The evidence of my English learning
Dalia Cabada Pesรกntez Yachay Tech University English Language Program Yachay, Ecuador
The evidence of my English learning Dalia Cabada PesĂĄntez English Language Program Yachay Tech University Level 6-005 Teacher: Matthew Mackey January 9, 2017 UrcuquĂ-Imbabura
Contents: 1. Portfolio letter
2. Literary Analysis 3. Response essay 4. Interpretation essay 5. Research project essay 6. Thank you letter
Portfolio Letter
Dalia Nathaly Cabada PesĂĄntez UrcuquĂ-Ecuador Campus Yachay December 9, 2016
Dear Portfolio Reader,
My name is Dalia Cabada. Thank you for reading my English portfolio. This contains some of essays that I wrote during my last course of English, including my research project. Moreover, it contains my experience during this semester. It is about what I improved, what was more difficult, and more helpful for me during this semester. At the beginning of this semester, I thought that I was going to waste time because of essays that I would have to write. Moreover, I thought that I would not learn much about writing because I had already learned about citations, references in previous semesters. However, this was not a wasting of time because they helped me to be more familiar with writing essays. Also, it not only helped me write better, but also they helped me to improve some skills. I wrote some types of essays. I wrote an argumentative essay, literary analysis essay, response essay, interpretation essay, and a research essay. The last four you can read in this portfolio. Each essay helped me to improve some skill, such as critical thinking,
good argumentation, teamwork, and sense of research respectively. Essays that I liked mostly were both interpretation essay and research essay because I learned with them are
important and needed in the professional and student life. Additionally, I have improved my skill of public speaking because of presentations that I had to present during this semester. Teamwork has always been difficult for me because it implies the commitment of
others to make something work. But, because interpretation essay was a collaborative essay; it allowed me to understand that although teamwork is complex, I can do assignments in less time if the group is well organized. On the other side, I liked to write the research essay because it allowed me to be more familiar with the research, and finding of sources. These skills will be very useful during my career. On the other hand, the greatest difficulty I had during this course of English was related with the spent time on essays and other activities. Essays and activities that I had to do spent a lot of time, and because I had other subjects’ assignments, it was difficult to carry out on time. However, independent of difficulties I had to deal in this English semester, it has been beneficial because I could improve my organization in writings, my critical thinking, and my sense of research because of essays that you are going to read in this portfolio. Thank you again for reading my portfolio. Gratefully,
Dalia Cabada PesĂĄntez
Response Essay
Running head: LANGUAGE AND THOUGHTS
Language and thoughts: Does language shape thoughts or do thoughts affect the use of language? Dalia Cabada Yachay Tech University September 30, 2016
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Language and thoughts: Does language shape thoughts or do thoughts affect the use of language?
Thoughts exist without language, but language does not exist without thoughts. Language is the way that human beings communicate with each other. There exist approximately 7,000 different languages in the world (Anderson, 2012). Then, does it mean 7.000 different ways to communicate with each other? “How does our language shape the way we think” is an article written by Lera Boroditsky in which she tells us that use of language makes us think differently and makes us have a different perspective of the world. These ideas have been debated for a long time, and still no conclusive answers have been found. Although Boroditsky argues strongly that language shapes our thoughts, and she gives some examples, language is only a reflection of our thoughts and changes according to culture. Boroditsky (2009) collected data from different countries to carry out her research on language and its relationship to thought. In these countries, how people use different language to talk about space and time was analyzed. She found that language changes the cognition of people. In other words, language changes people’s perception, even if they only change the gender of the things when they talk. For example, people from a community in Australia seem better oriented than English speakers because they only use cardinal terms in order to refer to space. On the other hand, Boroditsky found that English speakers normally use horizontal spatial metaphors to talk about time whereas mandarin
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speakers use vertical spatial metaphors. However, she does not consider other factors that can affect the perception of people. First of all, thoughts come first and then they are expressed through language. This means that language is only the expression of our thoughts and is the way to communicate them. Therefore, how it is possible that language shapes the way we think if it is only a tool to express thoughts? Many people think that language can change the perception of the things which people are talking about. Consequently, it changes the thoughts about these things. However, thoughts are intimately related with traditions, lifestyle, habits or experiences that people have in their daily lives therefore, these things can affect thoughts. For instance, if someone has a bad experience with something. Then, his perception about this thing will change because of his experience. Thus, he will look for words to describe his feelings about that. This is a clear example that the language is used only to express thoughts, and it is modified according what people want to say. Second of all, saying something in different way does not mean that this something is different. That is to say that thoughts can be expressed in different ways, but it does not mean that thoughts are different. Using another language to talk does not shape thoughts, but simply is another form of talking. In the article, Boroditsky writes about a small community in Australia called Pormpuraaw where people talk about the space using just cardinal points instead of words like “front”, “next”, “forward”, “back”, “left”, or “right” which are commonly used in English (Boroditsky, 2009). She said that it causes them to be more oriented that English speakers. However, it is not caused by using another way to refer space, but because they are trained to think this way because of their culture. However
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when they talk about north or south, their thoughts about where something is located does not change. Talking about the space in another way is just that another way to say the same thought. For example, if they want to say María is who is on the right of Juan they say María is east of Juan. However, because they say it in different way does not mean that they are thinking something different about where is María. It is another way to say it. It is only an expression. Finally, language changes according to needs of people. Culture of people is dynamic. It changes because of technology, climate, lifestyle and new needs of people. Consequently language also changes in order to describe and express these new thoughts about the world. Therefore, culture of people shapes thoughts and language and not vice versa. If thoughts were constrained by language, what would happen with people who do not use different words for describing colors? Do they really do not realize the difference between colors? It leads us to the same, language is a way to describe thoughts which is shaping according to the culture of people. On the other hand, mandarin speakers talk about time in different way than English speakers, but it is caused by how they are trained to write and it is again culture. Because they use different spatial metaphors to talk about the time, it does not change that yesterday is past, today is present, and tomorrow is future. It does not change their thought about the time. In conclusion, thoughts are shaped according to habits, lifestyle, and new needs of people. In other words, thoughts are modified according to the culture. Therefore, because culture is dynamic and changing arise the need to express new things about the world. It means, language is changed because thoughts are shaped in different way. Language is
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only a way to express these thoughts. The fact that people use different language in order to communicate does not mean they think in different way. Language does not shape our thoughts. It is a tool to communicate each other, and is changing and adaptive.
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References Anderson, S. (2012). Languages: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. Boroditsky, L. (2009). How does our language shape the way we think?. Edge.org.
Literary Essay
Dalia Cabada Pesántez Matthew Mackey Level 06-001 October 13, 2016
Sometimes the pasts of people do not let them live in the present. It traps them. It is like if they were carrying a rock on their back, and it did not let them walk as they wanted. “Why Don’t You Dance?” is a story written by Raymond Carver. This story is about a man who, a certain day, decided to sell everything he had inside of his house. Thus, he pulled out his things in his yard. After a time, the yard sale called the attention of a young
couple who are furnishing a little apartment, so they stopped in front of the man’s house and began to examine the things. At the end of the story the man sold everything he had for a lower price. In this story the garage sale symbolize a desperate act for releasing, this man needed to leave the past behind and no longer hide from people around him. The man wanted to leave the past behind. Everything brings us remembering about something. These remembering can be sometimes good remembering or bad remembering. When the man decided to sell everything from his house he really wanted to get rid out of all things related with his past. This way he wanted to get releasing of the negative past events that he lived. In the story can be appreciated that the garage sale
was a desperate action for liberation because the price of the things was not important
for the man, he only wanted to sell his things. For example, the man simply accepted the price they asked him. He wanted forget his life with his wife. In the beginning of the story the man is in the kitchen. While he was drinking whiskey, he suddenly looked at the bedroom, and he
observed with sadness the things which were in his bedroom. The narrator of the story describes how the man observed his side on the bed and her side. This man had ordered everything as it was before, her reading lamp next to her side and her nightstand too. This action reflects that the man wanted to forget. Exactly all his life with his wife. Therefore, he decided to sell her things, and this way he could get releasing. He did not want to stay hidden from people around him. The fact that this man ordered his things in the yard like if they were inside means that he wanted to show his need for releasing. He wanted that everyone who surrounded him, in this case his neighbors, knew that he did not want to stay hiding any more. He wanted start a new
beginning, and he wanted that everyone knew it. For example, when the man asked the young people for dancing if they want to although the girl said people are watching us, the man said it does not matter it is my yard. It reflects not only that he did not wanted to stay hiding from people, but also he wanted to have the control of his life.
In conclusion, the garage sale means the liberation of the protagonist of this story, it means that he wanted to leave the past behind getting out of the things which caused him bad remembering about his wife.
Interpretation Essay
Running head: OPPOSING POINTS OF VIEW RELATED TO EACH OTHER
Opposing points of view related to each other Dalia Cabada, David Altamirano, Juan Laglaguano & Catalina Gordillo. Yachay Tech University November 18, 2016
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Opposing points of view related to each other “Art is the mediator of the inexpressible”. Wolfgang Von Goethe. Art is a way that artists use to express their emotions, their vision, and ideas about the world. There are many kinds of art. One of these kind of art is abstract art. This is one of the most free and beautiful art forms because it does not force the painter to represent something that already exists, but rather something that comes out from of the inside. Therefore, viewers of this kind of art also have to connect with themselves to give an interpretation about an abstract painting. It means that abstract art gives them freedom of interpretation (La Galicia, 2016). Vasili Kandinsky, a painter of Russian origin, was the precursor of abstraction in painting. One of his famous painting is “Distinct Connection” Distinct refers to separate and connection means linking. Distinct Connection by Kandinsky give us the message that two contrary things can occur at the same time, they are order and disorder are really the same. First of all, “Distinct Connection” shows an order of the universe through geometric shapes. This painting is composed by geometric shapes like circles, squares, triangles, and others geometric elements such as curves and lines. All of these represent order. For example, circles mean perfection, stability, and equilibrium. Squares also represent perfection because they have the same angles and sides. Moreover, triangles means the connection between cosmos, God, and the being human. The lines represent the uniformity and continuity of the universe. The horizontal lines represent security and support because we relate the horizontal structures with points of support. The vertical lines
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represent the ascendance which means the relationship between the sky and earth. All of these geometric elements show universe in an ordered way (Bradley, 2010). Second of all, there is an ordered combination of colors used in the painting. The relationship among colors and the order is that colors help to make a concrete representation of shapes and feelings of the author. The black color helps to highlight in a non-scandalous way the elements of painting, and it is related with order. The white color reflects purity, dignity, and unity. On the other side, the red color symbolizes power, action. It is a color associated with vitality, ambition, and passion. The blue represents the night. In antiquity, it was associated with infinity, immortality, royalty, and the sacred. Another color present in the painting is the yellow color (Olesen, 2016). This color has a curious meaning and symbolism, it is associated with happiness. This combination of colors present in the painting might produce in the viewers a sense of a quiet and ordered world. Finally, “Distinct Connection� shows that ordered things can be disordered. Disorder is expressed in many ways in the universe. In arts for example it seeks to violate the forms of perception of the senses, stimulate them to a pleasurable visual orgasm. The picture "Distinct Connection although this painting is composed by ordered things, it looks disordered because of the spatial distribution of the figures on the plane. On the one side, a white plane harmonizes this disorder and gives rise importance to the figures resulting in a radiant geometric arrangement. It looks like a solar system with satellites orbiting, space and planets that benefit from the light of the sun.
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The disorder is based on the fact that none of the figures present would make sense on their own, or a correct meaning would not be interpreted because they are placed without a specific pattern. There is a black circle on the upper left of the painting, in context with the painting this circle looks like a black hole. This in itself represents the chaos of the universe because it does not radiate light, and it is a supermassive body that attracts to the others towards its definitive extinction. It breaks the order in the cosmos. And in the painting this element breaks the order because it is the most striking detail that does not have the primary colors. In the down part of the picture there is more black color contained in small stable squares that crosses like space debris, without order, just cross. In the planet instead there are curves lines that looks like a set of antennas, represent the freedom and chaos because it does not maintain the aesthetic geometry of the painting, it incites to break the system and go against. In conclusion, order and disorder are related to each other in order to give an ordered perception of the universe. The universe where we live is chaotic, every time becomes more disordered and takes an inexorable direction towards the chaos. However, nature fights with the hope to keep the order, and in a way, has achieved it, because even in the chaos we can find order, is its essence. The painting establishes a connection between order and disorder that is summarized in universal equilibrium. The equilibrium is something inherent in the universe, both order and disorder depend on each other, counteract each other. Therefore, the universe always tends to equilibrium. Moreover, it depends on the each one’s perception of order and disorder. It means that an ordered thing can be a disorder for another person who see it. In Kandinsky's painting can be seen that the
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disordered position of figures and colors form a relatively orderly, meaningful and agreeable picture. It shapes the beautiful disorder of the universe through figures and colors representing the ordered cosmos.
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References Bradley, S. (2010, April 5). The Meaning of Shapes: Developing Visual Grammar. Retrieved from: http://vanseodesign.com/web-design/visual-grammar-shapes/ Galicia, L. (2016). Wassily Kandinsky. El artista que creo la abstracción lírica en la pintura. [Online] La voz de Galicia. Retrieved from: http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/informacion/2014/12/15/wassily-kandinskyartista-creo-abstraccion-lirica-pintura/00031418644201785445423.htm [Accessed 18 Nov.2016] Olesen, J. (2016). Color Meanings – Learn about Colors and Symbolism. Retrieved from: http://www.color-meanings.com/
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Research Project
Essay
Running head: LANGUAGE AND THOUGHTS
LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT: Relationship between language and thought Dalia Cabada Pesรกntez Yachay Tech University
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Abstract The relation between language and thought has been questioned by a long time. This paper makes a summary about the origin and development of both language and thought to understand the connection between these two characteristics of human beings. Both, thought and language have a common factor involved in their development, culture factor, which is given by the social context • where people live. The presence of this factor allow to ensure that language by itself cannot shape thoughts of people because this is a strong part inside of each individual difficult to change.
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Relationship between Language and Thought Will it be possible to shape our thoughts if we change the way we communicate? Can language shape thoughts? These questions have been discussed for a long time within the field of neuroscience, linguistics, and contemporary psychology too. For answering these questions is necessary to know about the relation between thought and language. There exists some theories about the relation between these two fields. The most important theories are the Aristotle´s theory, which says that language and thoughts are the same, Wittgenstein’s theory, which says that language and thoughts work separately, Cassier’s theory that argues thought precedes language and their opposite, Humbolt’s theory, which says that language precedes thoughts (Eumed.net, 2016). Knowing about the relation between language and thought would allow to understand thoughts of human beings through their language and also how language can influence thoughts or vice versa. For the reasons mentioned above, the deepening on this subject has a significant importance. For the best understanding about the connection between language and thought, is mandatory to analyze all factors that can affect both language and thoughts. After analyzing the origin and development of both thought and language, then is noticeable that language by itself cannot shape thoughts. First of all, thought is a complex process that only human beings developed. It is a superior function of the brain. Palacios (2016) says that thought is a set of ideas which appear in order to solve some problems. In other words, when the man faces some troubles,
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many ideas arise in his head to solve them, and these ideas form a thought. But how this process to form ideas happen, this thought process is formed by two stages. First, the stage of concrete thinking. This stage occur during the childhood. It serves to concretize things and give them their meaning by their name. It refers to know things by their physical properties but without analyzing what they serve or what their function are. The second stage is the abstract thought. This phase consists on the deep analysis of things. It is to make an abstraction of the things and analyse them. The result of this thought process is to generate symbols that allow people to create symbols in such a way that they can understand their environment (Palacios, 2016). Transition For example, if someone asks how the psychopaths think. First of all, we think what means psychopaths and according to that we can analyse how they could think. Not entirely sure how psychopaths fits into this discussion. The factors involved in the formation and development of thoughts are conceptualizations inherited and emotions caused by the surroundings. Conceptualizations give people the meaning of things and these are inherited because they are taught during childhood. For instance, a child at the beginning he do not know anything about the things in the world, but while he is growing, he begin to know the things according how his parents teach him. He form his concepts, and then he used them in order to analyse and make reasoning about a specific situation. This entails that thoughts can be influenced by the concrete thoughts about the things, concepts, and this can vary according to the culture and traditions of people. Therefore, culture and traditions can influence in certain way the
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thoughts. I think you may need to spend more time explaining how cultures and traditions influence thoughts. In fact, you could make this its own paragraph. On the other side, emotions are caused by the experiences that people live in the daily life. These feeling are involve in the thought process because they generate in certain way a meaning of the things, maybe this meaning is not conceptual; however, they produce a concrete idea about something (BaraĂąano, 2016). For example if the feeling is bad, it produces that people think that something is wrong with a specific thing, and vice versa. In other words, if something produces good emotions, it causes a good thought; and if something produces bad emotions, it generates the opposite thought. Consequently, it is noticeable that emotions can affect the perception of the things therefore they can shape thoughts in certain way. Second of all, the relation between language and thought is inevitable but it is noticeable that thought can shape language and not vice versa because of theories about the origin and development of language. Language is a structured system of communication. It allows people express their ideas or better said their thoughts. The origin of the language is not known, but that is known is that it arises the need to communicate with others. Exist many theories, however the most accepted by linguists is that language was the result for imitating the sounds of nature. Others argues, that the ancestors had the idea and consciously assigned sounds to things in order to establish a pattern for communication (Boeree & Fuenzalida, 2016). Having a citation at the end of the paragraph tells the reader
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that this whole paragraph is from someone else, so it is okay at times, but you want to be careful. Try concluding your body paragraphs with your own comments. Way to communicate, language, has been varying by the time and by places. It means that it is changing according to places and time. For example, in some places the way to communicate with others is warmer, in other places • is more serious. This differences are related with the culture of people. People speak with others in the way that they learned from their environment where they live. It means that development of language in certain way is involved in a social context. In this sense it does not differ so much from the development of thoughts. Over time language has been changing even in places where the language is the same. It is to say that even in places where the way to express ideas is the same language is changing because the need to be more clear and detailed for speaking arises. For example, people especially the youngest, invent new words for expressing something with more enthusiasm or more emotion. And then these words are accepted by the society consequently are spoken by the most. Thirdly, Language help to conceptualize the things but it cannot shape thoughts. According to the things discussed before, for the formation of thoughts • is necessary to conceptualize the things, give them their meaning, however the conceptualization of the things, the relevance of their using is given essentially by cultural inheritance. It means that although language in certain way help to develop thoughts, cannot shape thoughts because they depend on culture. For example, if a person learn another type of language their thoughts about the world, their perception about the world, will be the same because these
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thoughts were already formed according to the culture of people from their surroundings. Even if this new language requires more attention to the environment, cultural part cannot shaped because this is a strong part inside in each individual. Therefore, thoughts cannot be shaped. On the other hand, many scientists have tried to demonstrate that language can shape thoughts. To demonstrate it would be a great contribution for scientists interested in these fields. For example, psychologists could elaborate best strategies for changing the negative thoughts of people. People who think that the different use of language can, in fact, shape the thoughts of people, have tried to support their hypothesis with results that they have obtained from some experiments. For example, Boroditsky, an assistant professor of psychology, founded that people who use cardinal terms to refer about space are better oriented than English speakers. Also, she founded that people who use a language where verbs change, according tense and gender, pay more attention to surroundings (Boroditsky, 2009). Also, this people argue that because the things are conceptualized through language, language can shape thoughts. It is opposite to the statement of this research because language by itself cannot shape thoughts. Arguments used by these people cannot be considered as a proof to say that language shape the way we think because they cannot considered that other factors can influence shaping of thoughts. Therefore, their argumentation would not be true. For example, when Boroditsky says that the use of language affect the sense of orientation of people she did not considered culture of people, and other factors that can affect it.
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Therefore, the argumentation of both is a fallacy of false cause. And on the other side, although language interacts with thoughts through conceptualizations of things, it is not an enough reason to say that language can shape thoughts because an idea can be formed just by feelings and not only by language. In conclusion, Language and thought do not work separately because thoughts are expressed through language, and not only language is for the expression of thoughts, but for conceptualizations of things, and it is necessary to form thoughts. However, although is evident the interaction between these two characteristics of the human beings language cannot shape by itself thoughts of people because this is a complex process that depends on culture. Moreover, can exist thoughts without language but not language without thoughts. For example musical thought. And finally thought in certain way can shape language because the need to expressed ideas more detailed or more emphasized arises. Therefore, thoughts can shape language and not vice versa.
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References BaraĂąano, M. (2016). Emociones, sentimientos, actitudes, pensamiento y salud Monografias.com. Monografias.com. Retrieved 5 December 2016, from http://www.monografias.com/trabajos-pdf5/emociones-sentimientos-actitudespensamiento-y-salud/emociones-sentimientos-actitudes-pensamiento-y-salud.shtml Boeree, G. & Fuenzalida, C. (2016). Los OrĂgenes del Lenguaje. Webspace.ship.edu. Retrieved 5 December 2016, from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/origenesesp.htm Boroditsky, L. (2009). How does our language shape the way we think? Edge.org. Eumed.net. (2016). El lenguaje y Pensamiento. Retrieved December 4 2016, from http://www.eumed.net/rev/cccss/03/jmhv1.htm
Thank you Letter
My English learning experience has been enriching. During this process I have had difficulties but the benefits that I learned are greater. I hope to continue learning this language. Thank you for reading my portfolio, I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Learning a language is to have a more window from which to observe the world. Chinese proverb