ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES L2

CS_EN11 / 12A

Lesson Objectives:
• 1. How to Express Personal Opinion
• 2. Approaches in Literary Criticism
• 3. Writing a Reaction Paper/ Review / Critique
 1 . T h e t e x t t e l l s u s o f t h e a u t h o r ’s
o p i n i o n s ab o u t h o w t e c h n o l og y a f f e c t s
The text is l ive s o f p e o p l e e s p e c i a l l y s t u d e n t s .
Yo u m a y a g r e e o r d i s a g r e e w i t h w h a t
a good t h e a u t h o r s a y s a n d yo u r r e a c t i o n
wo u l d d e p e n d o n h o w t h e a u t h o r
reaction suppor ted his ideas with facts.
paper
2. The text contains statistical data and
because these are good evidences which helped
in making the opinions s t r o n g.
W i t h o u t t h o s e d a t a , yo u m i g h t t h i n k
t h a t t h e a u t h o r i s j u s t i nve n t i n g i d e a s .
 3 . E ve n yo u r p e r s o n a l e x p e r i e n c e c a n b e
u s e d a s s u p p o r t b e c a u s e i t wa s a l s o
mentioned that students use the inter net
The text is and computers.
a good 4 . Yo u w i l l m o s t l i ke l y a g r e e w i t h t h e
reaction a u t h o r. B u t i f yo u d i s a g r e e , i t i s a l r i g h t
a s l o n g a s yo u a l s o h a ve e n o u g h f a c t s t o
paper s u p p o r t w hy yo u d i s a g r e e w i t h t h e
a u t h o r.
because
5. The most impor tant thing to note is
facts are necessar y in suppor ting
o p i n i o n s b e c a u s e t h i s w i l l m a ke yo u r
o p i n i o n o b j e c t ive a n d n o t b i a s e d .
 1. Opinions must be based on facts to
m a ke i t o b j e c t ive o r n o t b i a s e d .

2. Sources must be cited to suppor t the

remember c l a i m s g ive n .

3. Ideas should be presented in an

o r g a n i ze d wa y.

4 . To c o nv i n c e yo u r r e a d e r s , o p i n i o n s
a n d f a c t s m u s t b e we l l - w r i t t e n .
 C o n sider th e fo llow in g scen a rio s.

➢Zen y h ad to write a rea ctio n pa p er on th e a r ticle th a t

th ey h ave just rea d in cla ss.
➢Ja ck wa tch ed a movie an d wro te a lon g post on his
Fa cebook a cco u n t to say h e liked it wh ile a n alyzin g the
m ovie usin g a femin ist p ersp ective.
➢Ro ssie i s a n a r t critic a n d sh e atten ded a n a r t ex h ib ition
a t th e Aya la Mu se um , a fter wh ich sh e w ro te a revi ew on
h er b log a bo ut on e of th e pa in tings th a t ca ugh t her
a tten tio n .
 Ta ke a l o o k a t t h i s t e x t . I s t h i s a G O O D r e a c t i o n p a p e r ?
 a r e s p e c i a l i ze d f o r m s o f w r i t i n g i n
w h i c h a r e v i e we r o r r e a d e r e va l u a t e s
a n y o f t h e f o l l ow i n g :
REACTION
• a s ch o l a r l y wo r k ( e. g. , a c a d e m i c b o o k s
PAPER, A and articles)
• a wo r k o f a r t ( e. g. , p e r f o r m a n c e a r t ,
REVIEW, A p l ay, d a n c e, s p o r t s, f i l m , e x h i b i t s )
CRITIQUE • d e s i g n s ( e. g. , i n d u s t r i a l d e s i g n s,
f u r n i t u r e, f a s h i o n d e s i g n )
• g r a p h i c d e s i g n s ( e. g. , p o s t e r s,
b i l l b o a r d s, c o m m e r c i a l s, a n d d i g i t a l
media)
 are critical assessments, analyses, or
REACTION evaluation of different works.
PAPER, A
it involves your skills in critical
REVIEW, A thinking and recognizing arguments
CRITIQUE
HOWEVER, do not connect it to
c ynicism and pessimism



 I n a f a r aw ay, l o n g a g o k i n g d o m , C i n d e r e l l a i s l iv i n g
h a p p i l y w i t h h e r m o t h e r a n d f a t h e r u n t i l h e r m o t h e r d i e s.
C i n d e r e l l a ' s f a t h e r r e m a r r i e s a c o l d , c r u e l wo m a n w h o h a s
t wo d a u g h t e r s. W h e n t h e f a t h e r d i e s, C i n d e r e l l a ' s w i cke d
s t e p m o t h e r t u r n s h e r i n t o a s e r va n t i n h e r ow n h o u s e.
M e a n w h i l e, a c r o s s t ow n i n t h e c a s t l e, t h e K i n g d e t e r m i n e s
that his son the Prince should find a suitable bride and
p r ov i d e h i m w i t h a r e q u i r e d nu m b e r o f g r a n d ch i l d r e n . S o t h e
K i n g i nv i t e s e ve r y e l i g i b l e m a i d e n i n t h e k i n g d o m t o a f a n c y
d r e s s b a l l , w h e r e h i s s o n w i l l b e a b l e t o ch o o s e h i s b r i d e.
Cinderella has no suitable party dress for a ball, but her
friends (the mice and the birds) lend a hand in making her
o n e, a d r e s s t h e e v i l s t e p s i s t e r s i m m e d i a t e l y t e a r a p a r t o n t h e
e ve n i n g o f t h e b a l l . A t t h i s p o i n t , e n t e r t h e Fa i r y
G o d m o t h e r, t h e p u m p k i n c a r r i a g e , t h e r oy a l b a l l , t h e s t r o ke
o f m i d n i g h t , t h e g l a s s s l i p p e r, a n d t h e r e s t , a s t h e y s ay, i s
f a i r y t a l e h i s t o r y.
 - claims that literar y works contain
intrinsic proper ties and treats each
1. work as a distinct work of ar t.

Formalism - posits that the key to

understanding a text is through the
text itself ; the historical context, the
author or any other exter nal contexts
are not necessar y in inter preting the
meaning.
 Common aspects looked into in
for malism :

1. • a uth o r’s tech niq ue s i n reso lvin g

co n tra dictio n s with in th e wo rk
Formalism • cen tra l p a ssa g e th a t s ums u p th e
en tirety o f th e wo rk
• con trib ution of p a r ts a n d th e wo rk
a s a wh o le to its a esth etic qua lity
• con trib ution of rhymes a n d rhyth ms
to th e mea n in g o r effect o f th e wo rk
 Common aspects looked into in
for malism :

1. • rela tio nsh ip of th e fo r m and th e

co n ten t
Formalism • u se o f ima g er y to deve lo p th e
symb o ls used in th e wo rk
• in terconn ectedness o f va r io us p a r ts
o f th e wo rk
• p a ra dox, a mb iguity, a nd iron y in th e
wo rk
• un ity in th e wo rk
 - focuses on how literature presents
women as subjects of socio-political,
2. psychological, and economic
oppression
Feminism
- reveals how aspects of our culture
are patriarchal, i.e., how our culture
views men as superior and women as
inferior.
 Co mmon a sp ects lo o ked in to wh en usin g
femin ism :

• H ow c u l t u r e d e t e r m i n e s g e n d e r
2. • H ow g e n d e r e q u a l i t y i s p r e s e n t e d i n
the text
Feminism • H ow g e n d e r i s s u e s a r e p r e s e n t e d i n t h e
l i t e r a r y wo r k s a n d o t h e r a s p e c t s o f
human production and daily life
• H ow wo m e n a r e s o c i a l l y, p o l i t i c a l l y,
p s y ch o l o g i c a l l y, and economically
o p p r e s s e d by p a t r i a r chy
• H ow p a t r i a r ch a l ideolog y is an
ove r p owe r i n g p r e s e n c e
 - concer ned with the r eviewer’s
r eaction as an audience of a wor k.
3. Reader- - claims that the reader’s role cannot
be se parated from the understanding
Response of the work; a text does not have
meaning until the reader reads it and
Criticism inter prets it
- Reader s ar e therefore not passive
and distant, but are active
consumer s of the material presented
to them.
 Common aspects looked into when
using Reader – Response Criticism :

3. Reader- • I n tera ction b etween the rea der a n d

th e tex t in crea tin g mea n in g
Response
• T h e imp a ct of rea der s ’ delive r y of
Criticism so un ds a n d vis u a ls on enh an cing a n d
ch a n gin g mea n in g.
 - concer ned with differences between
economic classes and implications
4. Marxist of a capitalist system, such as the
continuing conf licts between
Criticism working class and the elite.

- attempts to reveal that the ultimate

source of people’s experience is the
socio-economic system
 Common aspects looked into when
using Marxist Criticism :

4. Marxist • So cia l cla s s a s re p res en ted in th e

wo rk
Criticism • S o cia l cla ss o f th e writer/crea to r
• So cia l cla ss o f th e ch a ra cters
• Conf licts a n d in tera ction s b etween
eco n o mic cla sses
What’s the point of these approaches?
-would help us to pay attention to
some details in new and varied ways.
-can help us investigate deeper themes or
problems of the text we’re studying