Throughout my time in the class FIQWS language and literacy, I have been able to incorporate my writing capabilities with each topic I have grown to further understand within the semester. This class has further helped me comprehend the importance of being multilingual, how it can help with future educational and career opportunities. I have not had much opportunity to express my thoughts on the myths and misconceptions of language. However, this class has helped me discover thought out concepts hidden in my mind. In addition, I have been able to improve on my writing skills in terms of analyzing texts further, observing the message within a text in the rhetorical sense as well as develop strategies for drafting, revising and editing.

First, this course has helped me recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages and their users. For instance, I was given an assignment where I had to read several disparate sources and explore a significant example and find sources to support my argument. I had decided to explore the question-should social language expectations play a role in an individual’s desire to learn a new language? I had fundamentally come to the conclusion that as individuals, we should not learn something new because society expects it from us but instead because it is something that we want to learn. As a minority, I was able to express my thoughts on the fact that minorities are the ones who are expected to conform to society’s expectations, if we are not what is considered normal, we might not get anywhere in life. For example, I had amplified this idea within my research exploratory essay,

“As someone who was looked at differently for being bilingual, not paying attention to what society has to say may one be one of the best decisions an individual can make. As a result, one does not ignore their abilities, but instead embraces them and can benefit from them in the future. Society places in a bubble, that we have to learn to pop because if individuals curve their personalities to fit into the bubble, they are hindered from determining their true selves… The best way to learn something new, is to want it yourself because if you feel obligated to learn something, it will become difficult to fully absorb it”

 

Essentially, throughout the course but particularly phase 2 I have been able to recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages and their users. I was also able to further comprehend the importance of being multilingual in a society that expects you to only focus on one language. In addition, I was able to explore and analyze in my own writing a variety of genres and rhetorical situations. Throughout the course, I have utilized several disparate genres within my work including essays, peer reviewed work, books as well as articles. I was able to reach this course learning objective through rhetorical situation worksheets and when gathering sources for my essays.

“Author: Who is the author of this text?  Look him/her up. What are his/her professional credentials? Please gather and list a full overview of the author’s credentials.

Gloria Anzaldua is a author, cultural theorist and feminine philosopher who is the youngest of four. By the age of six she was diagnosed with a rare hormonal disorder that triggered premature puberty placing her as an outsider amongst her peers. Her social justice work and desire to use the written language to create new forms of inconclusionary communities was a result of being an outsider in multiple aspects. She wrote about feminism, lesbian, chicana issues. She is also autobiographical and a pioneer in code-switching.

 

Text: What can you find out about the publication? Look it up and explain what it is and what it aims to do. Describe the genre (the type, form, style, structure, tone) of the text. Typical genres include essays, narratives, newspaper articles, peer-reviewed academic articles, blogs, op-ed articles, etc.

Anzaldua’s How to Tame a Wild Tongue is a chapter from her book “Borderlands/La Frontera” published in 1987 At this time it was difficult for people with her background to be respected let alone be recognized especially as a woman. Her book mainly serves the purpose to educate people on the Mexican culture as well as encourage others to embrace their own. She extends her idea by exemplifying her own hardships as a Chicana. She understands what it is like to have mixed feelings towards your culture as she was belittled by those around her.

 

Audience: Who is the author’s intended audience?  What can you infer about the audience (think about age, class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, profession, education, geographic location, religion, political association, etc.)? Look for clues from the text to support your inference.

The author’s intended audience are mainly chicana’s and educators . Her book can be understood by any minority however, I believe that it was intended for chicana females as she wanted to reach out to those who have been looked down upon by mainly everyone. She understands that they are expected to act a certain way. She states “hocicona, repelona, chismosa, having a big mouth” (22). In essence, as a minority, everything that you do is viewed as wrong. You will always be viewed as inferior and no matter how long and hard you work it may never be viewed as enough.

  

Purpose and Argument: What is the author’s purpose—that is, what is the writer trying to do in this text, and why? What is the author’s main argument (and, if relevant, what are some of his/her claims)?

The author’s main purpose is to educate those who are considered minorities about the Mexican culture as well as encourage other to embrace their own culture. I believe that the author utilizes her hardships to reach out to chicana females and how they shouldn’t be ashamed of their background. In essence, Anzaldua argues that we all long for cultural things that provide us with the feeling of home. Regardless of how we feel, we will always have a connection to our cultural background and it is a part of who we are. Instead of rejecting our culture because others tell us too, we should embrace it and prove to others that we deserve a voice and to be recognized in this world.  “

Rhetorical situation worksheets have helped me improve on determining who the author’s target audience is as well as the main purpose and argument for their writing. These worksheet have also helped me have a further understanding on how to find evidence that supports their argument.

Next, I have developed strategies for reading, drafting, revising and editing. After writing the first draft of our essays, we had time to peer review them during class time. This was the time in which we had gotten into groups of three or four to provide each other with feedback on what could be done to improve them as well as what we liked within each paper. For example, for my research critical analysis essay, I had received feedback from two of my classmates, explaining what parts of the prompt I had answered as well as what I could incorporate within my work and what minor details could be changed in order to improve my grade. I also had to provide feedback to my classmates, it was important to let them know how effectively they have written their paper to answer all the questions, and if they didn’t- how they could work on that. Furthermore, this course has helped me practice systematic application of citation conventions. I was able to further memorize how to cite sources, within text as well as on a work cited page without having to look at a template. I have had several instances to practice the application of citation conventions to help me reach this objective. For instance,

“Anzaldua, Gloria.  How to Tame a Wild Tongue. “Borderlands/La Frontera” 1987.

Wolfram, Walt. “Everyone Has an Accent.” Teaching Tolerance, 2000,     

              www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2000/everyone-has-an-accent.

MacNeil, Robert. “English Belongs to Everybody” Wordstruck: a Memoir. Penguin Books, 1990.”

“’there are theoretical and practical reasons to study these students as it will (i) contribute to our understanding of a new social practice in the field of language learning and (ii) inform a wider educational community about a shifting demographic of current language learners'(Kozar, Sweller 39).”

 

I have accomplished this objective by practicing in text citations as well as complete source citations within rhetorical situation worksheets. These citations included the author, the name of their writing, the year it was published and the publisher.

Furthermore, this course has helped me recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations. I have had several instances to practice incorporating key rhetorical terms and strategies within my work. For instance, rhetorical situation worksheets as well as charting a text have helped me reach this objective.

“Citation:

MacNeil, Robert. “English Belongs to Everybody” Wordstruck: a Memoir. Penguin Books, 1990.

Author:

Robert MacNeil is the author of this text, he is a retired journalist news anchor highly known for his coverage of the assassination of Kennedy. He is also the founder of the award winning MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour also known as the PBS Newshour. He has written and published several books that mainly revolve around politics and his passion for English. Such books include Burden of Desire, Wordstruck, Looking for my country  and Do You Speak American?

Text:

This text is a biography, published in 1990 within the book  Wordstuck: a Memoir. Within this section MacNeil challenges the ideals of those who believe the English language is superior. Wordstruck: a Memoir was published by Penguin book in 1990. Penguin books is a British publishing house co-founded in 1935.

Context:

This text is responding to society in general, specifically those who continue to strive for superiority. It is related to people who are close-minded, as MacNeil wants to open their minds and help them realize that they are afraid of change, yet they are the ones who changed the English language from the beginning. This text was published in 1990 by Penguin Books. There are several things that could have influenced MacNeil to write this text including his love for the language itself. He has written several books related to politics but his within this section of his memoir, MacNeil utilizes the language itself to contradict the ideals of those who believe the English language is superior. The concept of superiority continues to play a role in today’s society, where society feels threatened by those viewed as minorities as they bring change, but the English language would not be what it is today without change.

Audience:

Robert MacNeil targets disparate audiences with his memoir Wordstruck  including those considered minorities and those considered superior. As a minority, we are open-minded to change itself in any aspect as we are expected to conform to any modification. For instance, those considered minorities are viewed as a threat for bringing changes within the states, however great change not only brings versatility but also great success. As he states “change is inevitable in a living language and is responsible for much of the vitality of English; it has prospered and grown because it was able to accept and absorb change” In essence, the English language has evolved in terms of diction and syntax because people were not afraid of change, they wanted to try new things.

 Purpose and Argument: What is the author’s purpose—that is, what is the writer trying to do in this text, and why? What is the author’s main argument (and, if relevant, what are some of his/her claims)?

I believe that the author is fundamentally attempting to contradict the ideals of those who view English as the superior language. English was able to evolve into what it is today because society allowed the superior race to make changes. However, if those who view the language as superior witness “outsiders” making changes to a language or introducing something new- those who are considered superior will feel threatened. The author’s main argument revolves around the fact that society itself is afraid of change when it isn’t caused by white people. MacNeil states “hidden in this is a special fact: our language is not the special private property of the language police, or grammarians, or teachers, or even great writers. The genius of English is that it has always been the tongue of the common people, literate or not” (196). MacNeil argues that English is a language not property, meaning it is supposed to be taught, changed, evolved and utilized to communicate.”

 

“Par.	Saying	Doing
p. 62 (6)	“accent and national origin are obviously inextricably intertwined in many cases”	Lippi-Green asserts the fact that you grow to learn and utilize the dialect in the area in which you live in.
p. 63 (2)	“plaintiff’s accent did not interfere materially with his job performance, nor would it have interfered materially with his job performance”	Essentially, Lippi-Green stresses the fact that one’s accent does not impact their performance or ability to do well at work.
p. 63-64	“Mr. Xieng was repeatedly denied a promotion although he had excellent work history, high marks in his reviews”	In essence, Lippi-Green acknowledges the fact that Xieng was denied promotion because of his accent. Regardless of how experienced he was, it wasn’t enough.
p. 64 (3)	“I consider here four cases in which educators sued their respective schools or school systems for racial and/or LTF-national origin discrimination”	Lippi-Green exemplifies the fact that several people of color have lost their jobs or were in danger of it because of their race. In addition, their race played a huge role when listeners communicate with them.”

 

Charting a text assignments have also helped me determine the rhetorical situations within small passages as well as how I can incorporate them within my own work. Essentially, I had learned how to recognize the author’s main purpose and target audience when writing their piece. This is something important I can utilize within all my future English courses as well as when I am reading on my free time.

Furthermore, this course has helped me develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes. I was able to practice this throughout peer review sessions within class time. Once we would hand in our first draft of each phase essay, the instructors would provide us with a worksheet where we had to answer about four questions in regards to our peers essay. These questions simply asked to provide feedback on how effectively our peers had answered the prompt, how it stood out, what they did well and if we had any comments on how they could improve it for a higher grade. Next, I was able to  further understand and utilize print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences. I have been provided with in class time to read material that would help me answer the questions asked within the course as well as further comprehending imperative language myths and misconceptions. Reading the material within class has helped me realize ideas that I had not given much thought to before. As a result, I think it has helped me write essays that can effectively convey the message I was trying to get across to my audience. Finally, I was able to 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. Throughout this FIQWS course we had two phase essays, the research exploratory essay and the critical analysis essay where we were taken to the library at least twice to research sources within these essays. The objective was to locate sources such as peer-reviewed articles and journals within the City College Library and databases to help support my claim. The important thing when locating these sources was to have you claim already made or at least have some sort of idea of where you wanted to go with your paper. FIQWS Language Myths and Misconceptions has helped me reach all eight course objectives to some extent as well as further comprehending language misconceptions as a bilingual student.