Writing a Reader-

Response Critique on a
Biographical/
Autobiographical
Narrative
Learner’s Module in
Creative Nonfiction 12
Quarter 4 / Week 2

MICHELLE B. SAMUEL
Developer
Department of Education. Cordillera Administrative
Region
 Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Cordillera Administrative Region
Wangal, La Trinidad, Benguet

Published by:
Learning Resource Management and Development System

COPYRIGHT NOTICE
2020

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This material has been developed for the implementation of K-12 Curriculum
through the DepEd Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) - Curriculum
Implementation Division (CID). It can be reproduced for educational purposes and
the source must be acknowledged. Derivatives of the work including creating an
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original work is acknowledged and the copyright is attributed. No work may be
derived from this material for commercial purposes and profit.
 What I Need to Know
Hello learners!

Welcome to this module on writing a Reader-Response Critique on a

Biographical/Autobiographical Narrative. This module is designed to help you
understand what a reader-response critique is and how to write one to express your
analysis on a sample biographical/autobiographical narrative.
Remember to write your answers on a separate answer sheet.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this module, you should be able to write a simple reader-response
critique on a biographical/autobiographical narrative.

Specifically, you are expected to:

1. Recall biographical/autobiographical narrative as a type of creative
nonfiction text;
2. Define reader-response as an approach to writing a critique;
3. Apply close reading in analyzing the creative nonfiction text;
4. Write your own critique on a biographical/autobiographical narrative using
a reader-response critique.

What I Know
Activity 1: TRUE OR FALSE?
Write T if the statement is true; write F if it is false.

1. A critique is a type of academic writing that briefly summarizes and

critically evaluates a work’s strengths, weaknesses, relevance, value, and
effectiveness.

2. A critique is a type of academic writing that expresses one’s opinion about

a text guided by a specific approach.

3. Writing a critique on a text focuses on pointing out its weaknesses

and shortcomings.

4. Close reading is an analytical reading of a text to get as much information

as you can so that you can form as many questions as you can also about
the text.

5. Annotating a text is a task done to help the reader notice details about the
text and also to create questions about the text.

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 6. “Why did the writer repeatedly mention this detail?” is a good example of
a question one can ask while doing a close reading of a text.

7. In the reader-response approach, the reader is needed to bring meaning

to the text.

8. In writing a critique using the reader-response approach, the writer has

to defend his or her personal reaction to the text.

9. To support and explain my personal reaction to the text, I have to use quotes
or details from the text itself.

10. “I like this text because it talks about the special relationship a father has with
his daughter which is similar to my relationship with my father.” expresses a
personal reaction to the text.

What’s In
Let’s review the biographical and autobiographical narratives through this table:

A narrative of a person’s life written by

Biography
someone else
A narrative that normally concentrates
Profile on a single aspect of the featured
person’s life
BIOGRAPHICAL Character A miniature life story that is shorter than
NARRATIVES Sketch a profile
A narrative that is as long as a typical
newspaper or magazine article that
Interview Story can be the product of just one meeting
between the writer/interviewer and
subject/interviewee
An account of one’s own life, generally
Autobiography
a continuous narrative of major events
An informal autobiography that focuses
Memoir more on the more interior and intimate
life of the author
A private day-to-day record of the
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
specific events that happened in the
NARRATIVES Diary
life of the author and is ideally kept
on a
daily basis
A more intimate form of
autobiographical writing which
Journal
contains the writer’s innermost
thoughts and
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 feelings

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 Based on the information above, we can see that all these narratives talk
about the life of a person and yet there are differences for each type of narrative that
distinguishes one from the other. All these narrate the events in the life of a person
yet some narratives will focus on the chronological sequence of events while some
choose to focus only on a specific event. Some narratives are meant to be shared to
the public while some are primarily intended to be private.

At this point, we will now turn our attention to writing simple commentaries or
critiques on sample CNF texts using varied critical approaches. In this module, we
are going to learn what we should remember when we write a critique, what the
reader- response approach is, and how to write a critique using this approach.

What’s New
ACTIVITY 2: Read the following statements. On your answer sheet, write C if the
statement itreflects a correct idea about writing a critique, and I if the idea is
incorrect.

1. I can write a critique based on my own opinions only.

2. I can write my opinion about a text without explaining its basis.
3. Those who write critiques are pessimists or negatively-minded people.
4. A large part of my critique should focus on summarizing the text I
am critiquing.
5. Writing a critique focuses on what is weak or bad in the text that I
am analyzing.

What Is It
You have probably been required in your other subjects or classes to write a
critique on something that you have read or watched. What did you usually write in
these critiques? How did you organize your ideas? Were you confident of the critique
that you wrote? You may even have believed in those incorrect statements
enumerated in the What’s New activity.

Writing a critique requires the constant application and refinement of our

reading and critical thinking skills. To be able to write a good critique, we should first
understand what a critique is and, second, develop the skill of close reading. Finally,
we should know the approach we will use to write the critique. In this module, we are
going to focus on the reader-response approach in writing a critique on a
biographical/autobiographical narrative. Let’s go over these important ideas.

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 What is a CRITIQUE?
A critique is a type of academic writing that briefly summarizes and critically
evaluates a work’s strengths, weaknesses, relevance, value, and effectiveness. To
be able to do this, you must look at the parts of a work and how these parts are
connected or how these parts are similar or different. When we write a critique, we
are able to know the work better, understand it, and recognize its strengths and
weaknesses.

What is CLOSE READING?

Close reading is an analytical reading of a text to get as much information as
you can so that you can form as many questions as you can also about the text.
These questions will help you organize your thoughts as you begin to answer these
when you write your critique. These questions are not just limited to What or Who but
can also include asking Why or How.

How is CLOSE READING done?

1. Observe facts and details about the text as you read it by annotating it.
Annotating a text means you underline or highlight important words or phrase
that you think are significant. You can even write questions at the margins.
2. Interpret your observations. From the facts, details and questions that you
have annotated on the text, what can you say? Did you find something
common among what you observed?
3. Ask questions about the patterns you've noticed—especially how and why.

What is the READER-RESPONSE approach in writing a critique?

In the reader-response approach, the reader is important to the meaning of
the text because it is the reader who brings the text to life. When you write a critique
using the reader-response approach, you examine, explain, and defend your
personal reaction to the text. Since you are discussing your personal reaction to the
text, there is no right or wrong response, but you should clearly explain and support
your reaction. Through this approach, you are challenged to show how you
connected with the text.

Here are some ideas that you can explore in the reader-response approach:
1. How did you feel about this work? Did you feel inspired or did you feel sad?
Why did you feel this way?
2. Did you like or dislike the text? What parts did you like or dislike? Why?
3. Did you agree or disagree with the ideas presented by the author? What
ideas were these? Why did you agree or disagree with the author?

What’s More
ACTIVITY 3: Our sample CNF text for this module is taken from Ubbog Journal 3:
Tributaries, a literary journal by the Ubbog Cordillera Writers Group. Only the second half of
this CNF text is presented here. In the first half of this text, Charisse narrates her constant
losses to her father during their games of chess and how she would rather play in the
mountains and pretend as the Pink Power Ranger with her friends who also take on the
roles of the other Power Rangers.

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Do a close reading of this text by answering the questions that follow.

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 Ambit – 90s Pink Power Ranger
(an excerpt)
Written in and translated from Kankanaey by Charisse Acquisio
Summer break had come again. After having lunch, Mama would send me off to
bed telling me that I could grow an inch taller if I took the siesta naps. If I couldn’t
sleep, she would turn on the radio and switch to AM station to listen to ‘Domeng,
Mabalin Amin.’ It would lull me to sleep because I could hardly understand it.
Usually, when I got up, it would be nearly six in the evening and I would hear the
song, ‘Heal the World’ wafting through my sister’s cassette tape. She never did like
listening to “Sar-sarita ni Lola Anghela.’ I would go to the living room, supposing I
could watch another ‘Power Rangers’ episode but ‘Marimar’ was already on, which
my Daddy and my brothers were wont of watching while playing chess. I would try to
sneak out so Daddy could not talk me out into playing chess with him. But it seemed
I was one of the pawns that he easily spotted, walking through the back door.
“Come, watch and learn.” Then, I would have to draw closer to them to watch how he
would carefully plan each action, contemplate any possible counter maneuvers, and
double-check if he forgot any conceivable move.
This was why Daddy was so difficult to beat and so difficult to play. He would
always think in the way that he would play: careful, deliberate and precise. It always
took a while to predict his moves. He would always make his moves like they were
matters of great consequence.
He would never force me to play with him but he always loved to let me watch
and learn. He would never hinder me from going to the mountains to battle with
rocks and wild grasses and always loved to make swords for me. But he would never
allow me to read pulp fiction as he preferred seeing me scribbling on my notebook.
Yearly, summer days would just pass by swiftly because of unending chess
games, sword fights and notebook scribbles. The last time we sat down for another
game of chess was in my high school years. Back then, I tried so hard to seek out
every logical move from my mind while I was nibbling Zoomzoom. At first, the battle
went poorly for me. My forces were in retreat, and I had to sacrifice piece after piece
to protect my king. Down went my bishop, down went my rook, and down went my
queen. But I slowed the pace of the game, and changed retreat to advance. I
contemplated each move, and after a while I had his king surrounded. Then, in a
surprise maneuver, his king took my knight. “Nice move, Daddy,” I said with a sinister
smile as I slid my rook forward. Checkmate.
That was the very first time I conquered his king and I could only imagine my joy
as Daddy tousled my hair and commended me, “That’s it.”
It was not that easy to plot a maneuver against his king especially if you have
been guided by his principle: “deal with matters of great consequence.”
These days, I haven’t embraced chess yet nor any game that boggles the mind.
However, winning against Daddy’s king for the first time is a matter of great

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 consequence. It made me understand his principle. That very moment I surrounded
his king with my henchmen, I knew he saw me as a knight, a ranger dressed in pink
who is capable of dealing with matters of great consequence. But not necessarily
chess.

About the Writer

Charisse C. Acquisio, a pure Kankanaey, hails from Sinipsip, Bakun, Benguet.
She is a mother and a teacher who writes prose and poetry that explore self-hood in
a sociocultural approach.

QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS

Let’s check our understanding of this text through the elements that are found in it.

1. Is “Ambit – 90s Pink Power Ranger” a biographical or an autobiographical

narrative? What makes you say so?

2. Are the events in this CNF text arranged chronologically?

3. In this text, the writer focuses on two characters: herself when she was a child
and her father. What can we say about them based on how they were
characterized?
a. Ambit:
b. Daddy:
4. What point of view is used in this CNF text?

5. When and where did the events in this CNF text happen?

What I Have Learned

ACTIVITY 4: Let us summarize what you have learned by completing the statements
below:

1. A CRITIQUE is a type of that briefly

and critically a work’s
, weaknesses, relevance, value, and
.
2. CLOSE READING is an reading of a text to get as
much as you can so that you can form as many
as you can also about the text.
3. When you write a critique using the READER-RESPONSE APPROACH,
you examine, explain, and your
reaction to the text.

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 What I Can Do
To guide you in writing a reader-response critique on “Ambit – 90s Pink Power
Ranger,” go over the following parts:

I. INTRODUCTION

Mention the following:

 title of the work to which you are responding
 the author
 a short summary of the text (one to three sentences)
 your thesis statement which talks about your personal reaction to the
text Example: I like this autobiography because it shows the special
relationship between a father and his daughter.

Reminder: This thesis statement is what you will be explaining in the body.

II. BODY

Think about your responses to the following questions:

 How did you feel about this work? Did you feel inspired or did you feel
sad? Why did you feel this way?
 Did you like or dislike the text? What parts did you like or dislike? Why?
 Did you agree or disagree with the ideas presented by the author? What
ideas were these? Why did you agree or disagree with the author?

Reminder: You do not have to answer all of the questions listed here. You can
choose one question only and then explain your responses to it. Select lines and
details from the text to serve as a support to your responses to the text. From the
thesis statement example above, this will be done by selecting lines or events
from the text that prove that the father and the daughter have a special
relationship.

III. CONCLUSION

For this part, you can write about the following:

 your overall reaction to the text
 whether you would read something else like this in the future
 if would you recommend this text to someone else and why

ACTIVITY 5: Write a simple commentary or critique on “Ambit – 90s Pink Power

Ranger” by Charisse Acquisio using the Reader-Response approach.

Use the rubric below as your guide.

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 Category 5 4 3 2
Thesis The paper has a The paper has a The paper The paper does
statement clearly stated and clearly stated contains an not have a clear
insightful thesis thesis statement. acceptable thesis thesis statement.
statement. statement.
Supporting All the relevant Most of the Some of the None of the
details and specific relevant and evidences cited evidences cited
evidences cited specific from the CNF text from the CNF text
from the CNF text evidences cited and other sources and other sources
and other sources from the CNF text (if needed) (if needed)
(if needed) and other sources support and support and
support and (if needed) develop the develop the
develop the support and thesis statement. thesis statement.
thesis develop the
statement. thesis statement.
Organization The critique The critique The critique The critique does
follows a clear follows a logical follows a train of not follow a train
and logical train of train of thought thought related to of thought related
thought set by the related to the the thesis. The to the thesis. The
thesis. The thesis. The paper has an paper is missing
paper’s paper’s introduction and an introduction or
introduction and introduction and conclusion and conclusion and
conclusion are conclusion are the writer uses the writer uses
effective and the functional and the some topic few topic
writer always uses writer always sentences and sentences and/or
topic sentences uses topic adequate transitions.
and effective sentences but transitions.
transitions less effective
transitions.
Writing Spelling, • Spelling, • Spelling, • Common
Conventions capitalization, and capitalization, capitalization, words are
punctuation are and punctuation and punctuation misspelled and
correct. are sometimes are uneven. almost all
• Grammar and incorrect. • Grammar and punctuation is
usage are correct. • Grammar and usage errors missing or
• Paragraphing usage do not distract from incorrect.
tends to be correct distort meaning meaning. • Grammar and
and reinforces the but are not • Paragraphing usage mistakes
organization. always correct. is irregular or too are frequent and
• Paragraphing is frequent. distort meaning.
attempted but is • Paragraphing is
not always missing
sound.

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 Post Assessment
TRUE OR FALSE? Write T if the statement is true; write F is it is false.

1. A critique is a type of academic writing that briefly summarizes and critically

evaluates a work’s strengths, weaknesses, relevance, value, and
effectiveness.

2. A critique is a type of academic writing that expresses one’s opinion about a text
guided by a specific approach.

3. Writing a critique on a text focuses on pointing out its weaknesses

and shortcomings.

4. Close reading is an analytical reading of a text to get as much information as

you can so that you can form as many questions as you can also about the text.

5. Annotating a text is a task done to help the reader notice details about the
text and also to create questions about the text.

6. “Why did the writer repeatedly mention this detail?” is a good example of
a question one can ask while doing a close reading of a text.

7. In the reader-response approach, the reader is needed to bring meaning to

the text.

8. In writing a critique using the reader-response approach, the writer has to

defend his or her personal reaction to the text.

9. To support and explain my personal reaction to the text, I have to use quotes or
details from the text itself.

10. “I like this text because it talks about the special relationship a father has with his
daughter which is similar to my relationship with my father.” expresses a personal
reaction to the text.

Additional Activity
Go over the critique you have written for this module and answer the following
reflection questions briefly.

1. What did you choose to focus on in the CNF text?

2. Why did you choose to react to this aspect of the text?

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ANSWER KEY

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 REFERENCES
Aguila, Augusto Antonio and Ralph Semino Galan. Telling the Truth: The Art of
Creative Nonfiction. Quezon City: C&E Publishing, Inc., 2017

Acquisio, Charisse. “Ambit – 90s Pink Power Ranger.” Ubbog Journal 3 (2015): 41-42

Australian College of Applied Psychology, Critical Writing.https://sls.navitas-

professional.edu.au/critical-writing-0. Accessed April 27, 2021

Kain, Patricia. How to Do a Close Reading.

https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/how-do-close-reading. Accessed
April 27, 2021

Reader-Response Criticism.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/reader-response-
criticism/. Accessed April 27, 2021

Rubric for the Evaluation of a Literary Analysis Essay.

https://jhs.lwsd.org/uploaded/Juanita_High_School/Documents/Level5-
Literary-Analysis-Writing-Rubric-Holistic-Writing.pdf. Accessed April 28, 2021

The Writing Center: University of Wisconsin – Madison. A Short Guide to Close

Reading for Literary Analysis.
https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/closereading/. Accessed April
27, 2021

Writing a Critique.
https://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/critique.html#:~:text=Writing%20a%20cr
itique%20on%20a,and%20weaknesses%20of%20the%20work. Accessed
April 27, 2021

IMAGES USED FOR THE COVER:

https://www.offset.com/photos/back-view-of-girl-running-towards-the-woods-with-toy-
sword-on-her-back-1099520. Accessed April 27, 2021

https://pixahive.com/photo/king-chess-piece/. Accessed April 27, 2021

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For inquiries or feedback, please write or call: Department of Education-Cordillera Administrative Region
Wangal, LaTrinidad, Benguet Telefax: 422-1318 / 422-4074
Email Address: X
Social Media: facebook.com/DepEdTayoCordillera

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