Cecilia’s Email Assignment Reflection

Cecilia Kabeya
English 100
Email Assignment
Professor Sarraf
September 17, 2019
Email Reflective Letter

This reflective letter is about what I have learned about communicating over time with another person from another country. We discussed what strategies to use to improve my writing, as well as the communication skills my partner and I learned. My partner’s name is Nathalie, a biology major and a sophomore at AUB. I have learned writing strategies in English 100 class. To be specific in fact, I wasn’t aware in advance what my writing should consist of and what formality it should be in. The skills I gained from completing this assignment are “email etiquette; negotiating meaning and reflecting.”

In this class, I practiced the skill of email etiquette which consists of responding in a timely manner, briefly introducing yourself, evaluating the importance of the email being sent and being aware of my audience. How I used these concepts in the emails I sent to my partner was by using friendly greetings such as, “Hi Dear” and “Best Regards,” and she adapted to that by responding to me with “Hello Dear” and “Kindest Regards.”

It’s much harder to keep a steady conversation with the emails due to the different time frames between the two countries. The first email I sent to her, I stated:

“I am Cecilia Kabeya, a freshman at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I will be your partner over the next few weeks, discussing about the article we both will be reading for the email assignment. I look forward to this assignment and seeing what we accomplish in the end when it is due. I understand we are both coming from two different backgrounds, but I’m interested in getting to know you as well and adapting to your dialect.”

By sending her this email, I wanted to give her a friendly and respectful perception for a first impression and a brief introduction of myself at the same time. Also, I wanted to identify the importance of the email as well.

The skill of negotiation of meaning is a process that writers use to reach a clear understanding of each other. For example, asking for clarification, rephrasing, and confirming what you think you have understood are all strategies for the negotiation of meaning. In one of the emails sent by me, I expressed this by confirming the points that Nathalie had made about the reading. I wrote, “ I would like to start off by saying that I agree with the fact that you pointed out that, ‘English is the most popular language in the world. This is all due to the strong economy and political power of the English-speaking countries.’ For example, countries like the United States, England and Canada. If these countries weren’t wealthy or have economic power, English wouldn’t be the dominant speaking language.”

The skill of reflection is being able to respond to experiences, opinions, thoughts and feelings, and new information. This can help identify areas for improvement, still being aware of your strengths and weaknesses in your writing. Nathalie had sent me an email of her feelings on a specific part of the article and then asking my thoughts on it. She wrote, “We all know that today, English is the most popular language in the world. This is all due to the strong economy and political power of the English-speaking countries. Don’t you think so? Also, the fact that English is a simple language compared with some other complicated ones. I was surprised by the fact mentioned that by 2100 more than half the world’s languages will be gone. Astonishing isn’t it?” I responded by saying, “With my own personal experience, making a connection to this and you, are that English isn’t my first language. French is my first language… I’ve always wondered why languages from other countries beside English weren’t considered international, for example, Lingala is a language originated from Congo D.R.C but it’s not an international language.” In this response, specifically I showed demonstration of reflection, during this sentence, “For example countries like the United States, England and Canada. If these countries weren’t wealthy or have economic power, English wouldn’t be the dominant speaking language.” By agreeing with the point, and providing an example back to her, I demonstrated reflecting on my experience and giving a personal connection to her and the information from the reading.

Considering everything, I believe that I improved my writing skills more than I envisioned before starting this assignment. My main concern was not being able to complete this assignment to its full extent due to my writing capability. I have learned and develop writing skills pertaining to email etiquette, negotiating meaning, reflection and communication across borders. It was not as challenging as I thought it would be to discuss the reading with my partner, because she and I have two different cultural backgrounds. Lack of cultural understanding can cause misinterpretation, confusion, misjudgment and mistakes which will affect you to fail. I was aiming to build a relationship with my partner to cross the linguistic and cultural divide between the countries and backgrounds.