rhetoric and composition

The College Language Association Journal invites submissions for a special issue inspired by Adam J. Banks’s 2016 CLA Journal essay, “Dominant Genre Emeritus: Why It Is Time to Retire the Academic Essay.” In that essay, Banks challenges writing teachers to reconsider the privileged position of the academic essay and to imagine alternative forms of composing, meaning-making, and knowledge production.

Accepting Submissions for NeMLA 2027 Roundtable:

In this in-person roundtable conference session, we are looking to open conversation about the unique ways that educators are innovating with forms of gaming, play, and playfulness in the classroom. We are interested in discussing the incorporation of any and all forms of games and gaming, including, but not limited to:
- board, tabletop, and card games
- social deduction games
- tabletop role-playing systems such as Dungeons and Dragons
- invented role-playing scenarios
- gamification of in-class activities
- video and digital games

Abstract / Overview

The guiding thread of this panel develops around a curious remark by Jacques Rancière that would seem to amend a classically Aristotelian thesis: “man is a political animal because he is a literary animal,” the fundamental condition of which is the “excess of words” constitutive of the human animal’s politicalness. Literature (or poetry) has long been placed in close proximity to politics, as we find in Plato’s Republic, where philosophy and literature—and, more generally, philosophy and politics—turn out to be perennial adversaries.

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how teaching and learning take place across educational contexts. This seminar explores innovative and evidence-based approaches to integrating AI into classroom practice, language education, skills development, and assessment.

We invite proposals that examine practical applications of AI in teaching and learning, including but not limited to:

Sponsored by the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE) 

This roundtable envisions writing as a collaborative act and centers writings that empower Environmental Justice communities. How have/do writing communities negotiate and enact environmental justice? How do writing communities disseminate scientific and technical information towards environmental action and justice? Participants in this roundtable are encouraged to consider:

o How does/can writing raise collective environmental consciousness?

o Writing in the Humanities to mobilize marginalized communities in the age of climate change

o Aesthetic writings beyond the pleasure of nature writing but those that fuel ethical actions

Maybe no one has ever looked at a pile of papers with unbridled joy, but in a time of university-subsidized LLMs, instructors are more likely view a stack of papers with a mix of dread and horror. How many made up quotations will I have to check? How many fake citations? How many versions of “it’s not ___, it’s ___” can I read before my soul leaves my body?

In the definition given by Podnieks, matrifocal literatures are written and narrated by mothers in the first-person or limited third-person voice, rendering maternal identity and experience from subjective perspectives. Such narratives (re)value the significance and meaning of maternal figures in cultural, social, and national arenas, and often contest or negotiate traditional ideologies of the “good” mother as self-sacrificing, nurturing, and sexless with her antithesis, the “bad” mother. In the last few years, we have seen the rise of matrifocal writings published to break taboos about previously silenced reproductive experiences, create a sense of community, support, and care, and, overall, empower people.

**DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 7/15/26**

The Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program, along with the Department of English and the Film and Media Studies Program at the University of Rochester are pleased to announce an upcoming undergraduate conference on horror, to be held October 23-25, 2026. The conference will featuring a keynote address by the University of Rochester’s own Jason Middleton, author of numerous articles on horror films, co-editor (with Aviva Briefel) of Labors of Fear: The Modern Horror Film Goes to Work (U of Texas P, 2023), and a featured expert on the AMC series Eli Roth’s History of Horror.

Edited by Juliana Luna Freire (Universidade Federal da Paraíba UFPB), Rong Huang (Peking University), Lucy Blaney-Liable (University of Stuttgart) 

Confirmed publisher Editora UFPB (Brazil)

Following Guan and Scott (2025), there is a need to rethink pedagogical practices in language teaching and their real impact on health students and their future work in the medical field. 

We propose, as discussed by Ferguson (2025), a deeper discussion on the contexts of English for Medical Purposes (EMP), as well as the prevalent use of English in this field. 

The Manuscript: Journal of Taylor Swift Studies (JOTSS)
Binghamton University’s Special Edition

Colloquially Speaking! Ruminations on the Possibilities of the Field: Call for Papers

Submission Deadline: August 30, 2026

Submission Website: https://orb.binghamton.edu/jotss/

South Atlantic Review, Call for Proposals for Special Issue

“Change for Sustainability in English, Rhetoric, and Writing:

Models for Transfer across Contexts”

Call for Papers

Claflin University Conference on Languages and Cultural Studies  (In-person on the campus of Claflin University) *

October 21-22, 2026

THEME: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

*(Participants not residing in the United States and those unable to travel may request a virtual option)Scholarly and creative writing panel proposals, roundtable proposals, and paper abstracts on all aspects of reading, writing, and teaching modern languages are invited including papers and panels on

“Rhetorical Theory” (Standing Session)
Seattle, WA, Nov. 20-23
Chair: Dr. Ryan Leack (USC)
Email: leack@usc.edu

Abstract

This panel will explore recent movements in rhetorical theory writ large, either in connection with or apart from composition theory and practice. Special attention will be given to proposals that engage with the conference's theme.

Description

TYCA Northeast

61st Annual Conference

2026 Call for Proposals

October 2 - 3, 2026

Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square

25 S Queen St, Lancaster, PA 17603

Proposal Deadline: Monday, June 1, 2026

Submission Link: https://www.tycanortheast.org/

Conference Theme: Meeting the Moment: Connecting the Past, Present, and Future in English Studies