Hello!

As managing editor of the Commons, I’d like to invite you, the members of this forum, to introduce yourselves and take a moment to tell us which particular methods of literary research you employ or explore.

Remember that this forum is not just a place to share calls for papers, but also syllabi and teaching ideas, reviews of research sit…[Read more]

We are excited to announce that Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities, edited by Rebecca Frost Davis, Matthew K. Gold, Katherine D. Harris, and Jentery Sayers, is now available for open peer review on MLA Commons. As the volume focuses on pedagogy, we would particularly value the input of members of this forum, so please do take a moment to read t…[Read more]

Warner’s essay is concerned that students will continue to be ill prepared for college because of Common Core testing:  https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/unfortunately-i-am-ready-common-core

We invite paper proposals for the first RCWS Literacy Studies Forum sponsored panel at MLA 2016.

We welcome discussions of practices and processes of literacies situated in a wide range of political, social, economic, linguistic, educational, and cultural contexts. Please submit a 300-word abstract by March 15 to Suzanne Blum Malley (…[Read more]

Organizers: Thomas Beebee (Penn State – University Park) & Bhavya Tiwari (U of Houston) 

Papers that theorize a construction of polylingual literary history in local, national, and global contexts are invited to imagine a manifesto for a transnational and transregional comparative literary historiography for this special session of MLA 2016 at…[Read more]

When Diane Ravitch spoke to the MLA  two years ago, she predicted that the push for Common Core standards would soon be extended to state colleges and universities. That moment has come.

The Florida State Board of Education now is offering grants to support collaboration between state colleges and K-12 systems. I have a copy of my college’s gr…[Read more]

I am looking for people who have been teaching anti-ageism, or the subject of age, in the writing classroom. Especially interested in writing assignments that counter ageism, that use ageism along with other diversity issues (racism, sexism, ableism, classism).

CFP (Call for Papers): I’m looking for papers for the purpose of proposing a panel for the upcoming 2016 MLA in Austin, TX.  The subject is “Teaching Writing and Composition to Undergraduate Online Students”  I am particularly interested in (but not limited to) papers that explore the primacy of written language as instruction compared to oral, t…[Read more]

CFP (Call for Papers): I’m seeking papers in order to propose a panel for the upcoming 2016 MLA in Austin, TX.  The subject is “Teaching Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition to Online/Distance Students.”  I am particularly interested in (but not limited to) papers that explore the primacy of written language as instruction compared to oral, t…[Read more]

Hello everyone,

I’m please to let you all know that the RCWS Literacy Studies Forum was approved in Nov. 2014 by the MLA Program Committee. We are in the process of putting together a CFP for Literacy Studies papers at MLA 2016.

The executive committee members are listed below and we will be holding an election this year for the 5th exec…[Read more]

Motion 2015-1:
Proposers of record: John Maerhofer and Margaret Hanzimanolis on behalf of the Radical Caucus in English and the Modern Languages

Whereas Part-Time Faculty (PTF) constitute over 50% of the faculty in the US, and presumably a similar percentage of language and literature faculty;

Whereas PTF are presumably and anecdotally…[Read more]

Dear all,

I’m sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but style and method are closely connected, after all.

Could you recommend me works of literary scholarship which book-loving non-academic might enjoy? I don’t mean book reviews, but texts like Brodsky’s and Nabokov’s essays, or Greenblatt’sWill in the World. Thank you very much! I hope I’m not…[Read more]