The English 112 Course - Essay Example

?Xuan Cao Amir Hassan English 112 Reflection One fact I have to admit about this semester’s learning of English 112 is that, this course has created a great impact on me especially on how I relate reading and creating meaning from the reading. English 112 is a course that covers Composition and Literature. The course critically focused on reading and responding to a variety of materials in a substantive and analytical way. The course was evaluated by use of three different inquiry assignments and which included formulation of inquiry questions, close and critical reading and the writer’s letter to reflect the meanings I came up with from the novel as well as how I went through my close reading to be able to come up with the deeper meanings. To begin with, my first inquiry assignment talked about the causes of failure of El Hadji, the ruler of the Senegalese after the French rulers left. In this assignment, I put the superfluous reading into practice to enable me to come up with the storyline of the book-Xala. I also learnt that, through forming a proper question of inquiry, one is able to diagnose the whole story by answering the question of inquiry. For instance, by letting my question of inquiry to be, ‘’what led to the failure of El Hadji?’’, I was able to make a critical reading through the novel as I quench to find the answers to my question. In a way, I was able to develop greater meanings of the story rather than just reading the novel to know what it is talking about. From the story of this ruler, my question of inquiry enabled me to know that greed, corruption and inability to perform can make us as leaders to fail in discharging our duties to the people we lead. These are themes from the story that one can only make a good argument about when they form a question of inquiry and answer the question by making a thorough scrutiny of the text to develop some meaning from it that can be a lesson to the whole society. In my endeavors to create much meaning in my learning this semester, I realized that one would just have a superfluous reading at first to enable them to form an inquiry question. The inquiry question I formed had to be holistic in such a way that it had to allow me to be able to diagnose the whole novel as I got to the next assignment which required close reading to give a critical analysis. My first inquiry assignment therefore was only to give me an outline of what I need to do in order to answer my inquiry question. This then led to my second inquiry assignment where I was required to make a closer reading of the novel that would enable me to answer my inquiry question thoroughly. This brings a connection of the two assignments in a very interesting manner. It made me learn that one needs to make the first reading of a text or a novel to find its storyline. I then used the first reading to know what the novel talks about in a nutshell. From there, I was able to form a proper question that could help me scrutinize the whole novel. I was able to answer the formulated question by making a closer and critical reading of the novel as required by the second inquiry assignment. In the second assignment, I only went through certain sections of the novel, reading to find specific points that would give answers to my question. This helped me particularly to know what the author was trying to pass across to his readers. My major aim was to find the authors hidden meaning of the texts through his story and make them become lessons that everyone can use or learn from. Hence, the second part of this assignment really was to identify the author’s messages from the story to his readers and to the whole African society who find themselves in similar contexts of leadership. I then wrote my writer’s letter which was included the steps that I followed to be able to make a close and critical reading of the novel. It also reflected on the deeper meanings from the author’s point of view, that anyone reading my notes would get from them. When one reads my notes, they are able to find the interpretation of the novel in a different way that includes the different lessons that one can get from the novel. I learnt that by one reading Xala’s story, they may just read it for fun, entertainment or just to pass the time. However, after making a close reading of the text, I was then able to make it have a deeper meaning that has real life lessons to pick from. The third inquiry assignment about the letter was then connected to the other assignments in such a way that, the letter could only come after close reading as it explained how the close reading was carried out as tell the reading all the lessons or deeper meaning I arrived at by answering my inquiry question that I formulated in the first assignment. As the course reading was majorly aimed at reading a variety of materials and making critical meanings out of them, I achieved this by the three assignments that I was able to complete. The course wanted that I make a relationship between writing and reading through investigations. I was able to do this by making my first reading than forming a question that enabled me to go through the investigation part to enable me to know deeply what the author wanted me to learn from his story. Personally this impacted my life by letting me know the reasons why most African leaders fail in their leadership. I also get to learn that inability, greed and corruption can never form part of any good leadership hence, leaders really need to abolish such traits to become good examples. In a nutshell, the course on English 112 has led me all from knowing how to connect reading and developing hidden meanings from it. It enabled me to learn how to form logical inquiry questions and to make a critical and a close reading to diagnose the question. I can now make meanings from anything I read by using the skills I’ve learnt from this course this semester. I do not anymore make face value meanings of any stories I read since I’m able to critically find deeper meanings from close reading. Read More