Causal Essay Outline 10/27

Erin Kurtz

Issue: Students do not feel that Foreign Language courses are necessary.

Claim: Our world is growing smaller and ever more interconnected. Language study is needed in order for us to branch out and broaden our horizons and understand the world around us and the role we play with in it.

Introduction:

In High School I took three foreign languages: German, Chinese, and Japanese. And in each class I dealt with complaints from other students regarding the two year language requirement at our school. I graduated from High School with eight language credits, four times the honors requirement. Besides this, I was friends with students from all over the world (Bosnia, Germany, China, Korea, etc.) leading me to learn more in depth about so many more countries, cultures, and languages. At first I didn't recognize how much all of this was changing my views, but now as I look back I can see the effect that such a variety of culture had on my outlook. And so, while so many of my fellow students found the requirement to be pointless, I felt that there should be more required in this department.

Now, obviously language is not everyone’s forte, but if only my fellow students could have at least realized the importance of sitting through their compulsory two years. Through these classes, whether they realized it or not, they (hopefully) became more culturally informed, more aware of the world around them and their place in the world, and how important cooperation and diversity is. But often I would still hear complaints about these classes on the grounds that they have no use for a foreign language, they don’t plan on traveling, or their career of choice doesn’t involve language. And while I respect their career choices, I don’t think they realize just how small and connected our world has grown.

Causes/Consequences:

·         No matter your career, language and cultural understanding is needed to do well.

o   Language proficiency is a major plus on a resume.

§  No matter what profession someone chooses to pursue, they are sure to encounter and need to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds, in some cases they may not even speak in the same language. On an even more extreme level, if they choose to work for a company, there may come a day where they want to send them overseas for some reason. What is one to do it a situation like this? Sure, even with two years in a language, anyone would be uncomfortable and unable to really speak a language well, but this acts as a great platform in case additional language study is required as well as providing some previous cultural understanding.

·         Promotes cultural understanding in a shrinking world. This is needed in order to communicate and compete.

·         You don’t have to travel to need these skills/knowledge.

·         So much of the world is ahead of us in this aspect already.

o   "All but two countries (Ireland and Scotland) in the European Union mandate the study of a foreign language, which usually begins in primary school. With the exception of Italy and Wales, all European students must learn a foreign language throughout their compulsory education." (Eurydice 2005)

·         Helps in other areas of study

o   • Applying current standard practices of foreign language instruction ("Five Cs of Communication, Culture, and Connections with other disciplines, Comparisons with students' native languages and cultures, and use of the foreign language in Communities outside the classroom") reinforces English language course content of other coursework. (Curtain & Dahlberg 2004)

• Learning another language can enhance knowledge of English structure and vocabulary (Curtain & Dahlberg, 2004).

Conclusion:

Reminder to audience of claim in introduction. Reiterate points and make a final statement to persuade audience of overall claim. 

10/24

The purpose of assignment 3 is to improve our argumentative writing, especially the ability to prove and persuade using causality. There is also a focus again on incorporating outside sources and disagreeing or conceding a point made respectfully.
 I find the assignment quite clear and find nothing confusing.

10/22

Both articles use sufficient evidence from statistics and research. I feel that there could have been more evidence provided for each, but it was sufficient for their purposes. Of the two, the article about marriage provided the best evidences to support their claim.

I found the first article about marriage more persuasive because it was more formally written and I felt it provided more relevant evidence. Also, due to the extensive information about the author at the end of the article I felt that I could trust her more as an author. I also felt that this argument was simply more thought out.

Reflection 10/15

1.      How were they structurally similar and different?

2.       What do you think were the three major aspects of rhetorical analysis essay (ad analysis)?

3.       What do you think are the three major aspects of evaluation argument?

4.       What did you learn from the two major assignments?

1.       Both papers had the same basic structure beginning with a thesis and expanding from there, hitting on each criteria mentioned in the thesis and providing evidence to support (classical structure). Both use analysis and argument (both evaluation). Different: Had to use information from other sources in the second paper, used citation.

2.        Making a logical argument, becoming familiar with new terms such as ethos, logos, pathos, and Kairos, and using precision and clarity in our argument.

3.        Evaluating an artifact without bias, citing information from other sources, and narrowing our category and criteria down well.

4.       I learned the term Kairos and became more familiar with ethos, pathos, and logos.