Estel Boix Noguer

11/09/17
English 5M
Achievement Summary
During the course English 5M, multilingual students had to complete a number of
reading responses in order to improve their writing and reading skills. Most of the
papers used were extracted from the book Writing about Writing, and the topics to
discuss vary from the sponsors of literacy, the writers block, or the use of authority in
writing. Nevertheless, in this paper the reading responses commented are the following
ones:

-Brandt, Deborah Sponsors of Literacy

-Malcolm X Learning to Read
-Lucille P. McCarthy, A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student across the
Curriculum
-Green, Stuart. Argument as Conversation: The Role of Inquiry In Writing a
Researched Argument.

The objective of this paper is not to explain the content of the writings; it is to reflect
my evolution as a writing and reader using the reading responses as a reflection.
It is seen easily thanks to the two first reading responses my lack of knowledge in
writing in English, which became my principal language. While reading the assignment,
I felt confused and I did not understand well what I had to do. A good example is the
confusion made in the first reading responses. Instead of writing what the teacher
required, different questions for the book were used. Fortunately, in the following
reading responses the process was done properly. The writing style also is a good way
to show the improvement. In the first two reading responses, a more personal style was
used. Personal pronouns and wrong verb tenses made the writing less academic (Tell,
say, she, will, etc). Moreover, reading my first reading responses has made me realize
about one fact. I was writing in the same way I wrote in Catalan. This is not something
bad, but now I feel I am using a style that fits better in the English writing.

The two last reading responses are not my best ones during the course, but an
improvement is noticeable. The template recommended by the professor of this course
has been used for nine Reading Responses, and it has been helpful to connect different
aspects. They are: our point to discuss (yellow), the claim (green), the quote to support
our claim (blue), and our explanation (magenta). These facts would came together in
order to create a good writing to describe the article. The most important fact to
highlight in my last reading responses is the use of unattached style. The personal
pronouns were removed, as well as the incorrect verb tenses, to give importance to the
correct academic style required.

After comparing the reading responses, statement of what I have learned during the
creation of the reading responses has to be developed. I have learnt to connect the points
given correctly, and the ideas of the reading were understood better. Finally, what has
also helped me is the part of vocabulary; in every paper there were some words I would
underline, and then find their meaning using the dictionary. This is something I have
transferred to other courses, and it is helping me to discover new words every day. Also,
as I explained previously, and unattached style has been used correctly, and with the
help of the reading responses, I have been able to transfer this style of writing to my
other courses. Moreover, I have improved in how to summarize the main ideas of
writing.