I was an international student from China. For nearly 3 years now, I am a student at the California State University Eastbay. I have taken several English courses beginning with American Language up to university-level English courses (e.g., 725, 730, 735, 1001, and 1002). This quarter, my English class 3001 honed, enriched and developed in me how to write quality essay using English. I was trained to write properly by employing various reading techniques. Further, I learned to correct my own writing composition with less to no errors. Briefly, I learned to overcome several problems with sentence errors (e.g., run-ons, fragments, comma splices). In this essay, I have shared to my readers how I attained better outcomes acquiring the necessary technical skills (e.g., use of correct tenses and word forms, grammar, sentence and paragraph construction). My learning was made possible because I have good professor to whom I learned good teaching techniques that helped me a lot become more proficient and more passionate in expressing myself through writing.
In the beginning of the quarter, I was quite nervous should I not finish my assignments and requirements. Inadequacy of time plays a primary concern for me during my initial in-class essay because I have to finish writing a 750-word essay within a specific deadline. During that appointed period, I decided what side to choose and to stand firmly for it. Additionally, I should compose and elaborate the topical points and provide supporting details. Eventually, the instructor advised me to pre-write first by putting in writing whatever comes into my mind. As a result, I learned to emphasize my points better by keeping on writing in due time. For the second in-class paper, the pre-writing technique proved very useful to me despite the fact the second topic was harder than the preceding one. Hence, the said technique effectively guided me to clearly and efficiently create introduction with good thesis, three-body paragraph, and essay summary. Consequently, I gain more self-confidence expressing myself in and out of the class as I was encouraged to write better and more quality essays.
In addition to the above, I also noticed a good amount of improvement in both my writing and reading skills when I studied three articles in the pre out-of-class essay assignment. The said reading exercises improved, not only my writing, but also my comprehension. In retrospect, at the start, it was really challenging to understand the said reading materials, but hard work and desire to overcome my initial weakness taught me lasting lessons in the class. For instance, at first, I used quotes inappropriately in my first out-of-class essay because I have not read thoroughly books and articles about proper use of quotation and in-text citation. Nevertheless, as I read the articles that serve as examples for me, they all gave me writing techniques with several thoughts about supporting my main ideas at the start of each paragraph; thus, the articles helped me to refine my reading skills and thus gained more contextual understanding. Further, I even peruse a book on writing skills improvement in which proper use of quotations is important to avoid plagiarism.
Since I am an English second language learner, I always begin my ideas and thought using Chinese, which makes my English sentences quite more complex and sometimes ambiguous. Most comments that I received from my professor and support staff were basically about clarifying main ideas and avoiding grammatical errors. For instance, my instructor and online tutor always commented that my writing was complicated and difficult to understand. Hence, they made me realize to correct my mistakes to avoid doing them time and again. As a result, I learned to fix my sentence and related errors by being conscious of my word choice by utilizing more appropriate ones and by using correct conjunctions. Both of them also taught me different strategies and techniques in writing sentences where one of those is the pre-writing technique. Furthermore, grammar test and vocabulary quizzes helped me a lot as they always reminded me of accurate word usage. So far, all that I learned from them were valuable in my growth and development, not only as a writer, but also as a person.
Overall, one of my noticeable improvement in me is writing a well-organized, well-structured, meaningful, and well-defined essay, whether it is composed of over 1000 words or less using the English language. I am now more than optimistic that I would continue to craft good quality essays in the future. Even now, I have noticed tremendous improvement in my writing because I keep on reading and writing articles, essays, and books. Further, using a combination of enthusiasm, perseverance, and studiousness, I hope to learn more in enhancing further my writing and reading skills. I fervently believe that through regular practice, I will turn out to be a more proficient writer of English. Indeed, exposure and experience to write more and more powerfully aid in making me a more competent writer. Hence, whatever I do today, they would all help me convey better my thoughts as a student and in my future career. Last, but not the end of my learning journey as an English language learner, given the opportunity to study English as a second language in the university setting, I know that there is more for me to learn from my classmates, other students, professors, and other staff. Thus, I am thankful to all the individuals who, in one way or the other, continue to influence greatly my desire to excel in expressing myself.
Works Cited
Golden, Michelle. How to Write a Reflection Paper. n.d. http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Reflection-Paper (accessed March 4, 2016).
Shulman, Lee. "From Minsk To Pinsk: Why A Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning?" The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2000: 48-53.
