Module 1

Lesson One
Reading for Enrichment: The Academic Genre
1. Different Types of Academic Genres
Five most common academic genres according to Search & Write (2014):
 Textbook – mostly used teaching materials in classrooms.
- Tackle a specific topic – Math, History, Languages, Humanities – and
provide information of all kinds.
- Its purpose is to purely instruct, inform, or educate students.

 Scholarly Articles – are usually of argumentative type, whose purpose is to establish

new knowledge.
- Often written by scholars and targeted to their fellow scholars.
- Present arguments using empirical data and use proven scientific research
methods.
 Thesis – major piece of work, usually spanning months, even years of data-gathering and
experimentation.
- Starts with a problem, and the researcher/thesis writer tries to resolve the
problem through a series of substantiated evidences from existing or
published sources.
- Similar to a scholarly article but more extensive in depths and methods.
 Popular (non – scholarly) work – anything in the newspaper articles, or columns and
non – fiction books (such as history or a biography).
- The purpose of these articles and materials is meant merely to present or
report information.
 Encyclopedia articles – often concise and neutral presentation, definition, and
description of established facts.
- Inform the general audience, thus the language is understandable to
everybody.

Activity 1
Directions: Bring a sample for each of the five academic genres. Give a brief description for each to
justify their classification.
 Lesson Two
Teaching Reading Strategies
Pre – Reading:
1. Identify the purpose for reading. Are you reading for pleasure? For information? Identifying
your purpose will determine the level of commitment you will have on the text. If you read for
pleasure, you might want to savor every word in the text; if you read for specific information, you
can skip certain parts that you are not related to what you are looking for.

2. Browse the text through very quickly. Skim or scan, whichever is appropriate.

3. Look at the title. Check the heading. Search the text for key words. All these will bring you
closer to knowing what the content is all about.

Reading:
1. Get a pen and paper ready
- jot down key words
- marks the words do not understand
- underline words that you think are key to understanding the whole text
- write down your thoughts or opinions about the topic.
2. Do recursive reading
- go back to the words that are unfamiliar to you.
- When you encounter text whose language might seem strange, get the full
meaning on the second or third try of reading.
Post – Reading:
1. Do a vocabulary check
- Go back to the unfamiliar words and check their meanings.
- Try to use these words the next time you write something, in the right
context.
2. Evaluate impact on own system of beliefs
- Weigh the information can come from sources against you know and
determine if the new information served to enhance your present
knowledge or challenge your present beliefs.
- This leads you to think critically.
3. Make an outline and a summary
- Make a clear outline of the text to determine structure.
- Come up with a summary to identify the main point.
- Make sure when you summarize, do it in your own words

Skimming vs. Scanning

Skimming

- Happens when we quickly go through a reading material to get the main

idea
- When we skim, we look for key words – often those that are repeated – so
that we will know the selection’s main idea.
Scanning

- Is giving a cursory look at the article to search for specific details.

- For example, a student looking for the exile, and eventual execution of Jose
Rizal will not have to go over the chapters od his childhood, his romances,
and literary works. They would just have to look for words like “Dapitan”
or “firing squad”.

Activity 2
Read the Article about the Movie Review of Avatar by Hannah Papasin-Mariveles and do the pre –
reading, reading, and post – reading activities.
Pre – Reading: browse through the article very briefly. On a separate piece of paper, list down the key
words, or words often repeated. Make a prediction and determine what the author thinks about the movie.

Activity 3. Comprehension. In 2-3 sentences, answer the comprehension questions below (unless stated
otherwise).

1. The Avatar Article is an example of a movie review. Based on the classification on academic
genres, what kind of academic text is a movie review? Explain why.

2. What movies did the author compare The Avatar to as having similar themes?

3. In one or two sentences, explain in your own words what the author thinks of the following:
a. The acting, ________________________________________
b. The cinematography,________________________________________
c. The direction. _____________________________________
4. What does the author think about the movie? Did she like it or not?

Lesson Three
Text Structures
Common Text Structure
1. Three – part structure
- Most common structure adopted by most academic texts
- Has three parts:

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Introduction – gives the readers a general idea of what to expect.

- explains the material’s purpose or the rationale
Body – states the supporting details
Conclusion – formal closure
Other Academic Texts
1. Science Report

Introductory/ Methods & Conclusion

hypothesis Findings {prove/disprove}

2. Essay

Introduction
main idea

Body
Supporting
details

Conclusion

3. Newspaper editorials

Main Argument Supporting facts & details Summary/ conclusion

4. Thesis and other scholarly work

Introduction that states the

purpose

Middle Chapters
Summary and Conclusion
Journalist on the other hand, would use a format that looks like this.
The Inverted Pyramid
Who, What, When, Where

Why, How

Supporting Details,
Quotes

Others,
reactions

- This is called the Inverted Pyramid Format

- The structure starts with the most important details to the least important.
- Is ideal for newspaper readers, especially those who are rushing through
their day
- They do not need to skim through the article and they can immediately
know the major details.

The Hourglass Format

Introduction

Narrative turn and

details

End
 - Often used in creative narratives or sometimes in enterprising news stories.
- Other texts that follow this would be creative non – scholarly but non –
fiction works
- Such as: movie reviews, investigative reports, and news features.

Activity 4
Directions: Print out three articles, each representing the three structure types. Label the parts and explain
briefly in two to three sentences per part. Insert the articles in a folder before submitting.

Lesson Four
The Main Idea
  Reading comprehension
- often one of the many skills being tested by colleges, universities.
- it is one of the desirable criteria for an applicant.
- understanding what we read is an essential task.

 What is important to identify?

- topic
- main idea
- supporting details

 Topic – the subject, is what the text is all about.

 Main idea – key concept about the topic which are developed into paragraphs
- Thesis statement – a sentence that summarizes the whole point of the essay
 Supporting details – major or minor and the key in developing the main idea.

 GETTING THE TOPIC AND MAIN IDEA

- When writing academic texts, it’s important to know the roles of the
different parts of the text.
- Introductory paragraph
> primes the reader, preparing them what to expect from the rest of
the text.
> introduces the main ideas
- Thesis statement
> statement that summarizing the whole point of the text
> explicit thesis statement can be found in the topic sentence.

 KNOWING THE SUPPORTING DETAILS

- Supporting Details
> serve to back up the main idea.
> usually answers the what, who, when, where, why and how many.

Activity 5
Pre – Reading
Directions: Browse an article and write on sheet of bond paper 10 unfamiliar words. Look at the
meaning of the words in the dictionary.

Reading

Directions: Read the Article, Single but not Alone by Celine Chua and answer the following.
1. What is the main topic of the article?
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What is the thesis statement?
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Write down the topic sentences and supporting details for the following paragraphs:
(e.g.)
Paragraph No. ___
Topic Sentence_________________________________________________________
Supporting Details
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________