Skills and Competencies
Drawing
from my experience as a student writer, I would want my future students to be
able to find comfort in their own style of writing. In high school, I remember
being critiqued by two different teachers that preferred students to stick to
writing essays in a particular way. When I deviated from their preferred method,
it was critiqued for one thing or another or if I followed the method then
there was a critique for that. When this happened frequently, my confidence in
my writing diminished. In my senior year of high school I decided to forgo the
box that was argumentative style writing and embrace my own style. When
students are allowed to embrace their own format of essay writing, much how
Spanish, French, Korean or Japanese writers differ in their approach than
Anglo-American style writers; it fosters confidence in their writing style and
accepting that more than one approach to writing is acceptable (Ferris &
Hedgcock, 19-20).
Additionally, I would like my future students to have a
comprehension of English reading and writing similarly to the way they
comprehend their first language. I wouldn’t want them to totally wipe out their
first spoken language, but to try to equate certain letters, words, or phrases
in English with similar ones in their first language. It could help with some
issues that students come across when learning a second language. Finding
similarities is what helped me to better grasp Spanish and French when I took
those classes.
Importance of Writing
I
think that writing was developed as a way to record important information that
could be shared with others. This is a reason why writing skills have become so
important in modern societies. We have a need to have physical evidence of the
topics that we’re passionate about and then to find like-minded individuals or
inform others about what we feel are important topics. Since the invention of
writing, we have been able to compile books, blogs, magazines, and the like to
express our ideas to the masses. With the ability to compile our ideas into a
place for consumption, others have been able to expand upon or discredit ideas.
Development of Writing, Writing
Processes, and Writing Pedagogy
I would like to develop at least a basic understanding of
the writing structure of my students’ first language which could potentially
help me understand some of the difficulties that they may face when learning to
read and write in English. If I could put myself in the shoes of the learner
then I could be a better educator by at least having an idea about what they’re
experiencing. Expanding my knowledge on the structures of different languages
will not only make me a better writer, but a better teacher for students
learning to be literate in English.
Diversity of Writing Systems
I believe that
writing systems are so diverse because people and languages are diverse. People
created writing systems that were convenient for the way that they needed to
get their message across, which is embedded in culture. It’s drilled in US
schools to state your purpose first and then get down to the details.
Culturally, it is viewed as “beating around the bush” to explain or reason with
a person for what we want as opposed to just getting to the point. Our writing
is reflective of our culture and way of speaking. A way for someone to learn
how to use a writing system would be to pay attention to the way a group of
people generally speak to one another. Watching a movie produced by that
country, with subtitles, or reading a bilingual book could give clues on how
people in that country may speak which could be reflective of how they write.
Writing in Additional Languages
In the 8th grade I took a semester of Spanish
and in the 9th and 10th grade I took French. As I was
taking French, I noticed similarities between French and Spanish. One of the
similarities included putting the noun before the adjective and how the spellings
of some words were similar for the same object. Having a small background in
Spanish helped me when I was beginning to learn French because the structures
of the languages are extremely similar. English is a stark contrast from either
language for me. While it comes easier for me to write, speak and read in
English because it is my first language, Spanish and French were much easier
for me when I wrote, spoke, and read in either language. Now that I’m trying to
reacquaint myself with Spanish I’ve noticed how I will automatically recall the
French word instead of the Spanish one. For example, when I count 1-10 in
Spanish to my daughter instead of saying cuatro
I find myself saying quatre in French.
Both words mean the number four, but they’re pronounced very similarly. Having
some level of experience in three different languages, I can say that if I
spoke French or Spanish as my first language it would be difficult for me to
grasp the concept of proficiently being literate in English.
References
Ferris, Dana R. and
John S. Hedgcock. Teaching L2
Composition: Purpose, Process, and
Practice.
New York: Routledge, 2014. Print.
