-First Semester

Module 3 Week 3

I. Introduction
We are here in our fourth week in English for Academic and Professional Purposes Grade 11. Last
week we learn how to find main idea. Finding the main idea is a key to understanding what you read. If you
did not find the main idea you will not understand what you have reading. This week we will learn Writing a
reaction paper, a review, and a critique, these are specialized form of writing in which a reviewer or reader
evaluates. So, for better understanding about these let’s dive into this module to learn these types of writing.

Are you ready? Let's start! But, first please

read our objectives.

II. Objective of the lesson

By the end of this module the learners should be able to:
1. Content Standards: The learner acquires knowledge of appropriate reading strategies for a
better understanding of academic text.
2. Performance Standards: The learner produces a detailed abstract of information gathered
from the various academic texts read
3. Specific Objectives:
a) State the thesis statement of an academic text
b) Determine the location of main idea.
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III. Pretest
Directions: Write True if the statement is correct, False if not. Write your answers on your paper.
___1. Thesis statement presents or describes the point of a text.
___2. Thesis statement and main idea are the same.
___3. Understanding and locating topic sentence is not important.

___4. The thesis statement of text is in question form.

___5. Reading was not need to find the main idea.

Great! It’s seems like easy for you answering our pre-test.
So, let’s collect a new learning in this module. Read and
understand our lesson below.

Study Guide 1

Lesson 1: Locating Main Ideas

Last week we learn how to write a summary; this week we will learn how to locate a main idea
on a text. One effective way of increasing your speed in reading is by finding the main idea or thesis
statement of the text and the topic sentence of each paragraph first. If you can locate the thesis
statement and the topic sentence, you do not have to read the entire text to get an idea of the
author’s arguments and find the key information you need. Let’s first tackle the understanding and
locating the thesis statement.

Understanding and locating the thesis statement.

The thesis statement presents or describes the point of a text. In an academic text, the thesis statement is
usually presented in the abstract or executive summary or found in the last part of the introduction. It is
written in a declarative sentence.

Remember!
✓ Thesis statement is usually present in abstract.
✓ It is written in a declarative sentence.
✓ Main Idea - is like the heart of the text or a paragraph .
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Abstract:

This thesis looks at how Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) be carried
out to help society move towards sustainability. It starts by introducing the reader into the
essential concepts about Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD), Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD), TVET, and the barriers to integrating ESD into TVET. It also provides
information about the case study conducted in a TVET organization in Ireland which is
integrating ESD into TVET. The thesis presents the key aspects that TVET organization need to
have in order to successfully support SSD and it also provides a definition of success which is
developing a workforce skilled for sustainability where sustainability is defined by the four
sustainability principles. After presenting the key aspects, it looks at the strengths and
weaknesses, in the lens of the key aspects, of the case study and three other TVET
organizations. It later provides with recommendations based on the challenges found
integrating ESD into TVET and the presented key aspects in order for TVET organizations to
reach the vision of success. Keywords: education for sustainability, technical and vocational
education and training, pedagogical approaches for sustainability, ESD, DESD, TVET, VET,
vocational education, TVET organizations, TVET for sustainability, green skills, sustainability
skills, green jobs, green works, strategic sustainable development.
Referece: https://Microsoft Word - Thesis Final Report.docx (diva-portal.org)

Consider this example abstract, the thesis statement has been underlined. It is
on the first paragraph, but take note thesis statement is not always on the first
line, but also on the middle or last line.

In some cases, the thesis statement located at the last part of the introduction is replaced with a
purpose statement. Unlike the thesis statement, the purpose statement is introduced by signal phrases that
present the purpose, scope, or direction of the text as well as its focus.
These are signal phrases include:
“This study examined…” “The primary objective of this paper
“This paper examines…” is to…”
“The aim of this essay is to…” “The purpose of this study is to…”
“This paper begins with…”
“In this paper, I hope to….”

See, the example below, the underlined phrase start with “this study aims how to discuss…” which shows as
a purpose statement of the text.
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Study Guide 2
Strategies in Locating the thesis Statement

The following strategies are also useful in helping you locate the thesis statement of a text.
✓ Read the title of the text and make inferences on its purpose.
✓ If the text has no abstract or executive summary, read the first few paragraphs as the thesis statement
is usually located there.
✓ In other cases, you may also check the conclusion where authors sum up and review their main points.

Now, that you study how to locate the main idea, thesis statement, or
purpose statement, and know the strategies in locating the thesis statement.
Let’s see how you understood of what you have learnt. Try our activity 1 below.

Directions: Read the following texts and locate the main idea. Write your answer on your paper. (20 points)
Article History by Maria Mamba, Antonio Tamayao, Rudolf Vecaldo.
Received: 17 June 2020
Revised: 29 July 2020
Accepted: 3 September 2020
Published: 21 September 2020

ABSTRACT
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The graduation of the first two batches of the Filipino senior high school (post-secondary) graduates calls for an
examination of their College readiness since admission to tertiary education is one of the curricular exits of the K to
12 Program. Using the College Readiness Test (CRT) as a criterion-referenced measure, this study determined the
college readiness of the K to 12 graduates based on the overall CRT results and specifically in its seven (7) learning
areas namely English, Filipino, Literature, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Humanities, which ought to be
mastered in the K to 12 Program. The test of concurrent validity has proven that the CRT is a credible measure of
college readiness in these learning areas. It has also ascertained this concurrent validity of the CRT in relation to a
College Admission Test (CAT), which is a norm-referenced test that measures the college readiness of K to 12
graduates admitted in one public university in the north-eastern part of the Philippines. As a descriptive-correlational
research and using 7,533 K to 12 graduates as respondents, it was found that overall, the K to 12 graduates were
college-unready. They poorly performed in Science and Mathematics but manifested college readiness with
languages and literature. Also, campus assignment plays a significant variable in explaining the differentials in the
college readiness of the respondents. On the whole, the study offers manifold benefits for policy reforms along
curriculum alignment, tertiary admissions, and transition interventions to improve the quality of the K to 12
graduates.
Reference: https://EJ1279173.pdf (ed.gov)

Study Guide 3
Understanding and Locating Topic Sentence

The Topic Sentence presents or describes the point of a paragraph; in other words, it is the main idea
of a paragraph. It can be located at the beginning, in the middle, or at last part of a paragraph.

Strategies in Locating the Topic Sentence

The following strategies are useful in helping you locate the topic sentence in paragraph.
✓ Read the first sentence of the paragraph very carefully because most author states their topic
sentence at the beginning of the paragraph.
✓ Browse the sentences in the paragraph to identify what they state. The sentence that states
the main idea of the paragraph is the topic sentence.
✓ Find the concept or idea being tackled, which in colloquial term is the “big word” in the
paragraph. The sentence that defines the big word is usually the topic sentence.
✓ Identify the purpose of the paragraph. The sentence that presents or describes the purpose
is the topic sentence.
✓ Observe the writing style of the author. Focus on where the author usually places the topic
sentence.
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Directions: Read each of the following texts and locate the main idea, thesis statement, or topic sentence.
Write your answers on your paper.

1.
Terrorists attack civilians to coerce theirgovernmentsintomakingpoliticalconcession Does this strategy
work? To empirically assess theeffectivenessofterrorism,theauth exploits variation in the target
selection of 125 violent substatecampaigns.Theresult show that terrorist campaigns against civilian
targets are significantly less effective than guerrilla campaigns against military targets at inducing
governmentconcessions.The negative political effect of terrorism is evident across legit model
specifications after carefully controlling for tactical confounds. Drawing on political psychology, the
author concludes with a theory to account for why governments resist compliance whentheir civilians
are targeted.

Source: Abrahms, M. (2012). The political effectiveness of terrorism revisited.

Action Research, 45(3), 366-393.

2.

This paper considers the nature of professional learning arising through the processes of carrying
out action research in professional organizations. It suggests that communicative space opened up
outside of the professional context can lead to unanticipated professional learning. Such learning could
be considered transformative in the way it leads professionals to reframe their understanding of the
dilemma arising from doing action research. To illustrate this, two cases are presented to show the
pivotal role university tutors can play not only in the way they create and maintain communicative space
but also in the way they purposefully employ strategies to interrupt and challenge viewpoints,
assumptions and practices held by professionals doing action research, enabling professional learning to
become transformative.

Source: Eady, S ., & Drew, V. (2015). Doing action research in organizations: Using communicative spaces to facilitate (transformative) professional learning.
Action Research, 13(2), 105-122.

Greate job learners! You are nearly to finish

this module, for enhancement to your
locating idea skills, let’s do one last activity!
Good luck
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Assessment
A. Directions: Write T if the statement is true. Otherwise, write F if false.
_____ 1 A paragraph can have two or more topic sentences.
_____ 2. The abstract presents the thesis of the text.
_____ 3. By observing the writing style of the author, you can determine the location of the topic sentence.
_____ 4. Locating the thesis statement or topic sentence while reading a text can save time.
_____ 5. Most of the time, the author begins the paragraph with a topic sentence.
_____ 6. Sometimes, the main idea is presented at the end of a paragraph.
_____ 7. The main idea is always stated in the first part of a paragraph.
_____ 8. The thesis of a text is in question form.
_____ 9. When an abstract is not provided, the thesis statement is not evident in the
_____ 10. You don't have to read the full text if you know how to spot its main idea.

B. Directions: Read the following texts and locate the main idea. Write your answer on your paper.
This study examines the viewpoints of Macau and Singapore residents on the development
of casino gambling and the social, economic, and environmental impacts that are thought to arise.
It also assesses whether differences exist between sociodemographic groupings. The sample
comprised 416 respondents from Macau and 409 from Singapore. An analysis using primarily
descriptive statistics indicated both subsamples had similar viewpoints although Macau residents
tended to have higher scores pertaining to the consequences of gambling. It is suggested that the
differences arise due to the greater exposure of Macau residents to the influences of casino
development.

Source: Wu, S-T ., & Chen, Y-S. (2015). The social, economic, and environmental impacts of casino gambling on the residents of Macau and Singapore. Tourism
Management, 48, 285-298 .

Teaching English for specific purposes is sometimes quite a daunting challenge for most of the
teachers in any part of the world despite their personal motivation, expertise. and availability of
the best resources. With the rapid encroachment of digital technology on all fields of academic
teaching and learning, it becomes all the more incumbent for educators to have effective
strategies to incorporate and exploit the ubiquitous and popular digital platforms to teach their
"digital native" students to have better results. Considering the paramount influence of these
digital platforms and social media, this study aims at exploring the potent effect of Facebook as
one of the pervasive digital platforms to teach ESP to Saudi students at the university level. The
experiment established several findings of interest which led to the conclusion that ubiquitous
digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp do have a revelatory potential to
ameliorate academic and professional learning.
Source: Al-Amri, S ., & Zahid G. (2015). Ubiquitous digital platform to teach
English for specific purposes (ESP). International Journal of Bilingual & Multilingual Teachers of English.
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Congratulations! You have successfully

completed this module. Give yourself a time to
relax. Enjoy the weekend See you next week.

Reference:
J. S. Barrot.Ph D., P.J. F. Sipacio Ph. D. 2020 “English for Academic and Professional Purposes” for Senior High School Revised ed. C & E Publishing, Inc.
http://clipart-library.com/clipart/783272.htm
https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/639159372100463091/
How to Write a Summary | Guide & Examples Published on November 23, 2020 by Shona McCombes. Revised on July 14, 2022.