My English Journey in The USA So Far

            As an international student I was really interested to see how my first English class in the United States would be. Would it be completely different from the English I learned in my home country? Would I be able to keep up with the level of English in this country? All of my concerns would be answered during my first semester at CCNY, when I took English Composition and learned about all the learning objectives of this course. In this essay I will be talking about these “Course Learning Objectives” and explaining to what extent I believe I have accomplished them.

The first “Course Learning Objectives” we learned about during class were “Examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users” and “Explore and analyze in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations”. We achieved both of these objectives during “Phase 1” of this class, while going over some course texts which were given to us by the professor. Most if not all of the texts were about the politics of language, in which different styles of English were being portrayed as being oppressed. The authors of these texts all highlighted negative experiences they faced because of the way they spoke English. This accomplishes the first mentioned learning objective. The second learning objective was accomplished by assignments we received during “Phase 1”. We were required to fill out a “Rhetorical Situations Worksheet” for 3 of the course texts in which we were asked to read the text and answer questions about different rhetorical situations. We also had to write an essay based on a “language experience” in which we were required to use rhetorical situations.

Over the next 2 “Phases” we continued to build on these course objectives and also focused on a couple new “Course Learning Objectives” such as, “Locate research sources in the library’s databases or archives and on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias”. We accomplished this course objective during “Phase 3” when we were required to write a research essay based on scholarly and non-scholarly sources. The first day during this phase we went to a computer lab in the library, where we learned about searching for sources and that the library has an extensive database consisting of many types of literature which we were allowed to use as sources for our essay. During this class we also learned the differences between scholarly and non-scholarly sources. After finding 7 sources we could then start writing our essays using all the rhetorical terms and strategies we learned about during our previous 2 courses. This meant we achieved 2 more “Course Learning Objectives”, one of which was “Compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation”. The other objective we accomplished was “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations”. When writing this essay, we were also required to cite all of our sources using MLA format and were required to do “in-text citations” and create a “Works Cited” page at the end of our essay. This in turn helped us accomplish the “Practice systematic application of citation conventions” learning objective.

There were also other “Course Learning Objectives” that weren’t necessarily part of a specific “Phase” but were actually accomplished throughout the semester. One of these is “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences”, we achieved this objective by having used these methods continuously throughout the semester. An example of this was when we had to present a PowerPoint to the class which was about one of our “Phase assignments”. Another example was during the peer-review workshops we did during class, where we showed our peers drafts of our assignments, either on paper or on our electronic devices, in order to receive feedback to revise and improve our work. This second example also applies as an example for another objective we achieved, which was “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing”. As mentioned in the last example we frequently had peer review workshops in which we received feedback on our work and were subsequently required to revise and edit our work, during these workshops we also learned how to critically read each other’s work and provide good constructive feedback.

The picture above is an example of some feedback I received during a peer-review workshop for our “Research Essay” assignment, this definitely helped me during this “Phase”, and I took all suggestions onboard and incorporated the changes in my final essay. This type of workshop helped me and I’m sure many others with realizing mistakes we might have missed when first working on our assignments.

As you are able to see from the facts and examples mentioned above, I can safely conclude that we have managed to achieve every single “Course Learning Objective” of this course. I also personally believe I fully understand the meaning behind all the objectives and as far as my English journey is concerned, I believe, and hope, that it will continue to go as well as it has done so far.