PORTFOLIOS ENTRIES N°13 & N°14

Portfolio Entry N°13: 

Before I´ve attended this subject, I´ve never stopped thinking about what a coherence and a cohesive text is. I knew that my writings were not so good but I did not know how to improve them. I could not realize my mistakes and asked for help many times. During my first attendance, I´ve learned different ways in which I could improve my language and also my writings. One of the most important ones for me was reading. But not only reading from a bottom up perspective but also from a top down perspective. I´ve started to analyse how ideas are linked together into a coherent and cohesive paragraph using different techniques such as reference, the use of synonims, hyponims, etc. During my second attendance, I´ve focused on improving my formal vocabulary and also my language in written and oral expression. I´m still working on it but I think that little by little I can improve my writings and how to express myself not only in English but also in Spanish. 

Portfolio Entry N°14: 

Portofolios encouraged me to sit down, think and study. They were unpleasant sometimes but in the end, they helped me improve my study skills. Using different strategies such as making different kind of charts, reflections, analysis, questionaries, presentations has been useful in terms of understanding some topics better. They also have been important because I had the possibility to learn different strategies which I could implement in my classes.They will also be helpful in the future, when I´ll attend for my final exam, because some of them are kind of a summary of every "book" we have already read. To sum up, although most of us complain about them, in my case, portfolios have been a way of improving my knowledge about the theory, the study strategies that I could implement and my way of writing.

Portfolio Entry #12: VIDEOS

VIDEO N°1:

The Inspector needs "a flawless American accent":

In this video, the focus is on the concept of "accent" and "dialect". As we know, the term "accent" refers to "the description of aspects of pronuntiation that identify where an individual speaker is from, regionally or socially". In this case we can distinguish two different accents: the French accent and the English one. Moreover, another concept is being conceptualized which is the idea of "dialect". The term "dialect" describes features of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation which are shared by a specific social group. In this video, the inspector tries to learn English because he is going to travel to America and he does not want to be noticed.

VIDEO N°2:
Student 'dialects'?

In this sketch,  a group of students is sharing the same English class and each of them has to deal with different difficulties. They belong to the same speech community since they “share a set of norms and expectations regarding the use of language”. In this opportunity , it is not the accent that gives away the social background; instead, they encounter with the use of the language (grammar, spelling, intonation and the lack of vocabulary). Another important factor is their background life (educational or social) which provides them with some specific vocabulary, phrases, etc that they probably share in their community. However, they try to be comprehensible to their partners improving their language together.

VIDEO N°3

In this video, the men were from Irak. The man who was being interviewed complained about the use of subtitles when he was talking. He claimed that he had been studying the language in the American University in Cairo which allowed him to express himself perfectly well in English. In that country, English is learned as a second language in order to "take part in the larger DOMINANT linguistic COMMUNITY". Although he was a bilingual man, his accent differed from the audience´s one which made a good understanding of the message difficult. In conclusion, not only the use of grammar and vocabulary is important but also intonation, accent and pronunciation are.

Portfolio #11: "The Study of language" - George Yule (Chapters 18, 19 & 20)

CHAPTER N°18

"The study of language" - Chapter 18 de Gabriela Rocio Soto Valic

CHAPTER N°19

The study of language. Chapter 19pptx from Gabriela Rocio Soto Valic
 

CHAPTER N°20

"The study of language" - Chapter 20 from Gabriela Rocio Soto Valic

BIBLIOGRAPHY: - Yule, G (2016). The Study of Language. Chapters 18, 19 & 20 . U.K.: CUP.

Portfolio N°10 "Discourse and context in Language Teaching" - SUMMARY

Bibliography - Celce-Murcia, M. & Olshtain, E. (2000): Discourse and Context in Language Teaching. A Guide for Language Teachers. Chapters 6, 7, 8 &; 9. U.K.: CUP.

PORTFOLIO #9: Thesis Statement

VIDEO N°1

VIDEO N°2:

NOTES:

• Thesis Statement Definition:
  - It is a single specific claim that your essay suports.
  - It includes a topic, a precise opinion and reasoning.
  - It is an argueable stament.

• Parts of a Thesis Statement: It has three main parts.
  1) A subject: That's basically the topic or your essay.
  2) Claime/ personal opinion about the topic: What you think about the topic.
  3) The blueprint of reasons:
  - There should be, at least, three reasons.
  - They will support your claim and also persuade the readers to believe in your opinion.
  - You need to research evidence to support your opinion.
  - Those pieces of evidence or "the blueprint" are only effective if: 1) I explain what I mean about my opinion in the body paragraphs; 2) I provide detailed examples for each blue print point.
• Thesis with points listed:- Points at the end of the Thesis Statement.
  - Points at the beginning of the TS.
  - Points listed in the sentence after the TS.
• In conclusion, the THESIS STATEMENT tells your reader:
  1) where you are going in your essay, and
  2)how to plan on getting there.
  
  SOURCES:
• "Thesis Statement- How to construct and compose (A review)"
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfUkhdh8Z08
•  "How to write an A+ Thesis Statement"
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HePQWodWiQ

PORTFOLIO #8 "Literary Essay"

Portfolio #7 "From Paragraph to Essay"

From Paragraph to Essay from Gabriela Rocio Soto Valic

 BIBLIOGRAPHY: IMHOOF,M and HUDSON, H (1975) From Paragraph to Essay. Chapters 1,2,4,5,7 & 8. LONGMAN

Examples: 

 

From paragraph to essay (examples) de Gabriela Rocio Soto Valic

Bibliography (EXAMPLES): - Piccirillo, R. A. (2011). "The Technological Evolution of Filmmaking and its Relation to Quality in Cinema." Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse, 3(08). Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=560 - - Rasmussen S., Jamieson D., Honein M. and Petersen L. Zika Virus and Birth Defects — Reviewing the Evidence for Causality. N Engl J Med 2016; 374:1981-1987May 19, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1604338#t=article - TROYKA,L., SIMON, and SCHUSTER. From Handbook for Writers. pp 64-66. - Wilkerson, K. T. (2017). "Social Networking Sites and Romantic Relationships: Effects on Development, Maintenance, and Dissolution of Relationships." Inquiries Journal, 9(03). Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1576

Portfolio Entry #6 "A well-written paragraph"

In the following video Alex describes how to structure a well-written paragraph in English. 

Parts of a Paragraph - English Academic Writing Introduction. May 19, 2009 from the site:  "engVid - Free English Video Lessons"

He says that the PARTS OF A PARAGRAPH are:

1)      Topic Sentence

-          It is what you are writing about.  

-          It should be an interesting topic and you should give your opinion about it.

-          Do not give details.

2)      Body

-          It is the heart of your paragraph.

-          It should include supporting arguments or details that support your topic sentences.

-          It should be ordered according to importance or chronology.

3)      Closing Sentence

-          It has two functions:

·         It reminds the audience what you are talking about.

·         It keeps your audience thinking.

      

      EXAMPLES OF TOPIC SENTENCES 

      Many politicians deplore the passing of the old family-sized farm, but I'm not so sure. I saw around Velva a release from what was like slavery to the tyrannical soil, release from the ignorance that darkens the soul and from the loneliness that corrodes it. In this generation my Velva friends have rejoined the general American society that their pioneering fathers left behind when they first made the barren trek in the days of the wheat rush. As I sit here in Washington writing this, I can feel their nearness.

      There are two broad theories concerning what triggers a human's inevitable decline to death.The first is the wear-and-tear hypothesis that suggests the body eventually succumbs to the environmental insults of life. The second is the notion that we have an internal clock which is genetically programmed to run down. Supporters of the wear-and-tear theory maintain that the very practice of breathing causes us to age because inhaled oxygen produces toxic by-products. Advocates of the internal clock theory believe that individual cells are told to stop dividing and thus eventually to die by, for example, hormones produced by the brain or by their own genes.

      We commonly look on the discipline of war as vastly more rigid than any discipline necessary in time of peace, but this is an error. The strictest military discipline imaginable is still looser than that prevailing in the average assembly-line. The soldier, at worst, is still able to exercise the highest conceivable functions of freedom -- that is, he or she is permitted to steal and to kill. No discipline prevailing in peace gives him or her anything remotely resembling this. The soldier is, in war, in the position of a free adult; in peace he or she is almost always in the position of a child. In war all things are excused by success, even violations of discipline. In peace, speaking generally, success is inconceivable except as a function of discipline.

Portfolio #5 Oral & Written Assignment

Speaking de Gabriela Rocio Soto Valic

Portfolio Entry #4: "The study of Language" by George Yule - Chapters 10 & 11

Bibliography: Yule, G (2016). The Study of Language. Chapters 10 & 11 . U.K.: CUP.

PORTFOLIO ENTRY #3 : Speech acts: Constative and performative - Collen Glenney Boggs

 PORTFOLIO ENTRY #3

 

THINK SECTION

 

In this video, Collen Glenney talks about speech acts and how they function in our daily lives. She divides speech acts  according to the ideas developed by the English linguistic J.L.Austin. He defines speech acts in two separate parts of speech, CONSTATIVE and PERFORMATIVE. The first ones are sentences that describe something as true or false whereas the second ones are sentences that denote an action which depends on context and reception, known as FELICITY CONDITIONS. These actions are not only brought out by words but also these words are actions themselves. This is what we know as SPEECH ACTS, which include but are not limited to ordering, promising, apologising, warning, etc. Even though, these actions follow a set of rules, they could be respected or not.

Portfolio Entry #2 - Advice on Academic Writing

Advice on Academic writing de Gabriela Rocio Soto Valic

Portfolio Entry #1

 Hi ! My name is Rocio Soto Valic and I´m 23 years old.

I hope this year will be an enjoyable trip for all of us.
Good luck !