Upon completing the entire ES1102 module, I find myself being a little more of a “grammar police” when it comes to essay writing as well as in my speech. The module has helped to equip me with skills and techniques that I otherwise would never have. Through out the 13 weeks of class, our teacher, Brad, assigned us with different types of writing assignments such as reflective journals that came in the form of blog posts, reader response essays as well as problem-solution essays. The class was also split into different “blogging groups” in order for us to better help one another with our writings by giving peer reviews on each others blog posts.
Sentence fragment used to be one of the biggest problem and bad habit in my writing, it was also a problem I never realized I had until my mistake was pointed out in class. At the beginning, I found it extremely challenging to change this bad habit of mine. However, through the peer reviews on my blog posts, constantly reminding me of this same mistake, I slowly started to take more notice of the way I write my sentences. Slowly, but surely, I managed to overcome this writing problem of mine.
Through this module, I also realized the importance of proper citations. In the past, citations used to be something that I made little to no attention to. It was not until this module that I realize the lack of proper citations can actually cost me valuable grades in all my other modules. I now pay extra attention to citing my sources properly in every essay that I complete, in this module as well as in others.
While some may think that since this module offers no modular credits, it is redundant, I for one think otherwise. I have learned many other valuable lessons in the English language, aside from the two mentioned above that, will continue to remain valuable even outside of the ES1102 classroom. Being a student in the Faculty of Arts and Social sciences, essay writing is extremely important for me, and for that, I am thankful for having been a part of this module.
Hi Joycelyn,
ReplyDeleteIn the way of positive comments, I generally got what you were trying to express throughout the reflection, being versed in Singlish all my life, but that is no flatter for a great amount of grammatical errors scattered throughout and surely no token aristocratic English gentleman will find worthy.
Let me have the honour of showing you to the first error and the rest of your friends or Brad can chip in later.
1st sentence: " I find myself BECOMING........"
Regards
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ReplyDeleteThank you, Joycelyn, for this clear, concise reflection. I really appreciate the way you have contextualized the discussion of feedback by overviewing the assignments first. You also focus well on one area of concern in your writing, fragments, and you explain how your feedback from peers helped you to develop more awareness for this. I'm glad to hear that, and in fact there are no fragments in this essay (but there is one run on sentence: see the first sentence of paragraph 2).
ReplyDeleteWhat I would have also liked to have learned from you is how giving peer reviews might have presented any challenges to you, and in what way. Did you feel confident in evaluating other students' writing? How did this feed into your own improved understanding of the issues that you were "trained in"?
Whatever the case, I truly appreciate all the work you did this term. All the best as you continue your learning journey!