This article examines student teachers' investigations of issues related to writing pedagogy, response, and evaluation in an English methods course, including their use of descriptive review of student writing (Carini, 2001) to analyze adolescents' work collaboratively. Beginning with an examination of prevailing understandings of…

This article argues that ELA teacher candidates and inservice ELA teachers need historical perspectives in their coursework and their practice. Using the life and career of Lou LaBrant, the author examines the value of placing current practice in the context of practice throughout the history of the field of teaching ELA. Patterns examined in…

Educational researchers are accustomed to institutional review board (IRB) requirements (e.g., protecting participants) with students often identified as the only "vulnerable population" for IRB purposes. However, as practitioner research has gained more prominence, the vulnerability of teacher-researchers themselves has begun to surface. In this…

Although many research questions in English education demand the use of qualitative methods, this paper will briefly explore how English education researchers and doctoral students may use statistics and quantitative methods to inform, complement, and/or deepen their inquiries. First, the authors will provide a general overview of the survey areas…

This article looks at a research partnership between a high school English teacher and a university teacher educator, focusing on the impact of their work of co-teaching two integrated courses in the university's teacher education program. Findings from a study conducted during their third year of working together were used to revise the course…

What does it mean to take a writerly approach to research? Sondra Perl and her co-authors have pondered this question over the past five years as they have each worked with her to design and draft dissertations that combine their work as literacy researchers with their love of writing. Each of them has moved toward storytelling as a compelling and…

In this article, the authors try to extend the complex and provocative conversations at the Conference on English Education Summit. They argue on several critical programmatic issues, including the need for greater program coherence, the continuing dilemma of the gulf between schools and universities, and both the promise and the problems of…

Conference on English Education (CEE) Chair Suzanne M. Miller provides an overview of the CEE Leadership and Policy Summit articles that focuses on next steps. She asks CEE members individually and collectively to take up the calls for action across the pieces--for research, pedagogical scholarship, program excellence, and activist participation…

In this article, the author examines briefly several broad themes in reading reform to see what these can tell about policy makers' respect--or lack of respect--for teachers of reading. He talks about the current discourse of "scientifically-based" research which is about teachers, teachers who are blamed for reading failures. He discusses teacher…

Provides information about the authors' course and how they collected and analyzed data. Shares what they learned about the range of epistemological perspectives of their students. Explores how students' beliefs may have shaped their experiences in the courses and their reflections on their work in the field. Finds many students drew on multiple…

Argues that reflective practitioners use unfamiliar research methods and forums for publication, methods and forums that have not yet been recognized as legitimate or authorized to build the base of knowledge that informs their practice. Draws attention to the forms and forums in which reflective practitioners work. (SC)

Discusses English education in terms of (1) fluidity of identity; (2) educational experiences of teaching, learning and research; and (3) research that takes into account unrepeatable moments, contexts, situation, and social and cultural relations of similarity and differences. Calls for teacher preparation programs that provide theoretical as…

Considers how the depiction of good and evil as discernibly polarized opposites in the most popular of juvenile fantasy texts cultivates a perception in children that the real world is similarly organized. Proposes that the dichotomized view of good and evil that these texts promote, rather than cultivating a broad educated outlook, prepares…

Reports on a survey that investigated significant differences within the English teacher community in terms of the beliefs and practices on key issues. Makes a contribution to a larger National Council of Teachers of English project to foster communication among disparate groups of English educators. (TB)