Critical Reflection

Before taking ES1102, I would consider the proficiency of my English language to be average or below average. This is because I feel that there is a peak to which I ‘stopped’ learning and just using English blinding in my everyday use of the language. I have realized that I have been speaking and writing with broken English and so do many people around me. The reason of doing so is as long as there is a mutual understanding between the people I am communicating with then there is no need for speaking and writing in good English. Soon it became a habit and it’s been five to six years since I last attended an English class.

In my opinion, I feel that English is important in the aspect of reading, writing and communicating as it is a commonly used language in many things in our lives. English is the first language of most countries, schools and also websites we browse and surf every day. Through the current semester in school I have been attending classes of ES1102. Through this module, I have initially aimed to improve and refresh the use of English. I hoped to enhance the way I write for my assignments and communication with my peers and mentors in school.

In ES1102, I realised that I have many weaknesses in English, such as having limited vocabulary, unable to properly form sentence structures, having bad grammar errors and not able to properly format an essay. I doubt I have any strength in English except for knowing English is widely used in the world and I need to improve my English language skills. The skills which are covered in ES1102 did address the weaknesses I have in English. Examples like having exercises in class to improve vocabulary and learning common grammar mistakes, and also having consultation sessions for essay drafts to help me identify my problems in my writing skills, like sentence structure formatting.

The exercises done in this module are useful in improving my English. The test analysis tasks done in this semester are useful practical lessons in my opinion. It showed me real essays and texts where analysis in terms of grammar, vocabulary and knowledge of metalanguage are being applied. Also, the multiple drafts of writing tasks with peer review and tutor consultations helped me in improving my writing skills in English.

From this module of ES1102, I have learned the importance of English as a language and the skills in it. I feel that the skills learned in ES1102 will be useful in other modules and courses where I will need to communicate and write in English. Besides school work, English as a skill will definitely be useful in most things that I encounter in my daily life.