Learning English as an Avid Student
As an avid English student over the duration of my studies, I have learned and grown in knowledge more than what I thought was possible in my field. As an English major, I had passed all my entrance examinations for English and had qualified to attempt the advanced placing. Hence when it came to test composition 1I was a bit apprehensive since I had undertaken advanced placement English classes in high school and I have always been a passionate reader so I was aware of what good writing looks like. However, what I did not take into consideration were other fundamentals that made a good writing, factors such as revising, writing for a general audience and not just myself, prewriting and having a specific agenda in mind. Therefore, as much as I hate to acknowledge it, takingcomposition1 was a practical teaching and experience that has provided me with a serious understanding of the English language.
Essays in My Portfolio
I wrote several essays while studying, trying as much as possible to apply all the techniques I had learnt in class. The first essay contained within my portfolio is a classification essay titled “Blue Notes Evolution”. The essay contains all the approved and necessary processes in writing from prewriting down to the final edit and revision for the portfolio. Next, we have the descriptive narrative essay, titled “A Hard Decision” which was the most difficult to write not because it was my first essay of the semester but due to the fact that it was really emotional for me. The essay was about my dog Ellie and she had died, personally, I have experienced and been in life challenging situations but the loss of my dog was something that was relatable to the majority of my audience. I guessed every individual in the lecture could definitely share on the matter of deciding when it was time to let go of something cherished to them and how hard that can be.
An Illustrative Essay
The next essay was an illustrative essay titled “Get the Ball to Durant”. The illustrative writing style was to make a point pertaining to a certain topic and support it with examples, and I also needed a topic my fellow classmates would relate to and enjoy. This type of essay uses statistics and other empirical data to bring out a certain point about a particular topic. As an Oklahomans, I chose our state’s professional basketball team since most of the people including my classmates were huge Thunder fans. Sometimes it is hard to spot gaps in my knowledge as an English major, merely because I feel like I have learned too much. Hence, I need to expand my writing skills and literature analysis abilities as well.
Challenges Faced by Foreign English Learners
As an English major, I have also taken time to highlight some of the problems foreign students experience in their attempt to learn English. The problems include grammar issues, correct punctuation, hesitations while speaking and a misunderstanding or lack of vocabularies, language barriers considering where you are studying, the dialect may be hard to understand. Academic issues where some projects may be too difficult and it may be infuriating to completely comprehend a concept, but be incapable of expressing it in satisfactory English is also achallenge facing learners. Homesickness is another problem since moving across the sea or borders to another country may make an individual feel isolated and alone, hence it may be difficult to find people to help you understand the language. Students not taking their learning seriously may affect their grammar and language skills.
