WHAT IS ENGLISH?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface v

1 Introduction: About the English Coalition Conference 3

2 A Remarkable Consensus about a Main Theme 15

3 Democracy through Language 31

4 Taking a Theoretical Stance 49

5 What Follows from Taking a Theoretical Stance 72

6 The Question of Literature 94

7 What Is English? 108

8 The Question of Writing: The Wars in My Head 126

9 Goals and Testing 149

10 Questioning Two Assumptions of the Profession 179

11 The Danger of Softness 197

12 Concluding Word: About Teachers and Conditions for Teaching 218

Appendix A Participants at the Conference 231

Appendix B About Lists: A Proposal 238

Appendix C Evaluation, Grading, and the Hunger to Rank People: A Proposal 246

Appendix D Situating Me 260

Works Cited 267