Personal Blogs

Discourse analysis - you have to get to the heart of it before you can truly appreciate its intricacies. It wasn't easy, it was tough, the toughest course I have so far done with the OU. It was so hard that the first time I took the exam, I only scored 41%, failing it. Luckily, my TMA average evened it out to allow me a resit. I must say that I looking back, my original tutor wasn't as good as I expected and motivation for studying and gettng to the heart of the material wasn't there being that even my tutor expressed the unecessity of some of the material and the flakiness of certain theorists...Its the first time I have ever taken a resit with the OU for my MA courses and I was full of anxiety even doubting myself. It was motivation enough to get me to work harder for the resit. I was also given a new tutor, Ms. Harriette Marshall, a fantastic expert on the subject who really enlightened me about the theories and the material. With her guidance, I sailed through my resit, gaining 70%. My score registered me at the upper 5% of the examinees, and there was only one other who scored as high. Nobody got in the A bracket of scores (85-100%) and the highest scores belonged to me and another (70-84%). Apparently,more than 50% of the examinees failed. I was so pleased...it is my hghest score in an OU exam yet, all the more made meaningful by the fact that it is a postgrad course and the second to the last course I have to pass before gaining my MA. I rewarded myself (yes, after all those sleepless nights) with this beautiful artisanal Venetian handmade glass necklace by German jeweller Christine Funke. I deserve it! And yes, I adore Discourse Analysis now and truly appreciate its intricacies.