Reflection on unit 8

This unit continues what I have learned in the previous unit; producing and evaluating critical writing. The end of this unit follows with our last assignment for this subject, which is critical review. We are also given the opportunity to critique another student’s writing. There is only one reading for this unit, which is ‘Drugs and guns’.

There is no concept or terminologies of the text that is difficult to understand and the text also clearly shows the writer’s stance that is negative. The use of the president’s photo also shows that the writer is condemning the president and the government.

The text is shorter than the text in the previous unit but somehow it is mind-boggling. I need to read it not just for once. The text is about problem in South African government on AIDS and arms. The problem creates controversies and eventually shakes the position of the president Thabo Mbeki as many questioned his decision spending $6 billion on weapons, because it shows that he is more concern about the country’s safety rather than the health of the people.

At the end of this unit, we need to focus on our final assignment that is the critical review. The review is more or less needs us to apply the skills that we have learnt in this unit and the previous unit.

Overall I think I have gain all the knowledge on critical literacy layer by layer by learning all the skills in the 8 units. But still, I need to read a lot and evaluate all the readings using all the skills that I have learned so that I can polish all the skills. If not, I am not being able to be a good critical reader or writer, like what is aimed in learning this subject.

Reflection on unit 7

In this second last unit, we were exposed to producing and evaluating critical writing. The reading that is focused in this unit is ‘Dieting: a waist is a terrible thing to mind’. It is a quite long text which is in 22 pages.

The information in this unit that I find interesting is the title of the text. It did not represent what I have in mind before I read the text. Before I read the text, by looking at the title, I thought that the text is about the importance of dieting. However, it was vice versa. The writer’s stance is negative towards dieting. Dieting is not the way to put down weight. Being slim does not mean that you are healthy. Like what the writer said in page 192, on the subtopic ‘Advice to the overweight’, “achieving fitness is clearly more sensible than fighting fatness”.

I do not find any terminologies that are difficult for me to understand. However, I have a little problem in understanding the tables that are included in the text. Maybe people who are really concern about weight would understand that kind of table better.

I find this article is really interesting to read and also very critical. It can give something to overweight people as well as the lightweight people, that dieting is not the way to keep you to an ideal weight. Being overweight also does not show that one is not healthy or suffers from a lot of illness. Concerning about fitness is better than fatness. The article is a complete set of an article for ‘dieting’. It includes the arguments of the writer, the impacts of dieting, and the writer’s advice to the overweight and so on.

Overall, this unit helps me to evaluate a longer critical writing and also producing a critical writing in the future.

Reflection on unit 6

In unit 1 until 5, we have covered all the elements that are needed in critical literacy. So in this unit, it is the time for us to apply all the techniques that we have learned. The background reading is ‘Invasion of the baby snatchers’. We need to approach the text using the 10 elements that we have learned and present it in the class. It is called the critical response. It is actually quite the same with the approach we too on our assignments 2, which the article is on gay relationships.

The article ‘Invasion of the baby snatchers’ is about the child abductions that are under control nowadays. Other than worrying about the abducted children who have parents to care and worry about, there are still children who are neglected and live with their parents who do not even care about them. These children, who cannot disappear because they are already lost, are the ones who need to be care of by the authority and the media, not only the sensational stories of child kidnapping.

In conclusion, I need to polish more my skills on the 10 elements because I think I still have problems in some parts, for example the implicit part of the texts.

Reflection on unit 5

Unit 5 is basically tells about the audience and what impact does the text brings to the audience. The are four readings in this unit which are ‘Types of exposition’, ‘Metaphor’, ‘Australia methadone madness’ and ‘Out of puff’. The article that we need to approach is ‘Out of puff’.

The part in this topic which I can say quite hard is when we did the reading ‘Types of exposition’. This is because of the terminologies that the writer uses in the text. It requires me twice or more times to read it. For example, in order to understand the analytical and hortatory exposition I read that part again and again. However, eventually I have understand that there many types and also elements in expositions that we need to understand.

When we discuss on the reading ‘Metaphor’, it is also difficult to understand but it is quite interesting for me. For example in the subtopic Metaphor and word meaning, I learned that one single word can produce a lot of meaning. For instance the word ‘gave’ that had been shown in the reading. It was fun yet challenging to interpret the meaning of the same word in different phrase.

Since we have been exposed a lot in doing the portfolio task, I find it quite easier for me to understand the text critically although sometimes I missed to elaborate some points in depth. For example, when we approach the text Out of puff, we don’t really face problems because we have approached a lot of readings before. The article is about the danger of smoking especially on women.

Overall I think I don’t quite have difficulties on understanding this unit because audience and impact is a topic that is quite understandable for me. I hope I can polish my skills in critical thinking more in future.

Reflection on unit 4

On the previous unit, we were focusing on the positioning in texts. In this unit, we learn about argument and evidence. The first thing that I learned in this unit is not all texts contain argument and evidence. The readings in this topic are ‘What is the evidence?’, ‘Statistics’, ‘Crooked and fallacious thinking’ and ‘Burning out at nine?’.

When we discuss about the reading, the information that I found interesting is when we discuss on reading 4.4, ‘Statistics’ is the word Statistic itself has different meanings. The word ‘statistic’ is referring to our action towards the figures and the word ‘statistics’ means information in terms of numerical form.

In the practise text, we learned how to find the arguments in the text and what is the evidence of the arguments. We were also been asked to do the portfolio task on the text ‘Burning out at nine?’. Since we are learning on arguments and evidence in this unit, I tend to focus more on what the writer argues in the text. It was quite hard at first because once we had found the arguments, we need to prove it with the evidence as well and we also need to identify whether the evidence support the arguments. However, by the guideline given by Madam Sharipah, I finally understood how to find the arguments and evidence.

Even though the texts on readings 4.3 until 4.5 are quite hard to understand because of the terminologies used, for example, circular argument, false analogy and equivocation in reading 4.5, it is understandable after I reread the text for few times. Madam Sharipah also advised us to read the texts again and again for more understanding.

Overall, this unit has made me gain another ‘layer’ of understanding, which is on argument and evidence.