Learning Journal #1

[Carson Watlington]

Reflect on the readings. How does this knowledge help you shape your language learning process?"How the brain handles language" was heavily laden with technical language that I’ve rarely used outside of classes that focus on scientific topics. It was interesting to see how the a majority of the brain plays a part in the reception, translation, and production of speech. The reading was correct in it’s statement that we rarely think about the the numerous systems we engage just to communicate even the simplest of thoughts. The information in this article reminded me of how important it is to engage different parts of the brain, such as the creative and analytical areas, in order to effectively use and understand a language. Because of this, I plan on use a variety of different types of resources and study methods, in hopes that I can then better ingrain what I’ve learned throughout my brain."How we mean "made me acknowledge the nuance, or lack there of, found in a single word. I became more aware of the fact that I throw around terms without thinking about their greater effect on the idea I’m trying to convey. When I’m studying language, I’ll try to be more aware of how context affects meaning. I’ll try to identify the different ways another language ‘parcels out’ the real world. It seems important to understand the reasoning behind expression to then fully grasp the meaning of the expression.Finally, "How we analyse" meaning gave me insight into semantic relationships and how they connect individual meanings. Now I can better explain the relationships between lexemes, such as wether or not they’re interchangeable, strongly associated with another word, etc. When I learn one word during my language learning process, I’ll try to consider its connections to others.