ACADEMIA SYSTEM GLOBAL COLLEGES

Brgy. Tabunok, City of Talisay, Cebu, Philippines

Subject Code: APLD 02 Subject Title: English for Academic and
Professional Purposes
Module No: 5 Topic: Critical Approaches in writing a critique

Teacher: Ms. Gemma B. Alga

I. OVERVIEW

A critique entails more than just pointing out flaws. It involves

completing a thorough investigation of an academic article or book,
followed by the creation of a fair and reasonable evaluation of its
strengths and weaknesses.

A. Learning Competency

Learners will be able to:

 Uses appropriate critical writing a critique such as formalism, feminism, etc.

B. Specific Learning Objectives

The learners will be able to:

1. Identify the appropriate approaches in writing a critique.

2. distinguish the different approaches from another
3. Appreciate the importance of these approaches in academic writing.

II. LET’S BEGIN

Take a look at the picture. What can you

say about it?

Your observations are your analysis of the

image. You assessed the image based on
your reaction and opinion.
 Think again if you think writing a reaction paper, review, or critique is difficult. Without
realizing it, you've been analyzing and reacting to various works already.

Now, let’s know more about Critiques as we move forward.

III. LET’S DIG DEEPER

In academic writing, critique is an important rhetorical pattern since it presents a

balanced picture of things.

Critiques are based not only on personal perspective but should be grounded on actual
observations.

A review or criticism is a thorough examination of an argument to assess what is said, how

well the arguments are conveyed, what assumptions underpin the argument, what
difficulties are neglected, and what conclusions can be taken from such findings.

Critiques carefully analyze a variety of works. Creative works such as novels, exhibits, films,
images and poetry, research works such as monographs, journal articles, systematic
reviews, theories, media, news reports and feature articles.

Like an essay, a critique also follows a structure:

1. an introduction
2. body ,and
3. conclusion

Why do we write a critique?

 The goal of writing a critique is to assess someone else's work (a book, an essay, a
film, a picture, etc.) in order to help the reader comprehend it better.
 Because it provides the writer's opinion or appraisal of a text, critical analysis is
subjective writing. Breaking down and studying the elements is what analysis
entails.
 A critical paper is composed of two parts: critical reading and critical writing.

Critical thinking is required for critical writing. Your writing will include critical reading and
reflection on written texts. Your ability to use a text to create your own arguments is based
on your critical reading and thinking about it.

How to write a critique

1. It is important to have an understanding of the work

that will be critiqued
2. Study the work under discussion
3. Make notes on key parts of the work
4. Develop an understanding of the main argument or
purpose being expressed in the work.
5. How the work relates to a broader issue or context.
6. Read about the critical approaches

Different Approaches of a critique

There are a lot of approaches in criticism but in this module let us just focus on three:

1. Formalism
2. Feminism
 3. Reader Response

 It focuses only on the text itself.

 It uses close reading.
 It does not mind the social context, author and reader’s background and
opinion.
 It gives meaning in a literal way

In formalism, we only look for the following:

1. Imagery
2. Figurative languages
3. The text structure
4. The text style, and
5. The tone of the text

Example:

1. Visual Imagery
As she stepped out of the office building, she thought the bright, beaming sunlight would
blind her. Immediately, she began rummaging through her purse for her Tom Ford
shades.
2. Auditory Imagery
She awoke to the chirping of birds and the soft whisper of a breeze as it passed through
the tree outside her window.
3. Olfactory Imagery
The smell of dried fish, swam through my nose.
4. Gustatory Imagery
Slices of warm bread spread with peach butter
5. Tactile Imagery
The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric.
Figurative Language

Figurative language is a terminology that conveys a message or a point by going

beyond the literal meaning of words.
There are a lot of figurative languages and among these are:

 Simile
 Metaphor
 Personification
 Hyperbole
 Allusion
 Idiom

POINT OF VIEW

Who is telling the story? Is the novel or this passage written in:

a. first person (I, we, us) or

b. second person (you, your), and
c. third person point of view?
i. Limited ( the story is about he or she , the narrator is outside the story )
 Example: Tim was mad at shy. He blamed her. Shay just left without saying
anything. She left a note and left him.
ii. Omniscient (the story is about he or she, the narrator has full access to the
thoughts of all the characters.
Example:

Guide Questions in doing a formalist criticism

1. What is the structure or organization of the work? What's the first step? What's
next for it? What happens at the end? What is the plot of the work? What is the
relationship between the plot and the structure?
2. What is the relationship of each part to the whole text? What's the relationship
between the parts?
3. Who is narrating in the text? How did the narrator reveal that characters in the
story?
4. Who are the main and supporting characters, what do they stand for, and how
do they relate to one another?
5. What is the setting?

6. What kind of language does the author use to describe, narrate, explain, or
otherwise create the world of the literary work? More specifically, what images,
similes, metaphors, symbols appear in the work? What is their function? What
meanings do they convey?
Feminist criticism is concerned with "the ways in which literature (and other cultural
productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological
oppression of women" (Tyson 83)

Guide questions in doing Feminist Criticism

1. How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?

2. How are male and female roles defined?
3. What constitutes masculinity and femininity?
4. How do characters embody these traits?
5. Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How does this
change others’ reactions to them?
6. What does the work reveal about the operations (economically, politically,
socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy?
7. What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of
resisting patriarchy?
8. What does the work say about women's creativity?
9. What does the history of the work's reception by the public and by the critics tell
us about the operation of patriarchy?
10. What role does the work play in terms of women's literary history and literary
tradition?

Reader Response Criticism

 All reading includes some sort of response- “This is terrific”, “This is a bore.”” I do not
know what is going on here”- probably almost all writing about literature begins
with some such response
 ’ meaning” of a work is not merely something put into the work by the writer; rather
, the “meaning” is an interpretation created or constructed or produced by the
reader as well as the writer.

Guide Questions in doing Reader’s Response Criticism

 Who is the reader? Who is the implied reader?

 What experiences, thoughts, or knowledge does the text evoke?
 What aspects or characters of the text do you identify or misidentify with,
and how does this process of identification affect your response to the text?
 What is the difference between your general reaction to (e.g., like or dislike)
and reader-oriented interpretation of the text?
 IV. WE’RE ON OUR WAY

Direction: Explain the following figurative languages. Give 3 examples for each
figurative language. Explanation 2 points and examples 1 point each. (30 points)
1. Simile

2. Metaphor

3. Personification

4. Hyperbole

5. Allusion

6. Idiom
V. HOW FAR HAVE WE GONE
Direction: Read the following paragraph provide a feedback on it. Complete the manuscript below. 5
point each (25 points)

The book is a valuable resource as it provide interesting theoretical and

methodological means for analyzing news discourse. For instance, analyzing the
combination of images and text allows greater understanding of values encoded in the
news. In addition, the book adequately discusses means for media. Moreover, since the
book draws on different perspectives, readers will find a range of options to work with
when confronting their own data. To illustrate, news may not only be seen on the
national/international scene but also in specific locales. Therefore, this can help in
making sense of one’s data through adequate examples.

The book is intended as a suitable introduction for graduate students and

researchers interested in exploring the complexities of news discourse, as it
provides input, a list of readings and additional activities for researcher. It also
integrates several theoretical and methodological perspectives, giving readers a
free hand on deciding which approach to employ in analyzing their own data.
Overall, this book, which is part of the Continuum series of books covering areas
of discourse, is available contribution for the enrichment of scholarship
concerning news discourse (Valdez, 2014)

1. I think the review is because

.
However, it may be good to improve the following points:

.
2. I think the introduction

but may need some revision such as

.
3. I think the body is

. However,

.
4. The final section is

but

.
5. Language use is

.
However,
.
Grammar and mechanics are

. However,
VII. REFERENCES

Valdez, P. N. M. (2016b). ENGLISH FOR THE GLOBALIZED CLASSROOM SERIES- ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC
AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES (1st ed.). Phoenex Publishing House.