Dieting is a terrible thing to mind

Based on the reading, 7.1, Chapter 12 ‘Dieting is a terrible thing to mind’. This article was written by Martin Seligman (1994).this article was taken from Sydney: Random House, pages 174 to 197. This reading was quite a long text. So, the lecturer asks us to make a group and discuss about this text. The interesting information that I can find in the text is what the real truth about dieting. Other than that, what I found interesting is the myth that widely people stated. Such as, people that overweight is over eat, overweight people are different from non-overweight people, physical inactivity is a major cause of obesity and when the people are overweight are lacking their willpower. All of the myths are all wrong. Besides that, in the text also tell the reader about several way of dieting that also only effective in a short period and not permanent. Overall, the text is easy to understand because the writer uses many simple words. However, there are some terms that ordinary people seldom use, such as buxom, midriff bulge and purveyors. But, the reader can know about the meaning by the sentence before or after the word to guess its meaning.

READING 4.5

In reading 4.5, we use Chapter 6: ‘Crooked and Fallacious Thinking’ and Chapter 7: ‘More to crooked and fallacious thinking’, in critical thinking. The writers of this chapter are Aik, K C and Edmonds, S (1976). This chapter tells about the development of a clear and perceptive outlooks entails the ability to think logically and to recognize and analyze instances of crooked and fallacious thinking. There are several points that included in this chapter, which are transfer device, circular argument, false analogy, equivocation and either-or assumption. In chapter 7, there are more of crooked and fallacious thinking. Much human misunderstanding and blunders arises because many people are not aware of the fact that their trends of thought and thus their communication processes are frequently muddled, illogical and fallacious. In conclusion, it is important to be able to interrogate the logic contained in the argument in a text.

READING 4.4

For reading 4.4, it uses the Chapter 9: ‘Statistics’, in critical thinking. The writers of this chapter are Aik, K C and Edmonds, S (1976). This chapter tells about the use and misuse of statistics. The writer also tells about terms by mentioning a number of domains where statistics are widely used. Statistics refers to information about any phenomenon or activity expressed in numerical form. In statistics, there are four common statistical slips. There are unqualified average, fallacious sampling, percentages unaccompanied by actual numbers and misleading presentation. As a conclusion, the importance of statistics on human affairs is obvious from our tendency to associate facts closely with figures.

READING 4.3

The title of this chapter was ‘What is the evidence?’ This chapter was written by Ruby, L (1954). The cases that included in this chapter were the cases of kidnapping of the infant son of Charles Lindbergh and examine the evidence, wholly circumstantial, that led to the conviction and execution of Bruno Hauptman. Other than that, the presenters also elaborate about the definition of the evidence. This word means information that gives a strong reason for believing or proves. Next definition is clearly seen or notice. Based on the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, evidence means to gives answer to the question, describe an event at which one was present, law court or at inquiry. There were two types of evidence which were circumstantial and testimonial. In conclusion, evidence will create people’s perspective and put the position towards someone and not all witnesses can be trust and honest in giving statement.

READING 3.4.

The sixth background reading in our syllabus is Reading 3.4. this reading use Chapter 2, ‘Speech and Speakers: the information of individuals in discourse and genre’, from a book entitled Linguistic Process in sociocultural practice. The publisher of this book is Deakin University Press. The author of this text is Kress, G. based on the text, the writer shows how text construct particular identities for their readers a process called ‘positioning’. Other than that, the writer also illustrates how text interact the reader into a particular value systems. Other than that, Kress also introduces and classify a number of important terms for example, ‘ideal reader’, ‘subject position’, ‘reading position’ and ‘construction’. In conclusion, Kress said that our ability to use and understand language reflects how texts have shaped us as people. Which means the understanding of who we are and our attitudes to other people and the world in general.

READING 3.3.

The next background reading in our study is Reading 3.3. this reading entitled, “Critical Literacy: a linguistic perspectives.” This reading was written by Wignell, P (1995). For this reading, Aina and Ain were presenting their slides. They present according to the ten elements in Critical Literacy. They not present the summary of the chapter. So, I could not manage to understand what they want to present. After take a quick reading in this chapter, what I understand the chapter is about a possible linguistic approach to critical literacy. The writer use two text that taken from a junior secondary commerce textbook entitled ‘Commerce Two’. The authors of the textbook are Parker, B., Clarke, T. and Carter, P. (1988). In the text also explain about Wignell’s aim to discover elements of the language and also find the ideology that exists in the writing.

Reading 2.3

The fourth reading in Critical Literacy is reading 2.3. The title of this reading is Text and Textualities. The writers for this reading are Thwaites, T, Davis, L and Mules, W (1994). This reading is quite long to read. So, the presentation for this reading helps me to study more on this chapter. In this chapter, the writer explain about what is text and the feature of a text. In subtopic about social text, social meanings, it explain how advertisement works. It also tells the reader what is myth in the culture. Myth is like the believe of the people towards something. When they believe, it will become real because they believe and practice it. The writer also use several article to differentiate them from the way they write and from their own perspective. In conclusion, this chapter helps us to understand more deeply about what is text and textualities.