Critical Reflection
The practice of “The Role of Peer and Tutor” concept was
never really utilized during my 10 years of education in both Primary and
Secondary school. Most of my English teachers usually mark compositions mainly
on the content, grammar and spelling mistakes. Little or no constructive feedback are given to students to help them really understand the mistakes
made nor boost them to do better quality work. The teachers are also not that
approachable nor are they willing to spend more time in correcting mistakes of certain
weak students. Basically English lessons are based on assignments after
assignments and grades after grades.
Also in Polytechnic, I was given a similar module like
Effective Communication during my first semester upon being first year student
there. They do help students brush up a little on the grammars, teaching on how
to write a proper report and present effectively. But there is still not much
constructive feedback being put in practice and non-beneficial to me. Once you
sent the report to the lecturer, you will never see or know what happened to it
ever again.
However it was a different case in University with Effective
Communication module. We were forced to give our own opinions or feedback to
other fellow classmates in our first assignment. Then we would be given another feedback by Brad himself, who teaches the course. The opportunity to “Learn,
Unlearn and Relearn” English language and report writing is greatly ample and
well utilized.
By using the same assignment to improve on further from draft
after draft has made me more aware of the common mistakes or bad habits that I
may have in writing. Comments are also given for me to know more like example
why a certain sentence structure is wrong and it helps me to learn through such
reasoning. Also a one-to-one sessions are made available to further assist
students. I find this most effective as during this session, the main focus
will be on the student him/herself in terms of mistakes and letting them be
aware of the correct way of writing. In addition, general feedback on the
mistakes by fellow classmates are also discussed during class and this helps me
to learn to avoid it.
To be honest, I feel that I have slightly improve on my
command of English writing skills. While I do other reports or assignments, I am
more proactive in editing my reports over and over again. Also I tend to check
on the habitual mistakes I would make on reports and quickly improve them
further. Not only that, I would even consult other friends or classmates to
read on my writing and give me feedback on grammar and content. In all, I feel
that this module has greatly impact me to write better and be more receptive to feedback that helps to upgrade myself further. Having such enthusiastic and captivating tutor such as Brad himself has made learning English as well as the
Effective Communication module itself more interesting and enriching for not only
me but everyone.