English for Academic and

Professional Purposes
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
Reading Academic Texts
Personal Development
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 1 – Module 1: Title
First Edition, 2020

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English for Academic and
Professional Purposes
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
Reading Academic Text
Introductory Message
For the facilitator:

Welcome to English for Academic and Professional Purpose Alternative Delivery Mode
(ADM) Module on Reading Academic Text!

This module was collaboratively designed, developed and reviewed by educators both
from public and private institutions to assist you, the teacher or facilitator in helping
the learners meet the standards set by the K to 12 Curriculum while overcoming
their personal, social, and economic constraints in schooling.

This learning resource hopes to engage the learners into guided and independent
learning activities at their own pace and time. Furthermore, this also aims to help
learners acquire the needed 21st century skills while taking into consideration their
needs and circumstances.

In addition to the material in the main text, you will also see this box in the body of
the module:

Notes to the Teacher

This contains helpful tips or strategies that
will help you in guiding the learners.

As a facilitator you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this module.
You also need to keep track of the learners' progress while allowing them to manage
their own learning. Furthermore, you are expected to encourage and assist the
learners as they do the tasks included in the module.

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For the learner:

Welcome to Senior High School 11/12 Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) Module on
Reading Academic Text!

The hand is one of the most symbolized part of the human body. It is often used to
depict skill, action and purpose. Through our hands we may learn, create and
accomplish. Hence, the hand in this learning resource signifies that you as a learner
is capable and empowered to successfully achieve the relevant competencies and
skills at your own pace and time. Your academic success lies in your own hands!

This module was designed to provide you with fun and meaningful opportunities for
guided and independent learning at your own pace and time. You will be enabled to
process the contents of the learning resource while being an active learner.

This module has the following parts and corresponding icons:

What I Need to Know This will give you an idea of the skills or
competencies you are expected to learn in the
module.

What I Know This part includes an activity that aims to

check what you already know about the
lesson to take. If you get all the answers
correct (100%), you may decide to skip this
module.

What’s In This is a brief drill or review to help you link

the current lesson with the previous one.

What’s New In this portion, the new lesson will be

introduced to you in various ways such as a
story, a song, a poem, a problem opener, an
activity or a situation.

What is It This section provides a brief discussion of the

lesson. This aims to help you discover and
understand new concepts and skills.

What’s More This comprises activities for independent

practice to solidify your understanding and
skills of the topic. You may check the
answers to the exercises using the Answer
Key at the end of the module.

What I Have Learned This includes questions or blank

sentence/paragraph to be filled in to process
what you learned from the lesson.

What I Can Do This section provides an activity which will

help you transfer your new knowledge or skill
into real life situations or concerns.

iii
 Assessment This is a task which aims to evaluate your
level of mastery in achieving the learning
competency.

Additional Activities In this portion, another activity will be given

to you to enrich your knowledge or skill of the
lesson learned. This also tends retention of
learned concepts.

Answer Key This contains answers to all activities in the

module.

At the end of this module you will also find:

References This is a list of all sources used in developing

this module.

The following are some reminders in using this module:

1. Use the module with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any part of the
module. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises.
2. Don’t forget to answer What I Know before moving on to the other activities
included in the module.
3. Read the instruction carefully before doing each task.
4. Observe honesty and integrity in doing the tasks and checking your answers.
5. Finish the task at hand before proceeding to the next.
6. Return this module to your teacher/facilitator once you are through with it.
If you encounter any difficulty in answering the tasks in this module, do not
hesitate to consult your teacher or facilitator. Always bear in mind that you are
not alone.

We hope that through this material, you will experience meaningful learning and
gain deep understanding of the relevant competencies. You can do it!

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 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help you
understand the concepts on reading academic texts, the primary methods and
practices adopted to support sustainability for future generations. The scope of this
module permits it to be used in many different learning situations. The language
used recognizes the diverse vocabulary level of students. The lessons are arranged
to follow the standard sequence of the course. But the order in which you read them
can be changed to correspond with the textbook you are now using.

The module tackles only one lesson, namely:

 Lesson 1 – Reading Academic Text

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Differentiates language used in academic texts from various disciplines.
2. Define academic writing and distinguish it from other kinds of writing;
3. Identify the purpose, audience, language, and style of academic writing;
4. Analyze sample texts using the standards of academic writing; and
5. Situate academic writing in the Philippine context.
 What I Know

How many times have you been asked to write about your summer
vacation or your Christmas vacation? How many times you have been
assigned to do a book review or a reaction paper? Maybe, at some point, you
were also asked to write poems, skits, letters, etc. You had a different writing
assignments. But have you really pondered on the differences of the various
writing assignments that you have done? Would you know the difference
between an academic essay and a personal narrative? Can you distinguish a
news report from editorial?

1. What is the easiest writing assignment you have done so far?

2. How about the most difficult writing assignment you have done?

3. What do you think made the writing assignment difficult or easy?

Based on your answers, what do you think is academic writing and it’s
differences from other kinds of writing?
 Lesson
Fundamentals of Reading
1 Academic Texts
The texts you read in school are different from the texts you read during
your leisure time. While the texts you read for pleasure, such as graphic
novels or magazines can be likened to the appeal of sweet desserts, academic
texts are more like the heavy main courses. More often than not they need to
be chewed and savored for a long time before the meanings can be fully
digested.

Below are some examples of academic texts.

Academic Texts Description

Articles Published in scholarly journals, this type of
academic text offers results of research and
development that can either impact the academic
community or provide relevance to nation –building.
Conference papers These are the papers presented in scholastic
conferences, and may be revised as articles for
possible publication in scholarly journals.
Reviews These provide evaluation or reviews of works
published in scholarly journals
Theses, These are personal researches written by a
candidate or college or university degree.
Dissertation
Based on the examples, it can be said that in academic reading, full
concentration and comprehension are required for you to understand the key
ideas, information, themes, or arguments of the text.

What’s In

Reviewing the previous lessons, as a senior high school student, you

are faced with many reading task. To be able to pass the subject, you have to
read and comprehend academic texts. With these voluminous reading
materials, how can you say that you have read successfully? How important
it is read academic texts?

According to Fisher and Frey (2008):

 Students of the 21st Century must be able to locate, understand,
evaluate, and use written information in their personal and academic lives.
Their ability to do so will profoundly affect the trajectory of their adult lives.

In an age where digital academic, political, and social worlds are driven
by written information, their capacity to make use of multiple literacies will
be a determinant in how they live… their future depend on it.

You become a strategic reader if you establish connection between these

academic texts across text types to your own knowledge and experiences.

Notes to the Teacher

The target lesson may effectively connect to students by having
learned that reading is a skill; therefore, that it can be learned and
enhanced. Activities like reading different kinds of academic texts
may give them more realization on how important the academic
text structure and language compared with text across discipline.
 What’s New

The Reading as a Skill

In high school, reading skills is an important component to succeed as

a student. One has to read effectively in order to tackle requirements and pass
the subject. How is reading defined?

There have been several definitions of reading given across discipline.

According to Lapp and Flood (1978) reading is defined according to two types.
First, reading is a decoding process- the breaking down of written codes.
Second, reading is seen as a comprehension process.

Reading is not only an activity with printed words. It is also entails the
use of thinking strategies to decipher the meaning of the written text.
According to David (2005), it is a process of involving the readers into an
interaction with the text and enables them to use the reading strategies in
getting the meaning of the printed text. Since reading is a skill, it can be
learned.

The Academic Texts

Having learned that reading is a skill; therefore, it can be learned and

enhanced. Let’s us now look into another important aspect-the reading
material. What are academic texts?

Academic text have specific structure and language compared with text
across disciplines. As a reader, you have to be familiar with academic text
 Activity 1

The Nature of Academic Texts

Academic text has specific structure and language compared with text
across disciplines. Let’s find out in this activity. Read and evaluate these four
texts and answer the following questions after reading them.

1. In your opinion, which of the texts is an academic text?

2. Why did you consider it/them an academic text?

Text A
Text B
Text C

Dear Prof. Lagumen:

Congratulations for being chosen as one of the recipients of the ASEAN Educational
Program Award. You are invited to the 5th Annual ASEAN English Teacher’s
Conference. Our sponsors value the important work you have done by English
language teachers and they are willing to support your professional endeavors by
giving financial aid in the conference.
The conference organizers and sponsors want to know more about your work and
how the ASEAN English Teachers’ Conference will be able to help you. May we ask
you to complete the attached questionnaire to help us provide that information?
Also, we would appreciate the opportunity for members of our Sponsorship Profile
team to talk with you about your work and the challenges and opportunities that
you have identified in your study.
If you have questions, just send me an email or check this linkto the conference
website. Thank you and we look forward to meeting you.

Best regards,

Prof. Hannah Lee

Text D

Legal Indictment

State of ----

--- Country

TWENTY-FIRST JUDICIAL
DISTRICT COURT

THE GRAND JURORS of the State of --- duly impanelled and sworn, in and
for --- County in the name and by the authority of the said State upon their oath,
find and present:

That one John Doe late of --- County, on the 223rd day of January in the
year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-Four, with force and
arms, in -- County, aforesaid and within jurisdiction of the Twenty First Judicial
District Court of ---, for the --- County, did unlawfully, feloniously, with malice
aforethought kill and slay one Porphyria Blank by strangulation.

Contrary to the form and the Statutes of the State of ---, in such cases made
and provided and against the peace and dignity of the same.

…………………………………………………..

District Attorney for the 21st

Judicial District of ---
 What is It

After answering the two initial questions. List down the similarities
and differences and try to infer what distinguishes an academic text from
other texts.
Did you choose the text that appears to be the most “serious” to you
as the academic text? Are you one of those students who think that
academic texts are difficult to read?
Some students think that academic essay are difficult because they
are written in long sentences that are mostly complex or compound
complex, and use words that are hard to understand, for instance peruse,
stipulate, erudite.
How then do you distinguish an academic text from a business letter
or personal essay? Below is a table that will help you answer this questions.
Reread the four texts and fill ou this table based on your evaluation of the
texts.

Text A Text B Text C Text D

What is the text about?
(Subject/focus)
What is the writer’s goal in
writing the text?
(purpose)
Who is the target reader of the
text (audience)
How much does the writers know
of the subject?
(writers knowledge)
What is the point of view used in
the text? (first person, second
person, third person)
How much does the writer
organize the text (style)
Did the writer write in formal or
informal manner? (tone)

How did the writer choose the

words and organize the
sentences? Was the language
formal, informal, or casual?
 Based on your answers, define and give features of academic writing.
Academic writing is ______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

Academic writing requires ________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

Academic writing is different from a creative essay, a business letter, and a

legal document in terms of _______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
 What is It

Academic writing is a process that starts with posing a question,

problematizing a concept, evaluating an opinion, and ends in answering the
question or questions posed, clarifying a problem, and/or arguing for a stand.
Just like other kinds of writing, academic writing has a specific purpose,
which is to inform, to argue a specific point, and to persuade. It also addresses
a specific audience; the audience is your teacher (for the most part), your
peers who will read and evaluate your work, and the academic community
that may also read your work. The assumption is that your audience is
composed of people who are knowledgeable on the subject you are writing
about; thus you have to demonstrate a thorough understanding of your
subject at hand. This makes academic writing different from a personal
narratives or creative essay, or a legal document in which the knowledge of
the writer is assumed to be greater than that of the readers.
Academic writing is thinking; you cannot just write anything that comes
to your mind. You have to abide by the set of rules and practices in writing.
You have to write in a language that is appropriate and formal but not too
pretentious. You may also have to consider the background and knowledge of
your audience. You have to make sure that you can back up your statement
with a strong and valid evidence. Writing academic paper requires deliberate,
thorough, and careful thought and that is why it involves research.

What’s More

Ponder on this:
It was mentioned in Text A “Why Do They Say That Our English is
Bad?” that Filipino college students encounter problems in grammar when
they write papers. It would be interesting to find out if the same scenario
applies to you and your classmate. Answer the following guide questions.

1. What do you think are some problems that you and your classmate
encounter when you write academic papers?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What language do you use at home? Is it English or Filipino or any
other language (Cebuano, Bikolano, Chinese, etc.)?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Do you find it difficult to express your ideas in English because you
don’t speak the language at home? How does this affect your language
and style?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. Can you identify some words that are direct translation from Filipino
which may affect the meaning of sentences? For example, saying
“result to” instead of “result in” or saying “open the lights” instead of
“turn on the lights.”
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

What I Have Learned

Aside from the fundamentals of differences in content and form,

the difference between academic and non-academic texts lies in the
approach you take when reading them.

Reading Goals
It is important that you know your purpose for reading early on,
so you can save time and improve your comprehension.
Before you read an academic text, ask yourself the following
questions.
1. Why am I reading this text?
2. What information or pieces of information do I need ?
3. What do I want to learn?

Below are some general purposes for reading an academic text.

 to better understand an existing idea
 to get ideas that can support a particular writing
assignment
 to gain more information
 to identify gaps in existing studies
 to connect new ideas to existing on
 Structure of Academic Texts
Academic texts are typically formal. They have a clearly
structured introduction, body and conclusion. They also include
information from credible sources which re, in turn, properly cited.
They also include a list of references used in developing the academic
paper.

Content and Style of Academic Texts

Academic texts include concepts and theories that are related to
the specific discipline they explore. They usually exhibit all the
properties of a well-written text i.e., organization, unity, coherence and
cohesion, as well as strict adherence to the rules of language use and
mechanics.
In general, authors observe the following when writing academic
texts.
 They state critical questions and issues.
 They provide facts and evidence from credible sources.
 They use precise and accurate words while avoiding being
personal and subjective.
 They list references.
 They use hedging or cautious language to tone down their claims

Here are some examples of hedging expressions used in

academic texts.

Types Examples As used in the sentence

may, might, can, could, The measure might have
Modal auxillary
would, should negative effects on the
verb
patient health
to seem, to appear (epistemic The discussion appears to
Modal lexical
verbs), to believe, to assume, have a positive implications.
verbs doubting
to suggest, to estimate, to
and evaluating
tend, to think, to argue, to
rather than
indicate, to propose, to
merly
speculate
describing
possible, probable, un/likely A number of significant
Probability
adjectives changes are possible.
assumption, claim, There are number of claims
Nouns
possibility, estimate, pertaining to the possibility
suggestion of divorce
Adverbs Perhaps, possibly, probably, The proposal is practically an
practically, likely, answer to the confusion.
 presumably, virtually,
apparently
approximately, roughly, Fever is present in about a
Indicators of
about, often, occasionally, third of cases.
degree,
generally, usually, somewhat,
quantity,
somehow, a lot of
frequency and
time
believe, to our knowledge, it is The committee believes that
Introductory
our view that, we feel that the issue needs to be
phrases
explored.
If true, if anything If anything, the opinion holds
“If” Clause
a number of truths
Compound Double hedges: seems This probably indicates that
hedges reasonable looks probable; it the assigned personnel is
may suggest that; it seems misinformed
likely that; it would indicate
that; this probably indicates
Treble hedges: It seems
reasonable to assume that
Quadruple hedges: It would
seem somewhat unlikely that,
it may appear somewhat
speculative that.
 What I Can Do

Let’s Practice!
Directions: Fill in the blanks with the appropriate hedges in the following
sample academic paragraph.

appears believe likely seems likely could

The researchers __________________ that addressing the wide difference

in the emerging culture of the Information age ______________________ help
students learn effectively. According to Prensky (2001), today’s students, who
are referred to as digital natives, are no longer the people the educational
system has been assigned to teach. They are now instantaneous, information
saturated, wired. It ________________ that they think and process information
differently from their predecessors, the digital immigrants. The digital world
has wired the modern students differently, thus making them incredibly
sophisticated. It is ______________ that the availability of the Internet helped
condition them to ask questions and get answers instantaneously, which is a
far cry from the card catalogue and encyclopedias most digital immigrants
grew up with (Gandhi, 2009). This is the first generation of students who are
more proficient with technology than their teachers are (Moe, 2009).
It ________________ that teachers who fumble with technology will struggle
to persuade students that the information they are presenting is worthwhile
(Rudi, 2009). This is a challenge to prepare the students to be more
imaginative, creative, entrepreneurial and have the capacity for “high touch”
abilities such as compassion, personal rapport, social interaction, and caring
and helping others (Ahmes, 2008)
 Assessment

Directions: Write a two-to three- page essay on what you think is the state of
academic writing in the Philippine context. Use your personal knowledge, what you
hear from your teachers and on the news, and what you have read from books to
substantiate your opinion.
Consider the following areas you write:

 Content: clarity of the purpose and thesis statement, relevance of the

supporting points to the thesis statement, knowledge on the subject
matter
 Structure: coherence and logical sequences of ideas
 Language and Style: word choice, sentence construction
 Mechanics: grammar, punctuations, capitalizations, formatting,
documentation

You have learned that academic writing has a certain requirements and
standards but is not as alienating as you thought it to be. You may also
learned that academic writing goes hand in hand with critical thinking.
Thinking critically will be the focus of the next chapter.

Additional Activities

Chapter Quiz
Directions: Answer each of the following questions in one paragraph. Each
paragraph is worth ten points.
1. What is academic writing? What are it’s features?

2. What is the importance of academic writing?

3. How is academic writing different from a letter? How about from a

court order?

4. Why is academic writing equated to thinking?

5. If you use the first person point of view in writing academic papers, is
it still consider academic?
 Answer Key

Answers may vary… Answers may vary… Answers may vary…

Assessment What's More What I Know

References

Sipacio, Dr. Jessie Barrot and Philippe John. 2016. Communication Today English for Academic and
Proffesional Purposes for Senior High School. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.

Uychoco, Grace M Saqueton and MarikitTara A. 2016. English for Academic and Proffesional
Purposes. Quezon City: Rex Publishing.
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