CHAPTER 9

MY VIEW

I think this course, Diploma in English for Communication are really good for the person whoa are really love and adore English. The learning and teaching process are totally in English, so it will improve the student’s skills how to communicate in English. This course are quite similar with the Mass Communication course but the differences is because this course are push more on grammar, writing style and also not forget of the communication. The assessment for this course are really interesting because every semester, the students will exposed to the working environments and teach the students how to be social and how to be a good communicator. I have learnt a lot of things from this course, how to be a good speaker, how to work in the groups and so on but the element that I really like about this course because it let the students being independent, more creative and artistic. For the subject Critical Literacy, There are many important things that I get from this subject such as I may know the purpose of a text from the style and the genre that the writer has chosen. I also may judge the value or quality of a piece of written material on the basis of how well it conforms to the rules of the genres selected. These subjects help me to improve my writing with using many idea and things that have been explain in the stories and facts. The information is so useful for me in case to practice the right procedures in writing and how to write a good report. The topic rules and regulation make me realize that in writing, there are also have the rules and regulation that we need to follow such as use the proper language and sentence; for example, we need to use passive or active structure. The rules and regulation build up my discipline to write in the right order and procedures. As a conclusion, the good writer is someone who practices all the writing process and try to use all the skill that is needed. There are also need to track all the writing rules and regulation to make sure they are writing in the right way.There are many ways how to improve this course, first of all, this course should annul the subject IELTS because it is really tough to score these subjects and will replace with the subjects which ca build up the students creativity.

CHAPTER 8

DRUGS OR GUNS

There is an article explain about which is the priorities that the South African government should choose between drugs to decrease the numbers of AIDS cases or the weapons-acquisitions. To be precise, it covers the two controversies that just won’t go away in South Africa which is the arms and AIDS. A national AIDS activist group is trying to force the government into making antiretroviral drugs freely available to all HIV positive pregnant women in that country. The arms purchase also faces the challenge from another front. The South Africa government’s policy on AIDS was also under legal attack, this time from the Treatment Action Campaign. At present the drug is in only in a few pilot projects. The article purpose is to inform people about the important things that the South African government should think off first before making any decisions. Beside that, the writer does not only inform but also provides an extended persuading to South African government to make antiretroviral drugs freely available to all HIV positive pregnant women.

CHAPTER 7

DIETING

There is a text about a current issues relating to the phenomenon of weight control and issues about physical and mental health for the obesity people. This article covers a wide range relating to the trend of weight control and also involving to physical and mental strength. The writer of this article also provides the latest and new information based on recent research into weight loss. This article are informs people about the risks and hazards of commercially available weight loss programs. The writer also provides an extended warning the readers that they must not trust the claims made by commercially-driven product providers. Besides that, he also pains to encourage them that their current weight is probably appropriate. The writer highly critic both of the commercial weight loss products and also the medical views that are support them. He disagree that weight loss products simply do not work. The numbers of study which illustrate that not only do people recurrently regain any weight lost, they also gain weight, each time making further weight loss more difficult.

REFLECTION

This topic is actually as a preparation for my third assignments which is critical review, I need to review the article from newspaper, magazine, or magazine but I choose my friends article and need to comment what she have written about the article that she had taken from the magazine. I need to review her topic, content, source, audience, rhetorical function, purpose, perspective, positioning, impact and visual literacy. This chapter is really importance because it introduces the skills that need to produce and evaluate the critical writing. It also help me to evaluate my friend view about the article and give me more knowledge about how to comment the article.

ChaPteR SiX

“Invasion of the baby snatchers”

Reflection

This article is actually is the preparation and exercise for my second assignment which is the article title “Are gay relationship different?” The article invasion of the baby snatchers is covers the children lost and there are a lot of cases that involves that involve s the children who had been kidnapped and mudded. I need to make a portfolio for this article and there are ten important that are include in this portfolio which are, topic, content, source, audience, the rhetorical function, purpose, perspectives, positioning, impact, and visual literacy. My lecturer had given the detail explanation on how to do the portfolio because I am not done it very well for my first assignment. During the class, the discussion was more on the article about gay because it is really important for my second assignment. What I have learn from the lesson today are, the reader need to be more critical for the material things that we read because maybe the writer have their hidden agenda.

cHaPtEr fIvE

Types of Exposition: ‘persuading that’ and ‘persuading to’.

Exposition can be defined as the characteristic feature of these texts is that they attempt to justify something, to provide reasons to support some thesis. There are two types of exposition based on differences in the purposes they achieve. The two types identifies are ‘analytical’ and ‘hortatory’ expositions. The previous attempt to persuade the recipient that something is true, while the latter try to persuade the recipient to do something. Analytic expositions are often associated with academic speaking and writing. Hortatory expositions include texts such as political speeches, letters to the editor and office memos designed to change employee behavior. The function of Exposition is to interpret and explain, so realizing cause and effects are important. Expositions are about why. The personality in Exposition is about the writing is often characterized as impersonal. It can be used to express attitudes and feelings and then look at how these structures are used in Exposition. Metaphor is usually something that teachers associate with poetry and narrative. Expository metaphors are rarely realized through simile-that is the poet’s tool. Expositions are not just Report of Descriptions. Rather things are explained in order to interpret the world. And metaphors are an effective way of getting beyond the obvious. Expositions are supposed to be rational and in our culture, reason and emotion are felt to be diametrically opposed to be rational.

REFLECTION

From this chapter, I realized that there are many writing styles that the writer use, one of them is by using the metaphor, means that we use the metaphor to describe something as if it were something else with which it shares some common qualities. We can use metaphor for criticizes someone because we did not say it straight to the point so it will not hurt their feeling. Besides that, metaphor is really important for the poetic because metaphor is really unique and beautiful. I also realized that there are relationship between the writer’s choices and how these choices influence the reader. A metaphor plays a key role in enabling us to talk about and construct the world, and allows language users the flexibility to cope with rapidly changing circumstances. As a language reader, we are able to make sense of our world, and communicate that sense to others. But one more things for sure is important is the metaphors we choose, however, are reflections of both our personal and cultural perspectives. Besides that, the choice of metaphorical language in a text can help us understand the writer’s perspective and ideology.

cHaPteR 4: ARGUMENTS AND EVIDENCE

What is the evidence?

This chapter is focusing on the evidence and it begins with the well-known case of the kidnapping of the infant son of Charles Lindbergh and examines the evidence, wholly circumstantial, that led to the conviction and execution of Bruno Hauptman. The writer goes on talk about the quality of evidence in other famous cases, including historical treatments of past events. The jury found Hauptman guilty after taking a look for strong evidence and this case is due, not so much to its intrinsic interest, as to the fact that it presents such a wealth of evidence. There are some who think that circumstantial evidence is not altogether trustworthy as a basis for determining guilt. They prefer testimonial evidence, such as that of eyewitness, who testify that they themselves have seen the accused commit the crime. People need to discuss a case involving testimonial evidence in a moment and need to seek the truth, but must be content with probability and not demand absolute certainly. The probabilities depend upon the evidence that is available.

-Statistic
- Crooked and fallacious thinking

The word statistic has two meanings. When it is used with a plural verb, it refers to information about any phenomenon or activity expressed in numerical form, such as vital statistic, college-enrolment figures, and opinion poll percentages. For the singular, it denotes the art and sciences of collecting, presenting, analyzing and interpreting numerical data. Statistic is the tool to make the maximum use of quantitative measurements and assessments. The important of statistic is human affairs is obvious from our tendency to associate facts closely with figures. The meanings of crooked and fallacious thinking are a manipulative tool in the hands of writers wishing to influence and affect the judgments of their readers. This topic is important to be able to interrogate the logic contained in the argument in a text. By the transfer device, a crooked thinkers transfers the prestige of something of which we approve.

Reflection

From this chapter, evidence is the really important things in case to prove something, for example, the juries need to find the tough evidence to prove that the crimes are guilty or not. The probabilities depend upon the evidence that is available. We need to be more critical-minded, and never forget to ask the question, ‘What is the evidence?’ .When the evidence is confused, we ought to suspend judgment and wait for further evidence. Statistic is really important in human affairs because is obvious from our tendency to associate facts closely with figures. For example, there are statistics that record the population in Malaysia, so we know how many people who live in Malaysia. We also may know the figure of new birth and the death. From topic crooked and fallacious thinking, I think that we need to beware with this situation because it is one of manipulative tools that influence people to make the judgments and also may persuade people.

ChApTeR 3 : A linguistic perspective

3.1 Differences between two texts

3.2. Speech and speakers: the formation of individuals in discourse and genre

3.2.1 Language and language users

3.2.2 Genre and reading position

In this chapter, there are illustrates the application of the model by using it to deconstruct two texts. The two texts are taken from a junior secondary commerce textbook. At first reading the texts appear relatively innocuous. The important things are coming from an ideological position which endorses and values entrepreneurial capitalism (and entrepreneurial capitalism) and at the same time devalues other ways of being. Text A is about why people go into business and text B is about what are the qualities of a successful business person. In terms of genres, Text A classified as a discussion. A discussion is a written genre typically used to present a reasoned account or both sides of an issue. Text B classified as a report and it is standard genres in the sciences and social sciences. They generally contain information which is considered unproblematic in the field. That is they are not cutting edge texts, they represents a summary of standard knowledge. They tend to present this knowledge as almost taken for granted not only open for dispute.

Speech and speakers: the formation of individuals in discourse and genre

This topic will discuss on the discourse and readers, discourse present modes talking about the world from the point of view of a social institution. One of the most thoroughly
studied is that of sexism. Sexiest discourse is about the socialization of the natural category of sex as gender. To give some concreteness to this topic, there are two further extracts from the Cleo, June 1984. The article describes different type of woman, in the office and instructs each type how to modify their behaviour in order to improve their at work. Language users do not to access to language as such to the whole language system abstractly. Their experience of language is mediated through their experiences of texts on social occasion, their knowledge of the systematic organization of linguistic form through discourse and genres. Genres similarly construct reading positions and each genre construct positions or roles which the participants in the genres occupy.

REFLECTION
From this chapter, I have learnt how to differences the texts. When read the texts, this chapter will help me how to selected relevant aspects of the texts and looked at them through the filters of genre, register, and lexicon-grammar in an effort to dig out the ideology behind the texts. I can open up space for a number of critical readings, which then can provide the basis of informed debate, analysis and critique. To do this I have used an approach driven by systemic functional linguistic, which providing some analytic tools which can explicitly open up space for critical readings, enabling people to act as text analysts. From the topic discourse and readers, it explains to me how the texts shape people’s identities. An important things is when we speak or write, the discourse we draw on and are competent to use will vary, depending on the purposes of our speaking and writing, as well as other social factors such as the discourses we have learnt to use in our family life, education and work.