SHS

Reading and Writing Skills

Module 4
Reading and Writing Skills
Module 4
First Edition, 2021

Copyright © 2021
La Union Schools Division
Region I

All rights reserved. No part of this module may be reproduced in any form
without written permission from the copyright owners.

Development Team of the Module

Author: Marvie T. Cadaon

Editor: SDO La Union, Learning Resource Quality Assurance Team

Illustrator: Ernesto F. Ramos Jr., P II

Management Team:

ATTY. Donato D. Balderas, Jr.

Schools Division Superintendent

Vivian Luz S. Pagatpatan, Ph.D

Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

German E. Flora, Ph.D, CID Chief

Virgilio C. Boado, Ph.D, EPS in Charge of LRMS

Belen C. Aquino, EPS in Charge of English

Michael Jason D. Morales, PDO II

Claire P. Toluyen, Librarian II
 Target

Not everything that we read and hear are true. Some of the pieces of
information that we perceive may seem or made believable that is why we need to
scrutinize the text and see if the information that we have gathered is true and
promotes honesty. The skills of critical thinking will help us not only understand
the texts that we read but also it will help us in real life situations that involve
decision making.
In your previous lesson, you are done with critical reading as reasoning and
formulating evaluative statements such as assertions and counterclaims.
This learning material will provide you information and activities that will
help you understand textual evidence to better evaluate the author’s argument in a
text.
After going through this learning material, you are expected to:
1. Determine the textual evidence to validate assertions and counterclaims
made in a text read (EN11/12RWS-IVac-10).

Before going on, check how much you know about this topic. Answer
the pretest on the next page in a separate sheet of paper.

1
 Jumpstart

For you to understand the lesson well, do the following activities.

Have fun and good luck!

Evidence is defined as the details given by the author to support his or her
claim. Finding text evidence is like being a detective, a reading detective. Your job is
to carefully go back into the text and find the proof you need to prove your case.
Activity 1: I’m a Detective!
Directions: Read the text below and comprehend what you are reading.
How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife
(Excerpt)
By Manuel E. Arguilla

She stepped down from the carretela of Ca Celin with quick, delicate grace.
She was lovely. She was tall. She looked up to my brother with a smile, and her
forehead was on a level with his mouth.
"You are Baldo," she said and placed her hand lightly on my shoulder. Her
nails were long, but they were not painted. She was fragrant like a morning when
papayas are in bloom. And a small dimple appeared momently high on her right
cheek. "And this is Labang of whom I have heard so much." She held the wrist of
one hand with the other and looked at Labang, and Labang never stopped chewing
his cud. He swallowed and brought up to his mouth more cud and the sound of his
insides was like a drum.
I laid a hand on Labang's massive neck and said to her: "You may scratch
his forehead now."
She hesitated and I saw that her eyes were on the long, curving horns. But
she came and touched Labang's forehead with her long fingers, and Labang never
stopped chewing his cud except that his big eyes are half-closed. And by and by
she was scratching his forehead very daintily.
My brother Leon put down the two trunks on the grassy side of the road. He
paid Ca Celin twice the usual fare from the station to the edge of Nagrebcan. Then
he was standing beside us, and she turned to him eagerly. I watched Ca Celin,
where he stood in front of his horse, and he ran his fingers through its forelock and
could not keep his eyes away from her.
"Maria---" my brother Leon said.
He did not say Maring. He did not say Mayang. I knew then that he had
always called her Maria and that to us all she would be Maria, and in my mind, I
said 'Maria' and it was a beautiful name.
Directions: Get to know more of the character described in the story. Fill out the
graphic organizer below. Use a separate sheet of paper for your answers.

2
 Character Traits Chart

Appearance Appearance
What does the What are the
Character look character’s
like? Who is the thoughts or
character? feelings?

Text Evidence: Test Evidence:

Actions
What is the character
doing?

Text Evidence:

Discover

Determining Textual Evidence

To better evaluate the author’s argument, you should be able to determine
the evidence from the text. This will allow you to validate the assertions of the
author and your counterclaims as a response to the reading. Evidence is defined
as the details given by the author to support his/her claim. The evidence provided
by the writer substantiates the text. It reveals and builds on the position of the
writer and makes the reading more interesting. Evidence is crucial in swaying the
reader on your side. A jury or judge, for example, relies on the evidence presented
by a lawyer before it decides a case.
Evidence can include the following:

 facts and statistics (objectively validated information on your subject);

 opinion from experts (leading authorities on a topic, such as researchers or
academics); and

3
  personal anecdotes (generalizable, relevant, and objectively considered).

The following are some questions to help you determine evidence from the
text:

 What questions can you ask about the claims?

 Which details in the text answer your questions?
 What are the most important details in the paragraph?
 What is each one’s relationship to the claim?
 How does the given detail reinforce the claim?
 What details do you find interesting? Why?
 What are some claims that do not seem to have support? What kinds of
support could they be provided with?
 What are some details that you find questionable? Why do you think so?
 Are some details outdated, inaccurate, exaggerated, or take out of context?
 Are sources reliable?

The following are the characteristics of god evidence:

 unified;
 relevant to the central point;
 specific and concrete;
 accurate; and
 representative or typical.

In expressing your judgment about the text,

1. First, state your idea about the text.

2. To determine the evidence from the text, look for clues and keywords that
support your idea about the text.
3. Quote or paraphrase the part of the text that helped you come up with your idea.
4. Use quotation marks to quote a part of the text. If it is from a book, indicate the
page number at the end of your sentence.
5. Lastly, express how the quote supports your idea.

The following are the two ways of citing textual evidence:

1. Paraphrasing. It is restating the text in your own words. Some of the starter
phrases to give credit in your paraphrase are:
 The text stated that…
 The author of [text] stated that.
 According to the text,
 A detail from the text that supports this is
 An example from the text is
2. Quoting. It stating a part of a text in the exact way it was written. The following
are the possible sentence starter for quoting evidence:
 [Author’s name] wrote, “__”
 The author of [text] wrote, “__”
 On page ___, the author stated, “___”
 This is shown when the author says, “__”

4
 Everything we claim or assert needs proof or evidence. An educator by the
name of Dr. All de Guzman suggests that we should express our claims
immediately beside or next to the support.

Explore

Here are some enrichment activities for you to work on to master and
strengthen the basic concepts you have learned from this lesson.

Enrichment Activity 1: Feel Me

Read and understand the excerpt of former president Manuel L. Quezon’s
speech. Then accomplish the assessments on a separate sheet of paper.

The Policies and Achievements of the Government and Regeneration of the

Filipinos” (excerpt)
Manuel L. Quezon

National strength can only be built on character. A nation is nothing more

nor less than its citizenry. It is the people that make up the nation and, therefore, it
cannot be stronger than its parts. Their weakness is its failings, their strength its
power. Show me a people composed of vigorous, sturdy individuals, of men and
women healthy in mind and body; courteous, brave, industrious, self-reliant;
purposeful in thought as well as in action; imbued with sound patriotism and a
profound sense of righteousness; with high social ideals and a strong moral fiber;
and I will show you a great nation, a nation that will not be submerged, a nation
that will emerge victorious from the trials and bitter strifes of a distracted world, a
nation that will live forever, sharing the common task of advancing the welfare and
promoting the happiness of mankind.
We are engaged in the epic task of building our nation, to live and flourish,
not for a day but for all time. We must find the flaws, if there be any, in our concept
of individual and community life, as well as in our character, and proceed at once
to remedy them.
I have an abiding faith in our people. I know that they have all the faculties
needed to become a powerful and enlightened nation. The Filipino is not inferior to
any man of any race. His physical, intellectual, and moral qualities are as excellent
as those of the proudest stock of mankind. But some of these qualities, I am
constrained to admit, have become dormant in recent years. If we compare our
individual and civic traits with those that adorned our forefathers, we will find, I
fear, that we, the Filipinos of today, have lost much of the moral strength and
power for the growth of our ancestors. They were strong-willed, earnest,
adventurous people. They had traditions potent in influence in their lives,
individually and collectively. They dared to be pioneers, to brave the seas, clear the
forest, and erect towns and cities upon the wilderness. They led a life of toil and
communal service. Each one considered himself an active part of the body politic.

5
But those traditions are either lost or forgotten. They exist only as a hazy- mist in
our distant past. We must revive them, for we need the anchorage of these
traditions to guide and sustain us in the proper discharge of our political and social
obligations.
The Filipino of today is soft, easy-going. His tendency is towards parasitism.
He is uninclined to the sustained strenuous effort! He lacks earnestness. Face-
saving is the dominant note in the confused symphony of his existence. His sense
of righteousness is often dulled by the desire for personal gain. His norm of
conduct is generally prompted by expediency rather than by principle. He shows a
failing in that superb courage which impels action because it is right, even at the
cost of self-sacrifice. His greatest fear is not to do wrong, but of being caught doing
wrong. He is frivolous in his view of life. His conception of virtue is many times
conventional. He takes his religion lightly. He thinks that lip-service and profession
are equivalent to deep and abiding faith. He is inconstant; he lacks perseverance;
the first obstacles baffle him, and he easily admits defeat. The patriotism of many
Filipinos of today is skin-deep, incapable of inspiring heroic deeds. Some are apt to
compromise with ethical principles and to regard truth as not incompatible with
misrepresentation or self-deceit.
This appraisal of the character of our people today may sound too severe.
You will realize that I would be happier if I could only shower praise upon my
countrymen. But my responsibility as head of this nation compels me to face and
state facts, however disagreeable they may be to me or our people, for it is only
thus that we can remedy existing evils that threaten to destroy the vitality and vigor
of the race. Because I have not lost faith that there are, within us, all the spiritual
and moral forces needed for the building of a great nation, I am ruthless in pointing
out our present shortcomings. Our task—it is a heroic task—is to awaken and
apply these faculties so that our people should become what of right they should be:
morally strong, virile, hard-working, refined, enterprising, persevering, public-
spirited.
I want our people to grow and be like the molave, strong and resilient, rising
on the hillside, unafraid of the raging flood, the lightning, or the storm, confident of
its strength. If we have the will to survive and the will to achieve social efficiency,
we cannot delay this task of spiritual regeneration. Let us begin to mold the typical
Filipino.
To ensure the accomplishment of this task of national spiritual
reconstruction, we shall formulate and adopt a social code—a code of ethics and
personal conduct—a written Bushido—that can be explained in the schools,
preached from the pulpits, and taught in the streets and plazas, and in the
remotest corners of our land. We shall indoctrinate every man, woman, and child in
its precepts. By every means and power at my command, I shall strive to enforce its
principles and to require that they be so universally and constantly observed, that
our children may breathe it in the air and feel it in their very flesh. Every Filipino is
a part and an objective of this great national movement, the success of which
depends upon his success in building up his character and developing his faculties.
This undertaking—the regeneration of the Filipino— constitutes the
paramount interest of my administration. My most cherished ambition is to see it
realized. It is the greatest prize that I can crave for my life. I call upon all the

6
teachers, the ministers of every faith, the political and social leaders, and
particularly upon you the young men and young women to be at the vanguard of
this crusade.
We have attained our freedom, but our spirit is still bound by the shackles
forged from the frailties of our nature. We owe it to ourselves and our posterity to
strike them down. Other peoples of the world are straining themselves to attain
higher levels of progress and national security. We shall not lag. The Filipino people
are on the march, towards their destiny, to conquer their place in the sun!

Assessment 1:
Directions: Go back to the speech in the previous pages. Then answer the
questions below. Be sure to use details from the text (textual evidence) to support
your answer. Make use of the ways in citing textual evidence.

Question Answer Textual Evidence

1. What do you think

was the intended
message of the
excerpt?

2. What are the

themes of the excerpt?
Cite 1 theme only.

Assessment 2 Show Me the Evidence!

Direction: Below is some claims taken from President Quezon’s speech. Go back to
the text and search for two examples from the text which support the claim.
Evaluate the evidence provided using the criteria previously mentioned. Afterward,
give your piece of evidence to better support the claim. Provide a one-sentence
explanation of why you chose to give that example, or how it would make the claim
stronger. Use a separate sheet of paper for your answers.

If we compare our individual and civic traits with those that adorned our
forefathers, we will find, I fear, that Filipinos of today, have lost much of the moral
strength and power for the growth of our ancestors.

Evidence from the text:

a. __________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

7
 My evaluation:

My sample evidence:

Reason:

The Filipinos of today are soft, easy-going.

Evidence from the text:

a. __________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
My evaluation:

My sample evidence:

Reason:

Great job! You have understood the lesson.

Are you now ready to summarize?

Deepen

At this point, determine the textual evidence to validate assertions and

counterclaims made in a text read. The scoring rubric on the next page will be used
in assessing your outputs. Use a separate sheet of paper for your answers.

What you need:

Feature article about local attraction in La Union (you may search the internet and
blog about tourist’s attraction in La Union), scissor, pencil or pen, bond paper.

What you have to do:

1. Look for an article that features a tourist’s spot in La Union specifically in
your locality.
2. You may also search the internet if printed articles are not available.
3. Secure a copy of the article.
4. Cut the article and paste it on a bond paper or print the article from the
internet. Do not forget the source of the article.
5. Then do the activity below.
Imagine that you are an editor for your school paper. Your teacher has asked
you to choose any article or blog about a tourist’s spot in La Union specifically your

8
locality, that presents reasons which aim to make the readers interested in visiting.
You are tasked to review your chosen article; it will be featured in the next issue of
the school paper. Your critique should consist of 1,000 words. A good review will
identify the claim of the text, describe its context, and evaluate the evidence
provided.

Sample format:

NAME: __________________________________ SCORE: ___________

GRADE & SECTION: _____________________ DATE: ____________

TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

INSERT OR PASTE HERE

THE ARTICLE

ARTCLE CRITIQUE

9
 Rubric for Scoring the Output

CRITERIA GOOD(5pts) FAIR(3pts) POOR(1pt)

Organization The Paper is well The Paper is
organized, has a very organized, has an
clear intro, body and intro, body, and
conclusion. The conclusion. The
purpose of the paper purpose of the
is clear from the very paper becomes clear
beginning. The name within the paper
and author of the and the name and
article are made author of the article
clear early in the are mentioned
paper. within the paper.
Summary The article is clear— The article is
only the key points summarized, but
of the article are some sub-points are
touched upon. The addressed along
article summary with the main
takes up no more points. The
than one-third of the summary often
total task takes up more than
1/3 of the total task
Critique Identified the claim Identified the claim
of the text, described of the text,
its context and described its
evaluated the context and
evidence provided. evaluated the
The discussion takes evidence provided.
up the majority of The discussion
the task takes up the
majority of the
assignment.
Mechanics There are no There are few
grammatical errors grammatical errors
or typos. or typos.
Total Score:
The Paper is not
well organized, has
an unclear or non-
existent intro, body
and conclusion.
The purpose of the
paper is unclear
and the name and
author of the article
are not stated or
stated late.
The article
summary is unclear
or overly detailed.
Often well over half
of the assignment is
taken up by the
summary.
The claim of the
text, description of
context, and
evaluation of the
evidence are
addressed
peripherally,
weakly, or not all.
The discussion
takes up only a
small part of the
task
There are many
grammatical errors
and/ or typos.

This time, let’s move on to the last task which aims to evaluate your level of
mastery. Good luck!

10
 Gauge

Directions: Read carefully each item. Write only the letter of the best answer for
each test item. Use a separate sheet for your answers.

1. What is textual evidence?

A. A compilation of clues.
B. What proves guilt or innocence.
C. Not necessary when claiming a text.
D. Sources of data and information that provide support for claims.

2. What is evidence?
A. All scientific data that support your claim
B. An opinion
C. A statement you believe to be true
D. A statement of an opposing argument

3. What is textual evidence?

A. Your claim
B. Proof from the text to support your answer
C. What the author thinks about the topic
D. An explanation in your own words about your claim.

4. What are facts, quotations, examples, anecdotes, and statistics used for?
A. Arguments
B. Claims
C. Counterclaims
D. Evidence

5. What does reasoning mean?

A. A solid and reasonable argument
B. A written response to a claim
C. An explanation that connects your evidence to your claim
D. An opinion you believe in

11
6. What is a good example of evidence to help support your claim?
A. Research and survey results
B. Statistics
C. Expert opinions
D. All of the above.

7. Which statement is relevant evidence?

A. My family has a computer at home.
B. My brother loves Romantic-Comedy movies.
C. In a recent study, 78% of students like outdoor activities.
D. I believe that Ginebra San Miguel is the best basketball team.

8. Which of these correctly defines evidence as it relates to arguments and

claims?
A. the proof used to support the reasons
B. Something police use to solve crimes
C. It doesn’t relate to arguments and claims
D. The proof used to support the claim, reasons support the evidence

9. Which piece of evidence could be used to BEST support this claim:

“High school students should be required to wear uniforms.”
A. School uniforms can be easily availed like ordering online.
B. When adding everything up, a school uniform could end up costing more
than 1,000.
C. A student reported, “allowing us to wear our clothes gives us a chance to
show our unique style and independence.”
D. At one school that recently required students to wear uniforms,
attendance rates went up, and behavior incidents went down.

10.Why is it important to provide textual evidence?

A. It makes your paragraph longer
B. It allows your reader to get the important facts from the article without
reading the whole thing
C. It shows that you know what you are talking about
D. It makes your claim stronger and helps prove your point.

Great job! You are almost done with this Learning Material.
12
References
Printed Materials:
Cidro, Mark Gleen O. et al. (2016) Integrated English for Effective Communication
Reading and Writing Skills Senior High School. Quezon City: The Phoenix
Publishing House, Inc.

Tiongson, Marella Therese A., et al. (2016) Reading and Writing Skills. Sampaloc,
Manila: Rex Bookstore, Inc.

Online and Electronic Sources:

Determining Textual Evidence (2019, November 19) Retrieved July 22, 2020, from
https://elcomblus.com/determining-textual-evidence/

How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife (American Colonial Literature) By

Manuel E. Arguilla (n.d.) Retrieved July 25, 2020, from
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Literature/Short Stories/How My
Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife.htm
Findly, Jennifer (2020, February 17) Text Evidence Activities and Strategies – Tips
for Teaching Students to Find Text Evidence Retrieved July 25, 2020, from
https://jenniferfindley.com/text-evidence/

Lambert, Keith (n.d) Ways to Scaffold Finding Text Evidence. Retrieved July 23,
2020 from https://www.educationworld.com/ways-scaffold-finding-text-
evidence

Li, Jessa (2017, March 18) Lesson 2 Text and Context Connection Retrieved July 22,
2020 from https://www.scribd.com/document/342246064/CS-RWS-LP2

Reflection about “The Policies and Achievements of Government and Regeneration

of the Filipinos Manuel L. Quezon: Address (1938) (2018, March 31) Retrieved
July 25, 2020, from http://writereflectionwithdoubler.blogspot.com/
2018/03/manuel-l-Quezon-address-1938.html?m=1

13
Answer Key
Jumpstart
Activity 1
Answer may vary

Explore
Assessment 1
Answer may vary

Assessment 2
Answer may vary

Deepen
Answer may vary

Gauge
1. D
2. A
3. B
4. D
5. C
6. D
7. C
8. D
9. D
10. D

14