To teach writing well, teachers need three things: first, they have to understand writing itself, as well as writing pedagogy; second, they need to be writers themselves; and third, they need to know how to communicate their knowledge about writing effectively to their students. This book is based on the premise that writing ability--and teaching…

Recent books and scholarly journals directed to English composition teachers reveal something like conceptual chaos, a Babel of mutually unintelligible academic tongues. "New Professional Compositionism" has taken a fundamentally wrong view of the relationship between knowledge (including theoretical knowledge) and practice. An…

Composition teachers should combine self-identification and direct political action by belonging to the labor movement and working collectively toward expanding its range and power and consequently their own. Previously, members of the composition faculty have been involved in the labor movement, but several obstacles may interfere with deeper…

Addresses the normalization common to multicultural approaches to the teaching of writing. Focuses the investigation on a context where the imperative to adopt the normal voice is especially acute: the business writing classroom. Explores an alternative approach to teaching business writing, asking not how intercultural problems can be solved but…

Focuses on female teachers of writing to examine the relationship between female writing teachers and liberatory (critical) pedagogy. Sees a need to work toward a democratic curriculum in the teaching of writing but sees failure if women's experiences continue to be disregarded. (PA)

Presents a small sampling of the letters and manuscripts received in response to an earlier article by Karen Jost. Notes that, upon considering all the responses, those supporting Jost's position that writing teachers should not be expected to write outnumber those disagreeing by five to one. (RS)

Discusses an in-depth interviewing process designed to encourage teaching assistants and other teachers of writing to reflect on the ways their histories with writing affect the way they teach composition. Finds that this process initiates a forum for continued discussion about the teaching of writing. (RS)

Presents (in an unconventional, diary-like format) the comments of two writing instructors regarding the first author's attempt to revamp a writing course. Reflects on the current state of theoretical worry about teaching writing in a way that puts the authors in conversation with other writing teachers. (RS)

Reviews a book that describes the experiences of a white teacher of creative writing in American Indian classrooms. The book recounts the teacher's successes in encouraging his students to write poetry, examines his relationships with his students and their community, and offers lessons about crossing cultural boundaries and the rewards to be…

Provides information about how Canadian universities organize writing instruction. Presents the results of a nationwide survey of Canadian universities concerning writing instructors, writing researchers, and the scope and range of instruction. (HB)

Identifies 10 questions that dominated the 1990 WPA Conference at Portland, Oregon, part of a continuing dialogue over professional standards in writing instruction. Captures the voices of conference participants as they pose answers to the issues raised in the Wyoming Resolution and the Statement of Principles and Standards. (RS)

Argues that the pedagogical is the personal, and considers the pedagogical ethics of the personal. Claims that, regardless of what the teacher's intentions are, a personal relationship between writer and teacher is inevitable, which makes teaching writing more difficult. (HB)

Describes the debate among Australian English teachers concerning "genre-based" approaches to writing development. Notes that applying lessons learned from the Australian debate without an awareness of the assumptions driving the debate may well lead to educators in other countries needlessly covering unnecessary and largely infertile…

Suggests the challenge that genre theory presents to educators in the United Kingdom is whether to avoid it because others have reported the dangers or whether to grapple with it and discover what insights might be found. Argues that genre theory is not a method of teaching writing alone: it relates to each language activity. (RS)

Argues that writing instructors have a significant role to play in producing important computer-writing research. Asserts that the insights these instructors gain from teaching inform their research and guide their research practices by allowing them to distinguish subtle patterns and questions worthy of investigation. (PRA)