A Metacognitive Exercise - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Reflecting on the modules and the readings, is that language and literacy learning is both overwhelming and, surprisingly, well-researched. Overwhelming because the depth of research is staggering, from the selection of reading texts to a child’s stages of cognitive development, to the variables affecting interpretation and meaning. This initial sense of being overwhelmed, however, later gives way to a sense of security as the readings come together to form a more comprehensive whole. To be sure, there are theoretical disagreements. There are areas in need of additional research. That said, there really is a sufficient groundwork, in both theoretical and practical terms, with which to plan meaningful literacy lessons and programmes. The text emphasised the significant effects of word choice in the narrative text. The choice of words such as "reared" and "crushed" and the use of punctuation such as "Thud!" truly affected the mood and the feeling conveyed by the text. As a mental exercise, I arbitrarily changed some of the words in order to see how the meaning might be altered; the results were quite significant. In sum, from the point of view of a student or a writer, I find the concepts of metalanguage and social purposes of text very helpful both in terms of understanding a text and in terms of creating a text. Though seemingly intuitive, these concepts add very much to the understanding of language, linguistic features, and meaning. To this regard I have the initiative to improve myself by answering the following activities:
Activity:
Describe the genre used by the seven-year-old child in the following text. List the features in terms of use of verbs, general and specific participants and descriptive words and statements. What understandings of the convention of written language does she demonstrate
"I was going Dawn cabell terast on my Big Bieck. It was a Stiep Hill and my brakes pat up when I was haf the wai dan the hill and I broacd my coliaBone and I had to to go to the hosPtall to get a slliea on it. Its getting beta, ten I can ride I't a gain"
Answer
Using what I have learned from Green and Campbell, I recognized the genre of the text as a narrative. It tells the story of a seven year old boy in a sequential manner- precisely how Green and Campbell defined narratives. It also uses past tense form of verbs and makes use of the linking verb "and" to denote what happened next. It can also be recognized that the text is full of grammatical errors such as spelling and punctuation. However, it can be seen that the child is able to use the basic Subject - Object construction with the verb in between. The text displays the " how you pronounce it is how you spell and write it" system.
Entry 2: Being particularly interested in writing, I found the work by ...Download file to see next pagesRead More