Module

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES Grade 12

PIVOT IV-A Learner’s Material
Quarter 1 Module 1
Week
First Edition, 2020
3
Published by: Department of Education Region IV-A CALABARZON
Regional Director: Wilfredo E. Cabral
CLMD Chief: Job S. Zape, Jr.

GRADE 12
ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND
PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

Quarter 1 Module 1

Development Team of the Module

Author: Mary Grace Catuira Talavera

Editor:

Reviewer:
Illustrator:

Layout Artist:

Management Team: , CID Chief

, SDO EPS In-charge of LR
Romyr L. Lazo, EPS In-charge of LR
, EPS Subject Area In-charge
Fe M. Ong-ongowan, Librarian
Lhovie A. Cauilan, Teaching Aid Specialist

Department of Education Region 4A CALABARZON

Office Address: Gate 2 Karangalan Village, Cainta Rizal
Landline: 02-868-257-73, Local 420/421
1
Email Address: [email protected]
 I What I Need to Know?

When you come across different texts or readings, how do you say that it is a good or a bad
read? What aspects do you consider in understanding a text’s content? Do you choose a novel
based on the popularity of the writer or on your personal or social relevance? Do you even
consider knowing the purpose of its creation?

Activity 1: K-W-L

Fill in the first two tables below. Write down on the first column (K) the things you know about
“Critical Approaches”, while write on the second column the things that you want to learn
about the said word. Leave the last column blank as you will do this on the latter part of the
discussion. Do this activity on a separate piece of paper and compile it in your portfolio.

CRITICAL APPROACHES
What I Know What I Want to Know What I Learned

CRITIQUE OR REVIEW
What I Know What I Want to Know What I Learned

Keep your answers for this activity and see how much you learned at the end of this module.
Hence, the end of this module, you should be able to:
1. use appropriate critical approaches in writing;
2. write an objective/balanced review or critique of a work of art, an event, or a program.

I What is New?

As you go along your senior high school, it is inevitable that you know the critical perspectives of
any literature; more so of academic texts as these are made considering a multilayered
construction of meaning. Critical approaches to literature help the readers understand the
reasons why it is constructed and what are its socio-cultural implications. Hence knowing these

2
approaches will eventually aid you in writing different academic texts, a critique or review for
one.

Activity 2: E-value-wait

The situation that we face every single day with an invisible threat around is indeed very
dangerous for everyone. A cellphone is undoubtedly one of the most helpful gadget one can have
especially in continuing learning. With the help of anyone at home who owns a cellphone, or if
you own one, check out its physical look and the features it has. Write a short evaluation about
it. Do this on a separate piece of paper.

After doing the activity, what do you think are the features of the cellphone you reviewed? Do
you think others will be interested to have this cellphone too? Why? What about its limitations?
How do you deal with these? The answers to the questions above are some of the essential
information you will consider as you create a critique or review.

D What I Know?

For you to be able to write any academic texts, it is important that you understand its very
purpose of existence. Let us see how familiar you are on the different critical approaches in
literature in the next activity.

Activity 3: Pretest

Identify the approaches described on the given statements. Choose the correct answer from the
word pool provided.

Feminism Reader Response Review

Biographical Formalism New Historicist
Psychological Sociological Marxism
Critical Approaches

__________ 1. It asserts that a great deal of meaning in a text lies with how the reader responds to it.
__________ 2. Focuses on close readings of texts and analysis of the effects of literary elements and
techniques on the text.
__________ 3. It views a text as a revelation of its author’s mind and personality.
__________ 4. It focuses on the values of a society and how those views are reflected in a text.
__________ 5. It is concerned with the role, position, and influence of women in a literary text.
__________ 6. These are different perspectives that help better understanding what was read.
__________ 7. It argues that we must take an author’s life and background into account when we
study a text.
__________ 8. It argues that every literary work is a product of its time and its world.
9. It is a text that expresses judgment on anything that can be procured.
__________ 10 Concerned with understanding the role of power, politics, and money in literary texts.

3
D What is in?
How did you do with the pretest? The approaches may seem familiar to you since these were also
discussed on your other English subjects, particularly in literature. This time, we will apply
these approaches in the academic perspective.

Activity 4: Read on, Move on

Let us test your reading skills and see how much you understand the text below. After reading
the selection, answer the questions on the next page in a separate piece of paper.

“Ang Huling El Bimbo” is an elaborate elegy

Rafael Cancino

The song that spawned the musical ‘Ang Huling El Bimbo’ is a loaded lyrical narrative.
Estranged lovers and a life cut short made for Eraserheads’ arguably most iconic single. It
may even be OPM’s most well-known tragedy. More than two decades since its release, the
song is elaborated into a musical, hinged on reminiscence and regret. This time, focus is
shifted to ‘Joy’—the girl who resembled Paraluman—and her eventual undoing.

Through a reworking of Eraserheads’ wildly diverse repertoire (directed by Dexter Santos, with
musical direction from Myke Salomon), ‘Ang Huling El Bimbo’ unraveled in two timelines:
present-day cynical Manila; and Manila two decades prior, filled with youthful idealism.

Three men are shaken from their established albeit problem-riddled lives when a phone call
brings them to a local precinct. The reason? A woman on the drug watch list has been found
dead, and on her phone were missed calls to the three men. For months, Joy (Menchu
Lauchengco-Yulo) had been reaching out to her closest friends—Hector (Gian Magdangal),
Emman (OJ Mariano), and Anthony (Jon Santos)—in futile attempts at reconciliation. After
what happened one unfortunate night twenty or so years ago, the three men had grown up
and grown more elusive to her.

After the trio’s untimely reunion, writer Dingdong Novenario brought audiences back to
where, and when, it started: the premiere State University smack dab in the middle of the
‘90s–and a fully realized mise-en-scène it was, with on-point costume design by Marlon Rivera
and scenic design by Gino Gonzales.

Set to Eraserheads’ ‘Minsan’, the UP experience was distilled into one larger-than-life
montage; unmissable were the protests, the annual Lantern Parade, the UP Fair, and even the
infamous Oblation Run. It established the three young men–Hector (Bibo Reyes), Emman (Boo
Gabunada), and Anthony (Phi Palmos)–and their initial taste of freedom in the university.

Then came along Joy, played by the auspiciously endearing Gab Pangilinan. Joy is the
hardworking niece of Tiya Dely (Sheila Francisco), the owner of the three young men’s favorite
diner, Toyang’s. They met her at one of their military trainings, when their commandant
Arturo Banlaoi (Jamie Wilson) introduced her to the platoon and asked them to buy the
snacks she had been selling.

The four easily became textbook best friends with Joy eventually growing to be more than just
friends with Hector. She eagerly supported Emman with his own romantic pursuits, and
wholly accepted Anthony’s sexual orientation with no reservations whatsoever. It was a
palpably tight-knit friendship, and the undeniable chemistry between the four actors helped
flesh this out.
4
 Four years pass and they find themselves overlooking Antipolo days before the three men’s
graduation. They were on one final joyride before they had to eventually part ways. But what
conspired soon thereafter, they vowed to keep under the covers—necessarily putting an end
to their four-year long friendship.

Not long after the three had left university, Toyang’s had to convert into a KTV bar, all thanks
to Banlaoi. This left Joy with much spite, evolving into a literal contradiction of her name—a
perfect demonstration of Pangilinan’s versatility. From this point forward, the narrative only
grew overly melodramatic, all while she gradually lost sight of herself. With gravitas,
Lauchengco-Yulo portrayed a Joy who had already grown desensitized of her personal
calamity.

The three men, on the other hand, are caught in the present with their own dysfunctional
relationships. They manifested this through mash-ups of different Eraserheads songs, which
while feeling disheveled, had its message loud and clear—they had grown into lives as chaotic
as Joy’s.

Salomon’s brilliant musical direction proved vital to the production; he rendered

Eraserheads’ many hits apt for their respective scenes: from a ‘Pare Ko’ resembling a military
march, to a more emotionally balladic ‘Ang Huling El Bimbo’.

The musical effected a similarly, if not more, loaded narrative as the song that birthed it.
Director Dexter Santos funneled all the nostalgia he could into the first act, essentially
paralleling the song’s penchant for reminiscence. His take on her downward spiral in the
second act may have seemed overdrawn, but it worked as vivid emphasis on what she had
gone through; it is filled with the same regret, of things that could have gone otherwise, as
was in the musical’s eponymous song.

In Ang Huling El Bimbo, Santos managed to conjure an elaborate elegy for Joy—and perhaps
every troubled woman she stood for.

1. What is the text all about?

2. What are the details that support your answer?
3. What social issues are presented in the text? How are they portrayed according to the
writer?
4. If you are the scriptwriter of the play, how would you present the theme of the story? Why
will you present it that way?

Examine closely your answers to the questions above and realize how these are connected to the
discussions that follow.

D What is it?

CRITICAL APPROACHES IN STUDYING LITERATURE

Do you have a specific purpose in mind whenever you read certain texts? What are your
considerations in picking a specific type of material?

When you decide what piece of literature to read, it is important that you consider different
perspectives to help you better understand what you are to read, hence, the importance of
5
critical approaches. Further, neglected work of arts are given are given opportunities to be
discovered and appreciated, relationship between ages and culture is shown, the relationship
between art and life is likewise introduced. Described below are some of the common critical
approaches in literature.

Reader-Response Criticism affirms that the meaning of texts depends on how a reader reacts to
it. Its focus is on the reading process and how it affects the reader’s understanding of meaning
in a text. Reader-Response Approach primarily deals with the process of creating meaning and
experiencing the text as it is being read. Hence, the text serves an experience that lives in the
reader’s imagination.

This formula makes it easier to understand the Reader-Response Approach:

READER + READING SITUATION + TEXT = MEANING

Keep in mind that in Reader-Response, the interpretation of a reader towards a certain text
usually changes over time, depending on his/her reading situation. Hence, the readers from
different generations and time periods have varied interpretation of texts as well.

Formalistic Criticism asserts that the meaning of text depends on the form. The literary
elements and how the writer utilized it in the entire text is the main focus of this approach.
Unlike the Reader-Response where the reader’s situation affects the meaning of the text, in
Formalism, the text is independent from its time period, social setting, and even the author’s
background. Hence, it has a fixed meaning. Likewise, when Formalism Approach is used,
meaning of literary texts becomes timeless and universal.

Psychological Criticism is based on Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Approach. It asserts that

any text is a reflection of its author’s mind and personality. Moreover, it also looks on to the
hidden motives of the literary characters within the text.

Sociological Criticism claims that the social environment must be considered in analyzing and
interpreting a text. Focuses on the values of a society and how those views are reflected in a
text. Hence, issues concerning economy, politics, and culture within literary texts must be
stressed. With Sociological Approach, any form of literature is a reflection of its society. Under
Sociological Criticism are the Marxist and Feminist Criticisms.

Marxist Criticism focuses on the economic and political elements of art, often emphasizing the
ideological content of literature. It is based on the political theory of Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels. The role of power, politics, and money in literary texts are emphasized in this approach.
Usually, when Marxism is used to analyze a text, the way in which the majority exploits the
minority is conveyed. More so, the way where people become estranged from one another
because of power, money, and politics is likewise revealed.

Feminist Criticism is concerned with the role, position, and influence of women in a literary
text. This approach asserts that most literature throughout time has been written only by men,
for men. Feminist critics examine the female consciousness being depicted by both male and
female writers.

6
Biographical Criticism contends that to better understand any text, the author’s life and
background must be taken in to account. Knowing the author’s personal experiences, his
struggles and successes in life, can help the reader better interpret the text.
New Historicist Criticism claims that every literary text is a product of its time and its world.
Utilizing this approach emphasizes the background information imperative to better understand
how literary texts were perceived in their time. Moreover, it also shows how these texts reflect the
ideas and attitudes of the time in which they were written. Lastly, new historicist critics compare
the language in contemporary documents and literary text to reveal cultural assumptions and
values in the text.

CRITIQUE OR REVIEW
Whenever you hear the word review in terms of movies, foods, restaurants, or events, what
comes into your mind? What is it all about? What do you learn from a review?

A critique or a review is a text that expresses judgment on anything that can be procured (food,
event, movie, or play, for example) so that its readers will have initial information before making
any related decisions about it.

If you are to write a review, it must be credible. Hence, you must prepare a certain set of criteria
for evaluating what you are to review. Guided with the criteria, your claims will be more
objective, thus giving more credibility to your work. Remember that for your review to be effective
it must be based on accurate observations.

How to Write a Critique or Review

No matter what you are to review, take these general guidelines to help you better write a
critique or a review

1. Think of an interesting title. This should be interesting enough to catch the attention of
your readers. You may opt to do this before or after writing.
2. On the first paragraph, provide a sufficient background discussion of what you are to
review. Only three to five sentences on this part will do.
3. The second paragraph serves as the crucial point in your text. This will serve as the
transition period from the background of what you are to review leading to your (as the
writer) general impression. This also serves as the thesis statement of the text you are
writing.
4. The third paragraph indicates the start of the critique or review proper. At this point, all
the concrete and specific details will serve as support to the general impression you gave
on the second paragraph. Doing this will make your review more objective in perspective.
As you go into the details, remember to discuss both the positive and the negative aspects
of what you are reviewing. The positive ones are presented first.
5. As a writer, you may want to include a recommendation for the aspects which you find
the need for attention and improvement.
6. Lastly, you may also consider giving rating to what you have reviewed. This helps readers
measure the quality of the products or services they interested in.

7
 E What is More?

Activity 5: Re-view

Scan again the theater/play review “Ang Huling El Bimbo” is an elaborate elegy and try to
identify the critical approaches used in the text. Let us see if you can provide the part which
supports your answer/s. Use the template given as your guide in answering.

Critical Approach Supporting Details

______________________ ________________________________________________________________
_______________________ ________________________________________________________________

E What I can do?

Activity 6: View the Review

Look for a film, restaurant or an industrial design (*application of the principles in the arts and
the sciences to improve the aesthetics and functionality of a product) in a newspaper, magazine
or from the internet. Analyze its structure and see if it follows the format we have discussed. In
your own words, try to rewrite the review utilizing the format you learned in this lesson. Do not
forget to attribute the source of the original review. Do this on a separate piece of paper.

E What else can I do?

Activity 7: Learning in Print

Now that you can evaluate the flow of a certain review, it is now time for you to write your own.
During the first activity, you were asked to evaluate a cellphone. This time, go back to your
answers on that activity. Use the information you collected as you write you own review of that
particular cellphone model. Keep in mind the essential information you need in writing a critique
or review. Do this in a separate piece of paper. Your output will be assessed using the following
criteria:
Content 40
Organization 35
Mechanics 25

A What I have learned?

8
 Activity 8: Minding the Map

Show your understanding of the lessons discussed by completing the graphic organizers
presented below.

Without looking at the discussion Complete the flow chart below with
on critical approaches, recall what the steps in writing a critique or
you have learned and briefly review. Use only the keywords in
describe each in every circle. expressing every step of the
process.

__________
__________
__________
__________
__________ _____ __________
__________ __________
__________ __________
__________ __________
_____ _____

__________ __________
__________
__________
Critical __________
__________
________________ ________________ ________________ ________________ ________________

__________
_____
Approaches __________
_____

Writing a critique or review paper

__________ __________
__________ __________
__________ __________
__________ __________
_____ __________ _____
__________
__________
__________
_____

A What I can achieve?

Activity 7: Learning Check

Identify the approaches described on the given statements. Choose the correct answer from the
word pool provided.

Feminism Reader Response Marxism

Biographical Formalism New Historicist
Psychological Sociological Review
Critical Approaches

__________ 1. It views a text as a revelation of its author’s mind and personality.

__________ 2. It asserts that a great deal of meaning in a text lies with how the reader responds to it.
__________ 3. It argues that we must take an author’s life and background into account when we
study a text.
__________ 4. These are different perspectives that help better understanding what was read.
__________ 5. It focuses on the values of a society and how those views are reflected in a text
__________ 6. Concerned with understanding the role of power, politics, and money in literary texts.
__________ 7. It is a text that expresses judgment on anything that can be procured.
__________ 8. It is concerned with the role, position, and influence of women in a literary text
9
__________ 9. It argues that every literary work is a product of its time and its world.
__________ 10. Focuses on close readings of texts and analysis of the effects of literary elements and
techniques on the text.

Reflection

To complete your task on Activity 1, “What I Learned”, write your learning, realization
and commitment by completing the phrases below:

My journey through this lesson enabled me to learn

_____________________________________________________________________________________

It made me realize that

_____________________________________________________________________________________
I therefore commit to
_____________________________________________________________________________________

References

Cancino, Rafael (March 11, 2019) REVIEW: “Ang Huling El Bimbo” is an elaborate elegy. Retrieved
http://theaterfansmanila.com/review-ang-huling-el-bimbo-is-an-elaborate-elegy/

Wyson, J.B. (2016) English for Academic and Professional Purposes. Quezon City: Vibal Group
Inc.

https://www.slideshare.net/MsDavis1/critical-approaches-literary-theory-power-
point?from_action=save

10