Commission on Composition

Function: The Commission on Composition is a deliberative and advisory body which each year identifies and reports to the NCTE Executive Committeeon key issues in the teaching of writing; reviews what the Council has done concerning composition during the year; and recommends new projects and persons who might undertake them. The Commission monitors current and projected NCTE publications (other than journals); suggests topics for future NCTE publications on composition; and performs a similar role of review and recommendation for the NCTE Annual Convention program. Occasionally, the Commission undertakes further tasks and projects as approved by the Executive Committee.

During its November meeting in Indianapolis, the Commission on Composition discussed its commitment to the three focus issues that the Executive Committee formulated during AY 2004-2005: What can NCTE do to advance young people's learning about the multi-modal literacies that are becoming commonplace in a digital environment? How can NCTE help teachers, the broader public, and policy makers understand the relationship between research and teaching?  And how can NCTE help its members and potential members develop an interest in and knowledge about the teaching (and learning) of English Language Learners?

We narrowed the latter question to ask the following:  In what ways is language learning a problem for children who arrive in schools without speaking the language of instruction?  How can teachers address the needs of students whose primary language is not English?  What are the implications of seeing teaching as political and intellectual activities?  These questions are motivated by what Kris Gutierrez has called "backlash" pedagogy" that characterizes the "English-only" movement in classrooms across the United States.  Such a movement ignores the inextricable relationship between language and identity and research that continues to show why instruction needs to build upon and respect students' home languages.  In turn, we discussed what we believe is the erosion of such policies as the Conference on College Composition and Communication 1974 resolution, "Students' Right to Their Own Language."

Discussion of language learning and the challenges English Language Learners face motivated our decision to construct a panel for the annual meeting of NCTE in Pittsburgh.  Speakers will focus on the historical and cultural context of the questions we raised, identifying students' attitudes and approaches toward language learning, and addressing the kinds of teaching and teacher preparation that will increase the life chances of students to become active, critical participants in a democracy.  Such an approach to teaching literacy builds on students' race, culture, and language to create academic success, rather than suppressing linguistic and cultural diversity (education does not equal assimilation). This means seeing difference and diversity as resources for learning, using both "heterogeneity" and "hybridity" to structure the curriculum, including "hybrid language practices."

The Committee also considered the role of standardized and externally imposed assessments in writing.  Do these assessments shape and drive instruction?  If so what are the implications for how teachers teach and students learn to write in middle, secondary and university classrooms?  These questions led to our forming a second panel discussion at NCTE in Pittsburgh.  Panelists will include middle and secondary teachers faced with preparing students for these testing situations while teaching them to write; university faculty members who focus on composition and writing; and secondary and early college students.

Stuart Greene, Director