories, writing
interact, within a computer
which permits students to
about a text on
of reading and thinking
for example during the process
own comments
and writing
to connect their reading
offer the possibility for students
screen. Such programs
priority of the pe
in which the artificial
through the medium of the computer screen
prioritizing the equipment and ttv
is the danger here of
word has disappeared. There
education, and never the other way
always serve literature
program. Computers must
for
which are in fact merely substitutes
be wary of programs
around. Teachers must always
that any given program expects
Te =hers must be sure
"fill in the blank" workbooks.
read.
personally inventive as they
students to be interactive and
fmd the time to read for
administrators must also
After school. Teachers and
Several members of the Commission
their reading with others.
themselves, and to talk about
meeting after hours, brought
in which school book clubs,
cited important experiments
well as administrators and even
different departments, as
together teachers from many
and
had read. The intense interest
talk about a book which they
custodial staff members, to
only served to bring members
fostered by these clubs not
personal involvement in literature
reading
atmosphere of excitement about
closer together, but the
of the school community
sensed the vital interest which
classrooms, in which students
literature spilled over into many
discussing with others.
they were reading and
their teachers had for what
after school reading
significant development of
Commission members also noted the
families where both
people who come from
activities in local libraries. Today many young
local
in the free protection of the
spend the hours after school
parents work are expected to
chosen to
population of children, have
confronted with this new
library. Some libraries,
reading. NCTE should applaud
offering them programs in
actively enhance their lives by
confronts a
what they do concretely
libraries, recognizing that
and should work with such
solutions.
serious problem with helpful
the annual decline in ACT
interested parents lament
Literature and writing. When
*
such as
traditional teaching programs
writing, they tend to call for a return to
scores for
and to write fluently is a
Learning to write correctly
phonics. This is not the right solution.
acquire an understanding of
immersed in print culture
function of learning to read. Students
largely through constant
how writers use it expressively
how the language works and
from
removing belletristic literature
national trend for
familiarity with good writing. The
mistake, as is the movement to
is consequently a serious
college freshman English courses
At the same time, it
oomposition and literature.
departments for the study of
create separate
9
9
solely to teach writing and
literature into the classroom
would be z serious error to introduce
for its
and to write about literature
successful approach is to discuss
grammar. The most
will
themselves in print culture they
that as students immerse
own sake, and to expect
talk not by conning grammar
just as they learned to
assimilate its conventions unconsciously,
speak.
books but by listening to other people
about diversifying the
for the continuing concern
Literary canons. One of the reasons
reading in this
from the current crisis in
in literary study derives
canon of required texts
students will ever read beyond the
shared by many, that few
country, and from tne sense,
the only works of
In such a situation, where
lists of texts required by their schools.
curiculum, then there
the work; required by a
person is going to ever read are
literatur
importak. to them be
who will insist that works
will be intense pressure by various groups
eliminate
of the more important ways to
ch requirements. Consequently, one
included in
instill in their students a desire for
English teachers generally to
this divisive l',=*01rzle is for
students read on their own, then the
beyond the curriculum. If
independent, personal
reading
required books might lessen.
on the lists of
political
pressures
prescriptive lists of any sort
ongoing construction of
The dangers inh:tent in the
students,
suggesting core books for primary
California's the recent practice of
appears in
becoming a canon.
only to be suggestive, it is
rapidly
grade-by-grade. While this list was
of Blue Dolphins. The
California now reads The Island
Virtually every fifth grade student in
whimsically suggested, in the EFS
of the lists, perhaps at first only
same thing is true
to be casual
Teachers pick up on what were meant
booklet on Advanced Placement tests.
illustrations and convert them into required texts.
and senior students
20 % of a high school's junior
AP courses. Currently as many as
highly specialized program for a
in AP English courses. What was once a
may be registered
bound student. And the
required course for the college
select few has become a virtually
has become,
suggestions for reading selections,
ETS handbook, with its casual
with
classes have swollen to classrooms
unintentionally, a new canon. Small size AP
upwards of forty students.
members found a growing
site where Commission
The College Classroom. One
developments indicate a
typical college course. Recent
interest in relding literature was the
national economic
the part of students. The current
growing appetite for such classes on
of meeting the student
Schools financially incapable
crisis has however led to problems.
The unfortunate and
college class sizes to increase.
demand for courses have permitted
the study of literature, fmd
students, now interested in
paradoxical consequence of this is that
is more impersonal
situations where their education
themselves in overcrowded classroom
and so the teaching of literature
have been a few years ago,
and less successful than it might
itself suffers.
continue to be the
the teaching of literature
Literature and politics. The study and
the foreseeable future.
this promises to continue in
object of political controversy, and
cultural
launched in the name of greater
Challenges to the traditional literature canon
in which they were
faced an intensified opposition,
diversity in education this past year
thinking in magazine
of Politically Correct
frequently and reductively labeled as a part
Literature argued that this
Members of the Commission on
articles and newspaper columns.
the most tentative efforts to
conservative forces in which
constituted a pre-emptive strike by
unfair onslaught of negative
curriculum were met with an
introduce a few new texts into the
treated as a kind of virus
and literature tend to be
criticism. New ideas about teaching
1 0