semester 5 is coming

it's been a while since i last posted here. i wanted to keep posting something here even though my tasks for critical literacy subject is finished already. but being at home i've been very busy with other things and don't even have time to read anything. not that i don't have the time actually, i've been very lazy to read.

new semester is coming up in a week time. i wonder how will my result be. including this critical literacy subject. can i obtain an A? but i didn't work really hard for this subject so i think i'm okay with a B. but hopefully i can get an A. aminn..

goodluck my friends (:

i hope i can continue posting something here so that the skills that i have learned in this subject will not fade just like that.

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.