Reflective Writing

As we all know, English is the universal language and it is the primary language used in Singapore. However, English is not my first language, hence I always encounter difficulty in communicating with other people. I cannot express myself well because my vocabulary is very poor. For example, I cannot explain my thoughts well to my peers and always causes misunderstanding as I direct translate it from Chinese and I cannot pronounce some words properly. Sometimes my friends laugh at my pronunciation and I feel very embarrassed.

English writing is very important in university education. In my course of study which is life science, I am required to write laboratory reports to discuss a certain theory or to provide explanation on experimental results. I do not know how to explain my results in a more professional manner so I did get feedbacks from my peers that my report was not professional enough in the sense that my vocabulary used is very limited and it did not reach the standard. On the other hand, my English speaking skill is still considered good. People understand what I want to present and deliver because I am not shy to speak and I think this is how I improve in speaking English. I am poor at vocabulary and grammar because I do not like reading. I seldom read English language newspapers, magazines or novels.

I think the biggest problem of me is that I tend to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. In my opinion, I need to take note of my mistakes and always remind myself not to repeat them. Besides, I think I need to start reading newspapers or novels that I am interested in in order to build up a reading habit.