End-of-ESP Course Self-assessment

Writing (a summary)

I am glad that even though this term there were only few summary writing assignments, I feel quite sure about my writing skills as we have practiced a lot previously. I am also satisfied with my knowledge about the types and ways means how to write an accurate and brief summary.

Writing ESP vocabulary tests

I think that I have not managed to write all of the tests as well as I think I am able to. It might be due to a lack of time or motivation (or even both). Nevertheless, I understand the importance of these assignments and I am bit disappointed about having such poor marks.

Writing class dictations

Since I read a lot of material in English I think I have acquired a common sense of written language. I still make a lot of grammar mistakes and I am even getting weaker and weaker in this area.

Listening comprehension in class

I strongly believe that I have a sufficient level of oral English comprehension as I easily understand what is said and I am quite good at listening comprehension assignments.

Listening to peers’ power point presentations

I have heard the majority of the presentations and they were all more or less interesting and relevant to our course subjects. It was easy to listen as the language used by a presenter was simple and usually fluent.

Making power poin presentations

While making my presentation about Psychotherapy, I have found and revised some really useful information. I also did my best to give as much as possible of this knowledge to my peers.

Speaking on ESP themes in class

From my point of view, the main thing I have learned this year is how to find the most important and relevant information in the text, how to fluently present it, include your own ideas and examples. Also while speaking about the modules I have acquired a broader view of all the subjects we are learning. All in all I think my speaking achievements can be seen very frequently.

Psychology of Kleptomania

To begin with, it is important to preface the true meaning of Kleptomania and its psychological aspects. Kleptomania comes from the Greek kleptein, “to steal” and mania, and is usually described as a condition of not being able to resist the urge to steal. However, we are not talking about planned thefts, confirmed by people who seek to posses the stolen object due to its value or steal out of anger or vengeance. It is the process itself, the tension preceding the unplanned theft and a relief at the time of the theft – that is the main temptation for people with Kleptomania. Therefore kleptomania is regarded as psychological disorder, specifically obsessive-compulsive disorder, since it usually similar to excessive, unnecessary and unwanted actions.

Furthermore, the treatment for kleptomania can also be psychological.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is frequently recommended as an additional method of treatment along with medication. After the treatment people feel less urge to steal and a reduced intensity of stealing thoughts and stealing behavior can be observed.

All in all, kleptomania cannot be simply defined as an act of stealing for the pleasure of stealing itself. It is a serious psychological disorder and even though there are some uncertainties about its classification into one group or another, there are special treatments, which help people to cope with it.


References:
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556858/kleptomania.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptomania

Picture from: http://www.faqs.org/health/images/uchr_05_img0536.jpg [2008-11-27]

Self-assessment of ESP Learning

WRITING SKILLS
From my point of view, I have written not so many summaries, ESP vocabulary tests and contributions to my weblog. I simple did not manage to complete the given tasks before deadline. Nevertheless, I have learned how to write several kinds of summaries, and in general I am satisfied with my test results. I do not feel good enough at writing dictations, but I think I am steadily improving in this field.

SPEAKING SKILLS
I always feel relaxed during our speaking tasks, as I enjoy speaking in English and have lots to say. However, I have noticed that I am not applying new words and definitions I have learned as much as possible and I think I am not always talking as fluently as I would prefer to. I have not given the presentation of the theme I have chosen; therefore I cannot describe how it was.
I have noticed that it is getting more and more easily to start a dialogue with a foreigner, which I think is at least in part due to our obligatory to speak only in English during the class activities.

LISTENING SKILLS
I think I am quite good at listening during listening activities in our classes; however I am still making comprehension mistakes, even though the number of them has decreased clearly in comparison to the previous term.
I was pleasantly astonished when I have found that I can easily understand a native English podcasts and to listen news from BBC or CNN.

READING SKILLS
I think about 80% of the material I am reading is in English (we are reading in English for all other subjects of our curriculum, except from the Methods of Statistics). Therefore, the speed of reading and the number of words I know has increased markedly. However, when it comes to comprehension exercises I still have to go through the text more than once and I even then I am making at least few mistakes.
I think that all of the computer tasks have had a great significance to my reading skills as you must really understand the material you are reading if you want to use it appropriately.

Six-minute nap "may boost memory"

In the the article "Six-minute nap "may boost your memory" BBC reporter describes an experiment reported in New Scientist megazine.

The team of German scientists from the University of Dusseldorf , led by Dr Olaf Lahl have tested a group of students by giving them a set of words to remember and then dividing them into two groups: the first was allowed to sleep for 6 minutes and the second one was not.

Students who have taken a nap have outperformed others in a memory task. The researchers suggest that "ultra-short" sleep may have activated certain processes in the brain which lead to memory enhancement.

According to professor Jim Horne, from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, the colected data is yet to be convincing and reliable.

The Psychology of Body Language

It is common for as to relate communication with orally presented language. Nevertheless, we should not forget the paralanguage, which refers to all kind of communication that is not verbal. Body language can be defined as a category of paralanguage, which includes body movements and gestures that can be either used with or instead of verbal expressions.

Body language is studied as a part of social psychology, as it is an extremely important tool of communication between social groups. There are differences across the world, but the main principles remain the same and if you were able to express yourself and to gain information using your body language in your country, you will be able to do it anywhere. This ability to understand others from their body movements and gestures is now applied in the field of selling: sales personnel are trained to observe and read the body language of their potential customers in other to really know how to communicate with them. This technique is also used frequently by policemen during the investigation.

It should be stated, that body language is referred to as being a mirror of our unconscious mind. It represents our true thoughts and emotions and cannot be hidden so easily. There are several signals of body language that can be noticed quite easily almost every day: crossing our arms against our chest, loosing an eye contact, touching the ear or scrathing the chin, tilting the head to one side etc.

There are also a great amount of books, videos and learning courses to teach people how to master their skills of nonverbal communication. A person can learn how to persuade, how to attract others and do not reveal the traits of his own personality through the body language.

All in all, body language not only plays an extremely important part in our communication and development (taking as example the understanding between an infant and his mother in the first years), but also is put into practise as its psychological value to understand humans has been proved.

Restatement summary

Babies 'show social intelligence'

New research shows that babies posses the ability to understand the intentions of other people.

The experiment was carried out by the scientists of Yale University, US.

The techniques of social and youth psychology were used during the experiment.

28 babies from two different age groups (6 and 10 months old) were tested, out of whom 26 showed the trace of social intelligence.

The scientist from UK doubts whether the results of the research actually represents babies' understanding of social life.

The experiment proved that babies are developing skills of social interaction earlier than it was though previously.

Sleep and dreams

Have you ever wondered how essential sleep is to your existence? From my point of view, it should be placed next to the air and water, as it is one of the elements required for a normal daily life. Even though, there are few individuals who were able to carry on without sleeping for more than one hundred hours, it is well known and proved with scientific methods and experiments that the amount of sleep influences equally our state of health and mind.
The importance of sleeping can be also seen from the number of disorders related with it. These would be insomnia, narcolepsy, bedwetting, sleepwalking and sleep talking (somnambulism), sleep apnea. Some of them are more common than others, though they all have negative aspects to individuals regular functioning.
Along with the ability to sleep comes the experience of dreaming. Even though the purpose of dreaming is still wrapped in mystery, the importance of it was proved without any doubt. People, who were prevented from dreaming (they were always awakened when the REM sleep was about to begin (which is normally associated with persons dreams)) tend to be less capable to remember what they have learned previously, to concentrate, to obtain new information. Figures show that people normally have approximately 600 hours of dreaming a year, more than 1400 dreams – an amount which ought to have influence on us though we realise it or not. It is a well-known thought, that the more usual and ordinary thing is, the less of interest it obtains. Nevertheless, sleep and dreams do deserve our attention and concern as it is an important side of our consciousness and requires our appropriate care, thus improving our health in the hole.