Portfolio 4

I have encountered some barrier in my engineering study since I began studying in NUS. Because I come from China, English is my second language and I am not very good at using it, especially writing in my engineering classes. Let me choose MLE 1101 as an example to tell you what problems I have faced. One problem is vocabulary. When writing in engineering classes, I need to use appropriate academic English words to describe certain meaning. However, due to my poor vocabulary, I can only use easy word to make a sentence, which leads to my work not as professional as those written by native English-speakers. I may use burning to describe the chemical process, while others use combustion, which is more professional. One possible solution is to read more and memorize more. I need to enlarge my vocabulary and most importantly, to be able to use more appropriate words. Another problem is how to organise a sentence in a professional way. When I read academic work, I often notice that the author are able to use a very long sentence in a coherent way in its meaning. I always wish I could oneday become that professional in my engineering writing. In order to do that I need to practise more. The more practice the more professional I will be.Not only MLE 1101, other modules may face the same problems. I need to do more and make efforts to become better.