Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers

by Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, Virginia Clark

Language Awareness was the first composition reader to use the theme of language to heighten students awareness of the power of words -- and to help them use language more effectively themselves. Thirty years later, language readers are still the most successful kind of single-theme reader, and Language Awareness remains a best-seller in its market. Authors and editors of a wide range of highly successful composition texts, Eschholz and Rosa have continued to keep Language Awareness viable with a combination of class-tested and fresh selections in every edition and a proven ability to stay abreast of important trends in language study and culture. The ninth edition retains many of its classic readings and themes, but also introduces many exciting new selections that highlight cultural diversity in America and current arguments about language. Students using Language Awareness will discover that the study of language yields fresh perspectives on aspects of our culture ranging from internet technology, to politics and propaganda, to the language of advertising.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Writing, Textbooks, Reference, Literature

704 pages, Paperback

Published July 23, 2004

About the author

Paul A. Eschholz

Reviews

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of summers ago, to brush up on my knowledge of American history, I read a college American history textbook, The American Pageant. In the same spirit, this summer I read another college textbook, Language Awareness, a text on language and writing. Not only was it a good refresher on things I already knew but maybe had forgotten, but there was much in it that was new to me. If the only essay I took anything from was George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," reading the entire book would still have been worth my time. I teach 9th grade English, and there is much I gleaned from Language Awareness that I intend to incorporate in my teaching this coming school year.

One thing I was fascinated by: This book was published in 1991,and a lot has changed in the fifteen years since then, but I was intrigued--and a little bit horrified--to read about concerns that have only worsened in the past decade and a half. For instance, one essay, "Speech Codes on the Campus and Problems of Free Speech" by Nat Hentoff--an essay that was originally written in 1971--warns the reader of the dangers of allowing political correctness to get out of control.

[Amber Ziegler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I actually read this whole entire book. I'm using it for my freshman writing classes next semester, and wanted to read the whole thing so that I could choose the best essays to have my students read. There's lots of good essays in here, only a few that I really didn't like. Of course, there's lots of questions after the essays that they kind of have to include, which I don't plan on using. In the front section, there is a good bit on reading and writing well that I liked for the most part, and after all the readings, there is a section on how to write a research paper, including things like MLA citation, avoiding plagarism, and incorporating quotes into a paper. So far, I'm very happy with this book and I'm looking forward to using it in the spring.

[Macalester Linguistics]

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