College English Association Annual Conference

Posted by on October 10, 2011

One of the topics of special interest to this conference is “Service Learning in English Courses: Composition and Literature.” Specific information about this topic can be found at the bottom of the call for proposals.

College English Association (CEA) 2012 | BORDERS
43rd Annual Conference | March 29 – 31, 2012 | Richmond, VA
Submission deadline: November 1, 2011
Conference Website:

http://cea-web.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28&Itemid=22

“Life is a petty thing unless it is moved by the indomitable urge to extend its boundaries.”
— Jose Ortega y Gasset

Borders, boundaries, margins—what lines provide the perimeters to our profession? What demarcations continue to separate and define English studies in the second decade of the new millennium? When is “crossing a line” a desirable professional/pedagogical stance? How have scholarly fields evolved, dissolved, merged or consolidated in areas that we have traditionally viewed as distinct? Exactly where and how is English expanding and extending its borders?

Featured Speakers

The conference’s plenary session will feature noted essayist Scott Russell Sanders, while the All-Conference Luncheon will be addressed by former United States Poet Laureate Rita Dove.

Call for Proposals

For our 2012 meeting, CEA invites papers and panels that explore the pedagogical and professional implications of borders.

We welcome presentations by experienced academics and graduate students on all areas of literature, languages, film, composition, pedagogy, creative writing, and professional writing. Proposals may interpret the CEA theme broadly, including – but not limited to – the following areas:

· Borders as demarcations: literature as reflective of cultures, regions, tribes, groups
· Borders and disciplines: cross-disciplinary studies; writing across the curriculum, etc.
· Borders as textual identifiers: genre divisions, breaches
· Borders of the page: design, paratexts, marginalia, illumination
· Borders in rhetoric: constructs of discourse, rhetorical models, collaboration
· Borders of the major: curriculum design; requirements v. electives; outcomes; assessments
· Borders in the academy: full-time/part-time; tenured/non-tenured; state/private
· Borders in the classroom: teacher and student; innovation and tradition; service-learning
· Borders and centers: canons, themes, models, templates
· Borders of the new and old: script to print; paper to digital
· Borders as change: activism, advocacy, healing, mentoring
· Borders and identity: class, gender, culture
· Borders, edges, and peripheries: inside/outside, edges/centers, transitions
· Borders: local, regional, international; migration and refugees; peace
· Borders and frontiers: borderlands, border culture, la frontera, transnational
· Borders of communication: intercultural communication, translation, mediation
· Borders as exclusionary; borders as inclusionary

General Program

In addition to our conference theme, we also encourage a variety of proposals in any of the areas English and writing departments encom­pass, including:

book history and textual criticism | composition and rhetoric | comparative litera­ture | computers and writing | creative writing | critical pedagogy | cultural studies |
film studies | developmental education | English as a second language | linguistics |
literary studies | literary theory | multicultural literature | online courses and the virtual university | pedagogy | popular culture | race, class, and gender studies | reading and writing across the curriculum | student placement | study skills | teacher education | technical communication.

We also welcome papers on those areas that influence our lives as academics: student demographics; student/instructor accountability and assessment; student advising; chairing the department; the place of the English department in the university overall; etc.

Special Topics Include:

Service Learning in English Courses: Composition and Literature

500-word proposals for 15-minute papers/presentations on the use of service learning in composition or literature courses. Papers should address issues like the following: Determining whether service learning projects—and what kinds—are appropriate to course material; matching key components of one’s course with appropriate service learning projects; establishing relations with off-campus service learning entities; framing project assignments that enhance service learning while maintaining course content integrity; developing an assessment model to measure outcomes. How many different service learning projects within a course? How long should such projects be? Level of difficulty? Challenges, risks, rewards? The presentation should be integrated with relevant service learning research to support experimental models and conclusions.

Metacognition, Active Learning, & Supportive Technology in the Literature or Composition Classroom

500-word proposals for 15-minute papers/presentations on the use of metacognition strategies in the context of active learning & appropriate technological support in teaching literature or composition in classroom settings. Metacognition encompasses “learning how we learn” activities and techniques. Active learning presumes learner-based instruction, and may include problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, collaborative learning, or other forms of active learning, including the use of technology—PowerPoint, SmartBoards, clickers, the Internet (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, other learning sites/styles).

The form(s) discussed can be new in themselves or a novel use of an older modality, particularly regarding the effectiveness of such a scheme as tested with success in the classroom, perhaps accompanied by cautionary tales of what worked less well. Close attention to how to frame such metacognitive, active learning &/or IT models for effective use to ensure student participation is welcomed. Finally, attention to the literature on the subject to show the relation of what you are doing to what has been done, including theoretical concerns, remains an important consideration.

Submitters should contact Scott Borders, the Program Chair and 1st VP of CEA <[email protected]> with any questions.

Proposals should be submitted by November 1, 2011.  Notification of acceptance to submitters would be made after Dec. 5, 2011.

Please note: only one proposal per conference participant may be submitted.

To submit a proposal, please log in to http://www.conftool.pro/cea2012/