Text varieties in your daily life

Before you begin this book, take a minute to think about all the different kinds of texts that you encounter over the course of a normal day. In the morning, maybe you have a conversation with a roommate. As you have breakfast, you might listen to a radio announcer or read the morning newspaper. Then you might make a telephone call to a friend or family member. As you get ready for a class, you might proofread a paper that is due that day or look over the reading you did for homework. When you attend the class, you probably talk with friends, listen to a lecture, and write notes. And that's just the first few hours of your day!

For most people, conversation is the most common type of spoken language that they produce. But people typically listen to many different kinds of spoken language: television shows, commercials, radio or television news reports, classroom lectures, political speeches, sermons, and so on. Written language also plays a very important role in daily life for many people. Students usually produce many kinds of writing: notes during class sessions, written assignments, term papers, and possibly numerous text messages and/or e-mail messages. But similar to spoken language, most people read more than they write. In fact, many people read even more different kinds of texts than they listen to: newspaper articles, editorials, novels, e-mail messages, blogs, text messages, letters and ads in the mail, magazine articles, ads in magazines, textbooks, research articles, course syllabi, and other written assignments or handouts.