During the ENGL 11000, I learned a lot of writing skills and knowledge of language increases broadly. I was able to read several articles about language from different directions and see what the author wants to express. Connect to culture, discrimination, background, etc., to develop deeper thinking. It increases the idea between language and literacy, have knowledge in the language skill we use in normal life. Through the order of homework, I improve my writing step by step to produce better results.

In Phase 1, we did the worksheet on rhetorical situations in each article. Most things I learned there are that the intended audience can have primary and secondary. The primary audience is the main people that the author wants to be speak to. Likewise secondary audience is the people are not author propose but also can see their writing, for example, in mother’s day a girl wrote the letter to her mother, the primary audience is her mother, and the secondary audience is her father. It lets me think more about the author’s purpose and which types of people will be useful to this information. On the Spoken Language + Literacy Narrative assignment, I struggled with what subject I should choose to write about. I think my intended audience in this assignment was the people who heard my speech. I found out the topic about ancient poetry that less people knew before to increase the interest in the speech.

Using my own experiences to relate to ethnic cultures has been an interesting and difficult challenge. I think back on how this experience has unconsciously changed my writing skills. Looking back on it now gives me a different perspective than before, and it gives me more insight. When I was writing this essay, I did not write clearly in many places. When my classmates read my essay, they also explained what was not expressed in detail and what needed to be improved. These comments were very helpful to my writing and made my essay better.

In Phase 3, in a research essay I chose a topic I never touched before. About the elderly immigrant’s language issue in the new country. I chose this topic because of its personal connection; my parents have the same problem in the normal life. I don’t have much knowledge on it, which is the big challenge. The most useful skill I learn is to use the research source in the library’s databases and the evaluation criteria to find the credible source. When looking for resources for my essay, it is easy to find relevant content. When I searched for background information on the author’s, they were credible professionals. After finding the sources, I also learned the skill of synthesis. It was hard to find the part of all the sources that can relate and contest, it needs to be to understand the information in the source. I tried at first time and forced synthesis but didn’t connect to another place of the essay. In the comments of the homework, it has the feedback “This looks like synthesis, but not quite rhetorical precis.”

Also, I tried to use rhetorical appeal in phase 2 inside the research essay. I chose the topic about accent discrimination in workplace. This issue is not show out distinctly, it will happen in people do not consciously engage in unfair treatment, etc. When I write the argumentation, it can use logos to support the thesis of me, and pathos to evoke an emotion to my intended audience. In the first time I saw about rhetorical appeal, I thought it was easy to connect the logos, ethos and pathos, but it was hard to divide each one. The final draft has the comment about my writing that can improve, “You’ll want this section to be the largest because you need to point out all of the observations for each strategy.” This skill is very practical in my life. For example, in my sociology research papers, I use this method to write my concluding paragraphs. It’s a great way to appeal to the audience’s eyes and believe that the information above is informative.

In conclusion, I have strengthened my writing skills in this class. I was able to write freely without a lot of restrictions in the writing process. When I exchanged essays with my classmates at school, I was able to see different styles of writing from my own, which was very beneficial. In the class, those worksheets are helpful to the grammar in my writing. I learned the new knowledge in language that can connect to the culture and the issues with the accent.