Self-Reflection on Portfolio A: Speech Analysis

Self-reflection on Portfolio A: Speech Analysis

I have learned lots of knowledge points from this assignment. At first, I have learned the measures or steps that can be used to analyse a speech and the skills that can be used to determine a speech whether it is well delivered or badly performed by following a certain procedure. Besides, I have learned the concept of communication which is a process of sharing information and ideas between or among a small group of people by means of certain kinds of symbols, signs or language. What’s more, I have learned the structure of the speech which contains opening, message, evidence and closing. Furthermore, I have also learned that I can deliver a good opening by providing compliment, questions, mysterious statements or dramatic incidents to the audiences. From the speech given by Leonardo DiCaprio, I have learned that the best way to deliver a speech is to speak without notes for which it is easy for speaker to make eye contact with the audiences. In the future, I can utilize these procedures to analyse some famous speeches given by those famous speakers, such as Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other speakers. Through this effort, I can analyse the methods that they have employed to attract the audiences and how they behaved when they delivered the speeches. After this analysis, I can imitate the way they speak and the way they behave. For the purpose of improving the speech skill, I can practice before the mirror through which I can observe the style of my speech and spot my shortcomings.

Self-reflection on Portfolio B: Article Analysis

After completing this assignment, I have learned the skills to quicken the reading speed on the literatures. To be more specific, in order to quicken the reading speed, I have learned that I should firstly read the introductions and conclusions of the literature that I have chosen before reading the rest of them. Because these two parts can provide a summary of the article on which I can depend to tell whether this article is relevant to my research topic. If the article is relevant, I will skip reading it to figure out its structure and layout. And at the same time, I will highlight the most relevant part of the article which can make it easier for me to read it in details. Besides, I have learned that taking notes of the key words or main ideas of the article will accelerate the reading speed too. In the future, I can study the sentence structure to improve my reading skills and comprehension ability. When I was reading the five articles, I found that some literatures were difficult to understand due to their complicated sentence structures and obscure words. Therefore, as I improve my ability in understanding the sentence and obscure words, the time that I spent on the literatures will be considerably reduced. What's more, I can form a habit to read literatures through which I will familiarize myself with the writing styles and the article structures.

Self-reflection on Portfolio C: Business Documents

Through this assignment, I have firstly learned the importance of the business documents in today’s world that many organizations depend on these media to communicate with customers and provide help in such way. As a result, a good English written skill is essential for ensuring a clear, concise, conversational, and correct written communication. What’s more, I have learned there are three kinds of messages that can be written to communicate or negotiate with other businesses which include the positive messages, negative messages, and persuasive messages. And the three kinds of messages are different in their writing styles and formats. Besides, these three messages should be used according to specific circumstances. Furthermore, I have learned the skills that can be used to organize different materials into a uniform and well-constructed document. In writing a business document, to take the routine & positive message for example, I can use the three-step writing process to guide my writing. In the future, I can improve my writing skills by imitating other’s high qualified business documents and try my best to grasp the contents of the lectures which explain the basics of the business documents. The most difficult thing is to master the difference of the three messages and adopt the appropriate one according to different circumstances. What’s more, in order to improve my skills in composing business documents, I can practice writing essays or short articles which can to a large extent improve my writing ability. Furthermore, reading academic literature is a good way to improve writing skills.