Intuition is a mode of thinking based more on sense and instinct than on logic and reason. It is somewhat suspect ability because it undermines our faith in reason and empirical research. But intuition can play a valid role in the design of the freshman composition curriculum. As a stereotypically feminine attribute, it complements current…

Recounts an imaginary conversation between "literature" and "composition" concerning the writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) movement. Suggests that literature instruction pays no heed to WAC and overlooks writing purposes other than literary ones. Argues that literature and composition proponents should both support a broader…

Argues that the notions of need, requirement, and service are not simply pre-disciplinary formations, externally imposed on the work of teaching writing. Examines the dynamics of university, college, and departmental committees and task forces at Temple University in reforming the structure of first year writing courses, their structure,…

Addresses the question of what constitutes a writing course. Maintains that the main objective of a writing course is the development of the writer, and that the privileged text is students' writing. Takes issue with writing courses that emphasize reading, subject content, or investigation over the writing process. (TB)

Traces 25 years of freshman composition courses, highlighting "the expulsion of literature from the Garden of Composition,""the diluting of intellectual expectations and of the principles upon which programs were established," today's better management and writing teachers, and personal changes in instruction. Offers reflections on the future of…

Discusses the experiences in working with the basic writing curriculum presented in "Facts, Artifacts and Counterfacts: Theory and Methods for a Reading and Writing Course." Discusses reasons for selecting "Facts" as a model for the basic writing program and the rationale for making modifications that renders it more applicable…

Claims a consumerism model manifests itself in first-year composition programs. Discusses the academic situation generally and English Departments specifically to explore how the current reform movement clashes with postmodern values in this discipline. (NH)

Recent years have witnessed a great upsurge in interest in a core curriculum. However, there has been some disagreement as to what should be included or how it should be defined. Allan Bloom has argued most strongly that the "Great Books" should form the basis of the core curriculum. Not only is the term itself ambiguous, but the…

Argues that a writing-across-the-curriculum program should be designed, administered, and taught equally by all departments in a university. Stresses the importance of developing a dialogic program, with creative interaction between faculty members from various disciplines and between students and professors. (ARH)

Reviews the evolution of the required Freshman English course of the 1960s into the present college composition course offered in most institutions. Notes the focus on enabling students to master the skill of writing through emphasis on the writing process. Raises concerns, however, over the large number of adjunct and/or part-time faculty…

The first, and perhaps the most obvious, way to incorporate disability studies into the composition curriculum is to alter the way instructors teach canonical texts. The standard literary approaches to disability are genre studies, which consider disability to be an element of the gothic or the grotesque, and rhetorical studies, which analyze its…

Suggests that, because English teachers are often more knowledgeable about composition theory and pedagogy, English departments should house writing-across-the-curriculum programs. (ARH)

A series of administrative and pedagogical questions about class size and the training of graduate teaching assistants caused the director of the freshman English program and the head of the Humanities department at Michigan Technological University to assemble an experimental class in freshman English. The course consisted of 113 students and 9…

The wide gap that exists between linguists and English teachers accounts for some of the difficulty involved in determining whether or not students "have a right to their own language." Linguists generally concern themselves with cognitive sufficiency; whereas, English teachers, concerned with behavioral sufficiency, encounter language…

Considers the national curricular practices in college English departments, specifically with regard to "service" courses. Provides excerpts of data from the Modern Language Association's national survey of 92 English departments. (HB)