12

English for Academic and

Professional Purposes
Quarter 1 -Module 6:
Critical Approaches in
Writing a Critique

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English for Academic and Professional Purposes – Grade 12
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 1 – Module 6: Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique
First Edition, 2020

Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in
any work of the Government of the Philippines. However, prior approval of the
government agency or office wherein the work is created shall be necessary for
exploitation of such work for profit. Such agency or office may, among other things,
impose as a condition the payment of royalties.

Borrowed materials (i.e., songs, stories, poems, pictures, photos, brand

names, trademarks, etc.) included in this module are owned by their respective
copyright holders. Every effort has been exerted to locate and seek permission to
use these materials from their respective copyright owners. The publisher and
authors do not represent nor claim ownership over them.

Published by the Department of Education

Secretary: Leonor Magtolis Briones
Undersecretary: Diosdado M. San Antonio

Development Team of the Module

Writer: Cherry Ann E. Magallanes
Editor: Christine A. Arquillano
Grammarian: Margaux Valerie Peñaflor
Reviewer: Matilde A. Duangon
Layout Artist: Gretchen O. Macapobre
Subject Area Supervisor: Matilde A. Duangon
Management Team: Ronald G. Gutay, Allan B. Matin-aw, Mary Jane J. Powao,
Aquillo A. Rentillosa, Cristina T. Remocaldo
ADM Coordinator: Ryan B. Redoblado

Printed in the Philippines by ________________________

Department of Education – Region VII – Central Visayas

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Learning Resources Management Section
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English for Academic
and Professional
Purposes
Quarter 1 – Module 6:
Critical Approaches in
Writing a Critique

iii
For the facilitator:

Welcome to the English for Academic and Professional Purposes-Grade

12 Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) Module on Critical Approaches in Writing a
Critique!

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.

iv
For the learner:

Welcome to the English for Academic and Professional Purposes-12

Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) Module on Critical Approaches in Writing A
Critique!

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 into process
what you learned from the lesson.

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 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.

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 master the different Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique. 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 focuses on:

Lesson 6 – Critical Approaches in Writing A Critique

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. define critique;
2. identify the various approaches in writing a critique;
3. criticize the texts using the different approaches of criticism; and
4. apply the appropriate critical approaches in writing critique.

What I Know

Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer. Write your answer in your
notebook.
1. Which poet popularized the term objective correlative, which is often used in
formalist criticism?
A. Virginia Woolf
B. C.S. Lewis
C. T. S. Eliot
D. Matthew Arnold
2. One of the potential disadvantages of this approach to literature is that it can
reduce meaning to a certain time frame, rather than making it universal
throughout the ages.
A. Historical
B. Feminist
C. Formalist
D. Mimetic

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3. What approach to literary criticism requires the critic to know the author’s life
and times?
A. Historical
B. Formalist
C. Mimetic
D. All of these

4. This poet might be described as a moral or philosophical critic for arguing that
works must have “high seriousness.”
A. Matthew Arnold
B. T.S. Eliot
C. Elizabeth Browning
D. Virginia Woolf

5. This literary critic coined the term “fancy”.

A. Carl Jung
B. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
C. Virginia Woolf
D. Matthew Arnold

6. One archetype in literature is the scapegoat. Which of these literary characters

serves that purpose?
A. Ophelia
B. Captain Ahab
C. Hamlet
D. Billy Budd

7. Seven is an archetype associated with:

A. Birth
B. Perfection
C. Astrology
D. Death

8. A critic examining Pope’s “An essay on Man” asks herself: How well does this
poem accord with the real world? Is it accurate? Is it moral? She is most likely a
__________ critic.
A. reader response
B. feminist
C. formalist
D. mimetic

9. This critical approach assumes that language does not refer to any external
reality. It can assert several, contradictory interpretation of one text.
A. Formalist Criticism
B. deconstructionism
C. Formalist Criticism
D. Mimetic Criticism

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10. Michael Foucault was the major practitioner of this school of criticism.
A. Mimetic Criticism
B. Structuralism
C. Formalist Criticism
D. Deconstructionism

11. In Freudian approach to literature, concave images are usually seen as:
A. Female symbols
B. Phallic symbols
C. Male symbols
D. Evidence of an Oedipus complex

12. This feminist critic proposed that all female characters in literature are in at
least one of the following stages of development: the feminine, feminist, or female
stage.
A. Mary Wolstencraft
B. Elaine Showalter
C. Virginia Woolf
D. Ellen Mores

13. A critic argues that in John Milton’s “Samson Agonistes,” the shearing of
Samson’s lock is symbolic of his castration at the hands of Delilah. What kind of
critical approach is this critic using?
A. Historical approach
B. Psychological approach
C. Formalist approach
D. Mimetic approach

14. One of the disadvantages of this school of criticism is that it tends to make
readings too subjective.
A. Reader Response Criticism
B. Historical Criticism
C. Formalist Criticism
D. These are all equally subjective

15. A critic examining John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” focuses on the physical
description of the Garden of Eden, on the symbols of hands, seed, and flower, and
on the characters of Adam, Eve, and God. He pays special attention to the epic
similes and metaphors and the point of view from which the tale is being told. He
looks for meaning in the text itself and does not refer to any biography of Milton.
He is most likely a _____________ critic.
A. mimetic
B. feminist
C. formalist
D. reader response

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Lesson
Critical Approaches in
6 Writing a Critique

What’s In

Direction: Tell whether the following statement is TRUE or FALSE.

1. One purpose of a formal outline is to show the specific purpose of the

speech.

2. An outline contains main ideas and shows how they relate to each other
and to the thesis.

3. Thesis statements should preview what each topic sentence is about.

What’s New

Directions: Look at the picture below. What can you say about it? Give 5
descriptions about the picture. Write your answers in your notebook.

Source: https://bit.ly/36YK0s9
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 What Is It

What is a critique?
A critique is a careful analysis of an argument to determine what is said,
how well the points are made, what assumptions underlie the argument, what
issues are overlooked, and what implications are drawn from such observations. It
is a systematic, yet personal response and evaluation of what you read.

It is a genre of academic writing that briefly summarizes and critically

evaluates a work or concept.

Critiques can be used to carefully analyze a variety of works such as:

Creative works – novels, exhibits, film, images, poetry

Research – monographs, journal articles, systematic reviews, theories
Media – news reports, feature articles

Like an essay, a critique uses a formal, academic writing style and has a clear
structure, that is, an introduction, body and conclusion. However, the body of a
critique includes a summary of the work and a detailed evaluation. The purpose of
an evaluation is to gauge the usefulness or impact of a work in a particular field.

Why do we write critique?

Writing a critique on a work helps us to develop:

Knowledge of the work’s subject area or related works.

An understanding of the work’s purpose intended audience, development of
argument, structure of evidence or creative style.
Recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of the work.

How to write a critique?

Before you start writing, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the

work that will be critiqued.

Study the work under discussion.

Make notes on key parts of the work.
Develop an understanding of the main argument or purpose being
expressed in the work.
Consider how the work relates to a broader issue or context.
Read about the critical approaches. You can highlight some important ideas. You
can use these in expressing your views.

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The following are the different approaches in writing a critique:

1. Formalist: This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human

knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms.” All the elements necessary
for understanding the work are contained within the work itself. Of particular
interest to the formalist critic are the elements of form—style, structure, tone,
imagery, etc.— that are found within the text. A primary goal for formalist critics is
to determine how such elements work together with the text’s content to shape its
effects upon readers.

Questions to be asked for Formalistic Approach:

A. How is the work’s structure unified?

B. How do various elements of the work reinforce its meaning?
C. What recurring patterns (repeated or related words, images, etc.) can you
find? D. What is the effect of these patterns or motifs?
D. How does repetition reinforce the theme(s)?
E. How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the work’s meaning?
F. What is the effect of the plot, and what parts specifically produce that effect?
G. What figures of speech are used? (metaphors, similes, etc.)
H. Note the writer’s use of paradox, irony, symbol, plot, characterization, and
style of narration.
I. What effects are produced? Do any of these relate to one another or to the
theme?
J. Is there a relationship between the beginning and the end of the story?
K. What tone and mood are created at various parts of the work?
L. How does the author create tone and mood? What relationship is there
between tone and mood and the effect of the story?
M. How do the various elements interact to create a unified whole?

2. Gender Criticism: This approach “examines how sexual identity influences the
creation and reception of literary works.” Originally an offshoot of feminist
movements, gender criticism today includes a number of approaches, including the
so-called “masculinist” approach recently advocated by poet Robert Bly. The bulk of
gender criticism, however, is feminist and takes as a central precept that the
patriarchal attitudes that have dominated western thought have resulted,
consciously or unconsciously, in literature “full of unexamined ‘male-produced’
assumptions.”

3. Feminist criticism attempts to correct this imbalance by analyzing and

combatting such attitudes—by questioning, for example, why none of the
characters in Shakespeare’s play Othello ever challenge the right of a husband to
murder a wife accused of adultery. Other goals of feminist critics include “analyzing
how sexual identity influences the reader of a text” and “examining how the images
of men and women in imaginative literature reflect or reject the social forces that
have historically kept the sexes from achieving total equality.”

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 Feminist Criticism examines images of women and concepts of the
feminine in myth and literature; uses the psychological, archetypal, and
sociological approaches; often focuses on female characters who have been
neglected in previous criticism. Feminist critics attempt to correct or supplement
what they regard as a predominantly male-dominated critical perspective.

Questions to be asked for Feministic Approach:

A. How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?

B. Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender?
C. How do male and female characters relate to one another? Are these
relationships sources of conflict? Are these conflicts resolved?
D. Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women?
E. How do the images of women in the story reflect patriarchal social forces
that have impeded women’s efforts to achieve full equality with men?
F. What marital expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do
these expectations have?
G. What behavioral expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do
these expectations have?
H. If a female character were male, how would the story be different (and vice
versa)?
I. How does the marital status of a character affect her decisions or happiness?

4. Historical: This approach “seeks to understand a literary work by investigating

the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it—a context that
necessarily includes the artist’s biography and milieu.” A key goal for historical
critics is to understand the effect of a literary work upon its original readers.

Questions to be asked for Historical Approach:

A. How does it reflect the time in which it was written?

B. How accurately does the story depict the time in which it is set?
C. What literary or historical influences helped to shape the form and content
of the work?
D. How does the story reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the time in which it
was written or set? (Consider beliefs and attitudes related to race, religion,
politics, gender, society, philosophy, etc.)
E. What other literary works may have influenced the writer?
F. What historical events or movements might have influenced this writer?
G. How would characters and events in this story have been viewed by the
writer’s contemporaries?
H. Does the story reveal or contradict the prevailing values of the time in which
it was written? Does it provide an opposing view of the period’s prevailing
values?
I. How important is it the historical context (the work’s and the reader’s) to
interpreting the work?

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5. Reader-Response Criticism: This approach takes as a fundamental tenet that
“literature” exists not as an artifact upon a printed page but as a transaction
between the physical text and the mind of a reader. It attempts “to describe what
happens in the reader’s mind while interpreting a text” and reflects that reading,
like writing, is a creative process.
6. Structuralism focused on how human behavior is determined by social, cultural
and psychological structures. It tended to offer a single unified approach to human
life that would embrace all disciplines. The essence of structuralism is the belief
that “things cannot be understood in isolation, they have to be seen in the context
of larger structures which contain them. For example, the structuralist analysis of
Donne’s poem, Good Morrow, demands more focus on the relevant genre, the
concept of courtly love, rather than on the close reading of the formal elements of
the text.
7. Sociological focuses on man’s relationship to others in society, politics, religion,
and business.
Questions to be asked for Sociological Approach:

A. What is the relationship between the characters and their society?

B. Does the story address societal issues, such as race, gender, and class?
C. How do social forces shape the power relationships between groups or
classes of people in the story? Who has the power, and who doesn’t? Why?
D. How does the story reflect the Great American Dream?
E. How does the story reflect urban, rural, or suburban values?
F. What does the work say about economic or social power? Who has it and
who doesn’t? Any Marxist leanings evident?
G. Does the story address issues of economic exploitation? What role does
money play?
H. How do economic conditions determine the direction of the characters’ lives?
I. Does the work challenge or affirm the social order it depicts?
J. Can the protagonist’s struggle be seen as symbolic of a larger class struggle?
K. How does the microcosm (small world) of the story reflect the macrocosm
(large world) of the society in which it was composed?
L. Do any of the characters correspond to types of government, such as a
dictatorship, democracy, communism, socialism, fascism, etc.? What
attitudes toward these political structures/systems are expressed in the
work?

Now, you have learned the basic principles of writing criticisms. Let’s apply our
skill by doing these activities.

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 What’s More

Activity 2
Directions: Summarize what you have read by completing the table with what you
understood. Write your answers in your notebook.

APPROACHES IN WHAT IT IS HOW IT IS DONE

LITERARY CRITICISM
(definition) (technique in writing)

Example: This approach takes as a It attempts “to describe

fundamental tenet that what happens in the
Reader-Response
“literature” exists not as reader’s mind while
Criticism
an artifact upon a printed interpreting a text” and
page but as a transaction reflects that reading, like
between the physical text writing, is a creative
and the mind of a reader. process.

What I Have Learned

As a student, I have learned that writing a critique is ______________________.

There are various types of critical approaches, namely ______________, ____________,

________________, ______________, ___________, _____________, and ________________.

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 Let’s Reflect

Directions: Reflect on the learning that you gained after taking up this lesson by
completing the given chart.
What were your misconceptions about the What new or additional learning have you
topic prior to taking up this lesson? had after taking up this lesson in terms of
skills, content, and attitude?

I thought ……………….. I learned that………………….

What I Can Do

A. Directions: Read or silently sing this song entitled “Prinsipal“ by Missing

Filemon. Make your criticism by completing the graphic organizer. Write
your answers in a piece of paper.

Prinsipal
By: Missing Filemon

Prinsipal gusto ko nga mag-artista

Gikapuy na ko'g eskwela
Way allowance, hagu pa
Manimpad kining pobre sa Maynila
Magpa-cute sa taga-Viva
Basig ma discover pa
Anad na ako mag-inartista
Sa balay magpakaaron-ingnon nga busog
Bisag wa nay kusog

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 Prinsipal pwede kong magkontrabida
Kining dagway kog postura
Angayang mangulata
Ayaw lang, ayaw'g saba'ng mama'g papa
Ako s'la nga isorpresa
Musikat ko'g aduna
Anad na ako mag-inartista
Sa balay magpakaaron-ingnon nga tigas
Bisag wa nay bugas
Mga pangandoy nga nagpatagad sa ulong ko nga labad
Dili ma himo ta kung di makalupad
Aron-ingnon nga tigas bisag wa nay bugas

Anad na kini mag-inartista

Sa balay magpaka-aron-ingnon nga tigas
Bisag wa nay bugas

Ingnon nga busog bisag wa nay kusog

Ingnon nga maro bisag ma'y' pang iro
Ingnon nga bagsik bisag di' katuhik
La lala lala lalala lalala
La lala lala lalala lalala lalala

Source: Musixmatch

STRUCTURALISM

SOCIOLOGICAL

READER-
RESPONSE

B. Directions: Read the poem “Adam”, by Hugh Cook critically. Criticize it

using formalistic and feministic approaches.

ADAM
by Hugh Cook
“Eden is boring.
Nothing explodes.
There are no trains to fall off the tracks.
And Adam finds himself
With something missing.

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 Comic books? Broadband? Balsamic vinegar?
Pachinko? Razor blades? Plasma TV?
He's aware of an itch
And scratching
Has yet to be invented.
He eyes the fruit,
The One Forbidden Thing.
"Not yet," says the serpent,
Who's seen the script.
But Adam is engineered for impatience:
Quests, missions, objectives,
Grails unholy or otherwise.
"Out!" says the angel.
And Adam shrugs, Loses the core,
Strides to the open gate.
Something on two legs
Is running after him.”
Cook, Hugh - Adam. 2003

Assessment

A. Directions: Chose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answers in your
notebook.

1. Which critical approach focuses on understanding ways gender roles are

reflected or contradicted by texts?
A. Reader-response
B. Feminism
C. Historicism
D. Marxist

2. Which critical approach focuses on ways texts, reflect, reinforce, or challenge

the effects of class, power relations, and social roles?
A. Reader-response
B. Feminism
C. Historicism
D. Marxist

3. Which critical approach focuses on understanding texts by viewing texts in

the context of other texts?
A. Reader-response
B. Feminism
C. Historicism
D. Marxist

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 4. Which critical approach focuses on each reader's personal reactions to a
text, assuming meaning is created by a reader's or interpretive community's
personal interaction with a text?
A. Reader-response
B. Feminism
C. Historicism
D. Marxist

5. Which critical approach focuses on "objectively" evaluating the text,

identifying its underlying form? It may study, for example, a text's use of
imagery, metaphor, or symbolism?
A. Reader-response
B. Media Criticism
C. Historicism
D. Formalism

B. Read the given article critique and pay special attention to the structural
features by answering the following questions.
1. How does the article begin?
2. What organization does the article critique follow? How is it structured?
3. How will you describe the style and approach of the presentation of ideas?
4. How are the supporting details presented? Are the explanations sufficient?
5. What cohesive devices are used to improve the flow and clarity of ideas?
6. How will you describe the conclusion? How is it organized?

Quantitative Article Critique:

Factors Affecting the Successful Employment of Transition-Age Youths with
Visual Impairments

Introduction
This article examined some of the issues that affect youths with visual
impairments as they transition from high school or college to employment. The
researchers first mentioned that the transition from school to employment is a
topic that is often discussed, but little research has been done to identify the
variables that impact the transition process for youths with visual impairments
(Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009, p. 329). The rationale and the purpose of
the study were never clearly stated. Perhaps the lack of research could be
considered the rationale, but it would have been helpful to have more information
justifying this study. Also concerning was that statement of the problem was never
clearly written. In order to identify the problem, the authors should have cited
information that emphasized the high rate of unemployment for youths with visual
impairments. A study by Nagle (2001) is an excellent example of citing
unemployment rates for youths with visual impairments. That information could
have nicely transitioned into a purpose statement for this study.

13
Review of the Literature
Following the introduction, the researchers used the review of the literature
to define the variables as well as explain how those variables have been previously
studied. That helped me gather a better understanding of the amount of research
that had been done on each variable. I also gained an idea of the direction of the
study and what the authors wanted to analyze. This was especially helpful since
the introduction did not state the purpose of the study.
To organize a framework, the authors discussed the relevance of work
experience, self-determination, locus of control, academic competence, self-esteem,
and the role of assistive technology (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009, pp. 329-
331). All of these topics were defined, although they were not labeled as variables
until later. Information from previous research was cited to show correlations
between each variable and finding employment. I noticed, however, that the
authors cited research that studied youths with disabilities, secondary school
students, and university graduates, but I wondered if more research that related
specifically to students with visual impairments could have been cited. I also
wondered how the authors selected their variables. Were the variables simply
topics that interested the authors or did those variables repeatedly show up in
other studies as the most significant variables that related to employment? The
answer was never clarified.
Following these questions, I looked for counterarguments that might help
one better comprehend the overall circumstances for youths with visual
impairments that seek employment. I did not see any counterarguments or
contradicting research. This information would have helped me better understand
why the authors chose to take a closer look at certain variables. Contradicting
research could have also served as a rationale for performing this study.

Looking over the constructs of the study, the review of the literature defined
the variables that the researchers wished to evaluate, but the definition of the
dependent variable (employment) was vague (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009,
p. 332). Did “employment” mean full-time, part-time, or both? Was it long-term or
temporary? What about minimum wages? To me, the definition of employment
imposed a threat to construct validity because such a broad definition could have
allowed variables to be overlooked. That in turn could have produced misleading
results.
Upon examining the sources cited in the review of the literature, I noticed
that the National Longitudinal Transition Studies of Special Education Students
(NLTS1 and NLTS2) were not mentioned. Although NLTS2 was referenced in the
discussion section of this article, I expected to see it cited sooner. One study that
could have been helpful to reference was conducted by Kirchner and Smith (2005).
In that study, the researchers reported the wages generally earned by youths with
visual impairments versus youths with other disabilities. That information could
have been used to improve the definition of employment. Otherwise, I recognized a
lot of the names that the researchers cited.

14
Methodology
At the end of the review of the literature, the researchers created hypotheses
and research questions. The hypotheses were as follows (Capella-McDonnall &
Crudden, 2009, p. 331):
1. Early work experiences will be associated with employment.
2. Academic competence will be associated with employment.
3. Self-determination skills will be associated with employment.
4. Higher levels of self-esteem will be associated with employment.
The research questions were as follows (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009, p.
331):
1. Is the use of assistive technology or devices associated with employment?
2. Is involvement with the counselor in the vocational rehabilitation process
associated with employment?
3. Is an internal locus of control associated with employment?

Following the hypotheses and the research questions, the researchers listed
the variables. The dependent variable was employment and the independent
variables were work experience, self-determination, academic competence, self-
esteem, locus of control, level of involvement with a counselor, and the use of
assistive technology (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009, p. 332). The authors
explained how each independent variable would be measured and made some
limitations to control them (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009, p. 333). After
describing the dependent and independent variables, the researchers did not
identify any intervening or confounding variables. To reduce the threats to internal
validity, the researchers should have listed some intervening variables, such as the
amount of time worked at a specific job, rather than simply determining when the
most recent job was held. Other intervening variables might have been job
shadowing experience, volunteer experience, membership in community
organizations, and access to print materials, as mentioned in a study by Nagle
(2001).
Besides the intervening variables, I believe that some confounding variables
should have been listed. One example might be existing social networks of families
and friends. Youths that have large social networks may have more success with
finding employment than youths with small social networks, regardless of any of
the independent variables. Additional confounding variables might be biases in
society toward people with disabilities, one’s work ethic, punctuality, employer
reviews, previous job duties, and social interaction skills. Nagle (2001) especially
stressed the influence of social interaction skills, even though they are difficult to
measure. Such information would have been beneficial as part of this research.
For this study, the population of interest was transition-age youths with
visual impairments (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009, p. 332). The data was
taken from Cornell University’s website for the Longitudinal Study of the Vocational
Rehabilitation Services Program, or LSVRSP (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009,
p. 331). That study used a multistate, complex design to select its sample. To
obtain the sample for this study, the researchers set certain criteria and selected
the sample from LSVRSP data. I did not see any information regarding ethical
considerations of human subjects or an IRB process. I assumed that this

15
information might have been included in the LSVRSP report, since that contained
public use data. This study’s sample included youths under age 21 (at the time
they applied for vocational rehabilitation) who had visual impairments listed as a
primary or secondary disability. The final sample consisted of 41 youths, which is
rather small. It would have been helpful to understand the sampling procedure
since the initial data set consisted of over 8,500 people (CapellaMcDonnall &
Crudden, 2009, p. 331). The reader is left wondering how such a small sample size
was generated. Without any explanation, one might assume that the majority of
the subjects had other disabilities or were above age 21.

Due to the small sample size, the researchers used univariate analyses for
most of the variables. These included t-tests, Fisher’s exact test, and logistic
regression. For the locus of control measure, the researchers used the multivariate
analysis of variance procedure (CapellaMcDonnall & Crudden, 2009, p. 333). To
reduce the likelihood of a Type I error, the researchers used a method developed by
Benjamini and Hochberg (1995).

Based on the hypotheses, research questions, and data analyses, I believe

the researchers intended to use a correlational design. The researchers never
specifically mentioned the use of a prediction design and I believe their work
reflected an explanatory design. Although data was collected at multiple points in
time for the LSVRSP study, the researchers collected data at one point in time for
this study. To me, this approach resembled an explanatory model. Also, there was
no prediction made in the study, other than a relationship between the
independent variables and the dependent variable (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden,
2009, pp. 331-334).
In order to calculate the results, the researchers used both descriptive
statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics were used to measure
academic competence and locus of control. The measures of central tendency and
measures of variability for these two variables were provided in a table (Capella-
McDonnall & Crudden, 2009, p. 336). The authors used a series of inferential
statistics to analyze other variables. Examples include the MANOVA test, t tests,
and Fisher’s exact test. In order to evaluate the practical significance of the
results, the researchers used phi coefficients for categorical analysis. The authors
also set the alpha level to .10 in order to determine significance (Capella-McDonnall
& Crudden, 2009, pp. 333-334).
After the calculations, the conclusions were that the recentness of work
experience, self-esteem, and involvement with a counselor during the rehabilitation
process did not reach statistical significance. Employment since the disability
began, the number of jobs held prior to starting rehabilitation services, academic
competence, locus of control, self-determination skills, and the use of assistive
technology reached statistical significance (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009,
pp. 334-336).
Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations

Within the discussion section, the authors focused on the variables that
reached significance and related them to previous research. The authors also
acknowledged areas where more research was needed because certain topics had
not been thoroughly examined before. Toward the end of the discussion, the

16
authors admitted to limitations in this study, such as the small sample size and
the high amount of statistical tests that increased the chances of errors. After
reading the study’s limitations, one could see threats to internal and external
validity. For example, a threat to both internal and external validity would be the
sample selection process. The sample did not appear to come from a random
selection process, which is a threat to internal validity. This flaw in the design
caused an external threat to validity since the results could not be generalized to a
larger population.

While there were no major surprises from this study, there was information
to be learned. For example, work experience, self-determination, and locus of
control are important factors to consider because they impact employment
opportunities (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009, pp. 336-337) and they might
have been previously overlooked. Near the end of the article, the authors
recommended additional research to support the findings of the study and further
evaluate the variables (Capella-McDonnall & Crudden, 2009, p. 339). One could
interpret this as the researchers’ request for triangulation.

This article contributes to our knowledge by demonstrating that correlations

exist among assistive technology, locus of control, academic competence, work
experience, and self-determination when related to employment for youths with
visual impairments. Although this information should not be overly generalized, it
can be useful for counselors of vocational rehabilitation programs and youths with
visual impairments as they seek ways to obtain employment.

References
Capella-McDonnall, M., & Crudden, A. (2009). Factors affecting the successful employment
of transition-age youths with visual impairments. Journal of Visual Impairment and
Blindness, 103(6), 329-341. Retrieved from
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pubjvib.asp?docid=jvib030603

Kirchner, C., & Smith, B. (2005). USABLE (Using statistics about blindness and low vision
effectively) data report. Transition to what? Education and employment outcomes for
visually impaired youths after high school. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness,
99(8). Retrieved from http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pubjvib.asp?DocID=JVIB990806

Nagle, K. (2001). Transition to employment and community life for youths with visual
impairments: Current status and future directions. Journal of Visual Impairment and
Blindness, 95(12). Retrieved from
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pubjvib.asp?DocID=JVIB951202

17
 Additional Activities

Directions: Read the story entitled “Dead Stars” by Paz Marquez. Criticize it using
the different types of criticism following in the graphic organizer at the last page.
Write your answers in your notebook.

DEAD STARS
By: Paz Marquez Benitez
THROUGH the open window the air-steeped outdoors passed into his room,
quietly enveloping him, stealing into his very thought. Esperanza, Julia, the sorry
mess he had made of life, the years to come even now beginning to weigh down, to
crush--they lost concreteness, diffused into formless melancholy. The tranquil
murmur of conversation issued from the brick tiled azotea where Don Julian and
Carmen were busy puttering away among the rose pots. "Papa, and when will the
'long table' be set?" "I don't know yet. Alfredo is not very specific, but I understand
Esperanza wants it to be next month." Carmen sighed impatiently. "Why is he not a
bit more decided, I wonder. He is over thirty, is he not? And still a bachelor!
Esperanza must be tired waiting." "She does not seem to be in much of a hurry
either," Don Julian nasally commented, while his rose scissors busily snipped
away. "How can a woman be in a hurry when the man does not hurry her?"
Carmen returned, pinching off a worm with a careful, somewhat absent air. "Papa,
do you remember how much in love he was?" "In love? With whom?" "With
Esperanza, of course. He has not had another love affair that I know of," she said
with good-natured contempt. "What I mean is that at the beginning he was
enthusiastic--flowers, serenades, notes, and things like that--"
Alfredo remembered that period with a wonder not unmixed with shame.
That was less than four years ago. He could not understand those months of a
great hunger that was not of the body nor yet of the mind, a craving that had seized
on him one quiet night when the moon was abroad and under the dappled shadow
of the trees in the plaza, man wooed maid. Was he being cheated by life? Love--he
seemed to have missed it. Or was the love that others told about a mere fabrication
of perfervid imagination, an exaggeration of the commonplace, a glorification of
insipid monotonies such as made up his love life? Was love a combination of
circumstances, or sheer native capacity of soul? In those days love was, for him,
still the eternal puzzle; for love, as he knew it, was a stranger to love as he divined
it might be. Sitting quietly in his room now, he could almost revive the restlessness
of those days, the feeling of tumultuous haste, such as he knew so well in his
boyhood when something beautiful was going on somewhere and he was trying to
get there in time to see. "Hurry, hurry, or you will miss it," someone had seemed to
urge in his ears. So he had avidly seized on the shadow of Love and deluded
himself for a long while in the way of humanity from time immemorial. In the
meantime, he became very much engaged to Esperanza. Why would men so
mismanage their lives? Greed, he thought, was what ruined so many. Greed--the
desire to crowd into a moment all the enjoyment it will hold, to squeeze from the
hour all the emotion it will yield.

18
 Men commit themselves when but half-meaning to do so, sacrificing
possible future fullness of ecstasy to the craving for immediate excitement. Greed-
mortgaging, the future--forcing the hand of Time, or of Fate. "What do you think
happened?" asked Carmen, pursuing her thought. "I supposed long-engaged
people are like that; warm now, cool tomorrow. I think they are oftener cool than
warm. The very fact that an engagement has been allowed to prolong itself argues
certain placidity of temperament--or of affection--on the part of either, or both."
Don Julian loved to philosophize. He was talking now with an evident relish in
words, his resonant, very nasal voice toned down to monologue pitch. "That phase
you were speaking of is natural enough for a beginning. Besides, that, as I see it,
was Alfredo's last race with escaping youth--" Carmen laughed aloud at the thought
of her brother's perfect physical repose--almost indolence--disturbed in the role
suggested by her father's figurative language. "A last spurt of hot blood," finished
the old man. Few certainly would credit Alfredo Salazar with hot blood. Even his
friends had amusedly diagnosed his blood as cool and thin, citing incontrovertible
evidence. Tall and slender, he moved with an indolent ease that verged on grace.
Under straight recalcitrant hair, a thin face with a satisfying breadth of forehead,
slow, dreamer's eyes, and astonishing freshness of lips-indeed Alfredo Salazar's
appearance betokened little of exuberant masculinity; rather a poet with wayward
humor, a fastidious artist with keen, clear brain. He rose and quietly went out of
the house. He lingered a moment on the stone steps; then went down the path
shaded by immature acacias, through the little tarred gate which he left swinging
back and forth, now opening, now closing, on the gravel road bordered along the
farther side by madre cacao hedge in tardy lavender bloom.
The gravel road narrowed as it slanted up to the house on the hill, whose
wide, open porches he could glimpse through the heat-shrivelled tamarinds in the
Martinez yard. Six weeks ago that house meant nothing to him save that it was the
Martinez house, rented and occupied by Judge del Valle and his family. Six weeks
ago Julia Salas meant nothing to him; he did not even know her name; but now--
One evening he had gone "neighboring" with Don Julian; a rare enough occurrence,
since he made it a point to avoid all appearance of currying favor with the Judge.
This particular evening however, he had allowed himself to be persuaded. "A little
mental relaxation now and then is beneficial," the old man had said. "Besides, a
judge's good will, you know;" the rest of the thought--"is worth a rising young
lawyer's trouble"--Don Julian conveyed through a shrug and a smile that derided
his own worldly wisdom. A young woman had met them at the door. It was evident
from the excitement of the Judge's children that she was a recent and very welcome
arrival. In the characteristic Filipino way formal introductions had been omitted--
the judge limiting himself to a casual "Ah, ya se conocen?"--with the consequence
that Alfredo called her Miss del Valle throughout the evening. He was puzzled that
she should smile with evident delight every time he addressed her thus. Later Don
Julian informed him that she was not the Judge's sister, as he had supposed, but
his sister-in-law, and that her name was Julia Salas. A very dignified rather
austere name, he thought. Still, the young lady should have corrected him.
As it was, he was greatly embarrassed, and felt that he should explain. To
his apology, she replied, "That is nothing, each time I was about to correct you, but
I remembered a similar experience I had once before." "Oh," he drawled out, vastly
relieved. "A man named Manalang--I kept calling him Manalo. After the tenth time
or so, the young man rose from his seat and said suddenly, 'Pardon me, but my

19
name is Manalang, Manalang.' You know, I never forgave him!" He laughed with
her. "The best thing to do under the circumstances, I have found out," she
pursued, "is to pretend not to hear, and to let the other person find out his mistake
without help." "As you did this time. Still, you looked amused every time I--” “I was
thinking of Mr. Manalang." Don Julian and his uncommunicative friend, the
Judge, were absorbed in a game of chess. The young man had tired of playing
appreciative spectator and desultory conversationalist, so he and Julia Salas had
gone off to chat in the vine-covered porch. The lone piano in the neighborhood
alternately tinkled and banged away as the player's moods altered. He listened and
wondered irrelevantly if Miss Salas could sing; she had such a charming speaking
voice. He was mildly surprised to note from her appearance that she was
unmistakably a sister of the Judge's wife, although Doña Adela was of a different
type altogether. She was small and plump, with wide brown eyes, clearly defined
eyebrows, and delicately modeled hips--a pretty woman with the complexion of a
baby and the expression of a likable cow. Julia was taller, not so obviously pretty.
She had the same eyebrows and lips, but she was much darker, of a smooth rich
brown with underlying tones of crimson which heightened the impression she gave
of abounding vitality.
On Sunday mornings after mass, father and son would go crunching up the
gravel road to the house on the hill. The Judge's wife invariably offered them beer,
which Don Julian enjoyed, and Alfredo did not. After a half hour or so, the
chessboard would be brought out; then Alfredo and Julia Salas would go out to the
porch to chat. She sat in the low hammock and he in a rocking chair and the
hours--warm, quiet March hours-sped by. He enjoyed talking with her and it was
evident that she liked his company; yet what feeling there was between them was
so undisturbed that it seemed a matter of course. Only when Esperanza chanced to
ask him indirectly about those visits did some uneasiness creep into his thoughts
of the girl next door. Esperanza had wanted to know if he went straight home after
mass. Alfredo suddenly realized that for several Sundays now he had not waited for
Esperanza to come out of the church as he had been wont to do. He had been eager
to go "neighboring." He answered that he went home to work. And, because he was
not habitually untruthful, added, "Sometimes I go with Papa to Judge del Valle's."

She dropped the topic. Esperanza was not prone to indulge in unprovoked
jealousies. She was a believer in the regenerative virtue of institutions, in their
power to regulate feeling as well as conduct. If a man were married, why, of course,
he loved his wife; if he were engaged, he could not possibly love another woman.
That half-lie told him what he had not admitted openly to himself, that he was
giving Julia Salas something which he was not free to give. He realized that; yet
something that would not be denied beckoned imperiously, and he followed on. It
was so easy to forget up there, away from the prying eyes of the world, so easy and
so poignantly sweet. The beloved woman, he is standing close to her, the shadows
around, enfolding. "Up here I find--something--” He and Julia Salas stood looking
out into the she quiet night. Sensing, unwanted intensity, laughed, womanlike,
asking, "Amusement?" "No; youth--its spirit--” “Are you so old?" "And heart's
desire." Was he becoming a poet, or is there a poet lurking in the heart of every
man? "Down there," he had continued, his voice somewhat indistinct, "the road is
too broad, too trodden by feet, too barren of mystery." "Down there" beyond the
ancient tamarinds lay the road, upturned to the stars. In the darkness the fireflies

20
glimmered, while an errant breeze strayed in from somewhere, bringing elusive,
faraway sounds as of voices in a dream.
"Mystery--" she answered lightly, "that is so brief--" "Not in some," quickly.
"Not in you." "You have known me a few weeks; so, the mystery." "I could study
you all my life and still not find it." "So long?" "I should like to." Those six weeks
were now so swift--seeming in the memory, yet had they been so deep in the living,
so charged with compelling power and sweetness. Because neither the past nor the
future had relevance or meaning, he lived only the present, day by day, lived it
intensely, with such a wilful shutting out of fact as astounded him in his calmer
moments. Just before Holy Week, Don Julian invited the judge and his family to
spend Sunday afternoon at Tanda where he had a coconut plantation and a house
on the beach. Carmen also came with her four energetic children. She and Doña
Adela spent most of the time indoors directing the preparation of the merienda and
discussing the likeable absurdities of their husbands-how Carmen's Vicente was so
absorbed in his farms that he would not even take time off to accompany her on
this visit to her father; how Doña Adela's Dionisio was the most absentminded of
men, sometimes going out without his collar, or with unmatched socks. After the
merienda, Don Julian sauntered off with the judge to show him what a thriving
young coconut looked like--"plenty of leaves, close set, rich green"-while the
children, convoyed by Julia Salas, found unending entertainment in the rippling
sand left by the ebbing tide. They were far down, walking at the edge of the water,
indistinctly outlined against the gray of the out-curving beach. Alfredo left his
perch on the bamboo ladder of the house and followed. Here were her footsteps,
narrow, arched. He laughed at himself for his black canvas footwear which he
removed forthwith and tossed high up on dry sand. When he came up, she flushed,
then smiled with frank pleasure. "I hope you are enjoying this," he said with a
questioning inflection. "Very much. It looks like home to me, except that we do not
have such a lovely beach."
There was a breeze from the water. It blew the hair away from her forehead
and whipped the tucked-up skirt around her straight, slender figure. In the picture
was something of eager freedom as of wings poised in flight. The girl had grace,
distinction. Her face was not notably pretty; yet she had a tantalizing charm, all the
more compelling because it was an inner quality, an achievement of the spirit. The
lure was there, of naturalness, of an alert vitality of mind and body, of a thoughtful,
sunny temper, and of a piquant perverseness which is sauce to charm. "The
afternoon has seemed very short, hasn't it?" Then, "This, I think, is the last time--
we can visit." "The last? Why?" "Oh, you will be too busy perhaps." He noted an
evasive quality in the answer. "Do I seem especially industrious to you?" "If you are,
you never look it." "Not perspiring or breathless, as a busy man ought to be." "But--
" "Always unhurried, too unhurried, and calm." She smiled to herself. "I wish that
were true," he said after a meditative pause. She waited. "A man is happier if he is,
as you say, calm and placid." "Like a carabao in a mud pool," she retorted
perversely "Who? I?" "Oh, no!" "You said I am calm and placid." "That is what I
think." "I used to think so too. Shows how little we know ourselves." It was strange
to him that he could be wooing thus: with tone and look and covert phrase. "I
should like to see your hometown." "There is nothing to see--little crooked streets,
bunut roofs with ferns growing on them, and sometimes squashes." That was the
background. It made her seem less detached, less unrelated, yet withal more
distant, as if that background claimed her and excluded him. "Nothing? There is

21
you." "Oh, me? But I am here." "I will not go, of course, until you are there." "Will
you come? You will find it dull. There isn't even one American there!" "Well--
Americans are rather essential to my entertainment." She laughed. "We live on
Calle Luz, a little street with trees." "Could I find that?" "If you don't ask for Miss
del Valle," she smiled teasingly. "I'll inquire about--" "What?" "The house of the
prettiest girl in the town." "There is where you will lose your way." Then she turned
serious. "Now, that is not quite sincere." "It is," he averred slowly, but emphatically.
"I thought you, at least, would not say such things." "Pretty--pretty--a foolish word!
But there is none other more handy I did not mean that quite--” “Are you
withdrawing the compliment?" "Re-enforcing it, maybe. Something is pretty when it
pleases the eye--it is more than that when--" "If it saddens?" she interrupted
hastily. "Exactly." "It must be ugly." "Always?"
Toward the west, the sunlight lay on the dimming waters in a broad, glinting
streamer of crimsoned gold. "No, of course you are right." "Why did you say this is
the last time?" he asked quietly as they turned back. "I am going home." The end of
an impossible dream! "When?" after a long silence. "Tomorrow. I received a letter
from Father and Mother yesterday. They want me to spend Holy Week at home."
She seemed to be waiting for him to speak. "That is why I said this is the last time."
"Can't I come to say good-bye?" "Oh, you don't need to!" "No, but I want to." "There
is no time." The golden streamer was withdrawing, shortening, until it looked no
more than a pool far away at the rim of the world. Stillness, a vibrant quiet that
affects the senses as does solemn harmony; a peace that is not contentment but a
cessation of tumult when all violence of feeling tones down to the wistful serenity of
regret. She turned and looked into his face, in her dark eyes a ghost of sunset
sadness. "Home seems so far from here. This is almost like another life." "I know.
This is Elsewhere, and yet strange enough, I cannot get rid of the old things." "Old
things?" "Oh, old things, mistakes, encumbrances, old baggage." He said it lightly,
unwilling to mar the hour. He walked close, his hand sometimes touching hers for
one whirling second. Don Julian's nasal summons came to them on the wind.
Alfredo gripped the soft hand so near his own. At his touch, the girl turned her face
away, but he heard her voice say very low, "Good-bye."
II
ALFREDO Salazar turned to the right where, farther on, the road broadened
and entered the heart of the town--heart of Chinese stores sheltered under lowhung
roofs, of indolent drug stores and tailor shops, of dingy shoe-repairing
establishments, and a cluttered goldsmith's cubbyhole where a consumptive bent
over a magnifying lens; heart of old brick-roofed houses with quaint hand-and-ball
knockers on the door; heart of grass-grown plaza reposeful with trees, of ancient
church and convento, now circled by swallows gliding in flight as smooth and soft
as the afternoon itself. Into the quickly deepening twilight, the voice of the biggest
of the church bells kept ringing its insistent summons. Flocking came the devout
with their long wax candles, young women in vivid apparel (for this was Holy
Thursday and the Lord was still alive), older women in sober black skirts. Came too
the young men in droves, elbowing each other under the talisay tree near the
church door. The gaily decked rice-paper lanterns were again on display while from
the windows of the older houses hung colored glass globes, heirlooms from a day
when grasspith wicks floating in coconut oil were the chief lighting device. Soon a
double row of lights emerged from the church and uncoiled down the length of the
street like a huge jewelled band studded with glittering clusters where the saints'
platforms were. Above the measured music rose the untutored voices of the choir,

22
steeped in incense and the acrid fumes of burning wax. The sight of Esperanza and
her mother sedately pacing behind Our Lady of Sorrows suddenly destroyed the
illusion of continuity and broke up those lines of light into component individuals.
Esperanza stiffened self-consciously, tried to look unaware, and could not. The line
moved on.
Suddenly, Alfredo's slow blood began to beat violently, irregularly. A girl was
coming down the line--a girl that was striking, and vividly alive, the woman that
could cause violent commotion in his heart yet had no place in the completed
ordering of his life. Her glance of abstracted devotion fell on him and came to a
brief stop. The line kept moving on, wending its circuitous route away from the
church and then back again, where, according to the old proverb, all processions
end. At last Our Lady of Sorrows entered the church, and with her the priest and
the choir, whose voices now echoed from the arched ceiling. The bells rang the
close of the procession. A round orange moon, "huge as a winnowing basket," rose
lazily into a clear sky, whitening the iron roofs and dimming the lanterns at the
windows. Along the still densely shadowed streets the young women with their rear
guard of males loitered and, maybe, took the longest way home.
Toward the end of the row of Chinese stores, he caught up with Julia Salas.
The crowd had dispersed into the side streets, leaving Calle Real to those who lived
farther out. It was past eight, and Esperanza would be expecting him in a little
while: yet the thought did not hurry him as he said, "Good evening" and fell into
step with the girl. "I had been thinking all this time that you had gone," he said in a
voice that was both excited and troubled. "No, my sister asked me to stay until they
are ready to go." "Oh, is the Judge going?" "Yes." The provincial docket had been
cleared and Judge del Valle had been assigned elsewhere. As lawyer-and as lover--
Alfredo had found that out long before. "Mr. Salazar," she broke into his silence, "I
wish to congratulate you." Her tone told him that she had learned, at last. That was
inevitable. "For what?" "For your approaching wedding." Some explanation was due
her, surely. Yet what could he say that would not offend? "I should have offered
congratulations long before, but you know mere visitors are slow about getting the
news," she continued. He listened not so much to what she said as to the nuances
in her voice. He heard nothing to enlighten him, except that she had reverted to the
formal tones of early acquaintance. No revelation there; simply the old voice--cool,
almost detached from personality, flexible and vibrant, suggesting potentialities of
song. "Are weddings interesting to you?" he finally brought out quietly "When they
are of friends, yes." "Would you come if I asked you?" "When is it going to be?"
"May," he replied briefly, after a long pause. "May is the month of happiness they
say," she said, with what seemed to him a shade of irony. "They say," slowly,
indifferently. "Would you come?" "Why not?" "No reason. I am just asking. Then you
will?" "If you will ask me," she said with disdain. "Then I ask you." "Then I will be
there." The gravel road lay before them, at the road's end the lighted windows of the
house on the hill. There swept over the spirit of Alfredo Salazar a longing so keen
that it was pain, a wish that, that house were his, that all the bewilderments of the
present were not, and that this woman by his side were his long wedded wife,
returning with him to the peace of home. "Julita," he said in his slow, thoughtful
manner, "did you ever have to choose between something you wanted to do and
something you had to do?" "No!" "I thought maybe you had had that experience;
then you could understand a man who was in such a situation." "You are
fortunate," he pursued when she did not answer. "Is--is this man sure of what he

23
should do?" "I don't know, Julita. Perhaps not. But there is a point where a thing
escapes us and rushes downward of its own weight, dragging us along.
Then it is foolish to ask whether one will or will not, because it no longer
depends on him." "But then why--why--" her muffled voice came. "Oh, what do I
know? That is his problem after all." "Doesn't it--interest you?" "Why must it? I--I
have to say good-bye, Mr. Salazar; we are at the house." Without lifting her eyes,
she quickly turned and walked away. Had the final word been said? He wondered.
It had. Yet a feeble flutter of hope trembled in his mind though set against that
hope were three years of engagement, a very near wedding, perfect understanding
between the parents, his own conscience, and Esperanza herself--Esperanza
waiting, Esperanza no longer young, Esperanza the efficient, the literal-minded, the
intensely acquisitive. He looked attentively at her where she sat on the sofa,
appraisingly, and with a kind of aversion which he tried to control. She was one of
those fortunate women who have the gift of uniformly acceptable appearance. She
never surprised one with unexpected homeliness nor with startling reserves of
beauty. At home, in church, on the street, she was always herself, a woman past
first bloom, light and clear of complexion, spare of arms and of breast, with a slight
convexity to thin throat; a woman dressed with self-conscious care, even elegance;
a woman distinctly not average. She was pursuing an indignant relation about
something or other, something about Calixta, their note-carrier, Alfredo perceived,
so he merely halflistened, understanding imperfectly.
At a pause he drawled out to fill in the gap: "Well, what of it?" The remark
sounded ruder than he had intended. "She is not married to him," Esperanza
insisted in her thin, nervously pitched voice. "Besides, she should have thought of
us. Nanay practically brought her up. We never thought she would turn out bad."
What had Calixta done? Homely, middle-aged Calixta? "You are very positive about
her badness," he commented dryly. Esperanza was always positive. "But do you
approve?" "Of what?" "What she did." "No," indifferently. "Well?" He was suddenly
impelled by a desire to disturb the unvexed orthodoxy of her mind. "All I say is that
it is not necessarily wicked." "Why shouldn't it be? You talked like an--immoral
man. I did not know that your ideas were like that." "My ideas?" he retorted, goaded
by a deep, accumulated exasperation. "The only test I wish to apply to conduct is
the test of fairness. Am I injuring anybody? No? Then I am justified in my
conscience. I am right. Living with a man to whom she is not married--is that it? It
may be wrong, and again it may not." "She has injured us. She was ungrateful."
Her voice was tight with resentment. "The trouble with you, Esperanza, is that you
are--" he stopped, appalled by the passion in his voice. "Why do you get angry?
I do not understand you at all! I think I know why you have been indifferent
to me lately. I am not blind, or deaf; I see and hear what perhaps some are trying to
keep from me." The blood surged into his very eyes and his hearing sharpened to
points of acute pain. What would she say next? "Why don't you speak out frankly
before it is too late? You need not think of me and of what people will say." Her
voice trembled. Alfredo was suffering as he could not remember ever having
suffered before. What people will say--what will they not say? What don't they say
when long engagements are broken almost on the eve of the wedding? "Yes," he
said hesitatingly, diffidently, as if merely thinking aloud, "one tries to be fair--
according to his lights--but it is hard. One would like to be fair to one's self first.
But that is too easy, one does not dare--" "What do you mean?" she asked with

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repressed violence. "Whatever my shortcomings, and no doubt they are many in
your eyes, I have never gone out of my way, of my place, to find a man." Did she
mean by this irrelevant remark that he it was who had sought her; or was that a
covert attack on Julia Salas? "Esperanza--" a desperate plea lay in his stumbling
words. "If you--suppose I--" Yet how could a mere man word such a plea? "If you
mean you want to take back your word, if you are tired of--why don't you tell me
you are tired of me?" she burst out in a storm of weeping that left him completely
shamed and unnerved. The last word had been said.

III
As Alfredo Salazar leaned against the boat rail to watch the evening settling
over the lake, he wondered if Esperanza would attribute any significance to this trip
of his. He was supposed to be in Sta. Cruz whither the case of the People of the
Philippine Islands vs. Belina et al had kept him, and there he would have been if
Brigida Samuy had not been so important to the defense. He had to find that
elusive old woman. That the search was leading him to that particular lake town
which was Julia Salas' home should not disturb him unduly, Yet he was disturbed
to a degree utterly out of proportion to the prosaicalness of his errand. That inner
tumult was no surprise to him; in the last eight years he had become used to such
occasional storms. He had long realized that he could not forget Julia Salas. Still,
he had tried to be content and not to remember too much. The climber of
mountains who has known the back-break, the lonesomeness, and the chill, finds
a certain restfulness in level paths made easy to his feet. He looks up sometimes
from the valley where settles the dusk of evening, but he knows he must not heed
the radiant beckoning. Maybe, in time, he would cease even to look up.
He was not unhappy in his marriage. He felt no rebellion: only the calm of
capitulation to what he recognized as irresistible forces of circumstance and of
character. His life had simply ordered itself; no more struggles, no more stirring up
of emotions that got a man nowhere. From his capacity of complete detachment, he
derived a strange solace. The essential himself, himself that had its being in the
core of his thought, would, he reflected, always be free and alone. When claims
encroached too insistently, as sometimes they did, he retreated into the inner
fastness, and from that vantage he saw things and people around him as remote
and alien, as incidents that did not matter. At such times did Esperanza feel baffled
and helpless; he was gentle, even tender, but immeasurably far away, beyond her
reach. Lights were springing into life on the shore. That was the town, a little up-
tilted town nestling in the dark greenness of the groves.
A snubcrested belfry stood beside the ancient church. On the outskirts the
evening smudges glowed red through the sinuous mists of smoke that rose and lost
themselves in the purple shadows of the hills. There was a young moon which grew
slowly luminous as the coral tints in the sky yielded to the darker blues of evening.
The vessel approached the landing quietly, trailing a wake of long golden ripples on
the dark water. Peculiar hill inflections came to his ears from the crowd assembled
to meet the boat--slow, singing cadences, characteristic of the Laguna lake-shore
speech. From where he stood, he could not distinguish faces, so he had no way of
knowing whether the presidente was there to meet him or not. Just then a voice
shouted. "Is the abogado there? Abogado!" "What abogado?" someone irately asked.
That must be the presidente, he thought, and went down to the landing. It was a

25
policeman, a tall pock-marked individual. The presidente had left with Brigida
Samuy--Tandang "Binday"--that noon for Santa Cruz. Señor Salazar's second letter
had arrived late, but the wife had read it and said, "Go and meet the abogado and
invite him to our house." Alfredo Salazar courteously declined the invitation.

He would sleep on board since the boat would leave at four the next morning
anyway. So, the presidente had received his first letter? Alfredo did not know
because that official had not sent an answer. "Yes," the policeman replied, "but he
could not write because we heard that Tandang Binday was in San Antonio so we
went there to find her." San Antonio was up in the hills! Good man, the presidente!
He, Alfredo, must do something for him. It was not every day that one met with
such willingness to help. Eight o'clock, lugubriously tolled from the bell tower,
found the boat settled into a somnolent quiet. A cot had been brought out and
spread for him, but it was too bare to be inviting at that hour. It was too early to
sleep he would walk around the town. His heartbeat faster as he picked his way to
shore over the rafts made fast to sundry piles driven into the water. How peaceful
the town was! Here and there a little tienda was still open, its dim light issuing
forlornly through the single window which served as counter. An occasional couple
sauntered by, the women's chinelas making scraping sounds. From a distance
came the shrill voices of children playing games on the street--tubigan perhaps, or
"hawk-and-chicken." The thought of Julia Salas in that quiet place filled him with a
pitying sadness.
How would life seem now if he had married Julia Salas? Had he meant
anything to her? That unforgettable red-and-gold afternoon in early April haunted
him with a sense of incompleteness as restless as other unlaid ghosts. She had not
married--why? Faithfulness, he reflected, was not a conscious effort at regretful
memory. It was something unvolitional, maybe a recurrent awareness of
irreplaceability. Irrelevant trifles--a cool wind on his forehead, far-away sounds as
of voices in a dream--at times moved him to an oddly irresistible impulse to listen
as to an insistent, unfinished prayer. A few inquiries led him to a certain little tree-
ceilinged street where the young moon wove indistinct filigrees of fight and shadow.
In the gardens the cotton tree threw its angular shadow athwart the low stone wall;
and in the cool, stilly midnight the cock's first call rose in tall, soaring jets of
sound. Calle Luz. Somehow or other, he had known that he would find her house
because she would surely be sitting at the window. Where else, before bedtime on a
moonlit night? The house was low and the light in the sala behind her threw her
head into unmistakable relief. He sensed rather than saw her start of vivid
surprise. "Good evening," he said, raising his hat. "Good evening. Oh! Are you in
town?" "On some little business," he answered with a feeling of painful constraint.
"Won't you come up?" He considered. His vague plans had not included this. But
Julia Salas had left the window, calling to her mother as she did so.
After a while, someone came downstairs with a lighted candle to open the
door. At last--he was shaking her hand. She had not changed much--a little less
slender, not so eagerly alive, yet something had gone. He missed it, sitting opposite
her, looking thoughtfully into her fine dark eyes. She asked him about the
hometown, about this and that, in a sober, somewhat meditative tone. He
conversed with increasing ease, though with a growing wonder that he should be
there at all. He could not take his eyes from her face. What had she lost? Or was
the loss his? He felt an impersonal curiosity creeping into his gaze. The girl must

26
have noticed, for her cheek darkened in a blush. Gently--was it experimentally? --
he pressed her hand at parting; but his own felt undisturbed and emotionless. Did
she still care? The answer to the question hardly interested him. The young moon
had set, and from the uninviting cot he could see one half of a star-studded sky. So
that was all over. Why had he obstinately clung to that dream? So, all these years--
since when? --he had been seeing the light of dead stars, long extinguished, yet
seemingly still in their appointed places in the heavens.

FORMALIST

FEMINIST

READER-
RESPONSE

GENDER
CRITICISM

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 Answer Key

What I Know Assessment What’s In

1. C A. 1. False
2. A
3. A 1. B 2. True
4. A
5. B 2. D 3. True
6. D
7. B 3. C
8. D
9. B 4. A
10. B
5. D
11. A
12. B
13. B
B. Answers may vary
14. A
15. A

What’s New, What’s More, What I Have

Learned, What I Can Do

*Answers may vary

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References

Barrot, J. and Sipacio, P.J. (2016). English for Academic and Professional
Purposes for Senior High School. C&E Publishing, Inc., Quezon City
Laurel, M., Lucero, A., Bumatay-Cruz, R.. English for Academic and
Professional Purposes Teacher’s Guide. Pasig City:DepEd_BLR.2016
Laurel, M., Lucero, A., Bumatay-Cruz, R.. English for Academic and
Professional Purposes Reader. Pasig City: DepEd _BLR.2016
https://global.oup.com
https://writingcenter.unc.edu/esl/resources/writing-critiques/
https://faculty.washington.edu/enzent/el.htm
https://www.aresearchguide.com/appropriate-langugae-overview.html

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For inquiries or feedback, please write or call:

Department of Education – Region VII – Central Visayas

Office Address: Department of Education – Carcar City Division
Learning Resources Management Section
P. Nellas St., Poblacion III, Carcar City, Cebu
Telefax: (032) 487- 8495
E-mail Address: carcarcitydivision@yahoo.com

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