Tyler Mangru

Jorge Velez

FIQSW 10103

December 2, 2021

Phase 4

My time within FIQSW has been pleasant. It was my first class in college that wasn’t a lecture and I couldn’t be happier with my experience. I have grown as a writer and a lot of my views regarding language have been impacted. In addition, the friends I have made in this class people I’ve met have also significantly impacted me. One of the main themes that our class has dwelled upon was language discrimination. The relationship we have with how we speak compared to society has been very interesting to look into. The examples that we were given to us to see this came in the forms of readings such as Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and videos that were made by Kevin Abroad. We also went into our own experiences with language and reflected on how language played a role in our own lives. 

Throughout this course, we were given a list of course learning objectives. Through the writing process and our classwork, these nine objectives were supposed to be achieved. Objective one was “Recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages and their users, and be open to communicating across different languages and cultures.”

The research that went into all three essays that I have written in this course helped me learn this. One specific case is within phase three, with code-switching. The negative aspects of code-switching come from the inherent hierarchy that certain languages have over other such as “white” English empowering “black” English. My phase two essay also helps with this, diving into linguistic discrimination and how certain accents are favored over others. The second objective, “Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.” was also achieved. Throughout the course, we read multiple pieces of nonfiction, that varied from first-hand accounts of events, to the research papers that I used in phase two. “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.” which was objective three I did not fulfill as I did with some of the others. Most of the strategies I used I had already been using and I didn’t develop anything or method specifically for this class. The fourth object was to “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.” This objective is also one that I did not achieve. Using rhetorical devices has always been a weak point of my writing and unfortunately, I did not improve upon this at all this semester. Although I missed out on the use of rhetoric, I did participate in the social aspects of writing, which was objective number five. Specifically, number five stated, “ Engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.” Throughout my time in FIQWS, there have been numerous times, both online and in-person in which I received advice from my peers that proved to be helpful. The introduction of my phase two essay was an area where I was struggling, however, a classmate helped me refine it into something that I could present. Unlike objective five, number six, which was to “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.” was not achieved. The writing that I created this semester had no real audience in mind. I essentially just wrote for a general audience. This is both a good and bad thing as tailoring your writing to an audience can make it more impactful, which I missed out on. Objective number seven on the other hand was one of the objectives I improved in the most. Objective seven was “Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.” For the phase two and three essays, outside sources were required to write them. The time we spent in class, such as the library session helped me understand how to get articles and reliable sources in an efficient way. Phase three was an argumentative essay and because of that, it helps show how I had a hard time accomplishing course objective number eight. Objective number eight “Compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation” gave me a hard time due to the topic of code-switching I chose for my phase three essay. In a normal argumentative essay, I might have been able to pick a side with relative ease, however, in phase three, my topic was code-switching with is a very nuanced topic and because of that, I had a hard time picking a side since it was hard to say whether it was bad or not. I think writing about similar topics is great, however, I want to improve upon the way I address these nuanced topics. The last objective, number nine, which was “Practice systematic application of citation conventions” was also something I improved within my writing. I have always cited with MLA throughout high school, however, I was still new when it can to the citation page. Through our time in class and most of the sites that I get my sources from, I have learned to use proper citations since they provide tools. With these tools, I am now able to construct citations and a works cited page more confidently than I did before this class.

Overall, I may not have achieved all of the course learning objectives but I know I have improved as a writer this past semester in FIQSW. The objectives that I feel I have achieved, I definitely know that I am still not perfect when approaching them and that I can still improve. The objectives that I missed, I will make it my goal to improve within my future writing courses. Ultimately, I have enjoyed my time within FIQSW and I am satisfied with how I have grown as a writer because of it.