Theorizing Composition: A Critical Sourcebook of Theory and Scholarship in Contemporary Composition Studies Book

This was a great book with a few very bad flaws.

Pros:
It really introduces a lot of great, well researched concepts, both theoretical and practical. A little bit of inference and creativity and a teacher can learn a lot. It is mostly designed for beginning to mid-level teachers of ESL/EFL/ESOL.

Cons:
As was stated in the introduction of the book, the main author wanted to recap what she had learned from her graduate studies in teaching, and it was in the first chapter where it showed the most. Some things were quite obsolete, and yet so obviously quixotic. She really drank the koolade when presenting information in this chapter. The problems include lousy grammar, diction, wrong terminology, PC, etc. Additionally, I would have loved to see better organization of concepts. I had to do supplementary research to understand what the concepts were.

When trying to explain how the US doesn't value multiculturalism/multilingualism, pg 13, it "is evident in such common statements such as ""They can't learn Science until they speak English."" This is a very flimsy argument considering it's contextual. Science? The preciseness of words and concepts are necessitated in the content!

Strawman argument is used on page 15.

Hyperbole pg 112: "In light of this ban [bilingual program], teachers were forced out of their jobs and Mexican American students had no access to their histories." Really, no access? Libraries were closed, the internet was shut down!

The last example I'll use is on page 16: "Thus, the equity-based affirmation "We recognize and value the different experiences, cultures..." This is blasphemous naivete. Not all experiences are good, some are certainly unworthy of being valued.


Neutral:
Because I read it online for a grad school class, I had to use tools to read it, highlight, comment, etc. Maybe (I hope) the publisher will make the necessary changes.

sideways graphs.

intentionally blank pages. (for an online, really?)

Play button for videos doesn't work.

Highlighting highlights most side text.

Cannot double highlight. Highlight text that is already highlighted.

Cannot highlight across pages.

"Figures" (large amount of text) splits the normal reading text. This wouldn't be (too) bad for a hard copy book, but for an online book, it's really bad. Sometimes large figures are put into the middle of sentences, just because the figure fits on the next couple pages. Terrible formatting.