Nelson Aquino
Professor Anna-Kay Rose
ENGL 110
6 May 2024
Self-Assessment Essay
At the beginning of this semester, I believed I knew all there was to know about writing essays in English. Having spent most of my tenure in high school taking AP English courses and after doing well in my collegiate English classes, I was overconfident in my abilities and as a result, I thought I did not need to put forth much effort to perform in this class. However, this all changed after we read Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” which initially prompted the idea that the English language serves as more than just a means of communication. Throughout this semester, I have further developed my proficiency in the English language with the help of the content we covered in this course. Not only have my skills as a writer been further improved thanks to the various writing exercises we’ve done in class, such as the rhetorical analysis essays, discussions, and various worksheets, but through our readings, I have been able to grasp a greater understanding of the intricacies and syntax of English. I have learned how English and language in general are used to alienate and oppress others through our discussions in class and through our readings of Amy Tan, Jamaica Kincaid, and June Jordan. This perspective on the English language heavily resonated with me as I come from a family of immigrants who’ve struggled with life in America due to language barriers and discrimination, and as a result, I now understand how the concept of “Standard English” is flawed.
In our class we had the following goals for the semester;
1. Examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users.
2. Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.
3. Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.
4. Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.
5. Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.
6. Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazines, and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.
7. Compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation.
8. Practice systematic application of citation conventions.
We achieved the first goal through our readings, through studying Amy Tan, Jamaica Kincaid, and June Jordan. Through these readings we were able to further understand how English in America is used as a means for oppression through the various discriminatory standards regarding language. Both the second and third goals were achieved through our Rhetorical Analysis essays as well as through our practice with annotating. The fifth, sixth, and seventh goals were achieved through out research project. We utilized various academic sources to research and compile our findings to present to the rest of the class. The fifth goal was also achieved through the creation of our digital portfolios. Lastly we achieved the 8th goal through our use of citations and MLA format in all of our essays.
Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” is about Tan’s experience growing up in America as a child of an immigrant mother and explaining her and her mother’s personal experiences with language discrimination. Tan initially proposes the concept of an alternate form of English when discussing how she, her mother, and her husband use certain phrases and statements that aren’t “proper English”. Tan explains how it “become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with”(Tan, 1990). This resonated with me because I too had my language for inter-family communication, which was a hybrid of English and Spanish, however, I would only use this “language” in private out of fear of being corrected or told that I wasn’t speaking “proper” English. Tan goes on to explain how as a child she was forced to play the role of interpreter for her mother and how for a long time she would harbor resentment for this. Tan explains how “I know this for a fact because when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect.” (Tan, 1990). This was the first concept that shook my understanding of English, as for a long time I believed that English was the language of scholars and academics and would think that any thoughts that couldn’t be expressed in English weren’t as valuable, but little did I know that this stemmed from the same belief that there was a “standard English” which reigned supreme.
In June Jordan’s “Nobody Means More to me than you”, Jordan proposes the idea of “Black English” explaining how the English language is used as an oppressive tool and acts as a barrier for many minorities and immigrants, furthering this by claiming that there is no such thing as “Standard English”. At the beginning of the work Jordan explains how “What we casually call “English,” less and less defers to England and its “gentlemen.” “English” is no longer a specific matter of geography or an element of class privilege; more than thirty-three countries use this tool as a means of “intranational communication.” (Jordan, 1988). Jordan was a professor teaching a class on Black English and through the various anecdotes and experiences detailed throughout “Nobody Mean More to me than you” she explains to the reader how Black English is “about a whole lot more than mothafuckin” (Joardan, 1988). Despite America’s multicultural identity, many white standards serve as the norm, undermining a large portion of our culture. As Jordan explains a large portion of English speakers aren’t English, yet the majority of its speakers and writers must abide by rules not representative of their geographical origin or culture. Jordan explains how she reclaimed the English language and through the creation of syntax cemented Black English’s place as a legitimate language. I previously viewed language in the same sense as mathematics, in the words of Amy Tan; “Math is precise; there is only one correct answer. Whereas, for me at least, the answers on English tests were always a judgment call, a matter of opinion and personal experience” (Tan, 1990). This restrictive belief stemmed from how I was taught English during my upbringing, however, through these readings and our discussions I was able to understand that while syntax is important, language is an everchanging and fluid concept, and as a result is not bound by geographical location, race, or social class. Yes, English has been used in classist ways to alienate people, but through mutual understanding and effort, these barriers may be o vercome. There is no true “standard” form for the English Language and I would have only been able to come to this understanding through my growth as a writer and reader in our class.
