FOA Reflection Form—Part 1—Language & Literature-SL
Submit to:
Examiner
Arrival date:
Session: May 2014
School number: 2090
0
0
8
2
8
School name: American International School of Guangzhou
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Type or write legibly using black ink and retain a copy of this form.
Complete one copy of this form for each task.
Complete this form in the target language.
To complete this form, refer to the Further Oral Activity assessment details in the Language
& Literature guide.
Subject:
English A: Language & Literature
Level:
___SL_____
Candidate name: Simran Thadani
Candidate Session Number:
0 0 1 8 3 2
Area to which the task is linked.
Please include the topic (e.g. language and identity) and sub-topic (e.g. how a person’s language
influences his identity) to which it is linked.
My topic & sub-topic: How language and meaning are shaped by culture and context
specifically through the sub-topic of how the ways in which language affirms Minfong Ho’s
identity in the essay “On Multi-lingual Identity”
Activity type: Powerpoint slide show
In the table below, candidates must list the source of all support materials that relate to the
presentation.
Title of Work/Text
On Multi-lingual Identity
Author
Minfong Ho
How Does our Language Shape Lera Boroditsky
Text Type
Essay
Article
the Way we Think?
“A
Critical
Analysis
of Nancy Hadaway, Terrell A. Article
Language Idnetity Issues in Young and Barbra A. Ward.
Young Adult Literature”
The Balancing Act of Bilingual Samina Hadi-Tabassum
Article
Immersion
Language Effects on Ethnic Brooke S. Pigott and Madeline Article
Identity In Canada
A. Kalbach
The Dialects and Dialogics of Shelley Stigter
article
Code-Switching in the Poetry
of Gregory Scofield and Louise
Halfe
TURN OVER
Further Oral Activity reflection
School name:
(reverse)
American International School Of Guangzhou
Aims for the task—In a well-developed paragraph, state your goal(s) and what you want the class to
learn from your oral activity.
My goal for this Further Oral Activity was to, “Demonstrate an awareness of how language and
meaning are shaped by culture and context”, under the sub-topic, “The ways in which language
affirms identity through an analysis of Minfong Ho’s “On Multi-lingual Identity”.” The main idea that
I wanted to communicate is that the specific cultures and contexts Minfong Ho used to add meaning
to different languages as a multi-lingual beginner speaker helped language act like a “time capsule”.
Specifically, when Minfong Ho tried to affirm her identity by using coping techniques such as code
switching and translations (with specific nouns relating to culture and context), she was able to reinvoke the culture and context in her different language identities because language acts like a time
capsule. This then allowed her, as Minfong Ho states, “[make] a mosaic out of fragments” and affirm
her multiple identities.
Reflection:
In the space below, write a well-developed essay that integrates the elements below. Be sure to
include specific examples from your FOA to support your points. Your reflection (this document) is
DUE within one week of delivering your FOA.
1. Briefly summarize your oral activity.
2. Comment on the strengths and weaknesses of your performance.
3. Comment on how successful you were in achieving your goal(s) (i.e. learning outcomes) in your
FOA.
4. If you had to give your FOA again, would you do anything differently in terms of how you would
prepare for it, how you would structure or organize the oral activity, or how you would perform or
deliver it?
---------------------------------My Further Oral Activity was based on the topic of “How Language Affirms a Multilingual
Identity: An Analysis of Minfong Ho’s “On Multi-lingual Identity”. Before analysing Minfong Ho’s
Essay I first provided statistical evidence proving that language truly affects one’s identity and that
language is truly inclusive of culture. Next, I highlighted quotes from “On Multi-lingual Identity” to
show the culture and context present in the language identities Minfong Ho assumes. Thirdly, I
introduced the idea that languages act like time capsules as they preserve the culture and context of
Ho’s many identities and are incorporated into her coping mechanisms of code-switching and
translations (with specific nouns relating to culture and context) to help her affirm all of her identities
by as she puts it, “making a mosaic out of fragments”.
After presenting my Further Oral Activity and watching a video of my performance I first
realized that although my hook transitioned well into the topic of the FOA, it did not thoroughly
engage the audience, but perhaps if I had included a humorous quote from when I used 3 languages in
a sentence, then it is possible that the audience would be more inclined to listen to the rest of the
presentation. Next, I thought that providing the audience with a background knowledge as to why
culture and context played major roles in shaping a language was a strength of my presentation as it
would serve to convince them of my thesis which states, “The context and culture used to shape the
three languages Minfong Ho explores in her article “On Multi-lingual Identity”, also serves to help
her affirm her multilingual identity through code-switching and the formation of a new writing style.”
Although, when I provided statistical information prior to discussing the context and culture that
Minfong Ho used in her writing, this information served as a detriment to the presentation because I
was focusing on how culture and context shaped Ho’s identity and did not need to prove that there is a
general trend in multilingual speakers wherein languages spoken is a main component of one’s
identity. To solve this problem in future Further Oral Assessments I will specifically address the
question of how the statistics I am using serves to aid the audience’s understanding and acceptance of
my thesis, if at all before the presentation. Aside from statistics, by informing the audience that I
would divide my PowerPoint presentation into two segments (culture and context, and how language
affirms identity) helped the audience organize thoughts to help them easily understand the thesis
statement. In terms of public speaking skills, I think that I was quite audible, I used a significant
amount of hand gestures to illustrate my information and I articulated important words and or phrases.
Although, I thought that I lacked enough eye contact, which allowed the audience’s concentration to
waver. Additionally, I think that I paused too many times during the presentation and re-started a few
sentences, which decreased the fluency of the performance. Therefore, in the future I will surely
practice my presentation several more times in order to be fluent enough and confident enough to
maintain even more eye contact with my audience. As a whole in terms of strength and weaknesses in
my content and presentation skills, though there most certainly are areas for improvement, I believe
that my Further Oral Activity was very informative, and fluent to a level where it does not
significantly impact the audience’s understanding of the content.
Recounting the concluding remarks (which summarized the content I presented) I made at the
end of the Further Oral Activity I believe that although I thoroughly explored my focused topic, there
were some areas of instability in my understanding. For example, I analysed the context and culture
spoken in Ho’s 3 different languages based on a text where she used English as a medium of
communication. Due to my limited lingual abilities, I could only analyse the English text and make
inferences on the context and culture of each language based on what Minfong Ho offered her readers.
Essentially, this did not significantly affect the relevancy of the information I presented, but it would
have made the presentation a bit more credible if I had given examples of, for example, the culture
and context of the Thai culture in the Thai language itself. All in all, I believe that I did reach the
learning goals to my greatest possible capabilities and supported my conclusions with relevant,
credible examples. Additionally, I showed how language affirms identity through the two coping
mechanisms that Minfong Ho introduced in her article by introducing the “time capsule” metaphor
which successfully helps explain why these specific coping mechanisms were used and how language
and stylistic features (present mainly in her translations of Chinese and Thai into English) is used to
create meaning and ultimately affirm her identity. All in all, I believe that most of the content stated in
the presentation has been thoroughly examined and is properly used to support the thesis statement.
Even though some adjustments can be made not only in terms of public speaking skills but also in
terms of content, upcoming Further Oral Presentations will no-doubt benefit from my experience
preparing for and presenting this project.