While doing our brief activity on note-taking today based on Jean Killbourne's speech, I learnt a new tip on improving my note-taking.
I noticed how another learner used indents and it is shown in this example:
kdfnskgdfh.gh;fkh;jkhgjgk;j;kjk
gmngkgnlkh
fkgkhfhlgjl
mgnfnh,fm,f
By allowing a little margin on the side to introduce subpoints of a point, it makes notes a lot clearer and readable.
Also, setting aside a column on the left allows us to 'group' up quick notes after as it helps to provide space for smaller headings and subheadings. A column on the left would also make the notes look less packed and 'dense' and helps in terms of visual and spacial view.
What conclusions or generalisations or big ideas can you draw and what are these based on?
So far in our discussions and research into "Sex in Ads", it has been an eye-opening experience in seeing in person, the effects of
As if the video had not highlighted enough of the repulsive sexism and prejudice towards women today, in the comments section below the Youtube video "How the Media Failed Women in 2013" showed an array of backlash, ranging from comments such as how the video was another "Feminazi act", "Feminist propaganda" or "Feminists have a tendency to portray Men as "The Bad guys"..." while nowhere in the video had they specifically mentioned that men were at fault of the objectification of women.
What we do not realise is, in today's society, it's not only men but women also are in the bandwagon of the objectification of women.
Feminism is not a battle of us (women) against everything and everyone else, but simply the spirit to uphold equality and freedom for women and to embrace the gender as a part of a diverse society not a separate entity. Sure women may be hormonally and physically different but women remain human just as any other men and any men or women are an individual worthy of a same respect and treatment.
Currently, feminism is viewed through a stereotypical lens where it encompasses all women as angry, aggressive sexists as argued by the obnoxious twat who yelled out "I hate feminists!" in the library the other day but after mortifying him and his nonsensical point of view that ALL feminist women aren't respective towards males in front of many innocent others, I realise just how strong the influence of media could be in inseminating the idea of feminism as being a backwards and demeaning towards equalism while feminism, just like any other religion, is perceived differently by every individual and it is the individual that is ultimately responsible for their act and not their entire social group.
However, it isn't all bad. Society is making improvements in today's world and women everywhere are rising up to voice their opinions and are being embraced more in today's cultures and societies but a stereotype remains strong and will only change if a stronger value can exist to change it. Slowly but surely, women are progressing in achieving equality and I hope that with time, people could be more rational in perceiving what the media tells us and how we should interpret its messages.
The key terms learnt from this lesson were prepositions, pronouns and tenses.
I have a clear understanding of tenses but not as much on preposition and pronouns but upon seeing Danial's Freyer model, it allowed me to understand the terms better as we discussed and cemented each other's definition. Understand the root of the words such as "pro" and illustrating my ideas also helped a lot. After discussing, I understood prepositions as 'connectors' of time and location between two topics and pronouns as the word that refers to and comes before a noun.
When we watched the Berlitz advertisement today, it struck me how short yet impactful it was as the whole class roared with laughter at the punchline. This ad was terrifically comedic and useful in highlighting the embarrassingly common mispronunciation amongst German native speakers and the end was concluded with the clean, bold logo and it's slogan. I also found out the popular tune that everyone-hears-but-nobody-knows-of-the-title at the end of the ad was "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven and as this was composed by a German composer and was intended to celebrate "Joy", it made perfect sense to be fitted into the ad as well.
To revise new vocabulary terms, Quizlet.com is a great source to build a vocabulary bank and turning it into quizzes. Quizlet is user-friendly like Vocabulary.com and with lots of fun practice, would definitely help to retain our vocabulary banks fresh.
Political Correctness language originated from American Liberals who initially used the term literally, as in to be in alignment with political thought.
However, it is now used to describe the act of 'adjusting' language, ideas, policies, or behaviour in order to minimize offence towards minority groups.
Why might it be seen as a good thing?
Based on the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, I agree in relation to its theory, that words are important tools in giving meaning to abstract concepts, which further allow us to understand the world around us better as language affects the way we think and act.
In the argument for pro-pc language, I believe it helps us to further develop a wider knowledge of ethics as we live in a diverse society and the need to be adaptable is important in fostering intercultural understanding.
For example, the term "black" is a general term that can be applied or restricted in a spectrum of ways but PC language promotes an educated discretion amongst people as different societies uphold different ethical values.
Why might it be seen as a bad thing?
There are MANY arguments and conspiracies that denotes PC language and this may not appear strange as the main argument against it is that PC language brings upon connotations.
Connotations, or better known in a social setting as stereotypes, are what that is causing a stir among people as it could be misinterpreted as pejoratives on certain social customs and breaches cultural ethics.
Political Correctness language can also be argued as restricting, through how it implies a certain level of language in certain situations. This can be seen as a form of censorship which limits the freedom of speech.
What are your thoughts on the need for PC language to exist?
We cannot deny that we are ever present in a social society and system and would therefore need to adhere to societal rules and regulations as this allow order to be in place and promotes an intellectual and social progress. PC language today serves as not a restriction, but as an intellectual sensibility in today's ever-changing social society.
Inquiry questions for the unit: - Whose values, attitudes and beliefs are reflected in media texts and why? - Does the media create or reflect social perceptions? - How can we detect bias/manipulation in media texts? - In what ways can we use this knowledge to become more informed media consumers?
In media texts, the values, attitudes and beliefs represent the general opinion of most people of the community however these opinions would largely reflect on popular opinion to better relate to the general population.
Media is largely influence by sensationalism as the only way media is spread is when there are people using it. This however, leads to a reflection of the most popular opinions as the general opinion=general consensus=stable wave of viewers= stable income (?). What we have to see that media is also largely used in the interest of business hence popular opinions are reflected to garner attention and to keep viewers hooked.
Detecting bias and manipulation heavily depend on the media literacy of an individual. If we compare an individual who is only exposed to one type of media, he might be susceptible to bias in other medias or even fail to notice the bias in the only form of media they know as they could not see it from a different point of view. Hence, I believe by being exposed to a variety of media, we could compare and contrast opinions based on what is communicated through it.
Being informed media consumers require us to have a skill for analysis as we any form of media is open to certain levels of subjectivity hence we cannot take the messages communicated through the media at first glance. Being exposed to a spectrum of media resources also allow bigger space for interpretation and perspectives which allows us to analyse a matter inductively.
It has been a great start to IB with our first term in English being an interesting and productive one.
To start off, it felt like most of us are proactive and initiative in terms of completing work and meeting deadlines but I believe that the confidence Ms. Abena had in trusting us made that happen too.
However, I still depend heavily on Edmodo as it really helps me to be efficient and be on top of my work at all times.
Just in this term, we've read "A Thousand Splendid Suns", performed our first oral presentation, wrote our first written task and explored many interesting topics such as power and language, gender roles, and vernacular english to name a few. The term has definitely felt productive for me and I feel like I'm on par with what is to done in English at the moment.
Moreover, I feel that I'm getting more practice in terms of writing through reflections and writing tasks which helps my rusty vocabulary bank to get working back again.
However, what I've enjoyed the most this term in English was definitely our exploration on African-American Vernacular English and having Socratic Circles as AAVE is an incredibly interesting topic and socratic circles help me widen my perspective on many topics through discussion. Socratic circles also allow me to practice my social skills in terms of being patient and being a good listener as opposed to being just a good analyst and speaker and I believe it is a skill that may seem easy but definitely requires practice to be good at.
Today, we discussed about literary criticism as we are starting on the Literature part of our IB English course.
At first glance, these term vaguely make sense to me but when some classmates raise their hands in confusion of the term, I realise that I myself don't really know the term well enough besides the rough idea of some sort of critical evaluation of literature (initially thought as anything that can simply be read).
So, as my circle went first, I suggested that we break down the term into their individual words: literary and criticism. We first discussed the definition of literary as literature, relating it to words such as text, art and written. Upon a quick clear up by Ms. Abena on the distinct difference between literature (work of written nature), text (any work for the means of communication) and art (an expression of creativity), we understood what sets "literature" apart. From there, we further discussed what qualifies as literature.
Before starting on what ideas we came up with, I would like to reiterate a few valuable points from the text to keep in mind:
In literary criticism, the three main points that catalyses the evaluation are:
interpretation: what was the message that the text was trying to convey to the reader? analysis: how does the author create the effect present in the text? evaluation: what makes this piece of literature good or bad?
I came up with ideas such as literature needing to contain a sense of extraordinary artistic value that is timeless however another circle member then argued that any text can be a form of literature as long as we have evidence to support the three main points of evaluation as artistic value varies in eyes of the beholder.
In terms of our strategy and techniques for the socratic circle today, it seems that some classmates did not speak up. It dawned to me that sometimes we could be overbearing and this may turn off other circle members from talking due to intimidation and it makes me realise the importance of the circle being a support group instead a fight for power. I realise on my part I had not taken the initiative to be more caring towards others in making them feel more comfortable about sharing their opinions as I was too busy voicing out my ideas.
However, I also recognise myself as being the 'shy' one in certain discussions and it simply shows me how I view the discussion as a competition hence the relenting effort of letting go and showing any signs of being 'lesser' in terms of knowledge. It makes me understand that I should view the circle as a safe zone of breaking down those walls of ego and to feed on the ideas of others as well hence the ability to question with confidence is something all of us should learn.
Do you think that the media young children are exposed to affects their self-esteem or self-perception? Explain. Why might Disney be a relevant example when it comes to looking at language, identity, communities and power? Watch the video below - what is your reaction? What is your reaction? Does it lead you to change any of your previously-held beliefs?
Racism still plague many of us today and I'm ashamed to say that I fall into the habit from time to time as well. Not only racism but xenophobia, division among the classes are also some of these problems and sometimes I wonder why we do such awful acts. The thing that I recall the most in relation with racism was ironically humour, in which the usage of stereotypes on certain groups were nothing out of the norm in my everyday conversation with my family. We would stereotype these groups based on their occupation, their facial features and nonetheless, the colour of their skin. These were often said for the purpose of humour but this slowly degraded my sense of morality as I often reflect in shock after doing something like that nowadays.
Television is an article in most households nowadays and isn't much of a scarcity for children hence I would say that many children are exposed to at least some sort of media but specifically, television. Television, if I have to put it, would have to be the devil's advocate in engulfing on communal stereotypes as they are firstly, easy to understand and break down by many layers os society and as my point in the paragraph above states, could not only be humorous but even exciting, engaging, inspiring-for the sole purpose of entertainment.
I'm not saying that entertainment is bad and what people WANT is essentially bad for them but the best way I can put the situation in an analogy is that you give an intense exposure of broccoli to children until they get used to it or even, grow to like it.
The exposure of stereotyping in television media is strong, and we can see it already for example as Halloween draws close, girls would tend to dress as princesses or something feminine as that, would be a norm and if you dress as something UGLY as thematically set by Halloween standards, some would think it's wrong. Here is a video to illustrate the example (viewers' discretion advised):
Even as exaggerated as this video clip might portray, it does elicit a certain height of truth of the effects of media today have on youth today. Without seeing some links as the one below, I would be afraid that I would maintain similar ideals of confining to media-set stereotypes as well:
In the context of Disney, I'm afraid that's where ideas of wanting to be a princess (the ultimate sign of a damsel in distress), pretty and desirable sprouted from works such as Cinderella, Snow White and etc. It wasn't only until recently that they promoted works such as Princess and the Frog which promoted diversity and women empowerment. That, alongside Mulan, are the only works of Disney that I can with one hand that had elements of women empowerment but even neither escaped from romance and all the la-dee-da that makes the idea of women constantly related to aspects of love, revolting.
The video, hurts me as I watched the response of the children when they were asked "Which of these dolls look like you?". I saw a look that almost tells of a sudden revelation that all these negative factors that they associate with, were them and they simply feel confused as to their inferiority and I had share such experiences as well when I visited someplace of a caucasian-majority and the treatment I got from many, if not cold, were rather unfriendly and then it struck me after being oblivious for so long that, I'm a stereotype as well.
This is a rather pessimistic view maybe, that I see such a grim view of the world today but the more I experience the more I see about the media-shaped society and culture of today in the negative light. Of course, there are many benefits that comes along with media but we need to assert a different mindset- a mindset that opens itself and see itself as part of the world as opposed to the world of only theirs as we will constantly be codependent with society and we ALL play a part in making the world more open to different perspectives, everyday.
I would like to end my reflection with a quote from Gandhi, which says:
"whatever you do in life will be insignificant. but it is very important that you do it anyway."
Knowledge and Understanding of the texts and subject matter
-I felt that my understanding of my topic was superficial as I did not intrigue my audience with more than what was outlined on each slide of my powerpoint presentation. If I had more knowledge and ideas of my text, I would be able to go on much deeper to explain my points.
Understanding of how language is used
- As I presented on the topic of Manglish, I understood the colloquial "Manglish" however this did not go well with my idea of presenting in an Ellen Degeneres/talk show host style as I do not identify the speech style of a talk show host thoroughly and could not present it in that essence. I assume that my ideas were not fitting and was probably not focused as I felt that I had clumsily gone through one-third later into my presentation as I lost character while speaking.
However, I felt that my attempt on this idea was original and creative as recreating a specific style of a well-known talk show host would require familiarity with the style and simply a sense of spontaneity which always appear to be the basis of Ellen Degeneres' fun and friendly appeal.
Organisation
-My organisation of this oral presentation was rather simple as I followed a simple structure of background and main content. I also make sure my slides could relate to the next to ensure a continuous flow of thought.
Language
-I felt that I had good command in my English as I used a variety of lexicon and technical terms to explain the characteristics of "Manglish". Explaining these terms such a grammar, phonology, rhetoric and sarcasm allow me to understand them better as I teach as well.
My control in this area was something I was happy with as I was also able to capture Ellen's southern drawl and embody her sense of spontaneity in the beginning.
I am a reader who likes to take it slow rather than skimming through texts. I can read about 4 non-fictional text pages in half an hour as I analyze and annotate as I read to ensure that I fully understand the text before moving on.
I make use of my different coloured highligters to highlight different points such as one regarding to females, one for males, and one for a general opinion/theory.
As soon as I come across a word I don't know, I like to find out its definition in a dictionary. I find that writing notes help as well, as I do it in History. Writing notes help to slow down my reading process and to reduce the information to something concise and understandable to me.
For a non-fictional text, I do a lot of annotations as it helps me analyze the text better. I would also prepare a big glass/bottle of water. Sometimes, eating sweets help as well because I tend to need to snack when I begin to lose my concentration.
I recognize that my environment plays a very important role as I get distracted very easily. I have to be in a quiet, conducive place, preferably with nobody around and is a comfortable lounge area. Lighting is also very important as when it is dim, I lose concentration easily. Strangely, when I read from my phone when all lights are out, I find that to be very good as I assume the light from the phone and nowhere else makes me concentrate on the text on my phone.
I also try to make connections in my reading from texts to texts or even texts to real life to help them to relate better hence understanding better.
Strategies that I would like to try over the next few weeks:
I would like to pay attention to punctuations in long sentences to help me break down sentences into easier sizes for comprehension.
Over the next week, I will try this strategy in particular:
I will pay more attention to punctuation and get most of my reading done during prep time (7:00-8:30 p.m.) as it is the most quiet time.
In today's Socratic Circle, we explored the Jogger's Song by Roger McGough and as I was one of the members of the first circle, we talked about the Jogger's point of view. I found that all my circle members had something to contribute and were very eager to do so too which shows that everyone had prepared well before coming to the circle.
However, most of us were hesitant to start off the conversation and I personally kept in mind not to be overbearing as highlighted by other members of the floor previously. I assume that the others also felt that way as being a dominating speaker often makes other uncomfortable to voice their opinions in fear of being 'lashed' back.
We also started off clumsily and hopped off from point to point, until Ms. Abena told us to follow a stanza arrangement and that greatly gave structure to our discussions. It was interesting as a female to hear the counterpart's view on sexual harassment as this poem was almost disturbing for me. The lack of remorse from the "Jogger" was inhumane in my perspective but as we discussed, we further develop ideas of the "Jogger"'s twisted personality that might be stemmed from being a psychopath.
The second circle was equally impressive in terms of the change of vocal speakers this time, were I noticed Jit really speaking out and making better efforts in engaging with others. I felt as though the ice in our classroom chemistry is slowly melting and everyone is beginning to get familiar with each other which is a good progress.
Overall, today had not been our best socratic circle performance but we could definitely see the impact of preparation before a discussion and others also realize the benefit it puts us at. I hope that everyone would do their part and be better prepared as well to be more confident and proactive when discussing the next time.
How are the character and attitudes of the jogger revealed in the language the poet uses?
In "The Jogger's Song", the egocentric jogger display immense vanity when as he exclaims that he "look after [himself]" and "keep [himself] fit" with terms such as "fit" and "good body" being repetitive as it shows that he strongly reaffirms himself of his own physical assets.
The jogger also crosses between a self-righteous individual and a psychopath as he acts hypocritically towards the woman's behavior while showing no capacity or remorse for her in her intoxicated situation. The jogger behaves as a hypocrite as he condemns the act of the woman for being"pissed", a derogative term for being intoxicated, and claims to know what a "nice girl" would be where the woman display acts that astray herself from that "nice girl" image in the jogger's perspective.
However, as the jogger appear to have expectations towards the moral standards of the woman, the jogger himself breaches ethical values when he rapes the woman and cements his own belief that consent was given as shown by her unconscious body language when intoxicated. The absence of sympathy and complete misinterpretation of the woman's plead ( "Cryin. Cryin.") as a sexual invitation clearly shows the lack of rationale in the jogger's character.
Moreover, the jogger alludes misogyny in the form of sexual discrimination and objectification towards to women by using gender-specific semantic field of slurs such as "slut"and "tart" (both carrying the meaning of being a promiscuous woman) on his victim. These terms degrade the women as lowly and seemingly having less morals than the jogger in his eyes.
Lastly, the most compelling phrase that display the depth of brutality of the jogger's character was when he questions "Why didn't she scream?" if the victim had not enjoyed the assault as it simply highlights the grotesque indignity the jogger is placing upon his victim as he claims that the woman had not stood up for herself hence rhetorically, the assault would then be her fault, and not his.
I found this satirical video relevant to my paragraph:
After we touched a little on Language and Gender this week. I used to only have clear examples of the implication of gender in profanity as demonstrated in our semantic fields activity on Wednesday. Many profanity words were specific to a gender and that was my first idea of the implication of gender in English.
However, I realize that it's not only profanity or certain words but whole sentences itself could be sexist as we did the activity on Thursday by 'neutralizing' gender specific terms and sentences such as postman to postal worker, housewife to homemaker and how making certain words plural such as "doctor" to "doctors" changes it to a noun hence not needing to specify a specific gender to associate it with.
I was surprised when we learnt various terminologies such as diminutive suffixes as I've always seen these words but have only seen them in a new light. For example, the usage of 'ess' and 'ette' at the end of words do add a feminine emphasis but I never knew it also make some lesser, smaller and more inferior in the the example we use which was "kitchenette". Generic terms such as 'man' use in 'mankind' to describe the race of humans including women also struck me as even the term "woman" has "man" in it hence I question the involvement of this gender-specific term ("man") in general terms such as mankind. This certainly made me feel disempowered as a female seeing terms such as described above not prioritizing the role in women and treated with a sense of disregard.
On the hand, I also came to realize lexis asymmetry serves as a concrete evidence that women and men need different ways of address as some words can't be generalized for both. For example, the word buff would be associated with positive values for males but when a female is called buff, it would seem live a derogative term.
Learning about language and gender is certainly interesting as we observe the cultural and societal implications towards genders in language as I feel like I am reading the 'in-between', subtle lines of communication and grow a sense of awareness towards gender biasses in language. I hope that through learning about language and gender, I would be more cautious in the way I think and speak as I believe this would lead to a sense of better respect towards others.
This week in English, I definitely saw an improvement on most of my classmates in our socratic circle discussing the Irish Language. Everyone definitely spoke up and contributed more which shows how we as a class is progressing towards a better conduct of the socratic circle.
The screening of Pygmalion was also extremely useful but I was only interested in Act 1 as I've only read that before the screening. However, now that I've completed Act 2, I regretted not catching the screening of Act 2 as well but I will try to download the play to watch. I would prefer watching the play only after I've read the acts as my mind would then force me to remember details from the text and combine it visually with the imagery from the screenplay. I found it really interesting to see the lines acted out and found some lines that made more sense when played out in the screenplay.
For the Further Oral Assessment, I felt that there wasn't enough preparation time this week. My thesis is still rather vague and my initial plans of wanting to do a duo performance cease to work out. Since our FOA proposals only started to get through the review process this weekend as well, I felt that I would need more time to get my FOA proposal to be better constructed time and more time for rehearsing.
Reflection on Socratic Circles:- Vocabulary
half-a-crown (line 161, pg.13): (noun) A coin formerly used in Great Britain, worth two shillings and sixpence.
I've always heard this term when I watch British movies and always wondered if it meant the Queen's royal crown (really expensive). In the context of Pygmalion in the time of the Victorian Era (1837-1901) this would have worth a lot hence used as exaggeration when mentioned by the The Flower Girl as she was filthy poor.
liberties (line 282, pg.16): (noun) the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views.
Even after knowing what liberties meant, I'm still unsure as to what it means in the context of "You take us for dirt under your feet, don't you? Catch you taking liberties with a gentleman!" (line 281-282, pg.16) :(
kerbstone (line 406, pg.20): [as adj. ] informal unqualified; amateur : curbstone commentators.
After knowing what kerbstone meant, it was easy to understand its usage in the context of the phrase "kerbstone english", portraying really basic English or unsophisticated English.
Strategies/Techniques for Comprehension and Analysis
Clarifying before changing topics- Gives other participants in the discussion a heads-up and to avoid confusion
Analyzing a topic completely before moving on- This is important to allow all participants in the discussion to thoroughly understand the context of the question and to make sure everybody is on the same level of understanding before leaping into another topic.
Being a proactive questioner- Being a proactive questioner helps to push dreary discussions forward and to constantly engage with members of the circle to produce fruitful discussions. Reflection on Performance
Today, I really saw most of my classmates putting in effort to improve the socratic circle than before.
Personally, I believe I was not prepare enough for today's Socratic Circle meet as I did not study the specific excerpt that was assigned to us. I have only read Act 1 hence I knew the gist of the story but I had not studied specific selection of texts to be brought forward in discussions. I unfortunately had not had the chance to speak in the circle today but I believe my commentary on the quality of the circle discussions would be helpful as I complimented my fellow classmates who made significant improvement and stated their strategies such as clarifying before changing topics, staying on topic and being a proactive questioner.
As we discussed about an example of a socratic circle conversation before starting our circle on Pygmalion Act 1, Ashraf noticed the importance of the "questioner" or simply, the initiative to ask questions when the discussion gets dull in efforts of sparking energy back into discussion. Not only did he observe but he impressively applied that method in his turn within the socratic circle and helped his circle to analyze finer details. Danial and Jit also steered discussions back into topic when discussions were going off which is commendable. Moreover, Shahirah also clarified before she moved into a new topic while discussing which I thought would be a great method to practice as this will prevent us from getting confused and engulfed in different topics.
Reflection on Content
Thesis: "Symbolism of gender hierarchy in Act 1."
First paragraph: In Act 1 of Pygmalion, I found it particularly interesting when I saw the contrast in hierarchy between the conversations of The Daughter and Freddy, and The Flower Girl and The Note Taker. In my imaginary essay, I would highlight the grammar of all 4 speakers, and identify which has the highest quality of sophistication as after today's analysis, the quality of their discourse reflects upon their status. Moreover, I would also investigate the weak points of each of their speech and determine what creates the aura of submissiveness as displayed by Freddy and The Flower Girl, who are the subservient characters when conversing with The Daughter and The Flower Girl respectively.
Second paragraph: The study of the symbolism of gender hierarchy in Act 1 could be relevant to the hierarchy of gender today as many assume that Men are usually the dominating figures but in retrospect, there also have been cases where women were also leading figures such as Cleopatra, who was the last pharaoh of Egypt for example. However in symbolism, the modern day has an array of them in the sense of household tasks and the task of "bringing back the bacon" usually associated with a specific gender.
'Ghetto' English
This video entitled "Priorities" is a parodical comparison of the Malaysian English accent with a British accent, demonstrated by Dennis (the specky Asian guy) and Joe (Joe Brooks, Caucasian).
The context of the conversation is preparing for an English exam hence the need to revise for it was belittled by Joe who sarcastically huffs and muttered, "Dude it's an English exam.... English, in "English" as a response to Dennis's grammatically poor probe, "Eh cue me, don't you have English exam tomorrow morning? Video game? Real-ly?"
Dennis' way of speaking also displayed very basic sentences and often lacking in vocabulary hence sounding unfinished or partial as shown when he said, "Don't you have English exam tomorrow morning?" where the usage of 'an' before "English" was absent. Hence the syntax of the typical Malaysian English accent is usually 'broken' as sentences are often incomplete with appropriate grammar.
As the discourse between Dennis as Joe is often initiated by Dennis and is short as well, merely exchanges of 1-2 sentences every time, this also displays the lexis of a Malaysian English accent whereby it's often informal, short and straight to the point.
However, pragmatics is also used often as implied when Dennis asks "Eh cue me, don't you have English exam tomorrow morning?" but is not too complicated to be perceived.
Even as Dennis tries harder than Joe and revises more, we could still see that Joe has a better lexis and syntax as his sentences are not grammatically incorrect while Dennis struggles with "was" and "were". This then places Dennis, who spoke with such 'broken' syntax, at a weaker spot as his speeches isn't as sophisticated as Joe's in terms of grammar, lexis and syntax.
Monday: I started off in class still being hazy on the differences between instrumental power and influential power albeit reading a little on it in the guidebooks. Now, I understand instrumental power as being a power that is able to enforce authority whereas influential does not enforce, but is able to make you do something on your own initiative.
e.g: A Police has the instrumental power to make you stop your car, but only a sexy billboard ad has the influential power to make you stop your car.
Wednesday: Today in English, we read an excerpt from Robinson Crusoe to analyze power in the text. What was surprising was how racist it was in our modern day context but thinking of how it was a norm back when the book was originally written made us ponder. We finally found out how the meaning of the text comes from the reader, and not the vocabulary.
The next piece of writing that we had to analyze was an article entitled "Sickly immigrants add £1bn to NHS bill" in the Daily Mail. As it was a tabloid mail, we noticed how words work together to bring out stronger impacts e.g. complex+infectious+diseases. What I thought was that the combination stood as a much stronger value as opposed to just two or one of those words. This article was really interesting to analyze as at the end, I believed most of what it mentioned until we came to see that we have not read it with a "pinch of salt" as most of the 'facts' could have been misused for tabloid purposes.
Thursday: Today, we discussed two form of texts in the "Language & Power" textbook after analyzing them the night before. I've learnt a lot in terms of the usage of prosodic feature (volume, pitch, speed, tone), field-specific lexis (e.g. army= right parry, stripes, fall in, on guard), imperatives (commands, starts with a verb), interrogatives (conveyance of question to find faults) and taboo (e.g. arse, bloody, balls).
We also applied an extremely useful way to discuss, which is using a Socratic circle where half of the class listen and take notes while the other half discusses important points and changing places after a certain amount of time. This definitely gave people the chance to take a breather to absorb information and to be stimulated by the discussion to brainstorm ideas and also gave speakers a chance to speak comfortably within a smaller circle. This also gave us the opportunity to evaluate the quality of discussion as some speakers might be overbearing or some might simply avoid taking the initiative to be involved in active discussion.
I felt pitiful to some who tried hard in engaging with others. Some people did not bother trying to be proactive hence the workload is one-sided. I hope our class would break this barrier of shyness in the near future to encourage fruitful and better discussions.
