ERIC ED444190: Trends & Issues in Postsecondary English Studies, 2000 Edition.

267 Pages·2000·2.5 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 217 248
ED 444 190
Graham, Bonny, Ed.
AUTHOR
Trends & Issues in Postsecondary English Studies, 2000
TITLE
Edition.
National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL.
INSTITUTION
ISBN-0-8141-5515-4
ISBN
ISSN-1527-4241
ISSN
2000-00-00
PUB DATE
266p.; See ED 434 340 for 1999 edition.
NOTE
National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon
AVAILABLE FROM
Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 55154-3050: $14.95
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Collected Works - General (020)
PUB TYPE
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*Educational Technology; *English Curriculum; *English
DESCRIPTORS
Instruction; Feminism; Higher Education; *Literature
Appreciation; Portfolios (Background Materials); Racial
Bias; Social Change; Social Class; Student Evaluation; World
Wide Web; *Writing Evaluation; *Writing Instruction
African Americans
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
This publication contains journal essays and book chapters
(from publications of the National Council of Teachers of English) concerning
trends and issues in postsecondary English studies. The publication's first
section, "Race/Class/Gender Positions,' contains ':he following articles:
(1)
"Feminism
"On the Rhetoric and Precedents of Racism" (Victor Villanueva);
(2)
in Composition: Inclusion, Metonymy, and Disruption" (Joy Ritchie and
"Class Ethos and the Politics of Inquiry: What the
Kathleen Boardman);
(3)
Barroom Can Teach Us about the Classroom" (Julie Lindquist); and (4) "History
in the Spaces Left: African American Presence and Narratives of Composition
Studies" (Jacqueline Jones Royster and Jean C. Williams). Articles in the
"Looking Back as We Look Forward:
second section, "Assessment," are:
(5)
"Views from
Historicizing Writing Assessment" (Kathleen Blake Yancey);
(6)
the Underside: Proficiency Portfolios in First-Year Composition" (Alexis
"Whose Portfolio Is It Anyway? Dilemmas of Professional
Nelson);
(7)
"Inside the Portfolio
Portfolio Building" (Sue Ruskin-Mayher); and (8)
(C. Beth Burch). Articles in the third
Experience: The Student's Perspective"
"Distant Voices: Teaching and Writing in a
section, "Technology," are:
(9)
(10) "Technology and Literacy: A
Culture of Technology" (Chris M. Anson);
Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention" (Cynthia L. Selfe);
"The
(11)
Shared Discourse of the Networked Computer Classroom" (L. Lennie Irvin); and
(12) "The Craft of Teaching and the World Wide Web: A Reference Essay for
Educators" (Kevin M. Leander).
(SR)
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from the original document.
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00
C\1
2
T
DS
IS
ES
IN POSTSECONDARY ENGLISH STUDIES
2000 EDITION
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH
1111 W. KENYON ROAD, URBANA, ILLINOIS 61801-1096
0
Staff Editor: Bonny Graham
Interior Design: Tom Kovacs for TGK Design; Carlton Bruett
Cover Design: Carlton Bruett
NCTE Stock Number: 55154-3050
ISSN 1527-4241
©2000 by the National Council of Teachers of English.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States
of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a
forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the
teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any
particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive
Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in
announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.
TRENDS AND ISSUES
Keeping track of the myriad issues in education can be a daunting task for
those educators already stretched to fit thirty hours into a twenty-four-hour
day. In an effort to inform and support English educators, the National
Council of Teachers of English annually offers this volume featuring current
trends and issues deemed vital to the professional conversation by our
membership at large. Whether specialists or generalists, teachers know that
no single "trend" or "issue" could touch the interests and concerns of all
members of NCTE; with these booksone for each section of the Council:
Elementary Secondary, Postsecondarywe aim to chronicle developments
in the teaching and learning of English language arts.
The wealth of NCTE publications from which to draw the materials for
Trends and Issues proves a double-edged sword. Publishing thirteen journals
(bimonthly and quarterly) and twenty to twenty-five books annually provides
ample content, yet what to include and what not? Of course, timeliness and
pertinence to the issues of the day help shape the book, and, more
important, we aim to meet our primary goal: to answer the question, Is this
valuable to our members? This edition of Trends and Issues offers readers a
seat at the table, a chance to join the discussion. At the postsecondary level,
the trends and issues cited for this year are "Race/Class/Gender Positions,"
"Technology," and "Writing Assessment." At the secondary level, members
cited "The World Wide Web in the Classroom," "The Reemergence of
Critical Literacy," and "Aesthetic Appreciation versus Critical Interrogation"
as those topics of current relevance to them as English language arts
professionals. At the elementary level, the trends and issues encompass
"Writing and a Move to New Literacies," "Critical Literacy" and "Taking
New Action."
We hope that you'll find this collection a valuable resource to be returned
to often, one that facilitates professional development and reminds us that
we all have a stake in the language arts profession.
NCTE invites you to send us those trends and issues in the English
language arts that you feel are the most relevant to your teaching. Send your
comments either to our Web site at www.ncte.org or e-mail directly to Paul
Bodmer at [email protected].
Paul Bodmer
Associate Executive Director
iii
CONTENTS
Introduction
I. RACE/CLASS/GENDER POSITIONS
1. On the Rhetoric and Precedents of Racism
3
Victor Villanueva
2. Feminism in Composition: Inclusion, Metonymy, and Disruption
21
Joy Ritchie and Kathleen Boardman
3. Class Ethos and the Politics of Inquiry: What the Barroom
46
Can Teach Us about the Classroom
Julie Lindquist
4. History in the Spaces Left: African American Presence and
Narratives of Composition Studies
72
Jacqueline Jones Royster and Jean C. Williams
II. ASSESSMENT
5. Looking Back as We Look Forward: Historicizing
99
Writing Assessment
Kathleen Blake Yancey
6. Views from the Underside: Proficiency Portfolios in First-Year
123
Composition
Alexis Nelson
7. Whose Portfolio Is It Anyway? Dilemmas of Professional
137
Portfolio Building
Sue Ruskin-Mayher
148
8. Inside the Portfolio Experience: The Student's Perspective
C. Beth Burch
v
vi
III. TECHNOLOGY
Distant Voices: Teaching and Writing in a Culture of Technology
9.
167
Chris M. Anson
10. Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of
Not Paying Attention
190
Cynthia L. Selfe
11. The Shared Discourse of the Networked Computer Classroom
219
L. Lennie Irvin
12. The Craft of Teaching and the World Wide Web:
A Reference Essay for Educators
229
Kevin M. Leander
7
INTRODUCTION
,.,4cEIWIW
A fictionalized and often romanticized segment of U.S. history is the
mountain man era of the early nineteenth century. Often based on the real-
life adventures of actual fur traders and mountain men, most of these people
would have been considered illiterate by today's standards, and possibly
only signature literate in their own day. A common description of a good
mountain man, however, is that he could "read" sign. If he could not read
sign, he did not survive. Reading sign was a complex activity that included
choosing the right river valley to follow (whether he stayed on the main river
or chose a tributary) to reach his destination; knowing whether the clouds on
the edge of the horizon meant a thundershower that would cause the creek
he was camping by to rise; and constantly scanning the horizon for signs of
other life that might be dangerous, friendly, or food. Just as the mountain
man interpreted his environment in order to survive, we interpret language.
If literacy in a larger sense is the skill to interpret, through our senses, the
environment surrounding us, then literacy skills must be learned in order to
survive in our environment.
Aiding literacy are the tools of that literacy, whether they be weather
forecasting, telescopes, printed matter from printing presses, or the digitized
images on a screen. Those who are allowed, or taught, to use the literacy
tools of our society become the leaders of the culture and the possessors of
the literacy. This is simply common sense. What is important is how the tools
are made available. If we allow only a small percentage of our population to
attend school and learn to read (males of the upper class, for instance), then
our literacy and culture will be controlled by those few. Cynthia Selfe tells us
in her 1998 Conference on College Composition and Communication
chair's address that the same argument is being made with regard to digital
literacy. It is imperative, she says, that we pay attention to whatever tools of
literacy are part of our culture, because enfranchising some people and
disenfranchising others from those tools create the culture we may or may
not want to have.
The idea that literacy is defined by who has access to that literacy ties
together the three sections of this volume of Trends and Issues. The thread is
most obvious in the first section, Race/Class/Gender Positions, and in the
third, Technology. The middle section, Assessment, also addresses this issue,
in that how we assess literacy tools determines who shall possess the tools.
vii
viii
The strength of the articles and book chapters collected here is that all
are solidly grounded in the belief that what we do matters as we work to
create a profession that enfranchises and enlightens the whole world we
work in.
9
I RACE/CLASS/GENDER
POSITIONS
NCTE publications for 1999 included a wide variety of articles and books
that explored the effects of positioning due to race, class, and gender. The
following pieces were chosen because they each offer a lens through which
we can view how we learn, live, and grow, and therefore how we must
research, write, and teach, based on the positions we hold.
The June 1999 College Composition and Communication (CCC) is rich
with articles about gender, class, and race positions. In fact, three of the
pieces included in this publication come from that issue. Victor Villanueva's
CCCC chair's address, "On the Rhetoric and Precedents of Racism," leads this
publication as it frames and questions our deliberate, even if unintentional,
focusing of our lenses. In "Feminism in Composition: Inclusion, Metonymy,
and Disruption," Joy Ritchie and Kathleen Boardman explore the different but
converging narratives of feminism in composition as scholars broke into the
field, figured out how to work alongside the established gender assumptions,
and opened the conversation for a variety of voices.
Julie Lindquist expands the topic of positioning to the issue of class in
"Class Ethos and the Politics of Inquiry: What the Barroom Can Teach Us
about the Classroom." She uses her experiences as a bartender in a
neighborhood bar to explore how that community is both like and different
from the academic community of the classroom. The final selection for this
section returns to the June CCC, showcasing Jacqueline Jones Royster and
Jean C. Williams's essay "History in the Spaces Left: African American
Presence and Narratives of Composition Studies." Building on William
Cook's CCCC chair's address from 1992, they explore the consequences of
the authority vested in the standard text and how that authority, deliberately
or not, excludes others from the conversation.
The articles chosen for this volume focus on the need to look more
closely at the consequences of not paying attention to or acknowledging the
lenses through which we perceive and do our work. As Royster and Williams
1
10