| The purpose of this study was to determine the nature and extent of curricular offerings in advanced composition and English language and linguistics courses for the pre-service English education majors. The investigation sought answers to the following questions: (1)What was the nature of institutional and departmental data as they might have affected the curricular offerings in advanced composition and English language and linguistics courses? (2)To what extent did curricular offerings in advanced composition reflect recent compositional trends and practices? (3)What was the extent to which theoretical concerns in English language and linguistics courses were emphasized in the surveyed schools?;Population. The sample was based upon eighty-nine respondents from a total of forty-six four-year teacher education colleges and universities in selected Southern states comprising; the population were Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.;Procedure. This study involved: (1)construction and mailing of three questionnaires--(A) For English Department Chairman, (B) Advanced Composition, and (C) English Language and Linguistics; (2)the collation, tabulation, and analyses of data; (3)reporting of the findings; and (4)the presentation of the summary, conclusion, and implications.;Findings and Conclusions. The analyses of data based on the eighty-nine responses revealed the following: (1)Institutional and departmental data, along with specified emphases, might have affected the curricular offerings in advanced composition and English language and linguistics courses. Similarly, procedures and emphases in the English departments affected the staffing of upper division courses, their content and materials, and the evaluation for advanced composition. (2)Methodology, content, and evaluation in advanced composition for English education majors were found, for the most part, to be traditional. However, some findings did show evidence that some of the recent compositional theories and practices were used in the course. (3)An overwhelming majority of the schools in the surveyed population did offer two or more courses in English language and linguistics. Yet the emphases on theoretical concerns remained traditional, albeit findings did reveal that some consideration was being given to transformational grammar, semantic linguistics, regional, social, and local dialects. |
