Draft

Title

Zamir Asliev

University of Cincinnati Blue Ash

9 April 2018

Introduction - introduce the principles

My theory of writing is—having or setting a purpose before writing. It can also be referred as answering to a prompt but, without purpose or prompt my writing would not belong to a certain category (or style) and it would be just be a simply descriptive writing like a status that I used to share on my social media sites and etc. Therefore, I always have a purpose or if I don't I'll set and have that in my mind when begin the research. While I research, I usually change my direct arguments, in other words what I'm trying to say or prove, many times, because of the readings that will change my mind of how much I know and learned after readings some articles. This brings up usually many issues (questions) about the topic that I did not know but want to answer in my writing, and then, I will research and read with having those question in my mind and eventually find answer that will fulfill my purpose. I don't usually go through many drafts. Instead, after finishing a couple paragraphs I will go back and revise them as need. Also, I read my final writing and the sources I used over and over again to ensure if I have achieved to address my purpose well.

How do you decide what to write? – content

I became aware of other new perspective when I talked to the instructor about my topic. She suggested that multilingualism can be or is challenging/difficult for/in the monolingual country like United States. Because, in the US English is the most spoken and used widely following by Spanish. However, as I knew a little bit, many people, especially immigrants, do not utilize their native language to their children at home with a thought of it is difficult for the children to learn two languages at the same time, and it causes language delay, etc. This made to think of more other problems or issues that comes along with this type of problem.

After finding more perspectives about my topic, I understood the importance of my topic. For example, why it is important, why people ignore it and don’t support the use two languages at early age for their children, why they should care and what is the problem that they are understanding it consequences. Therefore, my job was to find the answers for that questions to prove that it is actually more beneficial for themselves (parents) and their children. Because language delays are not caused by the use of two or more languages. I also had to use one more source to back up those alternative perspectives in my research project essay.

It was very challenging to use those perspectives in my essay. I think, the reason for that is I was not quite sure about the order of my essay. For example, if I had to use evidence (quote) from the article for every perspective to back up my arguments. Also, doing the same thing with solution to those perspectives.

Another challenge I have is that my annotation does not quite fit my discussion, and I think I need to revise those accordingly so they fit my main idea or purpose of my research project.

Why are you writing? – purpose

When I came to America in 2014 I barely understood or spoke English. I knew phrases such as, Hi, how are you? What’s your name? I was struggling at the beginning of my life in America but later I was able to speak, work and feel confident about my English. Now, some people even say that I almost sound as native English speaker, and that is what influenced to choose my topic which is the benefits of multilingualism. Multilingualism is a very powerful as it expands you writing, why? Because, if you are multilingual you can write and think in as many languages you speak, and that helps to write more, get more ideas, go further.

I have written an essay about some of the benefits of multilingualism in the past so, I am familiar with this topic but I wanted to know more. After, living and being able to learn and speak English fluently has changed my life. This is another reason I want to research and learn more about multilingualism.

Some of the things that I don’t know but would like to learn are: Disadvantages of being multilingual? Am I really smarter than monolinguals? Why I lose my ability to speak English fluently when I am tired? What makes it easier for bilinguals to learn a new language?

Another reason I wanted to learn more about this topic is that I want to be able to explain the benefits of multilingualism to my current and future family, and teach or encourage to learn more than two languages. For example, how I learned English in depth in order to be successful in the future or after moving to America. In my opinion, I can influence others, especially my future family to learn more than two languages and expand their horizon. I think when I learn this topic in depth I would recognize myself more and I will find out what I am capable of.

What format to put it in? - Audience, context

I speak with my father differently than I do with my mother, I think, it’s because of what the answer might be, I’m not sure. Also, I speak differently in English and especially talking to native English speakers. I will try to be as much as clear and slow so that they could understand me with my accents. I try to stay private when talking to my coworkers, because I don’t want them to know what I’m going to do after work.

In online courses or just online communication, for example when writing e-mails, I always greet in the top and my question in the middle, then my name. I think, it is a bit harder to explain something that is a little complicated online, because it might interfere with the meaning of your message. It can be like writing an essay and going through many drafts and improving it which also might get complicated with it being too formal or informal.

Thinking in many different voices helped to recognize my audience for my Genre Recasting project. As I am a multilingual person, I consistently think in other languages as well to see if it makes sense or change it if does not make a good sense.

It helps different audiences to understand the content in the same way. Therefore, it is important to present it in different formats and genre so that it does not interfere with message and purpose of the essay.

I became much more familiar with the audiences that I need to choose or make certain that my writing is intended to be for that specific audience. As a result, I have learned how to choose and focus on that audience as I compose. For example, after finishing my research project which was intended toward the professional audience whereas the genre recasting was intended toward more informal audience. However, it does not mean that professional audience would not be interested to learn the genre recasting; instead, they expect to read more and get more information on that topic. Informal audience often prefer videos or infographics rather research report where it requires a lot of reading and comprehension.

What kind of language to put it in? - Formal/Informal/Personal

In this course, we have done research report genre recasting where the intended audience was the same, but separated as formal and informal audiences. In research report or Rogerian argument, we were supposed the present a topic, its problem, solution, its benefits and give suggestion with conclusion to persuade the audience to adapt our position.

In the past, when I was not familiar with the topic I used to read a lot and read over and over again to understand the content better. However, in this semester I researched about the topic I was somewhat familiar with, which was actually a bit easier to write an essay about it, whereas I struggled if the topic was unfamiliar. Therefore, risk taking was not too risky in this semester at it was in the last, it may also be because I was new to the American college environment, and I am a risk taker, like really big one. I even risked my knowledge to take this class, but so far it turned out well, and I think, my risk-taking ability helped to cross over the challenges I have faced throughout this course as well as the semester. As a result, I learned many more things and skills about college writing and writing in general. Therefore, I think risk taking is crucial when you are somewhat sure about the successful ending, especially in your education.

Process of writing - what kind of steps we used to go through in the fall?

I like doing quizzes, because it helps to understand the prompt or instructions of what the assignment is about. Also, it helps to answer some questions I might have during drafting my essays. I also like doing peer reviews as it helps to understand what my audience is thinking about when they are reading my essays, and they suggest what I could change or improve in my essay. Journals are also very interesting and helpful, looking back in Journal 2 where I did sort of a reflection of why I chose my research project topic, it made me to realize more about myself and what I did not know about myself. Feedbacks from the instructor are also important and very helpful as they contribute toward improving my essays. I have never used these concepts in my other courses in college, because I do not have any similar class to ENGL1001. However, in general these concepts are very helpful in this course as well as other activities we do, for example, blogs and reflections. Blogs help to understand the assignment better and could be an answer in the essay.

Talk about reading logs and other steps we used do in the fall

Conclusion

If you knew me, you would know that I am foreign this country who came four years ago and have been very strong to stay. So, I am still living here in Cincinnati and I have faced many challenges throughout these four years. Such as struggling with English and having to work full time surrounded by English speakers. It was very hard in the first few months. Later, I started to feel more confident and I was not shy anymore. I could speak up and explain what I would try to say. My parents helped me or pushed me to not feel shy or scared to speak confidently. That’s how I started speaking English when I came to America. I started attending English classes for speakers of other languages at Great Oaks. I was almost fluent at speaking English in a year. Now, I see myself as an American because I have heard many times that I have a very light to no accent and I think that makes me to feel like an American. I am sure that my friends and my family would agree to this because I am a successful student with excellent grades at the University of Cincinnati. I am proud about being a successful student at UCBA because not everyone can persist the challenges that I or they might face. This part of my personality can confirm that I am a strong minded and willing to put effort in my education path to brighten my future life, especially in America. My successfulness can help to plan my study in college well because in the first semester I was very successful and independent. I did not meet nor have taken any CPAS courses (I dropped out of that class because it was boring and I had academic experience). Nevertheless, I finished my first semester with excellent grades. My About Me page on my portfolio made me think that I have gone through many challenges in my American life. It ensured that I am a very strong person in general. I had an opportunity to share a bit of my story with the rest of the people in the world to possibly influence them that they are capable of doing amazing things.

When I think about the topic I'm writing about, I'll assume I know a lot about that topic. However, during research I usually find a lot more information and develop my background knowledge about that topic, and it will change the way I look at the topic.

When speaking, I will have more facts and information to prove that I know a lot about the topic. It helps me to retain the information better, because my writing equal my knowledge and thought.

Writing and reading are considered as active ways of perceiving information. Therefore, reading and writing help to retain the information better and recall.