Heads up: Assignment 1 is due next week, on Tuesday, October 12th, 11:59pm.
Here’s what you need to do this week (1-2 hours):
– Read the following from JTC:
> “Translingualism,” by Kamal Belmihoub and Lucas Corcoran (pp. 61-65)
> “The Maker’s Eye: Revising your Own Manuscript” from the JTC (pp. 27-30)
> Choose one of the following three literacy narratives:
* “How To Tame a Wild Tongue,” by writer Gloria Anzaldúa (pp. 69-78)
* “Mother Tongue,” by writer Amy Tan (pp. 80-84)
* “No Words,” by former student B. Manson (pp. 85-88)
* “Caught Between Two Worlds,” by former writer Lucia Ku (pp. 89-92)
In the comments below, answer the following questions:
1. How would you describe your idiolect? Do you have several languages in everyday use? Or else, do you feel any fluctuations in your accent depending on the situation you’re in, or even in your way of speaking (vocabulary, tone, body language, etc.)?
2. What is your proofreading technique? How do you plan to change it according to the text you just read?
3. Free-writing exercise: please react to the literacy narrative you chose to read (write at least 5 sentences).
4. Please comment on someone else’s response.
What we’ll do on Friday:
– We’ll discuss translingualism and your responses to the readings.
– We’ll talk about proofreading techniques.
– I’ll answer any questions.
I feel that my idiolect is pretty much like everyone´s, we often use several languages depending on the situation, For example I might talk more clear or well pronounced when making a presentation or at work but I can have a totally different language when I am home. My proofreading technique is rereading every time I add writing to my paper, I need to change the technique by rereading it as many times as is needed, rewriting as many times as I have to, reading out loud also because sometimes when we write it may sound different than when we read it out loud.
The literacy narrative I read was pg 89-92. I loved the story of this Asian-American girl who was placed in an in-between world where she felt she could not fit in either being American or Asian. Due to the stereotyping people that would look at her would think she was Chinese and not American, I agree with the part where she refers that people do not know what being a foreigner means. Even being born from a country where one resides, people might be judged by their accent and fluency meaning that they do not believe the ethnicity of them.
I’m the same way when it comes to speaking in certain situations.. Even when I’m at home the way I speak can be wayyyyy different when it comes to either speaking to my mother or my cousin.
This is the second time I am typing this after my page refreshed so I will be concise. My idiolect really does vary drastically depending on who I talk to. If I talk to a professor, employer, priest, or even just any random person on the street, i tend to be very formal and try to avoid using any slang. If I talk to a friend or family member it is definitely much less formal and more friendly in a way. I speak two languages, Polish and English, but I don’t really have a specific accent apart from a slight “New York” accent I guess? I know that when I do talk to someone that speaks another language I tend to say much simpler words, speak slower, clearer, and louder for those who may not be as fluent with English, or even Polish. Also when I speak with someone who doesn’t speak as well, i try to slightly imitate their own accent when I speak. It may sound silly but I feel that it actually works. When it comes to proofreading, I don’t usually do it but when I do I tend to first look for spelling errors, then repeat words and then focus on making my text more concise or extending the writing.
For the reading part, I went with “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan and honestly, I’m really happy that I did go with it. Ive never really connected with a text as much as this. I’ve read plenty of immigrant stories but none of them really had me thinking as much as this one did. I never really put much this much thought into how my own mother, who speaks very basic English had to deal with the world she lives in for the past 25 years. It kind of made me sad thinking about how my own mother had to deal with people who couldn’t understand / ignored / took advantage of her just for the fact that she couldn’t communicate with anyone. It really made me think like “Damn, I should have really tried to help her out with this a lot more”. I’m really glad that this ended up being one of our modules. I really hope we can get something like this in the near future. Thank you. I also wish my page didn’t refresh I had like a whole essay written lol.
I agree with you, we tend to use several languages depending on the situation.
I also find myself doing the same when talking to a friend compared to a professor, employer, etc. I definitely change my vocabulary and the way I speak a lot depending on who it is I am talking to.
I identify with imitating someone’s accent when trying to make yourself understood, Sebastian – I just don’t tend to realize I’m doing it until I do, if that makes sense! It’s good you’re conscious of it. It demonstrates empathy, adaptability, and good listening skills!
I feel like its difficult to say what my own idiolect is. I am obviously so familiar with the way I talk I don’t really pay attention to anything I specifically do regularly. However I do recognize I speak differently depending on who I am talking to or where I am. Talking to my friends normally won’t be the same as talking to my dad. When talking with my friends, I definitely have different topics and I definitely feel more loose and free.
When I proof read my work I usually start after I am done writing. Personally I like to finish writing and proofread/fix it after I am done. When I do proof read I start at the beginning and work my way down slowly because I like to read every sentence a few times before I can conclude that its done and that I am satisfied with it.
I decided to read “No Words,” by B. Manson on pages 85-88. I thought their story was very interesting and is very relatable to a lot of people, including me. Although I don’t necessarily think I have problems with vocabulary as the author said they did, I feel like sometimes I struggle with trying to get my point across. Sometimes I won’t know how to properly describe what I see or think. I also found it captivating how the author changed and progressed overtime which was tied into the loss of her grandmother.
1. My idiolect, like almost everyone’s, differs depending on who I am talking to. When I am at home, I speak English and a little bit of Spanish. However, I feel that my accent changes when I am speaking in Spanish. Also, my vocabulary and tone shift when I am talking to an adult or to teachers.
2. When I finish whatever I am writing, I’ll read it over in my head or out loud to make sure it sounds right. Also, to find any spelling or grammar errors, I have already read it out to myself.
3. I went with “No Words” by B. Manson and I really related to not being able to express myself. I completely understand the idea of having “a weak vocabulary” because of not being able to express yourself in the right way. With that, what was going on in my head could never be written the way I wanted. That’s something the author talked about and not being able to share that image with someone else. Also, eventually giving up and not trying anymore because of the number of times it didn’t work.
My idiolect also changes depending on who I’m speaking too. I think it’s very common for people to change the way they speak based on who they are speaking too. Sometimes we do this without even noticing.
I’m curious if you also feel that your voice changes when you change language. When I speak Spanish, my voice goes so much deeper and louder, probably because Spanish-speaking women tend to speak deep and loud. But when I speak English, my voice takes a higher pitch, and sometimes is quieter, probably because I learnt English in a British setting. It’s quite hard to take consciousness of it, let alone change!
I agree about the idiolect being affected by who you are talking to because I also do this.
1. My idiolect isn’t anything special, most people in the U.S. are probably bilingual. I’m bilingual by the way, English and Spanish. I pretty fluent and proficient in both however at home their a bit of change in tone and what I say since I can’t be too informal or else that would be viewed as disrespectful ( I speak Spanish at home).
2. My proof reading technique is just basically rereading over and over on what I read. Sometimes when I feel something is wrong or it need more improvement I tend to sound it out in my mind like say it loud like if I were presenting this to a group of people. Other things I would do is if it seems like it lacks vocabulary or if I want to change up the words I bit I look up any words that sound fancy but mean the same thing , and make sure it fits in my writing.
3. What I choose to read was the second option ” mother tongue” by Amy tan and my take on the story was very relatable and interesting. It really relates to me since going back when I was younger I didn’t really understand English since my first language was Spanish and i had a hard time interacting with the kids since the language barrier was present. And often not i would get teased and picked on for it. It was a struggle for my younger years but it improved later on, and this story basically captures that experience on one who is not used to the common language when living on a country that almost requires you it know it. Pretty sure my family also had to go through this since they were immigrants themselves and had to defend themselves wit what they hear. Overall it was a great narrative.
I definitely could relate to you when you said that you are bilingual (English and Spanish). I also like your proofread technique, might even use it as well :).
1.In my case, my idiolect varies depending on how close I am with the person or where I am currently at. What I mean is that at home I usually talk spanish to my parents or to any other family member. Obviously I don’t talk to them the same way I would talk to my friends and this goes the same with my teachers. When it comes to english I have no problems with being fluent but when it comes to spanish I have some trouble with my sentences and conversations but it is still fluent.
2. When it comes to proof reading, I used to read it just once and just moved on from it. However, I changed that recently because I wouldn’t want a silly mistake due to me not reading it over again. So I read my paper over for about 2 times and I make sure that every sentence flows within each other and sentences don’t run on.
3. I read the “No Words,” by former student B. Manson and it was a good story that I’m sure many could relate. I could relate to it in a way as well because I actually tend to bottle up my emotions and my feelings which actually makes it harder for others to try to help me or give me advice. The author of this story actually went to Poland to see a Holocaust tribute and even when there was a session to let your feelings out.. she didn’t attend. It makes it seem that the author has become anti-social throughout her highschool years due to her being unable to express her feelings and keeping it all inside. I’ll say that it is much easier to tell someone to open up to you rather than that person actually doing it.
I relate to your proof reading strategy, but I am going to try to change it so that I can efficiently and effectively proof read my writing.
My Proofreading technique is somewhat like yours, but I proofread the paragraph I write the first time, twice and then repeat this method. Sometimes I don’t read my paper over again and sometimes I do. Proofreading my writing also sometimes depends on how I’m feeling as well, even though I know this is something I should do on regular. If I’m feeling a little lazy, I tend to just skim it without actually looking in depth for any mistakes that I might’ve made while writing. If I feel like I wrote a really great paper, then I’d proofread my paper several times.
I agree with your statement sometime is hard to release your emotions because society says that if you express those emotions, you are weak , so great statement
1. I think my idiolect is situational. It is different when I am talking to my sibling, different when I am talking to a friend and different when I talk to a professional. I am bilingual, I speak english and my mother tongue. There are definitely fluctuations in my accent other things pertaining to my language from time to time and it really is situational as it depends on the mood I am in, the person I am talking to and many more.
2. To be honest, I never really had a proofreading technique. I’d write my first draft and if it is a really important paper I would read it over once and see if theres anything I don’t like about it and maybe change some things up. After reading the reading, I will start looking at my writing more carefully and start criticizing my own writing more especially the parts where I think my writing was perfect.
3. I read “No Words” by B. Manson and it was honestly a very interesting read. I think everybody could relate to what Manson was going through at the time. A point where you don’t know how to say what you are feeling. A situation where you are holding in all your emotions and not letting them out because you don’t know how to express it. I can also tell my the reading that Manon had significantly improved his writing. He stated that his vocabulary was weak at one point and it is evident through the reading that he has made efforts to change that.
1. I would describe my idiolect as informal around my friends and family, and more formal around my professors. I’m bilingual. I speak Spanish at home with my family, and English outside of my home. Spanish really impacts the way I speak English and sometimes I find myself stumbling upon simple English words. I also speak English with somewhat of a Spanish accent. My accent fluctuates depending on who I’m with. When I’m in a public and formal setting, I find that my accent fades.
2. My proofreading technique is basically me rereading, editing, and looking over every paragraph one by one after I’ve written them. Then, I read all the paragraphs together to make sure my essay or report is cohesive. Based on the text I just read, I plan to focus more on the errors I make in my writing while I’m proofreading it.
3. I chose to read “Mother Tongue” and I really related to it. Coming from an immigrant family, I found myself understanding a lot of the points she was making. Although my mother speaks English with an accent, this doesn’t mean her English is bad in comparison to native English speakers. In fact, I find it very impressive how fluent my mother is in both English and Spanish despite living outside the U.S for many years. Some may perceive my mother’s English as broken or limited, but I have always appreciated it because it is a reflection of who she is and where she’s from.
I relate to you when you say that you speak your native language at home and then English outside of your home. I also do that, along with how my native language influences my English like you said too
1. I would describe my idiolect as situational. I have different ways of talking to people, for example, I talk to my parents in a different way than I do to my friends and so on. I am also bilingual so that also plays a part in the idiolect and fluctuations while talking. There are different ways of saying things when im in a certain mood or talking to a certain person.
2. Whenever I finish writing whatever it is that I am writing, I usually break it into parts to look over. It helps me focus on those specific parts and not be distracted by anything else. I plan on focusing more on the parts where I don’t think there is anything wrong with it.
3. I picked “Mother Tongue” to read by Amy Tang. This story was so interesting and it was also one that I could relate to. She talked about the different “Englishes” that she uses, and I realized that that is something that I do with my family too. I am bilingual but I learned both English and Urdu at the same time while growing up. However there were certain things, certain ways of saying things, that are different in Urdu compared to English. Tang talks about this and how she sees that in not only herself, but in the people around her too. I can relate to that because the way I speak when I combine English and Urdu is influenced by the people around me.
I think of my idiolect to be situational as well and I have the same approach to proofreading as you do.
I like how you proofread, I never thought of breaking the text into parts. That seems like a very useful and efficient method. Ill try that out myself for my future essays.
Breaking your writing into parts to proofread is an excellent technique! The point is not to get distracted by the content, and actually focus on the form. Thanks for sharing, Kai!
1.I describe my idiolect to change depending on the person I am speaking to because when I am communicating with a teacher or authority I have a formal method of speaking. When I am speaking to my friends I can have an informal idiolect because I can be myself and not worry about how I am sounding. At home, I speak Bangla to my parents because it is their first language and they describe the way I speak to be a more Americanized version of Bangla.
2. My proofreading technique consists of ensuring that my thesis is answering the prompt and reading the topic sentences for each paragraph that I wrote to see if it can establish the thoughts I want to convey. I would then revise any grammatical errors or add in extra sentences if I think I should elaborate more. In like manner, I would look at the rubric, if provided, and underline which requirements that my essay has met.
3. I chose to read the narrative, “No Words” by B. Manson who underscores how he believed that he had a weak vocabulary and none of his efforts to enhance his skills would work which displays his low-confidence when writing or communicating with people. I can resonate with Manson’s sentiment about thinking that his vocabulary was weak because I shared the same thoughts for myself when I was writing essays for my freshman year and I see that my classmates had stronger vocabulary than me which made me feel insecure. Reading about Manson’s experience when writing essays made me relate to him the most because I once felt that I was unable to convey my thoughts on paper and even during conversations. However, overcoming these insecurities and saying that “my thoughts were enough,” (pg 88) can alleviate the pressure that writing and communicating thoughts can bring. I liked reading about Manson’s development throughout his experiences.
Yes! I’m so glad to hear that you use the rubric as a checklist that your essay meets all the requirements!
1. I’m not entirely sure how I would describe it since I know 2 languages but I choose to only speak english. In everyday use there’s Spanish and English with family. Definitely , I know that my accent and the way I speak English fluctuates throughout the day when I’m in different situations ranging from speaking to a higher authority to friends to family to strangers.
2. My proofreading technique is to finish the draft, re-read it at least twice and each time add notes deciding whether or not to add or get rid of parts. After reading the text, I think that I’m going to try the method where you leave the draft for a period of time then re-read it and make revisions that way. Seems interesting to do that method.
3. I read ‘No words’ by B.Manson. I was enchanted by the way they started and continued their story about their life experience with having a loss of words. I could feel the emotions in the author’s words, it was just great. Ironically I don’t know how to write what I felt when reading this, I also have a problem with words and having to explain emotions and feelings but just not knowing how to. I really resonated with the silence they mentioned, and how despite there being no words said, it’s still a form of communication via feelings through silence. I really like how when the author mentioned having trouble fitting all the emotions and feelings into a small sentence, like when they mentioned “My grandma is sick ” but how that did not fully explain everything and hid things. But when writing this text, they don’t have to be limited to small sentences and they went into detail about the problem and how they eventually resolved it. Maybe I’m looking too deep into it but I just like how the author was able to express their emotions and feelings with as many words as they wanted. But overall reading this text was like being entranced in a really good show. I didn’t feel bored reading it, maybe it’s because I feel like I’m in a similar position but the information and feeling they put into this text made it a really enjoyable and in my case connecting read.
I also think the method where leaving the draft for a period of time is affective. One time I left for a while, and when I came back I realized how poorly my draft was written.
1. My idiolect should be very similar to the students around me. My idiolect also changes over time, and it can also change depending on who I’m speaking to. When I was in middle school, I was influenced by high schoolers on the swim team. I would adapt to the way they were speaking. Whenever they used slang or a curse word, I would copy their way of speaking. It definingly got out of hand, I started using the f-word in every sentence. Of course, I only talked this way towards some of my friends, and not the teachers. Over time I’ve stopped saying the f-word and other slang that I was taught. I always speak differently from time to time, especially when it is to different people. The way I talk to my brother is different from the way I talk to my cousin. I also talk differently to different friends. For the friends that I respect, I would be much more polite towards them. Honestly, whenever I talk to strangers, I tend to speak in two different ways. One way is that the sound of my voice would be a lot deeper. Other times whenever I’m feeling shy, I’m a lot quieter.
2. My proofreading method is Grammarly. But from reading the text. One way to proofread is by taking some time away from what you wrote and come back to read it. This is so that you could better find faults in your writing. The reading talks about how a great righter constantly revises their work. They would constantly ask a question about their work. They would try to find as many faults in their writing. Then they would fix it.
3. I choose “No Words”. From what I read the writer had a huge problem with describing how he felt because of the lack of vocabulary. I completely relate to this, there are times where I couldn’t describe how I felt because I didn’t have the vocabulary. To solve this problem the writer used metaphors to described how he felt. As for this, I have a hard time relating because I am terrible at poetry. As the writer points out is that there is a limit as to how metaphors can be used. Vocabulary has always been a huge problem for me. My words tend to get repetitive because unique words don’t come to mind. 2.My proofreading method is Grammarly. But from reading the text. One way to proofread is by taking some time away from what you wrote and come back to read it . This is so that you could better find faults in your writing. From the reading it talks about how a great righter constantly revise their work. They would constantly ask question about their work. They would try to find as much faults in their writing. Then they would fix it .
3. I choose “No Words”. From what I read the writer had a huge problem with describing how he felt because of the lack of vocabulary. I complete relate to this, there are times where I couldn’t described how I felt because I didn’t have the vocabulary. To solve this problem the writer used metaphors to described how he felt. As for this I have a hard time relating because I am terrible at poetry. Like the writer points out is that there is a limit as to how metaphors can be used. Vocabulary has always been a huge problem for me. My words tend to get repetitive, because unique words don’t come to mind.
1. My idiolect definitely depends on who I’m speaking to and surrounded by. If I’m having a conversation with my professor and I’m around several people that I don’t know that well, I’ll come off as a little more professional. My Idiolect around my friends are way less formal because I know them on a more personal level. I’m only fluent in English, so while I’m at home, my family and I speak English. Both of my parents are west Indian and their accents are very strong, so people from the west indies sometimes call their English “broken English”, which sounds somewhat ridiculous, but whenever my parents do speak their “broken English”, I’m able to understand them.
2. I recently just picked up this proofreading technique and somehow it works for me every-time. Once I’m done writing a paragraph, I read the paragraph twice and then repeat the same process until I’m done writing. Sometimes I go back and read my entire paper just to make sure I didn’t make any errors. Stepping away from my draft for a few and coming back sounds like a great idea and I honestly think I might just use that method in the future.
3. I decided to pick “Caught between Two Worlds,” by Lucia Ku. At the end of the third paragraph on page 89, Ku mentions that on her first day of high-school, she was the only Asian in the room. She says that this was a huge difference for her because she’s always been surrounded by people that look like her. I can definitely relate this to. The first day of in person classes, I didn’t really see others that looked like me. I knew that they were around, but it was sad to see such a small amount in one classroom. This was also a huge difference for me as well because I too went from being surrounded by people who looked like me 24/7 to something completely different.
I can relate to Shamella’s proofreading technique because I also believe that reading a paragraph over can help you determine what needs to be fix to make it sound more sophisticated.
I feel like my idiolect is a mixture of professional and slang.When I am around teachers or figures of authorities I use more of a respectful and professional idiolect to mainly show high levels of respect, but when I am around my friends I use more slang then anything mainly because its easier and faster to use then a professional one.
My proofreading technique is re reading and changing the words I use to more sophisticated.I tend when writing essays forget about grammar and just write my thoughts on the page which end ups sounding like a mess so I need to go back and sort them out.
I picked “Mother Tongue” to read by Amy Tang.I understand exactly what she is trying to convey since I too am bilingual with English being my second language.I mainly felt identified when she was going in detail on how she says words differently then the people around her due to her accent and this happens to me on the daily, My accent randomly comes out and I sound like a whole different person.Tang explains about this and how she sees that in not only herself, but in the people around her too.This made me feel like I should help my relatives even more when it comes to learning the language because there English is very ‘broken’ or ‘limited’.
1. I do not know how to describe my idiolect. I speak two languages, I speak english at school and with friends and siblings. To my mother and father I speak spanish. I feel like my language does fluctuate because there are different ways to keep speaking to people depending on what relationship we have with them.
2. I don’t really have a proofreading technique, but now I want to try the strategy of writing the essay then coming back to it a while after. I can come with a clear mind and new ideas that could make my essays stronger or I could see errors I made before.
3. I chose to read no words. It was interesting to see the multiple ways the person was affected since they were not able to express themself. She had a bad relationship with her mother because she was unable to articulate her words in order to express how she was doing to her mom. She was unable to talk about her feelings which was damaging to her because she was keeping everything inside. By the end she was not able to fully express her feelings, but she was making great progress in learning to do so.
1. My idiolect varies depending on who I am talking to. The way I speak to my mom would be different from my sisters and the way I speak to my teachers would be different from my friends. As well as it depends on the environment you’re in, Im obviously more comfortable in my house rather than at school because it all depends on how close you are to the people you’re surrounding yourself with. And although I am not bilingual, I took a mandarin class for 3 years and I can agree with the author that learning a language as an adult is much harder than learning it as a child.
2. I proofread by constantly reading over my work out loud because I think it helps me realize when a sentence doesn’t sound right. As well as, I use the app Grammarly to help me understand what I need to change in my writing to make it sound better.
3. For the literacy narrative I chose “No Words”. I truly enjoyed reading this paper because not only did it allow me to see the authors point of view of his life growing up, but it also helped me understand our 1st paper. The authors usage of pathos was amazingly used because it allowed the readers to understand and sympathize with the struggles he went through because of his speech problems. In the paper you see how this small difficulty had a huge impact on his social life and emotional well being. The authors Incapability to express their emotions made their relationship with loved one extremely tense. But it was inspiring to see how eventually he didn’t want it to control his life any longer and decided to cope and learn new techniques to express his thoughts.