Qusetion: This essay is your opportunity to reflect more extensively about language in your life.
This essay is also an opportunity to work on self-expression through writing. Therefore, I do not want to control too much what you write about or how you do that. However, I do expect you to follow standard academic conventions with regards to spelling, grammar, citations, and structure. However, the content is where you should start to explore your own ideas, thoughts, and responses to the materials from this course and your life experiences.
Below are some points, questions, and directions you can consider taking for this essay. You can address these suggestions as much or as little as you like. You can also disregard them and focus on other areas.
Your only requirement with regards to content is that you must directly address the questions: What does language mean to me? How does language play a role in my day to day life? How has studying language as a social phenomenon through this course influence my understanding about communication and the human experience?
Below are suggestions on how you might start to address those to questions. However, you are not required to take these suggestions and can write about what you chose as long as it directly addresses those two main questions and follows the standard conventions of academic writing.
Suggestions: 1. Monolingual, Bilingual, Multilingual
• Is speaking multiple or one language important to me...
2. Language experiences
• In what everyday experiences do I use language?
• How do I use it?
3. Language memories
• Is there an experience with language from my past that I view differently now after taking this course and studying language as a social phenomenon?
4. Language and Identity
• What role does language play in my identity?
5. Language and Positionality
• How does language influence my position in society?
6. Language in Society
• What are some things about language that I will continue to study, think about, or reflect on after this course?
Follow the instructions shown in the file.