READING AND WRITING
Evaluating – making judgments on the value and
LESSON 1: Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking – a series of complex thought
processes which allows you to make reasoned
judgments.
Non-critical Thinking – happens when you simply
accept the things you are told without examining
them.
Levels of Thinking
 Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive
Domain (Benjamin Bloom, 1956).
 A system that classifies the levels of
thinking important for learning.
 Six Levels: Knowledge,
Comprehension, Application,
Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.
 In 2001, Lorin Anderson and a group of
cognitive psychologists published a revision
to the original taxonomy.
 Remembering, Understanding,
Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and
Creating.
First Three Levels of Thinking
Remembering – involves the retrieval, recognition,
and recalling of information.
 Asking questions which aim to define,
memorize, or state information.
Understanding – construction of meaning from
verbal and nonverbal messages.
 Asking questions which discuss,
describe, paraphrase, or explain
information.
Applying – the use and implementation of
knowledge in various situations.
 Asking questions which demonstrate,
solve, or use information.
Higher-Order Thinking Skills
Analyzing – focuses on breaking down ideas into
parts and relating these parts to one another.
 Asking questions which compare,
integrate, or structure information.
validity of ideas and events.
 Asking questions which judge and test
an idea based on a certain rules or
standards.
Creating – involves combining parts to form a well-
designed whole.
 Asking questions which aim to produce,
design, or construct new information or
ideas.
Qualities of a Critical Thinker
 Inquisitive (asking genuine questions that
lead to better understanding)
 Does not pretend to know more than what
they actually know
 Knows that critical thinking does not
necessarily mean looking for faults
 Examines and evaluates information
 Does not accept information until it is
verified
 Does not let irrational emotions affect their
thinking
Importance of Critical Thinking
Reading
 Makes you recognize different texts and
react to them, intelligently.
 Enables you to analyze written works,
comprehend the message they convey, and
apply it in real life.
 Allows you to maximize the learning
experience that reading provides.
Writing
 Provides you with the skills to create well-
written texts.
 You can distinguish good and bad sources
and know which information to use.
Lesson 2: Fundamental Reading Skills
Reading Process
 Pre-reading Stage – aims to induce the
readers’ motivation to read and to activate
their schema or background knowledge.
 activities done during this stage:
previewing, freewriting, surveying,
questioning, making assumptions about
the author, identifying the purpose, and
selecting a reading system such as
SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite,
review)
 READING AND WRITING
 While-reading Stage – reread the text until
you fully understand its meaning.
 Getting the meaning of words through
context clues, predicting, inferencing,
monitoring comprehension, annotating
the text, and reflecting.
 Post-reading Stage – checking the
understanding of the text.
 Reflecting, summarizing, paraphrasing,
drawing conclusions, making graphic
organizers, and journal writing.

Basic Reading Skills

1. Rapid Reading – aims to locate specific

information or main ideas in a very short
span of time.
a. Skimming – a type of quick reading
which aims to get the main idea and to
get an overview of the material.
 Usually done when reading
newspapers, magazines, books, and
letters.
b. Locating the main idea – identifying
the central message of a reading
selection.
c. Scanning – quick reading strategy
which aims to get specific information
from a given text.
2. Previewing – a reader looks over a material
and focuses on the information he/she finds
relevant.
3. Literal Reading – understanding of ideas
and facts that are directly stated in the
printed material.
a. Summarizing – condensing a lengthy
text into a shorter passage.
b. Paraphrasing – restating ideas from the
original text.
4. Inferential Reading – deducting facts and
ideas and not directly expressed in the text.
5. Critical Reading – close and thorough
evaluation of the claims in the text in terms
of relevance, validity, and logic.

Types of Reading

 Developmental Reading – a systematic

instruction which aims to develop the
students, reading skills.
 Pleasure Reading – a more passive type of
reading that primarily aims to provide
enjoyment and entertainment
 Functional Reading – designed to help
students learn basic functional reading
ability
 Remedial Reading – aims to correct the
effects of poor teaching and poor learning
 READING AND WRITING
Lesson 3: Selecting and Organizing
Information
Brainstorming – generating creative and rich ideas,
it helps people establish patterns of ideas, develop
new ways of thinking, active background
knowledge, and overcome mental block.
3. Division – requires that no cluster should
contain only one item.
4. Parallel Construction – requires all entries
in each cluster to use the same structure and
format.
Kinds of Outline Accdg to Structure

Methods in Brainstorming 1. Topic Outline – uses words and phrases as

its entries.
1. Creating an idea list: appropriate to textual 2. Sentence Outline – uses complete sentences
people or those who are more comfortable in as its entries.
processing words than visuals.
2. Making an idea map: a visual representation
of ideas and their connections with one
another.

Graphic Organizers – visual representations of

concepts that help us structure information into
organizational patterns.

Types of Graphic Organizers

1. Venn Diagram – used to compare and

contrast ideas and events.
2. Network Tree – used to represent
hierarchy, classification, and branching
3. Spider Map (semantic map) – used to
investigate and enumerate various aspects of
a central idea (concept, topic, or theme).
4. Problem-Solution Map – displays the
nature of the problem and how it can be
solved.
5. Timeline – used to show how events
occurred chronologically through a long bar
labeled with dates and specific events.
 Linear Timeline
 Comparative Timeline
6. Plot Diagram – used to map events in a
story.
a. Exposition
b. Inciting moment
c. Rising action
d. Climax
e. Falling action
f. Resolution
7. Series of Events Chain – used to show the
logical sequence of events.
8. Fishbone Map – used to better understand
the casual relationship of a complex
phenomenon.
9. Cycle – describes how a series of events
interact to produce a set of results
repeatedly.
10. Persuasion Map – used to map out
arguments and evidence that prove a
viewpoint.

Outline – a tool for organizing ideas.

4 Principles to follow in making an Outline

1. Coordination – requires ideas of the same

relevance to be labeled in the same way
2. Subordination – show that minor details
have to be placed under their respective
major details.
 READING AND WRITING
Lesson 4: Patterns of Development
 The logical arrangement of ideas, it helps
you follow ideas easily and understand a
text better
1. Definition
 Using definition to develop an idea
helps to clarify and explain concepts by
answering the question, “What does it
mean?”
Signal Words
 Is defined
 Is defined as
 Refers to
 Means
 To define
 To illustrate
2. Exemplification
 Presents the general statement and then
provides specific and concrete examples
to expound on the main idea.
3. Description (Sensory and Spatial)
 Provides details on the idea by using
either a sensory pattern (ideas are
arranged based on one or all of the five
senses) or spatial pattern (arranges
ideas by location or physical space).
4. Chronology/Procedure
 Organizes ideas or events according to
time in a form of narration or a process.
5. Listing
 Organizes ideas using enumeration, it
basically presents a series of items that
support a main idea.
6. Comparison-contrast
 Organizes ideas based on how events,
places, people, things, and concepts are
similar to or different from one another.
7. Classification and Division
 organizes ideas into categories or
divisions based on criteria and
standards.
8. Cause and effect
 Organizes details based on the cause, the
reason, and the result or consequences
of a certain phenomenon.
9. Problem-solution
 Organizes ideas into problems and
proposed solutions, includes the what,
who, when, where, why, and how of the
problem.
10. Persuasion
 Organizes ideas to show how a set of
evidence leads to a logical conclusion or
argument.
Lesson 5: Critical Reading Skills
Guide Questions for Critical Reading
 What is the writer’s perspective? Does
he/she write from an outsider’s or insider’s
perspective?
 What relevant information is excluded from
the text?
 Do you agree with the writer?
 Is the writer objective and accurate?
 How would you describe the tone of the
writer?
 Does the text challenge your own values and
beliefs?
 Does the text contain fallacies? What are
those?
 Are there assumptions made by the writer?
 Does the writer oversimplify complex ideas?
 Does the writer use reasonable
generalizations and inferences?
Intertext – refers to a work whose meaning is
shaped by referencing or calling to mind other texts.
Hypertext – characterized by the external links
embedded in a text by the writer.
Types of Claims
Guide Questions for Claims
 Are the claims presented in the text
supported by evidence?
 Are these pieces of evidence valid and
sufficient?
 Are the pieces of evidence anecdotal or
scientific? How does this nature affect the
overall credibility of the text?
 Does the text have references? Are they
reliable and recent?
 How does the writer present facts and
opinions?
 Claim of Fact – is an argument about a
quantifiable topic.
 Claim of Value – argues whether something is
good or bad.
Logical Fallacies – errors in reasoning that
invalidate an argument.
 False Dilemma – when an arguer presents
his/her argument as one of only two options
despite the presence of multiple possibilities.
 Appeal to Ignorance – when something is
instantly concluded to be true just because it
is not proven to be false, and vice versa.
 Slippery Slope – when a series of
increasingly superficial and unacceptable
consequences is drawn.
 READING AND WRITING
 Complex Question – when two or more
points are rolled into one and the reader is
expected to accept or reject both at the same
time, when one point may be satisfactory
while the other is not.
 Appeal to Force – when a threat, instead of
reasoning, is used to argue.
 Appeal to Pity – when the element of pity is
used instead of logical reasoning.
 Appeal to Consequences – when
unpleasant consequences of believing
something are pointed out to show that the
belief is false.
 Bandwagon – when an argument is
considered to be valid because it is what the
majority thinks.
 Attacking the Person – when someone tries
to refute an argument by attacking the
character of a person instead of attacking the
idea of the argument.
 Appeal to Authority – when the argument
quotes an expert who is not qualified in the
particular subject matter.
 Anonymous Authority – the authority in
question is not mentioned or named.

 Hasty Generalization – when a sample is

not significant or enough to support a
generalization about a population.
 False Analogy – when a writer assumes that
two concepts that are similar in some ways
are also similar in other ways.
 Accident – when a general rule is applied to
a situation, when it should be an exception.
 Post Hoc – when the arguer claims that
since event A happened before event B, A is
the cause of B.
 Wrong Direction – when the direction
between cause and effect is reversed.
 Complex Cause – when the explanation for
an event is reduced to one thing when there
are other factors which also contributed to
the event.
 Irrelevant Conclusion – when an argument
which is supposed to prove something
concludes something else instead.
 Straw Man – when the position of the
opposition is twisted so that it is easier to
refute.
 Affirming the Consequent – if A is true
then B is true; if B is true, therefore A is
true.
 Denying the Antecedent – if A is true then
B is true; if A is not true then B is not true.
 Inconsistency – when arguments contradict
one another.
 READING AND WRITING
Lesson 6: Principles of Effective Writing  Unity – when a composition contains one
focused idea.
A paragraph is a group of interrelated sentences  Coherence – when ideas are connected at
that talk about one main idea while an essay is a the conceptual or idea level.
group of paragraphs that talk about one central  Cohesion – connection of ideas at the
idea. sentence level.
 Organization – when ideas are logically
Paragraph Essay
and accurately arranged.
Organized around a Organized around a
 Language Use
topic sentence thesis
1. Use clear and concise sentences.
Contains introductory Contains introductory
sentences paragraph 2. Avoid redundancies, wordiness, clichés,
Uses sentences to Uses paragraphs to and high falutin language.
explain major points explain major points 3. Avoid excessive use of ‘there’ and ‘it’
Concluding sentence Concluding paragraph structures.
4. Use precise vocabulary.
5. Be consistent with your pronoun’s point
3 Major Parts of a Paragraph of view.
1. Topic Sentence - the central idea of the 6. Avoid sexist language.
paragraph 7. Use the appropriate level of formality.
2. Supporting Details – sentences that clarify  Mechanics – the technical aspect of writing.
and prove the main idea 1. Always use Standard English.
3. Closing Sentence – concludes the details 2. Avoid contractions.
that have been presented 3. Avoid exclamation marks unless they
are part of a direct quotation.
Cohesive Devices – transitional devices, pronouns, 4. Mention the full name of an institution
or repetition of ideas used in order for all of the or organization.
sentences to be linked properly. 5. Numbers from zero to ten should be
spelled out while numbers higher than
Parts of an Essay ten should be written in figures.
6. Citations are used in academic and
I. Introduction
formal texts.
a. Lead or Attention-getter – aims to hook
the readers
b. Transitional Statement – links the lead
to the thesis statement
c. Thesis Statement – states the main idea
or argument of the essay

Transitional Paragraph – bridging one paragraph

to another.

II. Body
- The meat of the essay.
- Discusses the thesis statement in detail
through its paragraphs.
III. Conclusion
a. Reiteration (restatement) of thesis
statement – using a different structure
and wording to uphold the language
style.
b. Transitional statement – talks about the
recommendations, benefits of ideas
presented, or purpose of writing the
essay.
c. Closing statement – used to wrap up the
essay.

Properties of a Well-written Text