DALN – Analysis of Writing
I had some reservations in looking into the narratives that were put together on this large database. The real depth of DALN is very intimidating and I did not know where to start. There were many places I could have went to to make my analysis complete. As an English major, writing was the first thing that I thought of and took a dive into the deep in. After listing to my first one about the writing experience, I knew I had found the right topic to work on. I looked for all narratives that was about the initial experience regarding the reading and writing process. All of them were involving people learning the language or learning to write at a young age in America. I was not surprised about what each person said but some things were shocking and made me think of the things I had to do as a child.
The main things that made these stories different was the aspect of culture and background. Two that I reviewed involved people learning the language and the interference that can be caused with primary language. The narrative with a woman named Merdarka was exactly that. She shared her struggles of trying to learn English with her first language of the Philippians coming through, making it increasing more difficult to get the language correct. The culture that she was from has it’s own language and phonetics that were completely different then that of American English. The other narrative involved a man from Asian descent as well and his writing reflected all of these things. He could write English but the grammar was not the best and made it had to read. As a person that already knows English and most all of the grammar rules, I instantly corrected what was written and that is something I know he could not be able to do. I do find it interesting to see that some people from other places have such a hard time with the English language when it comes to writing. Compared to other languages, the American Standard English has so many complexities that cannot be understood by those that are non-native speakers.
One story told of a man’s experiences as a child with his grandmother. This is where he learned to complete his sentences and to be a better reader. This is true for many individuals as they learn from an adult figure in the family that we trust and love. Anthony Wills’ story was a very cute one and seem to show the connect that can be made through language. Language is one of those things that the human race has over the animals in that we can build a relationship between one another and have a strong foundation in the family sphere. Wills’ story about his grandmother shows that relationship that most every person has experienced growing up in America.
When thinking about my past experiences with writing, I have to consider my upbringing and how my parents forced reading and writing on me as a punishment. My story was similar to that of Kristen Moore who shared her story of her school that made her write apologies to people that they may have offended that past week. Her story actually helped her become more open to reading and writing, mine crushed it. I have a problem now with reading because I never had the opportunity to read for pleasure and now I despise reading. Kristen Moore’s story was very inspirational considering that more times than not, any punishment will foster a negativity against the thing that was enforced on them.
To think about this in the larger scheme of things, these narratives were a pleasant look into how people gain their ability to speak and write properly. One man even went as far to say that people have lost their ability to write and read at the level that they should. I do see this among my peers and those that are younger than me. People, through countless technological advances, have lost the ability to write in a way that will be suitable for those in the academic fields. I know that I have been subject to this phenomenon and I do not know how to explain it other than my generation is lazy and would much rather let a machine or some thing else do it for them. I am glad that I have the advantage of being an English student so that I am able to keep my literary skills at their peak so that I am not a part of the generation that this man is speaking about.
Narratives I read or watched
- Writing and Tech Writing
- Jungi Moon – My Writing
- Anthony Wills – Learning how to read and write
- Kristen Moore – Writing as Punishment
- Merdarka – Learning to Write and Read
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