1. What is the text about?
(subject/focus) Mother Tongue' by Amy Tan, we are asked to
2. What is the writer’s goal in writing the text?
(purpose)
3.Who is/are the target reader(s) of the text?
(audience)
4. What is the point of view used in the text?
(first,
second, third person)
5. How much does the writer know of the
subject?
(writer’s knowledge)
6. How did the writer organize the text? (style)
7. Did the writer write in a formal or informal
manner? (tone)
8. How did the writer choose the words and
organize the sentences? Was the language
formal, informal, or casual?
consider how the language we grow up with
affects us throughout our lives. The essay looks at
themes of shame, education, and living in two
worlds. Hopefully, in the end we find joy
Mother tongue commonly means the language
first learned by a person, but for the author, Amy
Tan, it has special meaning. ... Tan confesses that
“she was ashamed of her English” (Tan 4). Tan
belittles her mother's thoughts simply because
she could not express them perfectly.
Focusing on the nuances of culture and language
issues she discusses explicitly in her essay
"Mother Tongue" (1990) Tan uses humor and
traditional oral conventions to explore
generational disconnections among women.
In Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, Tan discusses the
cultural struggles she faces through her mother,
and her struggle of identity in her writing.
Because of her mother's broken English and her
empathy she felt towards her, Tan's book was
written in an easy to read, “broken” English style.
From the phenomenological analysis of the data,
the findings showed that the teachers used
strategies such as translation of target language
to mother tongue, utilization of multilingual
teaching, utilization of lingua-franca,
improvization of instructional materials written in
mother tongue, remediation of instruction
The carefully chosen writing style of “Mother
Tongue” makes the essay feel like a conversation
that you are having. Tan engages the audience
directly when she says, “You should know that
my mother's expressive command of the English
language belies how much she really
understands” (Tan 299).
Tan uses the diction in her work to show the
reader her Mothers troubles mastering the
English language. In addition, her tone is
defensive, remorseful, and angry. Using this
diction, emotion, and tone she is able to feel
what it’s like to be in her shoes and to see from
her point of view.