I will discuss my writing competencies, improvements and the things that helped me grow in ENGLCOM. I am pleased with what I learned during this course because I also learned a few techniques that will really help me in the future. When I exit this level, I also want to be confident with what I learned and share it with others and help them also to improve.

I have strengths and weaknesses in writing but I can safely say that I improved by organizing thought through outlining since I just proceed to drafting and most of the time I commit run-ons and the sentence is out of order. Punctuation was also my weakness cause it’s hard when to put it and the rules and correct usage of the punctuation. In addition, learning to use words in writing helped me a lot because some of them look the same but they are not.

There are weaknesses that are still bothering me and its making me less confident. Before I entered this class I kept having run-on sentences which is like beating around the bush and it makes my work bland. I also can’t organize ideas until I learned outlining cause it makes it easier to insert my ideas. And as I said earlier, I misuse the punctuation and I am still improving on this.

There are things that helped me in this course like outlining techniques, writing process and editing. I hope that in the future I will be able to perfect this skill and influence others by teaching them the correct usage. But language is an indispensably tool that we use in our life and we should perfect it to have a deeper understanding of each other.

I have competencies in reading and reading it aloud, pronounciation, speaking, putting my ideas in an order in an essay. I think I can further improve my skills in communication, grammar and putting mu thoughts in an essay in a perfect manner by practicing and learning more about it in ENGLCOM. ENGLCOM for me, is supposed to teach me how to be a fluent speaker and a good writer. The course would also make me understand the importance on being a good communicator in the society. this course will help me achieve this by training us and applying them though various medias or an oral citations about a certain report. ENGLCOM would also teach us thins or skills that would come in handy on some part of our lives and my improvement will show on how I handled a certain problem in my life that would require them. I hope that after this course all of my problems about reading and writing would finally be solved and I can be an effective communicator. There are many Filipinos today that can’t speak fluent or can’t speak English at all, and I hope that someday that I could help them just as this course helped my problem. I also expect my professor to be reasonable and fun, so that I could approach him without any doubt asking him for help or advice. I also know that I would only be absorbing on what the professor would teach but someday I wish to reach the point of where I can also share information with them that would  make us richer in culture. 

Thesis statement:

                Although social networking can really help with social interactions, it can also distract people from their work, use it for criminal deeds, and lock themselves in their rooms.

Outline:

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Nature of Social Networking

3.0 Uses of Social Networking

3.1 Personal Uses

3.2 Work Purposes

3.3 Business Functions

4.0 Effects of Social Networking

4.1 Positive

4.1.1Maintains Long Distance Relationships.

4.1.2 Offers People Jobs

4.1.3 Can Help with Peoples Social Status and Boost Self-Confidence

4.2 Negative

4.2.1 Too Distracting for Work/Studies

4.2.2 People Use This for Criminal Deeds

4.2.1 People Tend to Lock Themselves in Their Room

5.0 Conclusion

                Social networking has become a part of almost every person on earth and if you don’t have this then you’re not hip or in with the generation today. It gives people more practice on their social skills and it helps maintain relationships with their family and friends. However, people tend to get addicted to social networks that they can’t work with focus, and they could be a victim of criminals who would take advantage of this. It becomes a powerful tool and for now it can be used for work, personal, business and sometimes criminal purposes depending on who is using it.

                Since the introduction of social networking sites, like Facebook, it quickly attracted millions of users that use it every day as stated by Boyd (2007) and Ellison (2007). Most of these social networking sites support the pre-existing one by maintaining them. Also, some people want to attract attention so that they may get popularity through this medium based on what things they both like and dislike. Some of them also share information that people will learn from and as the SNS or social networking site grows, it invents new ways of reaching its users easily, that’s why mobile blogging was invented as also stated by Boyd(2007) and Ellison(2007).

                There are many uses of social networking and most of them can either be used for good or be abused by the user depending on what t the user does to his page. For most teens, the SNS is frequently used wherever they may go and this is evident if you go around the campus to like at their phones or laptops to see if they have an SNS opened in their gadgets. Personal use of SNS has been becoming public since the blog is invented and some people or their parents are shocked or gave different reactions to their blog since it contains secrets and persona information that they are willing to give to strangers (Barnes, 2006).

                As stated by DiMicco, Millen, Geyer, Dugan, Brownholtz, & Muller (2008), the introduction of the SNS inside a large enterprise enables new ways of communication within the employees that can help strengthen the bond and trust among them. This increases the confidence of each worker that they are motivated to work and talk with each other hence their progress in work increases sufficiently.

                SNS can also be used for business transactions like transferring money, advertisements, selling items and many more. Not only is it easy to find a customer, it also helps the economy by the contribution its giving so just these people would meet up and talk about the business transaction. SNS builds new business contacts that can also build with the co-workers or customer’s trust as said by O’Murchu, Breslin, & Decker(2004) so that they will need to be concerned about the product if it’s broken or if the transaction was just a scam. They would always buy from the same person over and over so it can be a win-win situation.

                SNS can actually have both positive and negative sides like all things which have an advantage and a disadvantage. Depending on the user, it can be used to abuse people and it can also help others because the SNS can really be a powerful tool since almost everyone has it and it has become a daily routine for them.

                First, it can maintain a long distance relationship as long as you have any gadget to connect to the SNS and have a contact with the person you want to talk to. It’s a good effect since far away Family and friends can be contacted through the internet, and the user who is posting the blog can share his status and feelings about what is happening in his or her life (Barnes, 2006).

                Second, it offers people jobs and opportunities to make a living out of this since someone has to maintain the SNS and anyone can have the job of a retailer by selling second-hand items or advertising brand new items. Sometimes people can recruit others in their company by posting the job requirements and other information required to take the job and the one applying can also submit their résumé quickly so both of them can save time and speed up the recruitment process for others.

                Lastly, it boosts the confidence and social status of a person through practicing charisma without getting nervous of a face-to-face contact with the one he or she is talking to. O’Murchu, Breslin, & Decker (2004) concluded that popularity is also included if the person has many friends. Most people will conclude that this person is popular but that is wrong. SNS sites can become a popularity contest and having more friends will make a person feel like he or she is a celebrity which is good because he can become more sociable.

Like the moon, SNS also has its dark side and one example of this would be that it’s too distracting for work and studies since other people always post something that we are interested in and it can cause delay of work. O’Murchu, Breslin, & Decker (2004) said the terms Friendster whore has been invented because of some people who can’t control their urges to go to their SNS and reply to each message that they receive and it’s like the SNS is making out with you and it’s really hard to get away from it.

                Another example of this would be the SNS can be used for criminal deeds if you are not careful with the people who you share your personal information with. Barnes (2006) explained why parents are shocked when they read their children’s blog; sometimes their child posts some very sensitive information. This attracts criminals to target some or daughter by deceiving them with fake information and this makes it easier for the criminals to get them in a secluded place and abduct them.

                The most common bad influence of the SNS would be its users tend to lock themselves in their room and sit in the front of the computer for days and lack of sunshine and exercise causes them to be sick. Sometimes they pretend what they are not and SNS can really be addictive that’s why some people can’t get away from it. Hanson (2011) said some people would even be a cyber-freak and they are forgetting the real world and ignore their friends and families near to him.

                I realize now that there is more to social networking than talking to your friends and family. It can also be a good tool for companies and entrepreneurs. It can also help criminals but also help the police to track these criminals just by looking at the open blog. The power of the SNS today is really astounding since a good speaker can hypnotize or persuade a person to do things for them with just a written text and sitting somewhere just typing. The horrors and comforts of the SNS is just a way of how the generation is growing but it’s up to them to abuse or help people.

References

Barnes, S.B. (2006, September 6). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org:

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/1394

Danah M. Boyd, N.B. (2007, December 17). Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com:

                http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/full

DiMicco, J., Millen, D.R., Geyer, W., Dugan, C., Brownholtz, B., & Muller, M. (2008). Retrieved from http://portal.acm.org:

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1460674&preflayout=flat

Hanson, M. (2011, April 20). Retrieved from http://michaelhansonwordpress.com:

                http://michaelhansonwordpress.com/2011/04/20/real-world-social-media-the-power-of-networking/

                O’ Murchu, I., Breslin, J.G., & Decker, S. (2004, August). Online Social and business Networking Communities. 7.

Intro:

-Lead-in statements: The term sociolinguistics has been defined by authors such as a) the study of language (Hudson; 1996); b) the difference between sociolinguistics and sociology of language (Paulston & Tucker; 2003); c) People have different views about sociolinguistics (Wardhaugh; 1986).

-Thesis Statement: Sociolinguistics is a combination of the words social means the characteristics of the person or animal and linguistics means language.

Topic 1:

-The two kinds of studying sociolinguistics.

-The year when the study of sociolinguistics became relevant for people.

Topic 2:

-Two of the author’s stated that the study of sociolinguistics boomed in 1960’s.

-The difference between sociolinguistics and sociology of language.

-They could not trace the past of sociolinguistics but it has its secret past.

Topic 3:

-People can never have the same mind and that’s when sociolinguistics comes in.

-Their reference in society changes or their way of thinking changes as times changes.

Conclusions:

-Sociolinguistics changes as time passes.

-Difference words can never be translated to its fullest because of culture and evolution of language.

-they study of sociolinguistics started 50 years ago but the real date of when was it started could not be traced.

-The difference between sociolinguistics and the sociology of language.

Sociolinguistics is a combination of the words social means the characteristic of the person or animal and linguistics means language. This term is applicable for animals and humans alike because humans and animals can both communicate with each other and each of them has certain characteristics and no one has the same way of thinking no matter how you try to pair them. Sociolinguistics is the very foundation of society, without the different thinking of people, there would never be a new idea since everybody is so uniform so there would never be a progression in society. This kind of psychology is understood by three different authors, sociolinguistics defined by: Hudson, R.A. (1996); Christina Bratt Paulston, G. Richard Tucker (2003); Ronald Wardhaugh (1986).

                According to Hudson (1996) there are two ways of studying sociolinguistics and that is the empirical and theoretical methods which can also be referred to amassing a body of fact give reference to the study and the armchair method which is just making conclusions and is very productive. He also said that the study of sociolinguistics were really booming at the 1960’s but that does not mean mankind just realized that why needed to know more about this, he also stated that people from long ago and different dialects studied this but was not given that much of an importance.

                As stated by Paulston (2003) and Tucker (2003), the study of sociolinguistics occurred in the 1960’s so this might mean that they were all aware that productivity of the study of sociolinguistics was only then and until now. They also said that sociolinguistics and sociology of language are two different things and it was very complicated for people to differentiate the two until they came up with a simplification of this. Sociolinguistics was concerned with the vast description of language and sociology of language was concerned with the explanation and prediction of language within the society in the social groups. Since then people are trying to understand linguistics better but they could not trace its past so they could only move on not knowing how fat the people from the past understand sociolinguistics.

                I and Wardhaugh (1986) have a very similar view about society and defining sociolinguistics. Also, the different viewpoints of people around the world can really affect the study of sociolinguistics depending on the person’s behaviour and language because they can never be both the same, so I go back to my definition of sociolinguistics which is a viewpoint about a certain topic can never be the same since they are different from each other and their reference from society changes from time to time as people change.

As a conclusion, sociolinguistics is the study on how a person uses language and as culture changes their viewpoints also changes and a language can never be fully translated so it’s fullest meaning and each word may have more than its meaning as to the other or the opposite. The study of sociolinguistics also started only 50 years ago but the 1960’s was the only time that the study of sociolinguistics was very evident and there are maybe deeper understanding of people of this during the past but people will never uncover since they said they cannot trace it. And that sociolinguistics was the vast description of knowledge and the sociology of language is concerned with the explanation and prediction of language because we know that language is constantly changing.

Droitwitch is an awkward movement when two people can’t decide where they should go. In some countries there are many people that don’t know which side they should stay on, therefore creating a droitwitch. It is very common in the streets because people differ from each other many of them has yet to learn about this; since droitwitch is not a popular word that most people would know about. Droitwitch can be avoided by using the traffic lanes or driving side the country uses so they would not collide with each other. If two people from different countries meet, there is a high probability that they will create droitwitch out of the incident that will cause them to face each other because their countries have different driving lanes. Droitwitch causes awkward moments, because they don’t know each other and they keep repeating the same mistake.

Party Rock is a song and dance that was choreographed by one of the best crews in America; that’s meant for partying teens; so everyone can dance and no one would be left out; because of its easy steps, it invites everyone to dance and the song to serve as an inspiration for them to express themselves. The video shows that there is no one way to dance and that they dance in their own ways. they are also different, they show various clothing to represent themselves and to show their difference as individuals. By almost the end of the song, they created a dance circle where they could show their own genre of dance like break-dance, isolation, and few contemporary dance steps. One of the masters of these dance styles can be the Quest Crew, a champion of America’s Best Dance Crew and being a master or champion, they show their dancing prowess through showing them in the music video Party Rock Anthem. The crew serves as an inspiration to aspiring dancers, because of their reputation and skill can really bring out the best in them. The people who choreographed this made it simple for everyone to dance and it has a simple or single beat throughout the song. The song and dance not only inspire dancers, it also brings out their individuality in their own style of dance. Popularizing this song by the Quest Crew and the artist LMFAO helped it to spread across the world to express themselves by their own dance styles.

this is the link for our englcom video hope you enjoy. :)

Realizations

Reading Log(week 7)-The 4 Wives

(week 8)-The Making of a Mother

(week 9)-Love and Time

(week 10)-Building Your House

(week 11)-NASA finds new evidence of water on Mars

(week 12)-The Golden Egg

Video Presentation