DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Region III
DIVISION OF CITY OF SAN FERNANDO
San Fernando East District
Nuestra Señora Del Pilar Integrated School
Brgy. Del Pilar, City of San Fernando, Pampanga

Name of Student: ____________________________________ Parent’s Signature: ____________

Parent/Guardian: _____________________________________

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

(Grade 12)
Quarter 1 – Week 5

I. OBJECTIVES

A. Content Standard:
The learner acquires knowledge of appropriate reading strategies for a better
understanding of academic texts
B. Performance Standard:
The learner produces a detailed abstract of information gathered from the various
academic texts read
C. Learning Competency/ Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELC)
MELC No. 8 –
Write an objective/balanced review or critique of a work of art, an event or a
program
 Specific Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the learners should be able to:

1. Present ideas convincingly

2. Write an objective/balanced review or critique of a work of art, an
event or a program

II. CONTENT:

Writing a Reaction Paper, Review and Critique

III. LEARNING RESOURCES

A. References
English for the Globalized Classroom Series English for Academic and
Professional Purposes by Paolo Niño M. Valdez, Ph.D

Communicate Today English for Academic and Professional Purposes for

Senior High School by Jessie Saraza Barrot, Ph.D. and Philippe John
Fresnillo Sipacio

B. Other Learning/Instructional Materials

IV. PROCEDURE

A. Reviewing previous lesson or presenting the new lesson

♦WHAT IS SUMMARIZING?
As an important skill in critical reading, summarizing is often
used to determine the essential ideas in a book, article, book chapter, an
article or parts of an article. These essential ideas include the gist or main
idea, useful information, or key words or phrases that help you meet your

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 reading purpose. Summarizing is generally done after reading. However, it
can be done as well while reading a text.

B. Establishing a purpose for the lesson

 Let’s Warm Up

Tick the column that determines how often you practice what the following statements say.
Do this as objectively as possible.

Usually Sometime Seldom Never

s
1. I consider my purpose before writing a
reaction paper, review, or critique.
2. I take the reader into consideration when
writing.
3. I summarize the content of the material at
the beginning of my reaction paper, review
or critique.
4. I formed opinions based on facts and cite
instances in the text or material to support
these opinions.
5. I use reliable sources to support my ideas.
6. I evaluate the article or book using sound
explanation.
7. I raise my points objectively with sufficient
information.
8. I critique a material using appropriate critical
approaches.
9. I point out ideas that the author missed,
scenes that were left hanging, or questions
which were unanswered.
10. I state my overall impression of the work at
the end of the review.
TOTAL
GRAND TOTAL

Scoring Score Level of Proficiency

Usually – 3 points 28-30 Advanced
Sometimes – 2 points 25-27 Proficient
Seldom – 1 point 23-24 Approaching Proficiency
Never - 0 20 and below Beginning Proficiency

C. Presenting examples/instances of the new lesson

Consider the following scenarios.

Trina had to write a reaction paper on the article that they have just read in class.
Zack watched a movie and wrote a long post on his Facebook account to say he liked it
while analyzing the movie using a feminist perspective. Yna is an art critic and she attended
an art exhibition at the Ayala Museum, after which she wrote a review on her blog about one
of the paintings that caught her attention. Coco watched the new commercial of a popular
brand of soap and wrote a critique and analysis of the commercial, which was published in a
reputable journal. Martin attended a cheer dance competition with his friend; afterward the
event, they discussed how and why the winning team’s performance did not deserve the
award.

What common theme do you find in all the scenarios? All of them involved in
evaluating something they read or watched using their reactions and opinions. If you think

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writing a reaction paper, review, and critique is hard, think again: you have been evaluating
and reacting to different works without knowing it.

D. Discussing new concepts and practicing new skills #1

WHAT ARE REACTION APPER, REVIEWS AND CRITIQUES?

What are Reaction Papers, Reviews, and Critiques?

A reaction paper, a review, and a critique are specialized forms of writing in which a reviewer
or reader evaluates any of the following:
 A scholarly work (e.g., academic books and articles)
 A work of art (e.g., performance art, play, dance, sports, film, exhibits)
 Designs (e.g., industrial designs, furniture, fashion design)
 Graphic designs (e.g., posters, billboards, commercials, and digital media)
Reaction papers, reviews, critiques usually range in length from 250-750 words. They are
not simply summaries but are critical assessments, analyses, or evaluation of different
works. As advanced forms of writing, they involve your skills in critical thinking and
recognizing arguments. However, you should connect the word critique to cynicism and
pessimism.

CRITICAL APPROACHES IN WRITING A CRITIQUE

There are various ways or standpoints by which you can analyze and critique a certain
material. You can critique a material based on its technical aspects, its approach to gender,
your reaction as the audience, or through its portrayal of class struggle and social structure.

1. Formalism- claims that literary works contain intrinsic properties and treats each work
as a distinct work of art. In short, it posits that the key to understanding a text is through
the text itself; the historical context, the author, or any other external contexts are not
necessary in interpreting the meaning.

Following are the common aspects looked into formalism:

 Author’s techniques in resolving contradictions within the work
 Central passage that sums up the entirety of the work
 Contribution of parts and the work as a whole to its aesthetic quality
 Relationship of the form and the content
 Use of imagery to develop the symbols in the work
 Interconnectedness of various parts of the work
 Paradox, ambiguity, and irony in the work
 Unity in the work

2. Feminist Criticism-also called feminism, it focuses on how literature presents women

as subjects of socio-political, psychological, and economic oppression. It also reveals how
aspects of our culture are patriarchal, i.e., how our culture views men as superior and
women as inferior. The common aspects looked into when using feminism are as follows:
 How culture determines gender
 How gender equality (or lack of it) is presented in the text
 How gender issues are presented in literary works and other aspects of human
production and daily life
 How women are socially, politically, psychologically, and economically oppressed by
patriarchy
 How patriarchal ideology is an overpowering presence

3. Reader-Response Criticism- is concerned with the reviewer’s reaction as an

audience of a work. This approach claims that the reader’s role cannot be separated from
the understanding of the work; a text does not have meaning until the reader reads it and
interprets it. Readers are therefore not passive and distant, but are active consumers of
the material presented to them. The common aspects looked into when using reader
response criticism are as follows:
 Interaction between the reader and the text in creating meaning

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  The impact of the reader’s delivery of sounds and visuals on enhancing and changing
meaning

4. Marxist Criticism- is concerned with differences between economic classes and

implications of a capitalist system, such as the continuing conflicts between the working
class and the elite. Hence, it attempts to reveal that the ultimate source of people’s
experience is the socioeconomic system. The common aspects looked into when using
Marxist criticism are as follows:
 Social class as represented in the work
 Social class of the writer/creator
 Social class of the characters
 Conflicts and interactions between economic classes

Note that these are not the only critical approaches you can use. Other approaches in writing
a critique include postmodern criticism, post-colonial criticism, structuralism, psychological
criticism, gender criticism, ecocriticism, biographical criticism, historical criticism,
mythological criticism, and deconstructionist criticism.

E. Discussing new concepts and practicing new skills #2

STRUCTURE OF A REACTION PAPER, REVIEW, OR CRITIQUE

You have to follow a logical organization and structure for your reaction paper or review to
be able to present your critical evaluation effectively.

Structure for Critiques of Academic Researches and Articles

Introduction (around 5% of the paper)
o Title of the book/article/work
o Writer’s name
o Thesis Statement
Summary (Around 10% of the paper)
o Objective or purpose
o Methods used (if applicable)
o Major findings, claims, ideas, or messages
Review/Critique (in no particular order and around 75% of the paper)
o Appropriateness of methodology to support the arguments (for books and articles) or
appropriateness of mode of presentation (other works)
o Theoretical soundness, coherence of ideas
o Sufficiency and soundness of explanation in relation to other available information
and experts
o Other perspectives in explaining the concepts and ideas
o It is best to ask the following questions during this part:
 Does the writer explicitly state his/her thesis statement?
 What are the assumptions (i.e., scientific/logical/literary explanation without
evidence) mentioned in the work? Are they explicitly discussed?
 What are the contributions of the work to the field where it belongs?
 What problems and issues are discussed or presented in the work?
 What kinds of information (e.g., observation, survey, statistics, historical
accounts) are presented in the work? How are they used to support the
arguments or thesis?
 Are there other ways of supporting the arguments or thesis aside from the
information used in the work? Is the author or creator silent about these
alternative ways of explanation?
Conclusion (around 10% of the paper)
o Overall impression of the work
o Scholarly or literary value of the reviewed article, book, or work
o Benefits for the intended audience or field
o Suggestion for future direction of research

For other types of reviews, there is no prescribed structure, but the following
sections are almost always present.

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Introduction
o Basic details about the material, such as its title, director or artist, name of
exhibition/event, and the like
o Main assessment of the material (for films and performances)
Plot Summary/Description
o Gist of the plot
o Simple description of the artwork
Analysis/Interpretation
Discussion and analysis of the work (you may employ the critical approach here)
It is best to ask the following questions during this part.
o What aspects of the work make you think it is a success or failure?
o Were there unanswered questions or plot lines? If yes, how did they affect the story?
o Does the work remind you of other things you have experienced through analogies,
metaphors, or other figurative devices? How does this contribute to the
meaning?
o How does the work relate to other ideas or events in the world and/or in your other
studies?
o What stood out while you were watching the film or the performance?
Conclusion/Evaluation
o Reinforcement of main assessment
o Comparison to a similar work
o Recommendation of the material (if you liked it)

F. Developing mastery
Write T if the statement is true and F if it is false.
______1. A review or reaction paper involves higher order thinking skills.
______2. A reaction paper, review and critique generally use the same organization of
ideas.
______3. A review must always be organized using a structure.
______4. Feminist criticism relates to conflicts between classes.
______5. Marxist criticism involves the analysis of the intrinsic features of a text.
______6. More than half of a review or critique should be devoted to the summary.
______7. The name of an author and title of the reviewed article are placed at the end of the
review or critique.
______8. The reviewer’s overall impression of the material being reviewed should be placed
in the introduction.
______9. When writing a review, reaction paper, or critique, only one perspective should be
used.
______10. Writing a reaction paper, review or critique is exclusive for scholars.

G. Finding practical applications of concepts and skills in daily living

What is the importance of learning how to write a reaction paper, review and critique?

H. Making generalizations and abstractions about the lesson

GUIDELINES IN WRITING A REACTION PAPER, REVIEW, OR CRITIQUE

1. For articles or journals
a. Read, view or listen to the work to be reviewed carefully to get the main topic or
the concepts presented. Then revisit the work to further identify its arguments or
message.
b. Relate the content of the work to what you already know about the topic. This will
make you more engaged in the article or book.
c. Focus on discussing how the book treats the topic and not the topic itself. Use
phrases such as this book/work presents and the author argues.
d. Situate your review. This means that your analysis should be anchored on the
theories presented by the writer or creator.

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 e. Report the type of analysis or mode of presentation the writer/creator used and
how this type of analysis supports the arguments and claims.
f. Examine whether the findings are adequately supported and how the connections
between ideas affect the conclusion and findings.
g. Suggest points for improvement of the reasoning, explanation, presentation of
ideas, as we as alternative methods and processes of reasoning.
h. Compare the writer’s or creator’s explanation of the topic to that of another expert
from the same field of study.
i. Point out other conclusions or interpretations that the writer/creator missed out.
Present other ideas that need to be examined.
j. Show your agreement with the writer’s or creator’s ideas and present an
explanation for this agreement.

2. For artworks and other media

a. When critiquing artworks or posters, make sure to use speculative verbs such as
evoke, create, appear, and suggest to show that your interpretation of the artist’s
work is just that- an interpretation.
b. Presume that the reader has not yet seen the material you are reviewing, so
make sure to describe it to them. For reviews of films or plays, make sure not to
spoil key events unless they figure in your review, in which case always add a
disclaimer.
c. For artworks, describe the material in simple terms to help your audience
visualize it; refrain from being vague or abstract.
3. On a general note, your reaction paper’s conclusion may focus on the
following ideas.
a. Did the work hold your interest?
b. Did the work excite or annoy you?
c. Did the work prompt you to raise questions to the author?
d. Did the work lead you to some realizations?
e. Did the work remind you of other materials that you have read, viewed or listened
to in the past?

I. Evaluating learning

Choose one media material (e.g., performance art, play, dance, sports, film, exhibits,
industrial design, furniture, fashion design, posters, billboards, commercials, and digital
media) to review. The topic of your chosen material should be related to your are of interest.

A. Study the work to be critiqued. Complete the following details:

Type of work: _____________________________________
Creator/Author: _____________________________________
Title/Name: _____________________________________

B. Complete the given information to come up with a writing situation for your
critique. Assume any writer’s persona you want.
General Purpose: _____________________________________
Specific Purpose: _____________________________________
Target Output: _____________________________________
Audience: _____________________________________
Writer’s Persona: _____________________________________
Tone/Formality: _____________________________________

C. Watch, read, or view your chosen material twice, if possible. During the first
viewing, experience it simply as viewer. During the second time, try to focus on
the technical aspects (e.g., cinematography or sound for films, rhyming and
diction or narrative and point of view for literary works, etc) and thematic
content (using any of the critical approaches) for a basis of your assessment.
After the second viewing, come up with your central assessment of the
material.
D. Prepare a preliminary outline for your critique using the details you have
indicated in A and B. Be sure to follow the principles of coordination,

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 subordination, parallel construction, and division when making your outline.
Seek the approval of your outline from your teacher before proceeding to the
actual writing.
E. Using your approved outline, write the first draft of your critique. After
completing your first draft, revisit it to clarify the major points and supporting
details.
F. After you have reviewed your final draft, edit it and eliminate grammatical and
typographical errors.
G. After the final changes, compile your work in a portfolio. You may be asked by
your teacher to publish your portfolio using social networking sites such as
Facebook.

J. Additional activities for application or remediation

Pretend that you are a writer in a famous pop culture blog. Choose one TV show episode or
newly released movie and write a 500-word critique about it. Publish your critique as a
Facebook note.

Prepared by:

NIÑA CAMILLE A. DAVID

Teacher II

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