Advanced Reading, Writing, and Grammar

            Usually it is difficult for someone to learn a new language, and more difficult to develop it after he have learned the basic. This did not happen to me. Although I am not good on learning theory and leaning new language with English it was not so hard. The beneficial thing is that I was lucky for being thought English by a great woman back in my country; this helped me to learn English. In general for developing my English there were many things that helped me.

Initially, I would like to say that one of the things that helped my to be a better writer and skillful English non-native speaker was APPLE. It helped me to understand that every essay has a purpose and an audience. These two develop my awareness of writing in English. For example, the first memo that we did we had to present the language of this community and write a high level memo. With out the APPLE I would not make it. Also it helped me to improve my writing in the part of giving evidence. After the analysis that we did in each text, I understood that giving different forms of evidence is more interesting and more persuasive.

            An other part of being good writer was improved by self/peer-assessment. Self-assessment helped me to identify my errors and try to fix them. It happened in almost every single assignment that we had to turn back. I was able to correct my mistakes and grade my self, based to reality. For example, “my self as a writer and the summary of the frontier thesis”.  These two were revised by me very effective thanks to my new ability to evaluate and correct my self. Also the peer-assessment helped me to understand what the others think about me and my writing. I helped in all the toefl essays, and thanks to that each time was improved.

            Furthermore, my writing helped me to learn English. This happened because I was able to express my self in the paper and I have learned new vocabulary words. Learning new vocabulary was extremely useful because I can express my self easily and more effectively. Some of the words that I have learned are: incisive, notions, initiative, treadmill, etc. In addition to these writing helped me to increase my ability to do research and fit in every topic and discussion.

            Lastly, I believe learning, thinking, writing and reading are related. If I improve one of them automatically all are improved. For example, when I read a passage my vocabulary is increasing. As a result my ability to think is better, I have learned new words and I can use these words in my writing. It is happening all the time, for instance, when I read newspaper or a book.

            In conclusion, APPLE, peer/self assessment, writing and the relation between learning, thinking, writing and reading have been helping me to increase my knowledge of English and become a better writer. Also this portfolio is not just pieces of writing; it is something that shows my progress and something that I will have to remind me that I can always become better.

John