Cormac Ferguson
Final Self Assessment
Professor Harrison
12/17/21
Language and literacy provide much of how we as individuals interact with our surrounding world. To understand these vast means of communication is to enhance one’s own life in more ways than one and fortunately for me English 1100 has provided said valuable education. From the onset, we engaged in activities that I found to be quite revealing of my own development through language. Primarily I am speaking of the Language and Literacy brainstorm which acted as our first assignment, and set the pace for the rest of the class’s activities. Through that assignment, I was able to glean important memories from my past, such as my little vocabulary moment during elementary school, my conversation with my best friend in a graveyard, and my first friendly encounter with a stranger in NYC. Each of these provided me with lessons that I would not quickly forget, lessons which I will call back on long into the future. Although I have been cognizant of the significance each of these experiences held, it wasn’t until the brainstorm that I was able to fully connect them to my greater lingual development. I find it thoroughly difficult to answer the question “what do language and literacy mean to me” as I believe it to be too broad, but I can attest to the significance certain moments throughout my life have had which would not have been possible without either language or literacy. I said above that these two things are tools of communication so one could apply each of them to anything which holds communicative properties whether that be an everyday conversation, finding directions on a map, or declaring war on a foreign nation, these all require the use of language and literacy which is why I find it difficult to pinpoint its significance as it is so massive that any description would fail to capture what it exactly does. Despite this, I will attempt to describe some of the personal significance linguistics holds, namely being its allowance of emotional release. I am someone who frees much of their depressive build-up through speech and writing, whether that be directly or indirectly (indirectness normally being my weapon of choice). The simple act of engaging in “small talk” is enough to bring relief upon whatever is going on in my head and I believe this to be due to my enjoyment of conversating itself. In this way, I find writing to hold similar properties as no matter how nonsensical the words being thrown across the page be If it is something which I’m allowed creativity in then I’m able to release whatever I may be feeling at the time. This is the true value of speech and writing for me. It’s not necessarily what is being said or written that is important, but simply the act of them. This is not to say that I do not value what is being said or how said things can create greater impact, quite the contrary in fact. I’ve always placed massive importance on words whether written or spoken, so much so that my own words hold both a place of great pride and insecurity. It’s been said that “actions speak louder than words” and although I understand the sentiment behind this phrase, I firmly believe that words can hold equal, if not at times more significant impact on both people and their greater society. Funnily enough, it is often those words that create inaction that is most powerful. Think for example of the rules were told to follow at home, within a school, or in public which creates almost untraceable ripple effects throughout our lives. Rules told to us during youth like “raise your hand when asking a question”, “respect your elders”, “don’t talk back” or just simply “do as you’re told” quite possibly encourage limited agency, creativity, and questioning which follow us long after childhood. Now of course our language has much more utility than just issuing commands, but I find these to be particularly impactful and widely relatable. I digress. Although I can’t say that Enlgish1100 has taught me all of what I described above, It has succeeded in encouraging me to examine how and why language works in the way it does. For example, while reading Joan Didion’s “On Keeping a Notebook”, I became acutely aware of the structure her text held and how that influenced its emotional reception for the reader. Everything from beginning in medias reis to creating suspense through questioning her own writing (in her notebook) act to pull the reader into her world. I have since used these techniques in my own personal writing and have felt more confident behind the pen so to speak because of it. I am forever grateful to Didion for just simply describing her note-keeping process on such open terms as it’s given me more light into my own note-keeping and by extension my inner-most thought process. It is because of her that I continue to keep a journal and it is because of her that I am able to journal more effectively (also she saved me on a date remember). The impact of her writing (and consequently my own) speak to the greater impact of writing itself, how the correctly structured words on the right topic can change someone even if only in the smallest way never ceases to amaze me. In this sense, I am also grateful to you professor for exposing me to such things. Even if my due-date timeliness doesn’t always show it, I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay here in English1100. You have done more than you know. Thank you for everything prof. Onward forward.
