and so in conclusion.

speech acts. speech events. spoken discourse. written discourse. From having no clue to what these terms meant, to understanding not only what they are and their components, but also factors that affect them, such as how they vary cross-culturally...I can say that I have come thus far. In a perceived subjective duration of merely a few weeks (time passes when you're having fun), I have learnt much more than I had initially expected from this module. I had wanted to wait till the first rounds of presentations were over before writing this last entry, because I knew that my classmates would feel the same way, or at least, their presentations would objectively demonstrate this fact- and I was not wrong.

It was evident that not only did we acquire new information over the course of this semester, whether about types of compliment strategies, gender differences in computer-mediated communication, or components of speech events, but more importantly, it is apparent that we see the relevance of what we have learnt, and are able to apply all that was taught to our daily lives. That, to me, is what is the essence of a good module. Afterall, true knowledge is what remains after school ends, right? And that is also one of the plus points of this course, and one of the reasons I have enjoyed it: that it is personally relevant, and easy to relate to real-life situations. We all communicate in social interactions, whether it is ordering food, or making a presentation, or receiving, or giving, compliments. Gender and age and culture differences in writing and speech patterns are also salient and easily observable, such as females tending to be more emotional, males using more profanities, chinese writing style being circular while english ones are relatively linear and so on.

I guess when it comes down to it, knowing that the module ends here is bittersweet. Whilst I'm glad that I have gained much, learning about new things, especially in an engaging and lively manner with brilliant classmates, I somehow find myself wanting to learn more (maybe more lectures! just joking.) What knowledge I have acquired only serves to stimulates my thinking further, while shedding new light on the remaining vastness of unexplored terrain. The more you know, the more you know you do not know. Haha. And it's sad that there will not be anymore lectures to answer these questions. But now the responsiblity and onus falls on us to find out more on our own. Taking the module has been an extremely interesting and enriching experience and I'm glad I made the decision to take it. What's left now is to see this not as an end, but equipped with what I have learnt, this is merely the beginning of a journey of exploration.