The author examines the effectiveness of a curriculum aimed to raise awareness of prospective English teachers and writers while studying the psychological and sociological impact of language use. Action research tested whether students already knew how to argue and think critically when they came to a 200-level undergraduate course. Finding that many students did not, a systematic method for critical inquiry was developed as a teaching tool that combined elements of Paul's (1992) approach to critical thinking, Toulmin's (1958) argument model, and Nelson and Angelo's (1997) approach to higher-order thinking. Subsequently, a pre/post study conducted over two years revealed significant differences in students' written performances on a common task scored by independent readers for attributes of language awareness and critical thinking. A slight positive correlation between criteria sets was also found. (Contains 7 tables and 4 figures.)