Final Reflection

Abstract: I look back on my time in this class and the objectives that we set for me to complete in this class. I explain my opinion of if the course objectives were possible to finish and I explain how I completed each objective in the class. I explain that everything in the class was fair and that I believe that I learned a lot and I believe that I completed all the objectives.

Ayman’s Personal Assessment

 I have achieved many of my goals through my experiences in this class. I have learnt an extensive amount through multiple class and benefited from the time spent working on interpreting the readings and other contents provided.  The first major was to accomplish “Recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages and their users”. The class provided multiple text from a wide range of authors to accomplish this goal. Through reading June Jordan’s “Nobody Means More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan” it taught me about the empowerment of black English. In the text Jordan speaks about how it has grown customary for students to neglect black English in black communities. As an English teacher she believes in her students’ expression of themselves with the usage of language. She believes that the fact that her students don’t know Black English is something truly wring as they have disconnected from their roots. She teaches her students black English as all Englishes are viable in the expression of a person’s thoughts and feelings.  Through the writings of Robert MacNeil, in his text “English belongs to Everyone” he mentions an experiment in which two boxes and each accompanied with a different voice a white voice and black voice. The kids were then asked which box had the better item inside and the kids chose the white voice’s box. This portrayed the hierarchizing of language. The difference between Black English, Standard English and any other form of English and how it has a different ranking in the hierarchy. In Amy Tan’s personal essay “Mother Tongue” she speaks about the discrimination that her mother had to face as a result for her supposed imperfect English.  The oppression of language through irrational language attitudes are displayed in Tan’s writing. She speaks about her memory of when her mother spoke imperfect English, and the moment she had difficulty attaining the resources she required. A memorable excerpt of this personal essay is the time her mother struggles to get service at the hospital, but as soon as she spoke with the doctor, they promised better service for her mother and profusely apologized for their unprofessional behavior.  The readings cemented my understanding of language attitudes and the illogical standardization of language.

These readings were crucial in teaching me how to effectively read higher-level texts and the rhetorical situation worksheets were useful in helping me read those text and to look further. The worksheet taught me how to “Explore and analyze in their own and other’s writing a variety of genres and rhetorical situations” and “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations”. The rhetorical situation worksheet gave me practice with recognizing the rhetorical situations embedded within the text. The worksheet makes the reader of any text look deeper within the text to answer questions about who the target audience was, the purpose of the writing is, the context in which the text is written and other components. The worksheet forced the reader to think critically and sometimes requires a person to do research online. The revision of the older worksheets provided me with a reminder of the various text purposes and their arguments. I was able to write essays for each of the three phases with the articles and rhetorical situation worksheets assisting me in the drafting process. The readings gave me ideas and evidence that strengthen my argument. 

The library session was very informative as it taught me how to “Practice systematic application of citation conventions “and “Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives an on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, and bias”. In the library session the we were given a lecture on how to use the CUNY database and the JSTOR. Through learning how to use the library database to find source that argue for what I believe helped strengthen my argument. In addition, it gave me ideas on what to write on. I was able to distinguish between a source that would be credible and incredible. In addition, the library session emphasized the importance of know how to cite during the library session we were provided with a group activity where we would cite a twitter post, a book, and an album. The difficultly to cite those sources showed me that there was more to citing then I knew. We were taught that websites like the Purdue Owl are available to assist us with citing various sources. The library sessions also gave me and my classmates a chance to question the librarian about how to effectively use the CUNY database to get specified searches that pertained to research our subject. Though the ability to accurately apply the citation conventions I was able to cite sources to create better essays by connecting my claim with the perspective of the author. Through analysis I was able to display the parallels in the two arguments and it helped both strengthen my argument and show why my belief is correct.

Through “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and editing” and “Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes” I was shown where my essay was lacking. In groups of three or four we would exchange our paper and critically review each other’s writing. We wanted to point out what we thought the writer could have done better and give them the advice that will keep them going on the right track. When it came time to review my peers’ essays, the feedback from classmates allowed me to write a very well-developed paper.  I was given advice that improved my writing ability. My peers provided me with useful critiques that I advised me to removing pointless sentences that didn’t contribute towards expressing my argument and that I have a good structure to my essay, but It was missing certain components. In the phase 1 essay through the revision I was able to improve my narrative by remove repetitive sentences and provided clear descriptive language. I can be positive the assignment has led to my development of becoming a better reader and writer.

Learning how to “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audience” was very essential in my writing. As part of the assignment we had to choose a picture and a more personalized source and between an excerpt from Lippi-Green’s textbook or Trudgill and Bauer’s book as our third source. The variety of the sources taught me how different sources are for different audiences. When wring about the purpose the YouTube clip and the Trudgill and Bauer’s myth I chose the purpose was the same, but the audience was different. The people who watch a sport’s YouTube channel aren’t the same people that read the Trudgill and Bauer book. The Trudgill and Bauer book was very informative about accent and really taught me about accents as I didn’t know how intricate the topic was. The example of Troopz and Jason Cundy was a good example that allowed me to use a real-world example of the events we are speaking about and it helped visualize the repercussion of accent discrimination. Both spoke about accents but the audience that it was intended for was completely different and understanding that the creator of the book and the video both wanted to voice their opinion about the same topic in different ways was something I learned and it bettered my writing as it gave me the idea that I must know who my target audience was.

  I have achieved all my course learning outcomes at the end of the of the semester. I have learnt from my experiences and looking back on my time in the class I can see how each assignment and lesson has contributed in allowing me to achieve all of them learning outcomes set at the beginning of the course. After each phase I felt that I have improved, and each phase proposed it own difficult challenges that I learned to overcome. The essays were tests at the end of the phase that displayed the outcomes we have achieved.