Friday, 11 September 2015

My English Language Learning Journey

Language has never been my strong suit but being brought up in a Mandarin speaking family, Mandarin was mostly used to converse with my family and friends. The English language was used mostly in school since all of the subjects are being taught in English except for Mandarin classes. English was not a problem to me in my lower primary school days. I remember we had to bring storybooks to read in school during assembly and I used to love reading which was probably why I did not struggle with grammar. Also, in my secondary school, we had to read newspapers once a week during assembly. However, when there were any words that I came across and could not understand, I would just read it and continue with the article without looking up the meaning. So I do not have a wide range of vocabulary.

As I am not a very expressive person, I have never done well for anything that requires me to write or orally present. For example, composition, essay, report, presentation etc. and not having a wide range of vocabulary made it even harder for me to do so. I did not do well for my English paper for 'O' levels. I started disliking English. I dreaded doing any assignments that required me to write, I stopped reading and I did not try to improve myself.

English is a widely used language in most countries. It is essential for our education and also in the working industry. There will be report writings since I am studying in an engineering course therefore it is important for me to improve myself in English. Language is something that will require putting in constant effort and  I hope taking SIE2016 will help me to improve in my writing.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you, Eunice, or this initial post. You detail your experience quite thoroughly, demonstrating convincingly that while English is and has been important for you, your interest in developing your skills was not always as high as it might have been. At the same time, you clearly state that now you would like to improve.

    Toward that end, here are a few sentences that we can review to begin your developmental process in this course:
    1) The English language was used mostly in school since all of the subjects are being taught in…. >>> (inconsistent verb tense usage)
    2) ...and I used to love reading which was probably why I did not struggle with grammar. >>>
    and I used to love reading, which was probably why I did not struggle with grammar.
    3) For example, composition, essay, report, presentation etc. and not having a wide range of vocabulary made it even harder for me to do so. >>>
    (sentence structure)
    4) I dreaded doing any assignments that required me to write, I stopped reading and I did not try to improve myself. >>> (comma splice_run on sentence)
    5) There will be report writings since I am studying in an engineering course therefore it is important for me to improve myself in English. >>> (run on sentence)

    Generally, your language is fluent and your ideas are described in fine detail. A few language use tweaks plus more awareness should help you become the writer you're capable of being. I look forward to working with you this term.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Eunice, for writing this post. You wrote about your past experience with the language and detailed it in a chronological order, allowing the reader to flow through the events.

    However, at the beginning of your post, "Language has never been my strong suit but being brought up in a Mandarin speaking family, Mandarin was mostly used to converse with my family and friends." >>>>> since you mentioned that mandarin was often used as a mean to converse, maybe it would be clearer to state if your weakness was just english or all languages.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is indeed a chore to write in English if you do not have sufficient practice. On the contrary, you do write well and it is easy to understand. As you get more opportunities to use English in the module, I am sure you will get the chance to express yourself the way you want to very soon.

    As you know how essential this language will be for the future, I am confident that with the right mindset, you will definitely improve significantly.

    ReplyDelete