Critical Reflection

Critical reflection

Knowing that ES 1102 offers no Modular Credits (MCs) and hearing peers describing this module as “burdensome”, I prepared myself for the Qualifying English Test (QET) to the fullest. I undertook the QET test with an aim in mind of not needing to take any “burdensome” ES 1102 modules. Upon looking at my Qualifying English Test (QET) grade, I felt indignant. My preparations did not pay off: I achieved a Band 2. Bidding for ES 1102 was imminent.

I am skeptical about the takeaway from this module, thinking that this module covers English content similar to an average high school. In the midst of the first lesson, I have assimilated easily into the class environment with the help of an ice-breaking session facilitated by my tutor, Mr. Brad. Surprisingly, he understood the thoughts in us and encouraged us to make full use of our time in this class. It is indeed true that I have been encountering problems grasping my language skills and I should make the best out of the time I have in the spans of this module. Looking back and comparing the level of my English capabilities, I can proudly assert that I have improved my English to a higher standard.

Brad is an extremely dedicated tutor who will constantly engage the class in active discussions and provide the class with useful content. With the helping hand from Brad, I am able to develop my writing skills extensively. Since primary school, I am not able to master the art of writing. In contrast, I am more confident in penning down my sentences without the fear of creating any errors.

Grammar used to be my nemesis when it comes to writing. I was never able to identify the grammatical errors in my own writing. After weeks of polishing, I am able to identify the grammatical error in my writing and sometimes, in my peer’s writing. One effective way of learning that was employed by Brad was peer reviewing and commenting on blog posts. This method is a perfect example of mutual learning. We get to learn from identifying mistakes made by our peers. At the same time, our peers get to correct their own mistakes pointed out by us. Therefore, both parties will refrain from making the same mistakes. I am now better at identifying grammatical errors and make a conscientious effort in correcting these errors.

My learning was also value-added by learning the importance of citations. Coming from a junior college, citations were never encountered when composing an essay in our General Paper. However, being a Life Science undergraduate, citations must always be referenced when writing a scientific research article. In ES 1102, I have learnt to apply the relevant referencing skills. I am fortunate to be able to apply this knowledge into other field of my studies. With an adequate referencing knowledge attained in ES1102, I was able to ace my Life Science Essay writings easily. In addition, by learning the proper citation methods, I am a step ahead of my peers in terms of writing an academic essay.

Learning does not stop here. I might have improved my language and writing abilities, but that does not signify the end of my English language journey. More improvements can be made. Being a careless individual, I tend to make mistakes when it comes to writing. A method of rectifying this problem will be making a conscious effort to check my work. Apart from ES 1102 writing and the final exams, this solution is ubiquitous and can be applied to all of my modules.

I have reached the end of my ES 1102 journey, I am more motivated to read widely and improve my English. Independent learning is key and practice makes perfect. I will apply my improved English writing abilities to any essay writings when given the opportunity. As a saying goes: If not now, then when? Looking back, I felt extremely fortunate to be able to improve my English skills as early as this semester.

Oral Presentation Feedback

Oral presentation should certainly be a component of ES 1102. It has greatly value-added my learning in this module and there are far too many advantages of having oral presentation as a compulsory component for every individual.

Oral presentation serves as a good training platform to train every individual’s self-confidence. Definitely, standing in front of an entire class of 20 and communicating his or her idea across is not an easy task. Such confidence has to be developed as early as possible and refined through practices. Without these vital trainings, I believe it would be a period of storm for us as it will be too late to start training. In Singapore’s competitive society, our peers would have outshone us if practices do not start now. Therefore, a question to ponder about will be: If not now, then when?

Presenting an idea verbally is tremendously different from penning down an idea. While we construct our final essay, we have the luxury of time to brainstorm on the development of our argument or even think of fanciful vocabulary to beautify our essays. However, while we presenting our idea across to the class, we often have to think on our feet and formulate our sentence in the quickest time possible. Being able to think on our feet should be a skill that is developed in every individual and this skill can only be obtain via oral presentation practices.

Being from a junior college, I seldom have the opportunity to do presentations as compared to the polytechnics. Furthermore, being a science student, the need for presenting my ideas and answers is extremely rare. Not having a class participation component in my grading system, I would prefer to be a passive learner by listening rather than speaking up. As a result, the occurrence of me presenting is even lower. However, after one round of presentation, I felt much more comfortable standing in front of a class communicating my ideas.

A huge advantage of having an oral presentation is that we have the opportunity to learn how to deliver our presentation in a professional manner. In addition, we get the chance to learn from each other’s mistakes, and implement these corrections into our own learning. Having a busy schedule, we are often only concern with our own essays.  With the onset of oral presentations, we get to listen to our classmate’s essay ideas rather than browsing through the blogs.

In conclusion, having an oral presentation is certainly helpful and will definitely value-add the learning of every individuals. As a saying goes, better now then later. It is better to pick up these vital skills before facing the storm in the competitive and vicious society.

Reader Response (After Evaluation)

In the article "Globalization of Culture Through the Media", Kraidy (2002) discusses the perspective about cultural imperialism, globalization and hybridization. One of those is cultural globalization is a result of cultural and media imperialism.  As Kraidy mentions, some feel that Western countries have manipulated mass media to exert their cultural influences across the world, especially the developing states. As interaction between countries increases, there was a shift from a parasitic relationship to a mutualistic one – Globalization. According to Kraidy (2002), mass media’s great contribution towards the homogenization of cultural difference proves that it is one of the main driving forces of cultural globalization. However, it still remains debatable whether media acts as the trigger of such revolution, or simply accelerates the process.

It is undeniable that media has exacerbated the outbreak of globalization. In modern society, just by a click will render countless information at our disposal. As a result of globalization, we are becoming increasingly interconnected within the globe. With increasing number of social media networks, it is difficult not to be connected with the rest of the world. By using Facebook, for example, we are able to network with people in different countries. Since the revolution of the Internet, a country’s domestic news becomes more easily available and accessible. For instance, stories about the wreck left behind after the most recent Thailand political elections is circulated everywhere almost everywhere on the Internet. The “World Wide Web” phenomenon has resulted in a ‘symbiotic association’ that no one has ever predicted.

Kraidy (2002) also asserts that globalization is driven not solely by mass media. There are several other factors that have proliferated the growth of globalization. Trade is one of the main drivers of globalization. Resources needed for a country’s individual growth are dispersed and we have to depend on one another for trade.  It is essential to have vital connections amongst countries for economic purposes, especially for countries such as Singapore. With no natural resources and land scarcity, she heavily depends on the trading industry.

Building a good military relationship is another factor that promotes globalization. Since the Second World War, countries have begun multinational military trainings and even joint military exercises. In 2012, Singapore held a bilateral navy training with Australia (Ministry of Defence, 2012). As a result of military exchanges at a multinational level, it is inevitable that countries are becoming interconnected as one, fuelling globalization.

It is hard to refute that there is a transition globally from media imperialism over the developing states to a tightly weaved international relationship. Globalization of culture has become a conceptual magnet (Kraidy, 2002), resulting in the proliferation of knowledge, culture and society. However, there are other underlying reasons for the rapid globalization experienced by everyone. Globalization is like a burning torch, which will evolve into a burning flame when fuelled by external factors.

References:

Marwan M. Kraidy, 2002, Globalization of Culture Through the Media, retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=asc_papers

Ministry of Defence, 2012, Singapore and Australia Armies Conduct Bilateral Armour Exercise in Australia, retrieved from http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/press_room/official_releases/nr/2012/oct/03oct12_nr.html#.Ux6ff3mR3wI

Essay Final Draft (After Evaluation)

Our Biodiversity, Their Homes

Global warming, loss of biodiversity, financial crisis and inequalities are problems faced in the modern world as a result of rapid globalization, as asserted by Goldin (2009) in his TED lecture.  He continued by reaffirming that as rapid globalization increases its influences and outreach, solutions have to be formulated to tackle these crises.

In order to keep up with globalization, all government bodies have turned to urbanization in order to clear land for various booming industries. This inevitably results in a loss of local biodiversity. The world’s biodiversity is diminishing. 75% of the world’s original biodiversity had been lost, as recorded in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2005). Singapore, as one example, started off as a highly vegetated island. Progressively, Singapore is deeply etched in globalization as well as development. Lands have been cleared to make room for industries and housing purposes. Places that used to be full of exuberant flora and fauna (Chang, 2003) have been replaced by modernistic buildings. Urbanization has occurred gradually, resulting in a transformation of a country filled with biodiversity to one full of modernized buildings. In fact, Singapore is one of the few countries with a 100% urbanized population (Central Intelligence Agency, 2011). Based on Goldin’s assertions and the evidence presented, it is inevitable to allege that Singapore has lost a huge part of her biodiversity as a result of rapid urbanization, fuelled by globalization. There are two main causes to the depreciating local biodiversity, namely land development and land reclamation. Although measures were taken in the past to retain the Singapore’s current level of biodiversity, the measures taken were insufficient. Many species are still on the brink of extinction as a result of loss of biodiversity (Barry, Navjot & Ng, 2003). In response, there are several viable solutions such as government initiatives and conservation activities of nature area.

Much land development had taken place since the days of British colonization, directly resulting in extensive deforestation. In 1991, Singapore was covered with lush forest (Lum, 1999), with more than 40% lowland forest. Today, there is less than 2,000 hectares of primary forest. This amounts to 3% of the total land area of Singapore (Corlett, 1992). This dramatic plunge in amount of biodiversity is a result of land development. Nature has to be forgone for housing development purposes. Forests were constantly being gazette to make way for high-rise buildings and industries. As compared to the “virgin” Singapore in the past, there has been a remarkable spike in the number of industries and towering buildings, such as housing estates (Housing Development Board, 2009). Jurong used to be a swamp along the west coast of Singapore. As a result of Singapore’s industrialization program, Jurong has been transformed into Singapore’s first industrial estate (Singapore Economic Development Board, n.d.). Tremendous biodiversity have been lost as a result of land development and urbanization.

Singapore being the “little red dot”, land reclamation has been a viable method to increase the availability of usable land thus far given the limited land spaces in Singapore. Land reclamation was initiated in 1960 and has been rampant up till today. From a study done by National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore began with 578.1km² of land and experienced a 22.9% increase in amount of land as a result of land reclamation (NUS Faculty of Science, 2009). East Coast and Jurong Island are reclaimed lands for residential purposes and petrochemical industries respectively (Urban Redevelopment Authority, n.d.). However, it is happening at the expense of our biodiversity. Land reclamation has adversely affected the marine and coastal habitats (OSPAR Commission, 2008), with the coral reefs being reported as the most threatened species (NUS Reef Ecology Study Team, n.d.). Since 1986, Singapore has lost 65% of the coral reefs living in coastal and marine habitats (NUS Faculty of Science, 2009). To keep up with globalization, more land has to be made available for housing and industrial purposes. Inevitably, an increase in land space could only be brought about by land reclamation. As a result, Singapore’s biodiversity was perpetually and permanently lost.

In recognizing the evident loss of biodiversity, Singapore came up with mitigation factors such as the Singapore Green Plan (SGP) in 1992 (National Park Board Singapore, 2011). A total of 19 areas were designated as nature areas. However, no concrete actions were taken, resulting in the loss of 17 out of the 19 nature areas (Lim, 2000). The two remaining nature areas are Bukit Timah and Central Catchment Area. Khatib Bongsu, which is a designated nature wetland site, is under constant threat for development (Lim, 2000). Initiatives for nature conservation have to be implemented in order to conserve Singapore’s biodiversity. To ensure effectiveness of the Singapore Green Plan and further protection of the biodiversity, constant reviews and improvements should also be made (National Park Board Singapore, 2011). The Singapore government can better enhance the conservation of biodiversity while developing herself by coming up with new initiatives. One new initiative derived was the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (National Park Board Singapore, 2011), which serves as a guide for ecological sustainable development strategies. The Sustainable Singapore Blueprint aims to develop new measures and initiatives to achieve both nation development and healthy nature environment simultaneously. New initiatives can be derived to achieve growth without compromising Singapore’s biodiversity. The government can also preserve Singapore’s remaining biodiversity by increasing the number of parks and nature reserves. For example, Singapore National Park Board projected an increase in park connectors and nature areas within the next ten years (National Park Board Singapore, 2011). Such initiatives are crucial in mitigating biodiversity loss.

Globalization is a dual-edged knife. Singapore’s biodiversity is constantly put at risk as a result of urbanization, fueled by globalization. Urbanization has encouraged rapid land development and reclamation. In turn, it has exacerbated the rate of diminishing biodiversity. Mitigation factors such as government initiatives and increasing nature conservation activities have been initiated to preserve our existing biodiversity. Whilst Singapore is coming up with conservative solution, vast biodiversity have already been lost. Is it too late for a change and how much development is Singapore willing to forsake for conservation?

References:

Barry W. B., Navjot S. S., Ng. K. L. P. (2003, July 24). Catastrophic extinctions follow deforestation in Singapore. Letters to Nature, Nature 424, 420-426. Retrieved from http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/2004/030724-1.htm

Central Intelligence Agency. (2011). The world factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2212.html

Chang A. L. (2003, July 24). Singapore has lost half its animal species: Study. The Straits Time. Retrieved from http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/2004/030724-1.htm

Corlett, R.T. (1992). The ecological transformation of Singapore, 1819-1990. Journal of Biogeo- graphy 19: pp 411-420

Housing Development Board. (2009). Key Statistics since 1960: Building Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10221p.nsf/0/d4a0f107613b79944825766200236310/$file/Key%20Statistics.pdf

International Union for Conservation of Nature. (2005). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions.

Lim K. S. (2000). Conserving Singapore ‘s Biodiversity. Retrieved from http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a082a.htm

Lum, S.K.Y. (1999). State of the Natural Environment in Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore), Singapore. Pp 24-34

Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. (n.d.). Grab Our Resources: Singapore Green Plan. Retrieved from http://app.mewr.gov.sg/web/Contents/Contents.aspx?ContId=1342

National Park Board Singapore. (2011).  4^th National Report to the Convention of Biological Diversity. Retrieved from http://www.cbd.int/doc/world/sg/sg-nr-04-en.pdf

NUS Faculty of Science: Department of Biological Sciences. (2009). The Heritage of Singapore: Land Area of the Republic of Singapore. Retrieved from http://www.dbs.nus.edu.sg/staff/details/hugh_tan/Ch4%20Waste-%20and%20Reclaimed%20Land%20p.%2078.pdf

OSPAR Commision. (2008). Assessment of the environmental impact of land reclamation. Retrieved from http://qsr2010.ospar.org/media/assessments/p00368_Land_Reclamation.pdf

Reef Ecology Study Team, NUS. (n.d.). Coral Reefs of Singapore. Retrieved from http://coralreef.nus.edu.sg

Singapore Economic Development Board. (n.d.). Our History: The 1960s: The development of labour-intensive industrialization. Retrieved from http://www.edb.gov.sg/content/edb/en/about-edb/company-information/our-history.html

Urban Redevelopment Authority. (n.d.). Designing Our City: Planning for a Sustainable Singapore. Retrieved from http://www.ura.gov.sg/skyline/skyline12/skyline12-03/special/URA_Designing%20our%20City%20Supplement_July12.pdf

ES presentation

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