Republika ng Pilipinas

Kagawaran ng Edukasyon
Rehiyon XI
SANGAY NG LUNGSOD NG DABAW
LUNGSOD NG DABAW
MAPULA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Brgy. Mapula, Paquibato Dist., Davao City
 
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LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

QUARTER 1

Name of Student: ________________________________ Grade:_____Section: ____________ Date: _________________

Subject Teacher: Annaliza C. Lopez Activity Sheet No.: ___4___
Subject: English for Academic and Professional Purposes

Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique

The main focus of this lesson is the exploration of the different methods by which you can analyze and
critique a certain material based on its technical aspects, its approach to gender, your reaction as the audience,
its portrayal of class struggle, social structure and its facts.

Understanding Critical Approaches and their Aspects

There are various ways or standpoints by which you can analyze and critique a certain material. You can
view it in the context of its technical aspects, its approach to gender, and your reaction as an audience. The
following theories and approaches to literary criticism would help you understand these ways better.

1. Formalism
It claims that literary works contain intrinsic properties and treats each work as a definite work of art.
In short, it emphasizes that the key to understanding a text is through the text itself: the historical
context, the author, or the other external context aren't necessary in in the interpretation of meaning.

The common aspects looked into when using Formalism are the following:
a. author’s techniques in resolving contradiction within the work
b. central passage that sums up the entirety of the work
c. contribution of parts and the work as a whole to its aesthetic quality
d. relationship of the form and the content
e. use of imagery to develop the symbols in the work
f. interconnectedness of various parts of the work
g. paradox, ambiguity, and irony in the work
h. unity in the work

2. 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:
a. how culture determines gender.
b. how gender equality (or lack of it) is presented in the text
c. how gender issues are presented in literary works and other aspects of
 d. human production and daily life
e. how women are socially, politically, psychologically, and economically oppressed by patriarchy
f. how patriarchal ideology is an overpowering presence

3. Reader-Response Criticism
It 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. It also claims that 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:
a. interaction between the reader and the text in creating meaning
b. the impact of the reader’s delivery of sounds and the visuals in enhancing and changing meaning

4. Marxist Criticism
It 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:
a. social class as represented in the work
b. social class of the writer/creator
c. social class of the characters

Activity: What’s a Critique?

Instructions: Read and analyze the information below then then summarize it using any of the summarizing
techniques you have learned in Module 2. Use a separate one whole sheet of paper.

MY SUMMARY: