The difficulties I have in writing

My command of English has always been poor. After much thought, I realized that the fault lies in insufficient reading. To be frank, I did not favor reading storybooks when i was young. Up till now, reading has yet to be my hobby. Therefore, i have poor view of a good writing.

When I write, I usually have some kind of a mental block which discourages the flow of ideas. However, ever since i learned the skills of pre-writing in EG1471, my writing has improved by quite a bit. The lessons on idea generation and writing outline techniques are very useful for me to promote idea flow, organize my writing and also to keep track of my direction. I have been applying these techniques not only in EG1471, but also in my other academic writings such as lab reports.

Apart from having poor writing techniques, another problem i have is grammar. During my study in Polytechnic, i picked up German language and learnt it for 2 years. Now, people might wonder: What is the link between my grammar problem and German language? The problem is that German language is totally opposite of English in terms of sentence structure. For German language, the verb tends to be at the end of a sentence. This confuses me when i am writing. I tend to have wrong sentence structure, word and verb form. To tackle this problem, i need to read more English materials to correct my grammar mistakes.

Although EG1471 had equipped me the necessary skills and techniques to produce good academic writings, my command of English cannot improve without sufficient practice. Reading is also important for me to improve my grammar. Newspapers and academic articles are good materials for me to read. Nonetheless, I am thankful that i have to take EG1471 module as it made me realise my strengths and weaknesses in writing. Without it, i would still have poor essay orgaisation and grammar.