Self Assessment Essay

Going into this class, I’ve been expecting something better to come out of this semester compared to my last semester, especially since it’s in-person. In all honesty, I would have never thought that doing this class would be so much better in person than online because of boredom and tired eyes in front of a laptop for seventy-five minutes. I am usually the quiet one in the class and would listen to others participate, while in some cases, I would experience. Last semester may have been a tricky transitional phase from completing high school and boredom online but the spring semester of English 110 brought a better experience thanks to the course’s framework aiding me to understand things in a pleasant and participatory manner without jeopardizing my growth a writer. This essay will show how I used reading, writing, spoken languages, and literacy to meet all course objectives.

     The first phase of this course brought out narrative stories of our language journeys. We, as a class, wrote about one of the most memorable languages and literacy moments that we had experienced. I chose to write about my Spanish-speaking journey because that particular language has been a language that I am not the fondest of but still learning. We were authorized to use our photograph as the essay’s opening page. Following that, we had a class peer review where we all got a different perspective on our work, which helped me modify and edit my essay. I’ve learned that Spanish is not one primary language from the peer review. We then created a second comprehensive draft. This time, we submitted the document to a Blackboard discussion board. We met the course learning objectives three, five, and six, “Develop reading, writing, collaborating, revising, and editing methods,” and “Participate in collaborative and social parts of writing processes.” “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences” by doing this review on the blackboard and in person.

     Phase 2 was the following step, and we had to compose a rhetorical analysis essay in this area. We also spoke and read from a range of writers. Because of the lofty essay requests to study work by one of these authors, I chose Amy Tan’s “mothers’ tongue” because it stuck out the most. I was first startled that people who spoke a distinct dialect of English were subjected to such harassment; therefore, Amy Tan’s personal story was eye-opening. This article also taught me that there are several sorts of English. Based on Amy Tan’s work, we prepared rhetorical analysis worksheets. This helped me meet the course learning objective of “Explore and evaluate a range of genres and rhetorical contexts in writing and reading.” The worksheets would break down the essay into several sections, including the audience and the author’s motivation (or purpose) for writing it. I formed the habit of examining the rhetorical analysis worksheets for these themes by utilizing them. Using these worksheets helped me “Recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages and their users, and be open to communicating across different languages and cultures.” Our professor requested us to focus on only two rhetorical methods utilized in the essay for this article. Because Amy Tan and the other authors employed various rhetorical strategies, there was plenty of flexibility in choosing which to use. I opted to concentrate on ethos and pathos because Amy Tan’s article featured extensive use of both strategies. I spoke about how Amy Tan built her reputation and how she did it toward the essay’s conclusion rather than at the beginning, which increased her credibility. Amy Tan employs pathos through a strong feeling of emotion, with sympathy and protective tones for her mother. Learning about Amy Tan’s ethos and pathos showed me to, “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.”

     In phase 3, we explored a range of sources to support our claims in the researched essay. This essay requires students to research a topic of their choice, using various non-academic, scholarly, and multimedia sources. We used the CUNY database and received instructions on identifying sources using the library’s database and website. In my essay, I opted to discuss how linguistic variety affects immigrants who have moved to the United States from other nations. Immigration has led to one of the most significant changes in the world, from people migrating from their foreign countries to different countries for a better opportunities. Many immigrants have traveled to the United States for better opportunities to adapt to a new environment, work-related jobs, learn new languages, and better homes. However, immigrants have struggled to adjust to new beginnings because of discriminators judging their improper language. I utilized sources from the “Only English by the Third Generation Loss and Preservation of the Mother Tongue Among The Grandchildren of Contemporary Immigrants,”  “Language and Non-linguistic Brokering: Diversity of Experiences of Young Immigrant Adults from Eastern Europe.” “Migration Policy Institute” and Linguistic Bias in Student Education, uploaded by TEDx Talks, a division of TED Talk with narration by Camille Byrd O’Quin, to support my claim that linguistic diversity negatively impacts immigrants. Overall, phase 3 helped me “locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.” “Compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argument,” and “Practice systematic application of citation conventions,” outcomes of this course. All of this was from being in the library, gathering my sources from the CCNY library, Google Scholar, and Google general search, and bookmarking the articles for when I need to use them. Phase 3 impacted my argumentative and evidence writing practice because of the resource gathering to support my thesis statement for the research assignment.

     As you can see from the nine learning outcomes, I did so much better this semester than my last semester. English 110 has taught me the fundamentals of English in a new light that will benefit me in the long run. With the assistance of my peers, I understood better how to choose my audience and dive deeper into an author’s perspective of their lives, which led to the selection of the type of evidence I should give. It has taught me not to take the ease of writing papers for granted but to work even more complex because the small aspects matter, in this case, the sources, citation page, and presentation.