SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

A.Y. 2021 – 2022

FIRST SEMESTER

A LEARNING MODULE
in Reading and Writing Skills
(Based on K-12 Most Essential Learning Competencies)

Prepared by:
T. WILFAITH C. DE LEON

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 Course Description
Nowadays, Filipino students carry the burden of such a great expectation: to acquire the
necessary knowledge and skills to navigate and succeed in an increasingly globalized, demanding,
and changing environment. One such challenge is to maintain a high level of competence and
confidence in using English. Why so? English is the language of the globalized world. It is used in
education, business, and intercultural communication. Communicating successfully in English
involves knowing how to read and write efficiently in various contexts and circumstances. This can be
better achieved if students understand how the English language works-and how they can make it
work for them. Understanding English, especially through developing the essential skills of reading
and writing, can only happen effectively if we begin where the students are. This module is built on
that premise-the goal of valuable language learning can only be reached if students are able to
appreciate and apply their language use to relevant and real situations.

The study skills and process-oriented learning presented in this course serves as a bridge
connecting students and teachers to English by using content and language that are familiar and
engaging yet challenging. The writing output and other activities are relevant to students' experiences
as young, 21st century learners. It encourages them to explore different contexts and strategies for
reading and writing, especially maximizing their proficiency with technology by integrating different
media into their lessons. The lessons underscore and capitalize on the connection of reading and
writing by explaining how they work together both as a process and as a product. Students are
provided with opportunities to develop their abilities different learning needs and styles in both skills
through lessons that cater the students.

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 READING & WRITING SKILLS
Grade 11

First Semester
Prelims

MODULE 1

Content The learners demonstrate an understanding of

Standard/s  realizing that information in a written text may be selected and
organized to achieve a particular purpose.

Performance The Learner should be able to

Standard/s  critique a chosen sample of each pattern of development focusing on
information selection, organization, and development.

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 UNIT 1 - Reading & Thinking Strategies Across Text Types

Audience is one, if not, the most important element in academic writing. It is always your
priority as a writer to make sure your target audience understands what your main point is as
effectively as you can.

To achieve your purpose as an effective academic writer, always keep your target audience in
mind. Put yourself in their shoes or ask someone of semblance to your target readers to read your
work. On your own, stick to an organizing principle to maintain order in your paragraphs. You will
eventually see just how much structure and unity your paper will have, and consequently, how much
ease and understanding it will bring your audience while reading your work.

In this module , we shall learn the following lesson/s:

Unit 1 – Reading and Thinking Strategies across Text types
o Patterns of Development in Writing
- Narration
- Description
- Definition

After going through the module, you are expected to:

1. identify the different patterns of development in writing;
2. determine the characteristics of the different patterns of development in writing;
3. write a text using the patterns of development in writing;
4. read an example of text and use the patterns of development in rewriting the text;
5. contemplate on things to consider before writing an essay.

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Write at least five (5) factors that we need to consider in writing an essay.

What do we need
to consider in
writing an essay?

Patterns of Development in Writing

Most academic essays have an overall structure – introduction
leading to a thesis, body, conclusion. Essays also have topic
sentences and units of support that constitute the body, and these
topic sentences and units of support need to be ordered logically in a
way that’s appropriate to the essay’s thesis. In addition to the
concept of the thesis indicating a general, logical order for the
support, there are many ways to think about and organize
information in the body of an essay, using different patterns of
development.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ These patterns, referred to academically as “rhetorical

modes,” mirror the ways in which humans think about their worlds and organize their thoughts to
communicate. The concept of rhetorical modes goes back to ancient civilizations. Though it seems
particularly pressing in our current social media, online-all-the-time culture, the idea of “information
overload” has troubled humans for centuries. Despite these concerns, many of our ancestors found
productive ways to manage information overload and their strategies remain helpful today. Ancient
rhetoricians, including Aristotle and Cicero, developed techniques that writers used to gather,
categorize, and explore common features in sets of information.

Knowing that these common patterns of human thought exist, will help you as a writer to both develop
and organize information in your essays. The following image identifies common patterns. Although it

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refers to “paragraph” patterns, understand that these are also common patterns for whole essays.

Figure 1. Choosing Paragraph Patterns. Retrieved from: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/

Consider these common patterns of thought and consider specific ways in which you’ve applied each
thinking pattern in your everyday life:

1. NARRATION

Warm-Up!
What is your favorite story? Why is it your favorite? Retell it as if you were the author
him/herself. Let your imagination guide you in your retelling; unleash your inner bard and let
your actions supplement the spoken words.

The purpose of narration is to tell a story or relate an event.

Narration is an especially useful tool for sequencing or putting details
and information into some kind of logical order, usually chronological.
Literature uses narration heavily, but it also can be useful in non-fiction,
academic writing for strong impact.

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 Components of Narrative Text
 Vivid Description of Details
Narrations banks so much on details of how the story are told. Description is appealing
to the five senses of the human body. Take the reader into the narrative by letting
him/her feel how it is like in the world of your story.

 Consistent Point of View

Point of view (POV) is what the character or narrator telling the story can see in his/her
perspective. The three most commonly used points of view are the first, second and
third points of view.

 Consistent Verb Tense

It is needed to make clear to the reader whether the story in the narrative had already
happened, has been happening for some time now, happens on a regular basis, is
currently happening and will do so indefinitely, or will happen sometime in the future.

 Well-Defined Point or Significance

It is similar to theme. The theme is unifying thought or idea born out of all the other
elements of the story. It is a universal truth that is not usually blatantly said in a story.

 Narrative Devices
The use of narrative devices is a technique writers utilize to add flavor and enrich the
meaning of their stories. With these devices, an author can shorten, lengthen, and/or
focus on a particular event in the story.

 Dialogue
Writers may include dialogue, a word or series of words enclosed in a pair of quotation
marks, which signal the characters’ spoken language.

Example of Narration
It was my second day on the job. I was sitting in my seemingly gilded cubicle, overlooking
Manhattan, and pinching my right arm to make sure it was real. I landed an internship at Condé Nast
Traveler. Every aspiring writer I’ve ever known secretly dreamt of an Anthony Bourdain lifestyle.
Travel the world and write about its most colorful pockets. 
When my phone rang, and it was Mom telling me Dad had a heart attack. He didn’t make it. I
felt as though the perfectly carpeted floors had dropped out from under me. Now that I’ve come out
the other side, I realize Dad left me with a hefty stack of teachings. Here are three ideals I know he
would’ve liked for me to embrace. 
First, you have to stand on your own two feet. As much as our parents love and support us,
they can’t go to our school and confess to the principal that we stole a candy bar from Sara. We have

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to do that. Neither can they walk into the Condé Nast office and nail a job interview for us. At some
point, we have to put on our “big girl pants” and be brave, even if we’re not.  
Also, there’s a difference between love and co-dependence. Being grateful to have someone
to turn to for love and support is not the same as needing someone to turn to for love and support.
With the loss of my father, I’ve also lost my sounding board. All I can glean from that is it’s time to
look within myself and make proper assessments. If I can’t make sound decisions with the tools
already in my kit, then I risk falling for anything. 
Finally, memories are, perhaps, the only item that cannot be taken away from us. Will I miss
my father? Every single day. What can I do in those times? I can open up our suitcase of memories,
pick out my favorite one, and dream about it, talk about it, or write about it. Maybe I can’t pick up the
phone and call him anymore, but that doesn’t mean he’s gone. 
Next week, I’m off to Istanbul to explore their art scene. As soon as I read the email from my
editor, I picked up my phone to call Dad. Then, I realized he’ll never answer my calls again. I fought
back the tears, got up to make a cup of peppermint tea, and added a new note to my iPhone titled,
“Istanbul Packing List.” 
In the end, life goes on. I’m not sure why he had to leave during the single most poignant
chapter in my life. So, I won’t dwell on that. Instead, I’ll hold tightly to these three ideals and write
about Karaköy in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district. Dad will be with me every step of the way. 

Retrieved from: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/narrative-essay-examples.html 4 August 2020

Writing Activity
Write a narrative text about a time in your life when you experienced an
emotion strongly. Try to give as much detail as possible. Make sure to have an
introduction, body, and conclusion.

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 2. DESCRIPTION

Warm-Up!
Think of someone or something you adore. Describe it/him/her by answering the
following questions:

1. What does it/she/he look like?

2. What are its/her/his characteristics?

The purpose of description is to recreate, invent, or visually present a person,

place, event, or action so that the reader can picture that which is being
described. It is heavily based on sensory details: sight, sound, smell, feel,
taste.

Characteristics of Description

 It has a clear focus and sense of purpose.

 It uses sensory details and precise words.
 It presents details in a logical order.

Varieties of Description
1. Objective Description
It looks into factual and scientific characteristics of what is being described as
objectively as possible. The writer stays away from emotional impressions or responses
and instead, describes the scene as it is.

Example:
The Acer barbatum is a small to medium-sized, deciduous tree usually ranging from 15 to
25 m. (50 to 80 ft.) tall when mature. Its bark is light gray and smooth on younger trees, and
it becomes ridged and furrowed with age. Leaves are opposite and shallowly to deeply
palmately lobed, with a few blunt teeth but no serrations. The leaf sinuses are rounded,
unlike those of red maple (Acer rubrum) which are sharply V-shaped. Also, the sides of
terminal leaf lobes are more or less parallel, while those of red maple are widest at the
base, tapering to the tip.

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 2. Subjective Description
It is a sort of description that the author would normally use to “paint a picture” of how
he sees a character, or how he wants the reader to see a character. It is also used in a
literary discourse when there is stereotyped image that can be attributed to a person,
place, or an event.

Example:
My mother had hair so dark that it looked like a waterfall of ink. She always kept it in a braid
that fell to her slim waist, and always tied with a plain black band. The braid of black slung over
her shoulder, the plaits shining like scales.

Example of Description:
I watched a thunderstorm, far out over the sea. It began quietly, and with nothing visible except
tall dark clouds and a rolling tide. There was just a soft murmur of thunder as I watched the horizon
from my balcony. Over the next few minutes, the clouds closed and reflected lightning set the rippling
ocean aglow. The thunderheads had covered up the sun, shadowing the vista. It was peaceful for a
long time.
I was looking up when the first clear thunderbolt struck. It blazed against the sky and sea; I
could see its shape in perfect reverse colors when I blinked. More followed. The thunder rumbled and
stuttered as if it could hardly keep up. There were openings in the cloud now, as if the sky were torn,
and spots of brilliant blue shone above the shadowed sea.
I looked down then, watching the waves. Every bolt was answered by a moment of spreading
light on the surface. The waves were getting rough, rising high and crashing hard enough that I could
hear them.
Then came the rain. It came all at once and in sheets, soaking the sand, filling the sea. It was
so dense I could only see the lightning as flashes of light. It came down so hard the thunder was
drowned. Everything was rhythmic light and shadow, noise and silence, blending into a single
experience of all five senses.
In an instant it stopped. The storm broke. The clouds came apart like curtains. The rain still fell,
but softly now. It was as if there had never been a storm at all, except for a single signature. A
rainbow, almost violently bright, spread above and across the water. I could see the horizon again.
Retrieved from: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/descriptive-essay-examples.html 4 August 2020

Writing Activity
You are a writer of a travel magazine. The editor of the magazine asks you to
write a travel article that tells about a beautiful place where one can spend a
vacation. Your task is to write a five-paragraph descriptive article.

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 3. DEFINITION

Warm-Up!
Define the following words by looking its meaning on the dictionary and by
giving your own meaning of these words.

Word Meaning from the dictionary Meaning from yourself

love
mother
family

Definition moves beyond a dictionary definition to deeply examine a word or

concept as we actually use and understand it. It explains not just what
something means or is, but also what something does, what something is
used for, what something looks like, etc
Two Concepts of Definition
 Denotation
It is the primary, explicit, or literal definition of a word. One can say that denotation is
also the meaning of a word based on a dictionary.

 Connotation
It is the secondary meaning of a word. It is not necessarily included in the dictionary;
rather, it is how people understand a word based on their own personal or consensual
experiences.

Example: The denotation of rose is a particular kind of flower, while the connotation is
of romantic love; the denotation of river is a body of water, while its connotation might
be the unending flow of time.

Techniques to use for Definition Essay

 Analysis
It is the process of breaking down a concept into its constituents parts. It also entails
detailing in which one, rather than zooming out and describing the concept as a whole,
zooms in and focuses on describing the aspects that make up a concept.

Example: The guitar is a musical instrument that produces sound primarily through
strumming its strings. Its sounds is modified through the interaction of the strings with
the other parts of the guitar, which are headstock or simply the head, the tuners, the
nut, the sound hole, the body, and the bridge.

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 Comparison
It is associating the word or expression you are trying to define with something else not
necessarily synonymous with it. It is used to make abstract concepts more
understandable by using comparison to appeal to the human senses of sight, sound,
smell, taste, and touch.

Example: My passion is as hot, strong, almost thick coffee. Coffee unleashes energy,
has full-bloodied flavor, a touch of bitterness unpleasant to other, but delicious to the
drinker.

 Contrast
It understands how at least two similar concepts are different from each other.

Example: Love is softness, passion is smoulder. Love might be contentment, but

passion is adventure.

 Etymology
It is the history of a word. It explains the evolution of a word or how it has come to be.

Example: The English term 'Communication' has been evolved from Latin language.
'Communis and communicare' are two Latin words related to the word communication

 Exemplification and Illustration

Exemplification is defining something by giving examples. Illustration, on the other hand,
is giving an example and focusing on it to elaborate on the concept you are trying to
define.

Example: Books are considered to be credible and reputable resource materials to

consult when you are trying to find the definition of a word. Some examples are
dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, and manuals.

 Extended Definition
It is a personal interpretation of an author to an abstract and multifaceted concept. It
gives the reader a new and fresh understanding of a concept as it largely draws upon
the author’s own perspective.

Example: “I believe that a life lived with passion shimmers, shines, rises above the
ordinary. Allow me to seduce you into passionate existence. To think, to sing, maybe
even to sigh – appassionato.”

 Negation
It is a technique that you can use to define a word or concept by explaining what it is
not.

Example:  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or
rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at
wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

- 1 Corinthians 13:4-6

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  Synonyms
These are single word or phrase that share almost the same meaning with the concept
you are trying to define.

Example: According to dictionary.com, “mawkish” means “characterized by sickly

sentimentality” or “weakly emotional.” It can be considered synonymous to “nauseating”
and “sickening” due to dependence on too much emotion.

Example of Definition:
You know the feeling: you're reading a website or streaming a movie when your Wi-Fi goes
out. What is Wi-Fi, and why do we depend on it so much? Understanding the concept of Wi-Fi is
important for users of modern technology because it connects us to the world.
Wi-Fi is the wireless local network between nearby devices, such as wireless routers,
computers, smartphones, tablets, or external drives. It is part of the LAN (local area network)
protocols and has largely replaced the wired Ethernet option. When your device has Wi-Fi turned on,
it can find the nearest router. If the router is connected to a modem and works with an Internet service
provider (ISP), your device can now access the Internet and other devices on the network. Wi-Fi
covers a much more limited area than a cell phone tower. However, Wi-Fi does not use expensive
cellular data like LTE or 4G.
Many people believe that Wi-Fi is short for "wireless fidelity." The founding members of
Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance needed a name that was easier to remember than "wireless
ethernet," and much easier than Wi-Fi's actual original name, "IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence." They
added the slogan "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity," but dropped it after people mistook the
meaning of Wi-Fi. The name is a play on the term "hi-fi," which is a high-quality reproduction in stereo
sound ("high fidelity"), and not related to Wi-Fi at all. The IEEE 802.11b standard has since been
upgraded to faster protocols, including 802.11g, 802.11n and 802.11ac.
Because of Wi-Fi's widespread use and popularity, Merriam-Webster added "Wi-Fi" to its
dictionary in 2005, only eight years after it was invented. Today, most modern computers depend on
Wi-Fi for Internet access. Free Wi-Fi is available in many restaurants, hotels, and coffee shops. It is
also easy to install in your home for private use. However, even private Wi-Fi connections should be
password-protected. Joining an unprotected Wi-Fi network, or allowing others to join your network,
could compromise your online safety and privacy.
Understanding what Wi-Fi really is can protect you and your information. When used correctly
and safely, Wi-Fi is an essential part of the 21st-century experience. Whether you're watching your
favorite show or finishing up a research paper, you should know more about how data travels to and
from your device.

Retrieved from: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/definition-essay-examples.html 4 August 2020

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 Writing Activity
Draw a concept map with “love” as the central word from which all other words
would branch out. Using any technique in defining mentioned above, write
your own perception of love in a paragraph of no more than ten sentences.
You may use as many techniques of defining as you want.

Activity 1
 Define in your own words the three (3) patterns of writing discussed.
1. Narration - __________________________________________________________
2. Description - __________________________________________________________
3. Definition - ___________________________________________________________

Books:
 Tiongson et. al., 2016.,Reading and Writing Skills., Rex Book Store
 Gabelo, N. C et. Al., 2016., Reading and Writing: The Effective Connection for Senior High
School., Mutya Publishing House, Inc.

Online:
 Patterns of Development Overview Retrieved from: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-
esc-wm-englishcomposition1/chapter/text-rhetorical-modes/ August 1, 2020

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