Closing Reflection
The Spring 2012 semester has been an interesting time and I had the great opportunity to take English 250 as one of my classes. Looking back, I have learnt a lot of things and improved myself on areas where I felt I was weak. Although it was a good learning experience, there is still room for improvement. Let’s take a look at areas where I feel I am strong and areas where I might have to work more to help myself become better in my English writing, speaking and presentation skills.
The whole English 250 concentrates on what is called the WOVE (Written, Oral, Visual and Electronic) modes. All the assignments concentrated on one or more of the WOVE modes to help us improve in our respective areas. In these four modes, I feel that my greatest strengths lie in oral and electronic modes. After my experience through presentations in this class and in my other classes, I feel that I am a good presenter. I have a loud and clear voice and I make sure that I cover all points that are necessary during the presentation. Along with that I like to keep my audiences’ concentration on me during my presentation so that they get to know what I have to say. Apart from the class, I have had lot of interviews for internships with engineering companies. I do feel that after each interview I have learnt my mistakes and improved on them, which has made me a much better communicator. Moving on to electronic, I have a lot of experience using Word and PowerPoint, which has helped me become a better writer and presenter. Also I believe that I am good at writing professional emails, since I maintain contacts with a lot of professors/instructors and company employees. In my high school I was taught to use “Dear Mr.” when you start a letter and “Thank you” at the end, which has definitely helped me in improving my language on the professional side. Those were some of my strengths. Let’s take a look at my weaknesses.
After getting feedback on five assignments through the semester and from previous experiences, I feel that written part of WOVE is where I have a lot of room for improvement. The written part of any assignment has five subparts to it, namely – context, substance, organization, style and delivery. Each subpart contributes to the quality of overall writing. I feel that I am proficient in expressing the context and substance required for each assignment. Organization is where I feel that I have to put in more effort to improve. Although I have all information, I feel that I lack the experience to help me decide the best way to organize, so that it is smooth and easy to read. Style and delivery is where I have to improve a lot. All my assignments in English 250 have the same style and approach to the topic and to the reader. Although I feel it’s a good way to write, it may not be the best all the time. Furthermore, I have a very poor vocabulary, which restricts me from using apt words for some situations. This definitely holds down the quality of my writing. I also make a lot of mistakes when it comes to grammar and punctuation. Although my English 250 class helped me realize my mistakes in these areas, I feel that there is still a lot of work to be done on my side for to better myself.
Talking about work to be done by me, what can I do to improve myself in my weakest areas? Probably the one major step that I could take is to read more books. I feel that this would help me see different styles of writing of different authors and at the same time show me new words. Keeping a dictionary while reading books and looking up every new word that pops up, would probably be the best way for me to improve on vocabulary, style and delivery. Beyond that, I should also take some topic of my interest and write an essay or letter about it. This would help me use the information that I gained from reading books and using the dictionary. Later, with the help of peers and instructors, I can see how different readers think of my writing. This would help me realize my mistakes and improve on them. Although I have mentioned that I am good at searching information online, I have hardly used the library as a source of my information. Looking at the future, I feel that not all information can be acquired online. So I should start using the library more often to get used to the system and improve my ability to find information quickly. That would be another goal of mine to be accomplished in the near future which would help me a lot looking far ahead.
Summing up all my points, I feel that English 250 has helped me improve a lot during the semester and there is still a long way to go before I feel that English is one of my strengths. I am looking forward to English 314 to be taken in the future so that I can take advantage of the opportunities that the course provides. With a tentative future plan for improvement, it is my responsibility to take the necessary actions. With the confidence I have gained from English 250, I am sure that I will put in my sincere efforts to better myself in the future.
The whole English 250 concentrates on what is called the WOVE (Written, Oral, Visual and Electronic) modes. All the assignments concentrated on one or more of the WOVE modes to help us improve in our respective areas. In these four modes, I feel that my greatest strengths lie in oral and electronic modes. After my experience through presentations in this class and in my other classes, I feel that I am a good presenter. I have a loud and clear voice and I make sure that I cover all points that are necessary during the presentation. Along with that I like to keep my audiences’ concentration on me during my presentation so that they get to know what I have to say. Apart from the class, I have had lot of interviews for internships with engineering companies. I do feel that after each interview I have learnt my mistakes and improved on them, which has made me a much better communicator. Moving on to electronic, I have a lot of experience using Word and PowerPoint, which has helped me become a better writer and presenter. Also I believe that I am good at writing professional emails, since I maintain contacts with a lot of professors/instructors and company employees. In my high school I was taught to use “Dear Mr.” when you start a letter and “Thank you” at the end, which has definitely helped me in improving my language on the professional side. Those were some of my strengths. Let’s take a look at my weaknesses.
After getting feedback on five assignments through the semester and from previous experiences, I feel that written part of WOVE is where I have a lot of room for improvement. The written part of any assignment has five subparts to it, namely – context, substance, organization, style and delivery. Each subpart contributes to the quality of overall writing. I feel that I am proficient in expressing the context and substance required for each assignment. Organization is where I feel that I have to put in more effort to improve. Although I have all information, I feel that I lack the experience to help me decide the best way to organize, so that it is smooth and easy to read. Style and delivery is where I have to improve a lot. All my assignments in English 250 have the same style and approach to the topic and to the reader. Although I feel it’s a good way to write, it may not be the best all the time. Furthermore, I have a very poor vocabulary, which restricts me from using apt words for some situations. This definitely holds down the quality of my writing. I also make a lot of mistakes when it comes to grammar and punctuation. Although my English 250 class helped me realize my mistakes in these areas, I feel that there is still a lot of work to be done on my side for to better myself.
Talking about work to be done by me, what can I do to improve myself in my weakest areas? Probably the one major step that I could take is to read more books. I feel that this would help me see different styles of writing of different authors and at the same time show me new words. Keeping a dictionary while reading books and looking up every new word that pops up, would probably be the best way for me to improve on vocabulary, style and delivery. Beyond that, I should also take some topic of my interest and write an essay or letter about it. This would help me use the information that I gained from reading books and using the dictionary. Later, with the help of peers and instructors, I can see how different readers think of my writing. This would help me realize my mistakes and improve on them. Although I have mentioned that I am good at searching information online, I have hardly used the library as a source of my information. Looking at the future, I feel that not all information can be acquired online. So I should start using the library more often to get used to the system and improve my ability to find information quickly. That would be another goal of mine to be accomplished in the near future which would help me a lot looking far ahead.
Summing up all my points, I feel that English 250 has helped me improve a lot during the semester and there is still a long way to go before I feel that English is one of my strengths. I am looking forward to English 314 to be taken in the future so that I can take advantage of the opportunities that the course provides. With a tentative future plan for improvement, it is my responsibility to take the necessary actions. With the confidence I have gained from English 250, I am sure that I will put in my sincere efforts to better myself in the future.