Identifies in the formation of United States college composition courses a tacit policy of English monolingualism based on a chain of reifications of languages and social identity. Shows this policy continuing in assumptions underlying arguments for and against English Only legislation and basic writers. (SG)

Examines the contradictory representations of whiteness in the literature on critical pedagogy. Argues that a deeper engagement with these contradictions can help critical educators in their work with white students. Explores the literature on whiteness from the past five years. Analyzes case studies of white students as they read texts that…

Seeks to add to the understanding of literacy as it relates to African Americans, with a focus on African American female literacies. Argues that mother tongue literacy is central to literacy education. Suggests that black female language practices, knowledges, and understanding can be and have been used advantageously to help black females in…

Analyzes the public and professional discourse of learning disability, arguing that medical models of literacy misdirect teaching by narrowing its focus to remediation. Considers how resurgent demands for behaviorist pedagogies make understanding their continuing appeal important to composition studies. Discusses implications for the college…

Argues that student use of quotation marks jars educators not because it departs from good practice but because, through them, students invoke voices educators do not want to recognize. Concludes that examining the ways both professors and students use non-standard quotes encourages an understanding of composition as a practice that brings…

Reflects on what the author has learned about university teaching from her experience being a novice student of karate. Asserts the value for even seasoned teachers to maintain a beginner's mind that is "free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and to open to all the possibilities." Concludes that from this new…

Discusses how the eloquent "I" cultivates a deepened self-dialogue and offers students an epistemological and rhetorical discipline. Reconfigures Mikhail Bakhtin's ethics of "otherness" and his dialogic-prompted way of knowing. Discusses looking for the eloquent "I" in the writing classroom. (SG)

Examines Black student responses to Black Panther Party documents and how those documents moved the students toward change. Maintains that by allowing the classroom to function as a public space which students can discuss the issues that matter to them, teachers can help to foster and encourage student activism and ultimately their empowerment.…

Compares entrance-to-the-profession narratives of the past 30 years. Selects major theorists and senior and junior minority scholars and describes their efforts to become professionals in the field. Notes that the Native American author argues for including "Other" voices in analyzing the history of composition studies. (SG)

Uses a journal format to recall vignettes with a personal slant from the history of Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), National Council of Teachers of English, Two-Year College Association, and Open Admissions at the City University of New York. (SG)

Turns to contemporary feminist object-relations theory to understand the efforts of students in a service learning course, to push beyond the usual subject-object, active-passive dualisms that pervade community-based literacy projects, and to compose instead complex representations in which all participants are composed as active, as knowing, and…

Examines the purposes of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), transformative experiences at professional conferences, and the elements of the author's literacy autobiography using a variety of common forms from first-year composition. Argues for recognition of the knowledge-building role of writing programs in two-year…

Acknowledges the varied ways that teachers respond to student writing, and the varied ways that students influence and interpret those responses. Narrows the gap between teaching practices and research questions. Reevaluates the metaphor of conversation that has been repeatedly used to describe teacher response, arguing that the implications of…

Draws on the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins to explore and celebrate a life in composition. Outlines possibilities for individual renewal, particularly through the process of mentoring new members. (SG)

Argues that the responses to the Oakland, California ebonics resolution miss what made the resolution so significant while also making debate about it so intractable. Proposes that compositionists who acknowledge attitudes that made the resolution so significant can productively engage the larger public regarding literacy education in a racially…