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) Commission 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)