Starting off my first semester at City College, I didn’t think much of Engl 110; after all, it seemed like your typical English class, especially considering that the course name is simply “Freshman Composition.” Even when I learned the course would have a focus on language and literacy experiences, I didn’t think too much of it, because it wasn’t the first time culture came up in my prior literature course. However, even in what I dismissed as an “ordinary” English class, there were ideas and concepts that I know will aid me in the future, because skills relating to language and literacy are invaluable to us as social creatures. Along with that, this class has given me a better understanding of the role individual and group identity plays in today’s world. All things considered, the skills and tools I picked up in this class, including the five course learning outcomes, have convinced me that taking this class has been an undoubtedly valuable experience.

Above all else, the most significant takeaway I had from this course was a stronger understanding of the nuances and dynamics between language and literacy, as I got to “examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users.” Throughout Phase I, I analyzed various accounts of linguistic experiences from speakers of different backgrounds but nevertheless American. 

For instance, in “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan describes her relationship with her mother through the lens of language. She narrates, “Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her… It has be- come our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.” It was upon reading that excerpt that I realized I’d been doing the same with my own parents all my life. I often talk to them with a much more “fractured” English than I do with my friends, often even using a South Asian accent, and I didn’t have a clear reason why. It was mostly spontaneous, but subconsciously I think I find a sense of comfort and familial bonding when speaking the same way they do – otherwise, I’d feel as if I’d ostracized myself from them. The fact that this wasn’t an exclusive experience for me nor Tan indicated to me that language in general is a means of preserving identity and bonds with loved ones. 

Nevertheless, perhaps the most profound instance of language’s power I’d noticed was in a peer’s Language and Literacy Narrative, from which I wrote my Phase II Peer Profile. In her narrative, she describes the language barrier between her and her Spanish-speaking grandparents. Despite the language’s role in dividing her from her family, she turns this scenario on its head, by using the barrier as an opportunity to learn Spanish and grow closer to her grandparents. She tells us, “with my grandparents we didn’t let a language barrier be a bridge between us, in fact we crossed it relating to each other.” Moreover, after her grandmother sadly passed away, she used Spanish as a means of preserving her bond with her late grandmother. Ultimately, she found empowerment in the very aspects of language that chained her down, which is a capability of language that I couldn’t have realized on my own. 

This semester also gave me the opportunity to “explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations” and “recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.” In particular, the rhetorical situation worksheets we did in class enabled me to apply critical thinking about text, author, exigence, audience, and purpose among other features of rhetorical analysis. I also got a sense of the difference between intended and extended audience (i.e. who the text is directly written for vs. who else may benefit from it). In one of my worksheet responses for Safwat Saleem, I claim that “The intended audience would quite literally be the people Saleem speaks to in the video, who TED describes as scientists, CEOs, designers, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and artists. However, I think Saleem more directly intended his message for those going through the same/similar struggles as him, such as other South Asian Americans, other people with stutters, and in general those who shy away because of their ‘abnormal’ traits.” Prior to this class, I would’ve probably only considered the latter part, the extended audience. By recognizing the key distinction between both types of audience, I can more directly put myself in the mindset of the author and consider their actual writing process given the context/exigence for their work. I believe that ability is key to making proper rhetorical analysis of an author and their texts.

These experiences, along with the Phase III research essay, helped me “understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences,” be it casual readers or academic scholars.  This was especially prominent in the research essay: as I mentioned in my cover letter, “ I learned how to locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias and tie them to my main claims, even if the connection isn’t immediately obvious at first.” Through browsing JSTOR and Google Scholar, I was able to truly grasp the vastness of digital information at my disposal, and how I can use that to enhance my writing. And even aside from that, over the course of the semester, I got to analyze many different forms of media such as poetry, narratives, songs, spoken word (like Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s “My Spanish”), TED Talks, and so on. Each of these emphasized different aspects of self-expression, and ultimately broadened my horizons on what’s possible with literary work combined with print and digital technologies.

The one course learning outcome I still am not confident in is to “develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.” I am capable of formatting my thoughts into a larger writing piece, but I don’t have a clear cut way of actually constructing the text. At the very least however, I now try to make a very rough outline of what I want to discuss, which already somewhat alleviates the stress of a daunting task such as starting a major writing assignment. Additionally, now with rhetorical strategies in mind, I have more things to consider straight away when planning my paper, be it audience, my purpose as an author, exigence, etc. These help me construct a better framework for how my final piece should plan out. The more I can build on this framework, the less lost I’ll be when writing my first draft. Admittedly, I still need to work on efficiently applying these ideas and methods, as I’m arguably still new to them, but I do think this course has given me the required tools to tremendously accelerate my writing process.

In summary, though I wouldn’t have expected it going into the course, I made significant milestones in fulfilling the five course learning outcomes, such that I can apply the skills I’ve learned in my future career. And so, I thank CCNY and Professor Talero for letting me have a glimpse into the complex world of language and literacy before I move onto future classes in my college years.