What I learned in English 105

What I learned in English 105

Thesis Statement

Knowledge is the pathway to a new understanding.

Introduction

I feel this semester, only the first of many I will endure, was a successful one. The objective of the course was to make us better writers, and I certainly have improved. I learned what makes a paper good or bad, what makes it easier to write a good paper, and how the manner that the class is held makes a difference.

Since its inception in 1966 by Robert Kaplan, contrastive rhetoric developed as a theory and research approach used to examine different discourse and rhetorics. (Behramoglu & Andrews 2008) The primary focus of this research involves differences across cultures; the primary audience using this research has been English as a second language writing teachers. Contrastive rhetoric has provided insights into student problems with adjusting to English rhetoric by supplying information about the rhetorics used by other cultures, that is, non-English cultures. Using the findings from contrastive rhetoric analyses, researchers have suggested ways in which second language writers need to adjust to write in English. Although these findings, which have largely resulted from text study, have been used to improve pedagogy, it has been at the risk of creating stereotypes. This book seeks to enlarge the scope of contrastive rhetoric, from the foreward by Robert Kaplan to the last page.

Discussion

I feel I should have taken my high school English class more seriously. The teacher rated rather compassionately, which credited to my lack of attempt. The amount of work required to get an "A" paper in my high school was about equivalent to the work required to get a "C" paper here at Lehigh. It was a very difficult adjustment for me. I went through high school writing what I now know to be not-so-good papers, but received good grades for them. Then, I thought they were good because of the grades I got. Now, I find myself working over twice as hard for half the grade.

This isn't a completely bad thing, though. It teaches me that my writing really wasn't very good. What I used to think deserved an "A" I now realize only does deserve a "C." Now I have to take my writing more seriously, and try much harder at producing good output. (Leech 2000) Also, my goal isn't to write a paper that will get a good grade. Now, my goal ...