Why I chose this task:

I chose to attempt this task as I feel that it will help me better understand the different tenses and how they can be used to convey different meanings. In my opinion, tense is an extremely important component of biographies as authors often have to switch between tenses when writing about different events throughout the course of the subject's life. Furthermore, it is the basis of language, and without the use of the correct tense, words could take on a completely different meaning. I attempted this task first as I believe that with a better understanding of tenses, it will be easier to take on other tasks as I can now analyse texts more easily.

This will eventually help in making my biography flow more smoothly and will allow the reader to better understand the flow of events as I can now use a wide variety of tenses to convey more complex meanings.


TASK TWO [completed 21/07/17]

Why I chose this task:

With a word limit of 1000 words for the biography task, I would need to use a larger range of words to accurately and effectively convey the meaning of my subject's story to the reader using as few words as possible.

This task has allowed me to become more observant to unfamiliar or unknown words when reading texts. I feel that this is an extremely helpful habit to have as it can aid me in expanding the range of my vocabulary, which will most definitely be helpful in writing my biography as I can use a wider range of words to make my writing more interesting.


TASK THREE [completed 27/07/17]

Why I chose this task:

This task has helped me to be more meticulous and exact when selecting evidence and information for my biography. I feel that this skill is important as it is essential for a biography to contain relevant and interesting information in order to keep the reader informed on the subject's life and entertained.

Having to find Subordinate Evidence to support a Superordinate Expression that I chose allowed me to be more attentive and observant when reading through excerpts to find quotes that could support my chosen claim. I also had to be precise when selecting evidence from the texts as they had to be accurate in supporting my Superordinate Expression.

After attempting this task, I also feel more confident in my summarising skill when I superordinate in my biography as there are times when I have to summarise a list of similar 'things' in order to reduce my biography's word count or make my biography seem less dry.


TASK FOUR [completed 31/07/17]

Why I chose this task:

In my opinion, in order to really make a biography interesting and appealing to a reader, linguistic or stylistic features should be used to add flair and engage the reader's thinking.

For this task, I chose to identify linguistic features, which includes literary devices and tenses.

I read through different excerpts in the Readers to see firsthand how linguistic features, such as metaphors and smilies, were used in order to make the texts more interesting for the reader. This allowed to me gain a clearer picture of how I could make use of linguistic features in my own biography.

Additionally, when explaining a metaphor that I identified as a linguistic feature, I gained insight on how the author phrased her words and created a metaphor that allowed the major theme of her autobiography to be explicitly highlighted in a single sentence. The author also made use of the same metaphor to allow the reader to better understand a subject she talked about by comparing it to something that is common in real life and highlighting the similarities between the two subjects.

From this task, I have gained an understanding of what linguistic devices are and how they can be used to make my biography even more appealing and easier for the reader to understand.


TASK FIVE [completed 01/08/17]

Why I chose this task:

This task has allowed me to explore different styles of writing that I can attempt when writing my biography and has helped to expand my vocabulary.

The limitation imposed was that I could not include any speech from my subject. This meant that I had to delve deeper into my vocabulary and make use of words that I did not often come across or have to use in day-to-day life. A wider vocabulary will benefit me in writing my biography as I can use a greater range of words.

Additionally, this task has allowed me to experiment with several styles of writing which can be used in my biography to make it more interesting and engaging for the reader, as compared to using the same style of writing throughout, which might bore the reader.


OVERVIEW:

I feel that the tasks that I have completed over the span of this performance task has helped to achieve my goal of improving my knowledge of the English Language as a whole, which includes linguistic/stylistic devices. By doing so, I can also improve my standard of language and in turn the quality of my biography.

I now have a better understanding of what linguistic and stylistic devices - such as tenses and literary devices -  are and how they can be used to make my biography more complicated in terms of language and more appealing to the reader.

Through these tasks, I have also expanded my vocabulary to include words that I have never come across before. This will most definitely help to make the language in my biography more diverse as these uncommon words can be effectively used as an alternative to overused words that often bore the reader.

In conclusion, I feel like I have indeed achieved my chosen goal that I set myself.

link to google drive where soft copy of tasks I have performed can be found:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B0n663IuiBFSei1DdlRtZW5qb2M?usp=sharing