Literacy teachers in schools and universities share a common goal: to prepare students with the "literacies" they need to succeed in and beyond educational settings. In a "widening-participation" era universities must increase and expand their literacy offerings to help students make the most of their university experiences. At…

Garth Boomer's democratic and often provocative vision for English teaching continues to play an important part in the professional development of English teachers. In particular, Boomer's work is often used by Teacher Educators in preservice degrees to introduce emerging English teachers to key ideas such as curriculum negotiation and…

Explains that throughout the past one hundred years, the question of how Shakespeare plays should be taught has been a point of contention in the New South Wales secondary English curriculum. Outlines the two main stances, the traditional literature-based approach and the active approach with emphasis on the text as play script. Discusses the…

Discusses the author's reactions to a questionnaire about assumptions and practices that define "English education." Lists the author's preferred texts, important figures, and ideas for college courses. Defines English education as an applied area of study that draws together knowledge and techniques, theory and content from areas such as…

Discusses what English is for in the era of globalization. Explains new tasks for English; English in the era of information and communication; and aesthetics, ethics, and texts as the purposes of English. Concludes that a rich version of English is the subject which still mediates understandings of taste, in its multiple and various textual…

Addresses whether English teaching has a literacy project of its own. Discusses a holistic, integrated view of literacy as comprising three interlocking dimensions: operational, cultural, and critical. Suggests English teaching should engage with philosophy, the humanities, and the arts. Proposes that educators need to develop a better…

Speculates about the performative aspect of Charles Marowitz's generalization regarding academically based and performance based usage of canonical or non canonical text. Defines what makes a canonical text and uses Shakespeare's "King Lear" as a vehicle for addressing ways in which performance might challenge, and seek to open out, canonical…

Considers how in "Post-Something" times, misquotation has become a reading practice, or at least a strategy within certain practices of reading. Suggests that Post-Modernism needs a canon, a continuity of culture, in order to be Post-Anything. Describes how in making his own canon, the author posits certain genre qualities that appeal to him, and…

Discusses a holistic curriculum plan involving bininj (Australian Aboriginal) and balanda (non aboriginal) preservice teachers at Gunbalanya thinking, talking and writing about a philosophy on "both ways" education. Notes the curriculum addresses three essential issues: what "both ways" education is; what educators need to learn about "both ways"…

Shows what it was like for the author to move from teaching in a secondary school in Victoria, Australia to tutoring English for Academic Purposes in a university in London. Concludes that her identity as an English teacher had a new dimension--she had really entered into the world of both Academic English and Higher Education. (SG)

Presents five autobiographical narratives, written by English Method student teachers at Monash University, which explain why they have chosen to become English teachers. Narratives are: "Unpaused" (Silvia Ercole); "Just Add Water" (Janet McCutcheon); "No Second Chances" (Kathleen Noone); "Inspiration" (Elise Pannan); and "Starting Points:…

Presents two narratives from beginning English teachers. The narratives included are: "At the Centre of All This" (Kristie French); and "Praying for Control" (Cecile Grumelart). (SG)

Considers how the university might respond to the electronic text revolution in offering an undergraduate education in the arts and humanities. Discusses how the University of South Australia might provide a program for prospective teachers in the world of texts, and it might offer different ways of reading and writing. (SG)

Explores the cultural politics of writing about English curriculum and pedagogy, focusing on the author's role as the editor of this journal. Describes his role as editor as one of providing a discursive space in which English teachers and literacy educators can begin to write about their work. (SG)

Describes a summer writing course by presenting a diary embellished with writing exercises, a course guide, a list of writing activities that can be taken as starters, and assessments. Discusses how each participant is asked to create a text about a city which has a considerable visual presence, and to explore stereotypical and mythical versions…