Publisher's Synopsis
What Is English? is Peter Elbow's challenging and very personal "picture of a profession that cannot define what it is." Written in a lively and accessible style, What Is English? contains Elbow's reflections on the 1987 English Coalition Conference and on its implications for the profession as a whole. Elbow identifies and tackles the major areas addressed by the conference:
- the question of what "English" means
- the place of theory in reading and writing
- the conflict between those who teach literature and those who teach writing
- the controversies surrounding the canon
- the nation's increasing preoccupation with assessment
