English is not my first language, and even after living in the United States, I still have not been able to understand English to a certain level that my fellow comrades have already mastered. Therefore, to put in simple and plain context, my English SUCKS.
So while my English is pretty bad, revision is something that I always loved in class. It provided me a chance to see what my fellow classmates thought about my paper. But even with that, I still have problems. So I admit it. I am one of the student writers described in Nancy Sommers’. Revision to me means changing words that sounds more sophisticated, and correcting all my little grammatical mistakes. I do not really think why am I “revising,” but I just do it because I have been taught to do that ever since high school.
Because of my schooling in Nepal, I was never taught so think critically, but only copy what in a book. That is why I never developed a sense of thinking that students in the US have. And even though I have been in the US for six years, I still have not been able to grasp the full concept on critical thinking or writing. I still make grammatical errors like crazy, and most of the time my thoughts never make any sense.
And now since I am taking this class, I really hope my English gets better not just because I need to have a good understanding of English language, but also because I want to learn. I am trying my best to learn everything that I can possibly learn, but sometimes I feel like it is not enough. Especially when we read articles like Nancy Sommers because the things that she says need work like the freshmen student that she studied, I fit in that same exact category. And I feel bad because I see that I still have a lot of room to cover. But then my whole perspective switches, and I feel good that I have some idea of what I need to fix.
So while articles like this make me feel bad about myself, they still provide me of ideas on how I need to improve my writing to become a better writer. And I am so glad that I am taking this class just because it will help me become a better writer (I hope :D).
1 comment:
In some sense, yes, clarifying the big picture should be the focus of your writing and revision cycles. The caveat to Sommers' argument is, of course, that the message you convey to your reader has to flow through the medium of the language itself. If you are crystal clear on your message, and your sentences are non-repetitive, at least theme-wise, that is excellent; however, if your grammar doesn't match up to the quality of your thoughts and arguments, the paper will still suffer for it.
Your word choices and your proper utilization of grammar will frame your central ideas and make the entirety, the paper, more than the sum of its parts; revision of the semantics of your paper should still be an integral part of your writing cycle. Sommers was just noting that when revision is completely about grammar, etc., then the reevaluation of the big picture of the essay stagnates.
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