REFLECTION ON UNIT 8.

REFLECTION ON UNIT 8.

Producing and Evaluating Critical Writing: Part 2.

Generally, this unit is almost the same as Unit 7. The only differences between both units is while in Unit 7, we need to write our commentary in essay, in Unit 8 we only make our evaluation through the critical guidelines which is in a table form. I believed that it is easier to write the commentary part in this way.

In Unit 8, there is only one article which is ‘Drugs or guns’ needs to be constructed by the last group presenters. The presenters are Ili Izlin, Mardiana and Tun Amirah. They claimed that they did not understand what is the article all about as there are several words in the article which they were hardly find the meaning. They also agreed that this unit and Unit 7 are basically the same.

Additionally, I also agree with them that the article is difficult to understand. When our lecturer, Sir Humamuddin explained it to the whole class only I can get the view of the article.

To sum up, as we already reach the last unit, I believed that I can practice the skills that I have learned in this subject in the future. I strongly agreed that this subject should be called as ‘CRITICAL LITERACY’ as it suits with the contents. Last but not least, I would like to thank to my lecturer, Sir Humamuddin bin Abu Samah for teaching us this subject and create a very enjoyable class ever. To my classmates, thank you for your cooperation and sorry for all the inconvenience. Hopefully all of us will get flying colors for the final exam. Sayonara.. Assalamualaikum w.b.t..

xXx J

REFLECTION ON UNIT 7.

REFLECTION ON UNIT 7.

Producing and Evaluating Critical Writing: Part 1.

As there is no group who presents Unit 6, let us proceed to Unit 7.This unit was presented by me myself Zahidah, Mariam Aisyah and Amira Syafinaz. As presenters, we tried to overcome our understanding through this unit. Basically, Unit 7 is the start of stage two of the course. The format of the units changes at this point.

Unit 7 also introduces us about the models of critical reviews and the commentary part which require greater autonomy and the text are more to academic style. For the first place, it is quite difficult for us to differentiate the changes as we cannot understand the new format. Then, I realized that this new format give authority to the readers to construct any articles that they read. To put it more simply, the readers are free to give their own opinion and comment.

Based on my understanding of the new format, in critical review, for example we can combine the topic and content in one paragraph. The same goes to sources and audience. It is highly likely writing an essay. When our friend gives his or her comment in the commentary part, he or she simply tries to mention or make a statement. They can support or argue on the critical review which has been written before.

This unit only provides one article that the readers need to construct. The article is about ‘Dieting’. Based on my opinion, it is easy to understand the article as it comes with many subtopics which make it easy for the readers to construct it. Furthermore, topic on dieting is a usual topic which had been discussed many times by the public. I can claim that this topic is very interesting and famous topic among the females especially.

xXx J

REFLECTION ON UNIT 5.

REFLECTION ON UNIT 5.

Audience and Impact: Who Is The Audience?

What Impact Does The Text Have On The Audience?

Unit 5 was presented by Shahida Suhana, Farah and Nadia. Firstly, I can claim that this group is very well-prepared not just in terms of their written notes in the transparency but also due to the way they present this unit. They presented a good presentation. They provide their points with examples. I also strongly agreed with them when they said that it is difficult to understand the articles in this unit.

Generally, based on my understanding from the presentation and my reading, there are two categories of intended audience. First is for the specialist audience and second is for non-specialist audience. This is because it is not easy to predict who is the target audience or the target readers for any reading materials will be. If a writer cannot differentiate this, the article might be read by the people who may not have been intended as the audience. In identifying audience, a good question to ask first is ‘who is the text clearly not intended for’. This kind of question will give important clues. In addition, I believe I can understand what is impact is.

There are four critical readings that I already touched at the first paragraph of this unit. Firstly, ‘Australia’s methadone madness’. Secondly, ‘Out of puff’. Thirdly, ‘Types of exposition: “persuading that” and “persuading to”’ and lastly followed by ‘Metaphor’. As I said, I did not understand what are these articles all about. Maybe I need to read it again and again.

xXx J

REFLECTION ON UNIT 4.

REFLECTION ON UNIT 4.

Argument and Evidence: What Is The Argument and What Evidence Supports It?

As I said in previous unit which was in Unit 3 if I am not mistaken, positioning needs evidence. The same goes when we want to argue about something. There is always a reason on why a person makes an argument.

Essentially, I have already got the view about this unit before it was presented by group four. The group members are Izwani, Azila and Farah Diana. This is because I did not get the chance to listen to their presentation as I need to see Miss Naimah bt Abdul Muttalib before that.

Although I missed the presentation, I believe that I can catch some of the information for unit 3. In this unit, it is said that the first thing which I should know is not every text includes argument and evidence. Argument and evidence usually can be found in texts which present a case throughout academic journals of all disciplines, policy documentation and legal literature, as well as reports of many varieties.

Basically there are four articles that I need to read so that I can identify and evaluate the elements of argument and evidence. There are ‘Body language that speaks to muggers’, ‘Burning out at nine’, ‘What is the evidence?’ and ‘Statistic’. At the first place, I found it is very difficult to understand all the articles because I did not understand many words which had been used in each article.

Even though I cannot understand the articles, I believed that I already understood the concepts of argument and evidence.

xXx J

REFLECTION ON UNIT 3.

REFLECTION ON UNIT 3.

Positioning: How Does The Writer Construct The Participants In The Text and How Is The Reader Constructed?

In unit 3, there are four Reading articles. The first article is ‘Please, let me go to your school’. Followed by ‘Truth about youth’, ‘Critical Literacy: a linguistic perspective’ and ‘Speech and speakers: the formation of individuals in discourse and genre’. All the Reading parts have been explained roughly by the third group. The members of the group are Thuraya, Qursyia and Yusafiza.

Like them, I also agreed that I cannot understand some of the Reading parts. There are many high lexis word which I did not understand and this bring difficulties for me to identify what is the article is all about.

This unit focused on the idea of positioning in critical literacy. In positioning, a reader must know how does the writer construct the people referred to in the text and how does the writer construct the reader itself.

In general, the third group was closely can make me understand how to write about positioning. Maybe because our lecturer had told and explained it to our class before. Although sometimes this group seems hard to answer questions from the classmates but they showed their effort as they also tried as hard as they can to find and give the answer.

And basically what I can understand about positioning is when we read any reading materials, we must know how the writer constructs the readers and how the writer constructs the participants in that particular reading. In addition, it is also must be supported by proof and evidence to make it more clear.

xXx J

REFLECTION ON UNIT 2.

REFLECTION ON UNIT 2.

Perspectives: What Stance Does The Writer Take In The Text?

This unit had been presented by Dalila, Fatihah and Zalikha. Overall, they admit that the Reading section in this unit is difficult to understand because they do not know the meaning of several words.

Well, I do agree with them. When I read the second and third article, I found it hard to understand it. I need to read it more than three times and use dictionary because there are some words which I did not familiar with such as metonymy, diachronic perspective, equivocation, attenuate and so on. However, it is good to have glossary in each unit as it can help me understand more about the unfamiliar words.

There are three readings in this unit that I need to understand. Firstly, ‘Battling the bullies’. Secondly, ‘Language, perspective, ideology’ and lastly ‘Text and Textualities’.

In addition, in unit 2, it elaborates more on how to emphasis the role of perspective in determining a critical understanding of text.

Based on my understanding, perspective is the stance or the reader’s viewpoint taken in a text. It can be either positive or negative. Basically, when doing my assignment, I need to identify whether the writer is condemning or commending about something in his or her article.

While identifying it, I also must alert of many things. For instance, I have to recognize what is the argument that the writer had stated and the implications.

To sum up, I think I need to read this unit once again.

xXx J

REFLECTION ON UNIT 1.

REFLECTION ON UNIT 1.

An Introduction- Who Produced This Text, For Whom and Why?

At first when I heard of this subject which is Critical Literacy (COM 4623), the first thing that comes to my mind was this subject is very hard to score. Maybe because when I heard the word of ‘critical’. And why I heard the word of ‘literacy’, I thought that I am going to learn about poems, short stories and so on.

However, when my lecturer, Mr. Humamuddin bin Abu Samah explain about this subject, slowly I can understand the purpose of learning it and what is Critical Literacy is all about.

In unit 1, there are three articles that we need to read. There are ‘Convicted killer back at work’, ‘Stories and facts’ and ‘Rules and regulations’. For the first article, I need to do it as my first assignment. This unit also introduced me and my classmate on practicing some of the basic skills of critical literacy. Some of the basic skills are topic, content, source, audience, purpose, perspective, positioning, impact and visual literacy. The most important is this unit introduced me the best way of approaching an article or text critically.

The first group who present this unit is Nabil, Rahmat and Anuar. As far as I can see, they tried their best to explain the content which include in this unit for us. Although they also admit that they are not really clear regarding of this unit, but with the help of our beloved lecturer, we can understand more about this unit.

On the whole, in unit 1, I understand what Critical Literacy is all about.

xXx J