Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region V
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF SORSOGON
BULAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET 2-2nd Semestral-Q1

Name of the Student: _______________________________________

Grade & Stand: _____________________________ Date: ___________________

I.LEARNING SKILLS FROM MELCs

✔Differentiate the various types of academic texts.
✔Identify the content and structure of academic texts.

VOCABULARY
What’s missing? Below are some essential words that you need to understand to fully
appreciate the lesson. Scan the module for these words. Then, spell the word by filling
in the spaces with the missing letters. The given definitions may serve as your clue.

1. _ T R U _ T U _ E - how the important points, moments or events are organized and

emphasized in a text.
2. _ E _ T - any meaningful written material.
3. A _ A D E _ I _ T _ _ T - formal written materials that provides information and/or
professional opinion related to specific discipline or profession.
4. _ L _ M _ _ T S - the abstract parts that composes a whole.
5. T _ E _ I _ the most important message that the entire written article
tries to prove.
6. I _ T _ _ D U _ T _ O _ - technically either the first paragraph or the first heading of
long academic papers that are divided into several parts.
7. _ _ N C _ U S _ O _ - technically either the last paragraph or the last heading of long
academic papers that are divided into several parts.
8. B _ _ _ - the paragraphs that are in between the introduction and conclusion.

II.LEARNING ABOUT IT
Have you seen a house that doesn’t look like one? Probably not because rarely people
would risk their money to build an odd structure. If things don’t look like they are
supposed to be, then chances are it had something to do with the structure of the
thing. Poorly structured things can confuse you by their appearance alone. Like
buildings with commanding stature, your academic texts must be properly fashioned
to be credible and convincing to your professional readers.

What’s structure? Simply put, it’s how you organize and emphasize all the important
points that you want to say in your composition.
It is what allows for the logical flow of ideas in a cohesive text. Structure is particularly
critical in academic texts because the sequencing of your ideas give them an
acceptable and easy to understand shape. Thus, you also guide your readers to easily
navigate through your points.
Academic texts are formal written materials that provides information and/or
professional opinion related to specific discipline or profession.

Compare the two paragraphs below. Copy on your activity notebook the one which you
think is academic?

1.___ “Relationships and exchange flows between transnational family members are
heavily reliant on digital technology, telecommunications and air travel. Migrants’
capacity to instantaneously communicate with distant family members by text
messaging, mobile phone conversations, skyping and assorted forms of social media
have been axiomatic to the initiation, maintenance and expansion of transnational
family exchange.” (Bryceson. 2019)

2.___ “My mother came from a small sugarcane plantation city in Victorias, Negros
Occidental, in an obscure road town called Daan Banwa. She now lives in a concrete-
paved upscale Canadian suburb with manicured lawns and an SUV in every
driveway.” (Benzidane, 2008)

If you chose the first one, you are correct! Can you name at least two reasons that
make the first one academic?

Go on. Write your answers in your activity notebook.

1. ______________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________

Academic texts are written for professional audience or persons specializing in a

specific field. You can sense the formality in their tone because they express thought
on a serious subject matter using complex sentences, and technical and academic
language. In contrast, non-academic texts are written with friends, family, and
general readers as target audience. You can sense the informality in the tone because
the content is conversational and is expressed using simple and compound sentences
joined by conjunctions like ‘and’ and ‘but’.
You have six general classifications of academic texts to cover in this subject. Each is
used for different purposes; thus, each has unique content and structure. Essay is
generally the proforma for all analytical compositions. However, not all essays are
academic. Only those that are written for professional audience and exhibit formal
tone in subject matter, sentence structure, and language can be considered academic.
Concept paper defines an idea or a concept and clarifies its ‘whatness’; thus, its most
prominent structure is the use of definition. Reaction paper is generally an informed
and insightful perspective on art, popular culture, and a technical topic. Position
paper asserts an argument. Report retells data, incident, or event. Research are a
highly formal kind of reports. The flow charts below will give you an idea about how
texts generally organize their content. All compositions in paragraph forms basically
have the three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. However, there may be
variations in the terms used, in the approximate location (i.e. near the beginning,
anywhere in the body, or about at the end), and in the preformatted forms prescribed
by agencies. Doctor’s report and police blotter may have different appearances. The
researches that you know may have chapters 1 to 5. Thesis may be at the second or
later paragraphs but definitely before the details are given. Long texts may also be
divided into several subheadings. You must remember that there is no single, foolproof
method of successful writing. What you have in figures 1 and 2 are the general
structure and content for the common academic texts.
Fig.1. The structure of essays, concept paper, and reaction paper

Fig. 2. The structure of position paper, report, and research paper

Introductions or the opening paragraph(s) aims to make a good impression on readers.
If you run out of ideas on how to start your paper, you may consider any of the
common strategies used in opening an essay, such as telling a story (anecdote or
parable), quoting a reputable person, using sayings, mentioning startling facts like
statistics, citing a law or the Bible, asking rhetorical questions, or sharing a personal
experience and realization.
Whichever strategy will be fine, but you need to process them and connect them to
your most important goal in the introduction – the thesis statement. Your thesis is the
onesentence gist or summary of your entire paper. All your evidence and discussion in
the body will revolve around your thesis. This comes usually at the end of the first
paragraph or in the second paragraph. Beginning writers can introduce the thesis this
way: “Thus, this paper is written to prove…,” “For this reason, this essay will focus
on…,” “In this paper, you will understand…,” “In order to discuss …, this position
paper will analyze…” or etc.
Remember to avoid writing what Shiach (2007) calls a ‘waffle’ in your opening
paragraph. What is ‘waffle’? It is an empty paragraph. You may commit this when you
attempt to hide your topic by making generalized, empty statements. Look at the
example below. It can apply to a whole range of topics, but which manage to say
nothing relevant.
This is a very important issue and there are many different approaches that can be
taken in regard to it. Many experts have considered this matter, but no one has come
up with proven solutions. There are arguments for and against and many people feel
very strongly about it. (Shiach, 2007). Academic papers may also mention at the
introduction about how your ideas will flow in the body to fully discuss your thesis.
Because there are many great things you need to mention in your introduction, long
texts may need more paragraphs. However, your goal is to make the introduction as
much as possible as short as one paragraph, that is about five sentences.
The body is composed of several paragraphs that cohesively discuss the thesis. These
paragraphs are your means to lead your readers, so they can make sense of your
composition. Have you experienced reading a composition without paragraphing? Its
tiring to read and hard to absorb. Hence, you should order paragraphs in a way that
readers can follow the points you want to stress, as you present them.
As a general rule, one paragraph should deal with only one main topic. The sentence
that has the main topic is called the key or topic sentence. In academic papers,
paragraphs are advised to start with the key sentence. This is because you have
professional and busy readers who need to be guided as to the content of your
paragraphs. After presenting evidence through the point-by-point analysis of hard
data, stories, events, and opinions, your closing sentence should round off the
paragraph or dovetail to the next paragraph.
In order to maintain the appearance of “continuous, coherent and integrated whole,”
you may link one paragraph to the next using these transitional expressions:
“Another essential feature of …,” “While it can be argued that …, it is also true that
…,”” However, many critics disagree with this …,” “To counter this argument, …,”
“Nevertheless, the evidence is that …,” “Secondly, …,” “The bulk of the available
evidence, then, points to the fact that …,” “On the contrary, …,” “Having analyzed this
aspect, I would now like to …,” “Furthermore, …,” “In order to emphasize this point, I
would like to point to …,” “Moreover, there are other convincing arguments to back up
…,” and “Therefore, …”.
Lastly, you need to bring the writeup to an emphatic conclusion and leave the
impression that the topic has been relevantly and thoroughly dealt with. Some
appropriate words or phrases that you can use to signal this include, “Finally, …,” “As
I have argued, …,” “As I have shown, …,” “Therefore, …,” “The bulk of the evidence,
then, points to …,” “However, as I have shown, …,” and “Based on this evidence, ….”
Summarizing is an important element of conclusion, but you should find a fresh and
concise way of doing this. You should not repeat what you said in the body. The neat
final sentence leaves the reader something to think about. Sometimes, it can be a call
for action; it is something you want them to do after every point you raised in the
body.
So, if your readers are looking for specific information, they are somehow guided as to
where to find them. Likewise, if you are looking for an information, you are also guided
as to the part of the text to turn to. In addition to the general contents of academic
texts that are mentioned in the flowcharts, the usual information that are asked for
when reading are the 5W’s and 1H (what, who, when, where, why and how)
information. The table 1 below lists the common examples of these questions and the
parts you can turn to for the information
The table 1 below lists the common examples of these questions and the parts you can
turn to for the information.

A. Let Us Practice
Do you want to try the concepts above? Now, that you have some idea about the
content and structure of academic texts, let’s try what you have just known in the
activities that follow. Read Text A, Text B, Text C, and Text D. Can you identify
their structure? What are they telling us? While reading, you may start figuring
these out. Ready? Start!

Text A.
Excerpt from: When family time becomes gadget time By Michele S. Alignay,
MA, RP, RGC

“I’m bored!” “It’s so hard!” “I don’t know what to do!” These are some of the most
common complaints we hear from children and teens these days. More often than
not, they have something to do with kids being weaned on gadgets at an early age.
When a child starts throwing a tantrum or begins to move up and about, the first
impulse of many parents is to give him a gadget. And just like magic, his mood
changes and peace, albeit temporarily, reigns, as the young one disconnects from
the world around him and focuses on the screen before him.

The digital age and the advent of social media have indeed connected the world
with a few clicks and taps…. Yet, the advantages social media and the Digital Age
bring are, ironically enough, the very same aspects that now hamper children’s
development, life-skill building, and parent-child relationships.

Children’s downtime is an opportune time for them to create, read, play, and
engage in countless activities people their age normally do as recent as 10 years
ago. Giving the child a gadget when boredom strikes is an ephemeral way of
addressing a whim.

Growing babies are supposed to explore and use their hands and feet in order to
sharpen their senses and develop their motor skills. Eating time ought to be a
busy, messy, and happy affair replete with practical and indirect lessons on
interaction with their parents or nannies.

How can we expect these normal and “traditional” activities to transpire if we shove
a gadget in front of them? Do we realize the implications of what we’re doing? We’re
compromising the fleeting time they have, which should be used instead to help
them develop themselves, as they engage with and explore the world around them
with their hands and senses.

By regulating their access to gadgets, we may sound conventional, outdated, or

even mean parents. That’s okay. When we set rules on gadgets, we should mean it.
When we say to our kids to go ahead and cry, but you can’t have gadget time, we
should mean it. When we say no when our kids are becoming too demanding, we
should mean it. Buying peace by caving in to their demands for a gadget comes
with a price. I don’t want my kids and our home to be peaceful at the expense of
compromising significant aspects in their development, learning, and ability to
relate to others in the real world.

But such tough-love measures are necessary if we’re to produce responsible and
well-rounded human beings. Their knowledge and familiarity with the virtual world
should be balanced with activities that would make them enjoy and appreciate
real-life opportunities to play, create, chat, express themselves, and be grateful for
what they have, including the privilege of being granted access to gadgets. Source:
Alignay, M.S. (2016 Sept. 24). When family time becomes gadget time. Manila
Bulletin. Available at: https://mb.com.ph/2016/09/24/when-family-time-
becomesgadget-time

Text B.
Facing the New Challenges in the New Normal By Farida F. Layug

The language of a ‘new normal” is almost being used nowadays associated to

uncertainties brought about by the pandemic – coronavirus. But how can we live in
the new reframing of our lives when everyone was caught unaware? Who could
ever think that the entire world will stop with this microscopic thing and hold
everyone to “Stay at Home”?

The ‘new normal’ frame encourages a greater understanding that we need to take
so much courage and nourish our emotions and psychological well-being. We can
now also associate new normal to precautionary measure such as face masks,
PPEs, social distancing, ECQ, MECQ, GCQ, use of digital technology, on line
classes, frontliners, flatten the curve and layoffs.
It is alright to accept that things are now different and not normal. It is okay not to
feel comfortable and be scared. But we need to be thankful for each day that
passes because of God’s given life. Resiliency is what we need to have now.
According to Dyer and McGuinness in 1996, resilience describes a process whereby
people bounce back from adversity and go on with their lives. It is a dynamic
process highly influenced by protective factors. Protective factors are specific
competencies that are necessary for the process of resilience to occur.

Competencies are those healthy skills and abilities that the individual can access
and may occur within the individual or the interpersonal or family environment.

It is resilient people who survive various adversities, challenges, difficulties and

traumas of life. We need to be resilient now more than ever. Source: Layug, F.F.
(2020 Jul 8). Facing the new challenges in the new normal. Sun.Star Pampanga,
p.10

Text C
Excerpt from NDRRMC Update:
Situational Report No. 13 Re: Preparedness Measures and Effects of Typhoon
“Quiel” (I.N. Nakri) and Tail-End of a Cold Front (TECF)
Date: 15 Nov 2019
l. SITUATION OVERVIEW
On 05 November 2019, the Tropical Depression West Southwest of Iba, Zambales
has entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) and was named “Quiel”.

It has intensified into a Tropical Storm on the same day while moving eastward.
“Quiel” and the Tail-End of a Cold Front brought moderate with occasional heavy
rains over Northern Luzon particularly in Ilocos Region, Batanes, Cagayan and
Apayao.

On 09 November 2019, 10:00AM, the eye of Typhoon “Quiel” was located based on
all available data at 145km North of Pagaza Island, Palawan (Outside PAR) (12.3°N,
114.0°E).
II. EFFECTS
A. Incidents Monitored
06 November 2019
At around 3:00 AM, a fishing boat named Three Sister with 14 passengers has
sunk in the vicinity of Maria Louise Bank (Recto Bank), Spratly Islands, Palawan
due to inherent weather brought by STS “QUIEL”. At around 1:30 AM 11 November
2019, 1 survivor was recovered at the vicinity of Cabra Island, Occidental Mindoro,
while 13 others are still missing. No update to date.

08 November 2019

At around 3:00 AM, 13 pump boats for fishing and 2 paddled bancas owned by
local fishermen of Barangay Kemdeng, San Vicente, Palawan were damaged due to
sea swell brought by the inclement weather during the onslaught of TS Quiel.

B. Affected Population
A total of 34,265 families / 138,188 persons (previously reported: 33,792 – families
/ 136,498 persons) were affected in 316 barangays (previously reported: 313
barangays) in Regions |, II, and CAR.

III. DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE

A. Preemptive Evacuation A total of 219 families / 819 persons were pre-emptively
evacuated from Flora, Kabugao, Luna, Pudtol, and Santa Marcela in Apayao due to
heavy rains. Affected families were evacuated to the identified evacuation center
and to their relatives and friends. Source: OCDRC CAR11

B. NDRRM Operations Center (NDRRMOC) The NDRRMOC maintains its BLUE

alert status and is continuously monitoring the development of the weather
disturbance. Likewise, the NDRRMOC ensures maximized coordination with
concerned agencies and RDRRMCs / OCD Regional Offices.

C. Facilitated the conduct of the Pre-Disaster Risk Assessment (PDRA) Meeting on

07 November 2019, 2:00 PM at the 3rd Floor NDRRMC Conference Room, New
NDRRMC Bldg., Camp Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

I. COST OF ASSISTANCE A total of P12,323,389.95 (previously reported:

P10,137,893.70) worth of assistance was provided by the DSWD, LGU, and
other partners to the affected families.

Source: National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. (15 Nov.
2019). Situational report no. 13. Re: Preparedness measures and effects of typhoon
“Quiel” (I.N. Nakri) and tail-end of a cold front (TECF). NDRRMC, Camp Aguinaldo,
Quezon City, Philippines

Text D.
Excerpt from: Social Watch Philippines Position Paper on the Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)

We believe that the 4Ps is an important relief measure. The usefulness of such a
measure needs to be underscored in light of the fact that many poor Filipinos are
desperate to survive these trying times. Social Watch-Philippines has recently
conducted a preliminary study and survey of 4Ps beneficiaries and has found out
that for many beneficiaries, this is the first time that they have experienced direct
support from government on a relatively sustained basis and are, therefore,
grateful for the support. Furthermore, investments in education and health
improve the chances of children for upward social and economic mobility.

Nevertheless, we are concerned with the current stance of government on the 4Ps
which seems to treat the 4Ps as a magic bullet for poverty reduction. Our concern
is based on the following reasons:

1. The 4Ps does not address all the dimensions of poverty and vulnerability. The
4Ps program is patently a poverty reduction program designed to address issues on
maternal mortality and child mortality (the latter mostly through the provision of
vaccines and cash), as well as keep children in school for five years. Other
vulnerable groups like poor senior citizens, the chronically sick, people with
disabilities, the millions of out-ofschools, and functionally illiterate or the
unemployed poor are not covered by the program. As such, other anti-poverty
programs designed to address the other dimensions of poverty must likewise be
prioritized.

2. The success of the 4Ps, which addresses the demand side, through the provision
of cash grants, requires ensuring the supply side (e.g. availability of health,
education and transport facilities and services). 4P areas are, by program
definition, among the poorest. No amount of conditionalities will work if there is a
lack of schools, health clinics, and means of transport in 4P areas.12

3. “Thanks for the cash, but we need jobs.” The Social Watch study reveals that
most of the beneficiaries it surveyed expressed gratitude that with the cash grants,
the health and education status of their families were improving. Nevertheless, an
overwhelming majority of beneficiaries said that what would lift them out of poverty
was access to regular employment.

4. What works in other countries may not necessarily work here. Context matters.
While conditional cash transfers (CCTs) around the world share similarities,
features vary across countries, and more importantly, the economic and social
policy settings in which these CCTs are embedded in, also vary.

5. Loans for what? Finally, we question borrowing US$405 M from the World Bank
and US$400 from the ADB for the 4Ps because it not only increases our public
indebtedness, which is cause for concern in itself, but more so because the
government is infusing massive investment on a strategy, as it is currently
conceived, that, at best, will have very limited impact on poverty reduction.

In this light, we call on government to do the following:

Increase public spending in the various pro-poor programs of government with

stress on education, health, agriculture, housing, environment (e.g., see proposals
of the Alternative Budget Initiative);

To come up with a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy, which includes both

economic and social policy, and locate the 4Ps within this framework. Financing for
the government’s anti-poverty reduction strategy should flow from such a
framework.

In the immediate, we call for an independent monitoring and review of the 4Ps, and
to include civil society participation. Part of the review is to gauge the capacity of
the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to handle the further
expansion of the 4Ps.

We know that the causes of poverty are complex and interlocking and based on the
evidence of other country experiences, so effectively combating it will require a
combination of economic and social development policies that require sustained
economic growth, productive employment, asset reform and comprehensive social
policies which includes universal social protection measures.

For as long as the Aquino government does not have a strategy that provides a
holistic perspective and addresses the structural constraints to poverty reduction,
its antipoverty efforts will remain short-term palliatives.

Source: Social Watch Philippines. (2012 Jan 14). Social Watch Philippines Position
Paper on the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). University of the
Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.

B. Evaluation
REFERENCE

Gabion, I.S. (2021). “Differentiate Language Used in Academic Texts from Various
Discipline”. English for Academic and Professional Purposes Module, Quarter 1-
Module 1. DepEd Region V.

Prepared by English for Academic and Professional Purposes Teachers:

MYCA G. DE GUZMAN

RUSHELLE C. FUNDANO

ARLYN R. GOJIT

Checked and Reviewed by:

AILEEN E. PAREDES
Subject Group Head

Noted:

MARIVIC A. AŇONUEVO
ASP II – SHS Academics

Approved:

SALVE E. FERRERAS
Principal III

Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region V
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF SORSOGON
BULAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

2ns Sem-Quarter 1- Summative 2

Name: _____________________________________ Date: ____________
Grade and Section: __________________________ Score: ___________

I.Read the excerpt below and answer the following questions. Write the letter of the
correct answer.

Excerpt from Positive discipline: The New Way of Parenting

By Marichu Belarmino
1So, what is with positive discipline?
2Positive Discipline is “an approach that teaches children and guides their behaviors
while respecting their rights.”
3Dr. Joan Durrant, a Canadian family therapist who introduced this concept, cites the
major characteristics of positive discipline, namely:
● Non-violent and respectful of the child as a learner
● About finding long-term solutions that develop children’s own self-discipline
● Involves clear communication of parents’ expectations, rules and limits,
● Builds a mutually respectful relationship between parent and child,
● Teaches children life-long skills,
● Increases children's competence and confidence to handle challenging
situations, and
● Teaches courtesy, non-violence, empathy, self-respect, human rights and
respect for others.
4PD reminds us adults, parents and guardians that discipline is not the same as
punishment. Various societies have their distinct ways of teaching children.16
5A cross-cultural study on the use of corporal punishment in child-rearing conducted
in 2010, where the Philippines was included as one of the nine countries studied,
presented observations on harsh and non-harsh physical forms of discipline.
6Harsh physical and power‐assertive discipline is associated with negative child
outcome - externalizing problems, aggression, antisocial or delinquent behavior & poor
psychological adjustment - associated with parental rejection and hostility.
7Non‐harsh and inductive discipline (i.e. use of reasoning) is associated with positive
child outcomes - higher self‐regulation, more competent behaviors, positive social
relationships.
8Corporal punishment is “deeply entrenched in our culture and associated with deeply
held values” suggesting that we parents, have the power and control over our children.
9Let's face it, we defend this form of disciplining our children simply because this is
the norm.
10But the truth is, PD re-defined parenting and reiterated that children are humans.
11They deserve respect. 12They may have done wrong things but they do not deserve
such punishment, however light or harsh it can be.
13It’s time to change. 14There is now a demand to learn new skills in parenting and
change our violent and harsh ways in relating and dealing with our children and
young people.
Source: Belarmino, M. (2015 May 19). Positive discipline: The new way of parenting.
Rappler.com. Available at: https://rappler.com/voices/ispeak/positive-disciplinenew-
way-parenting.

____1. What kind of academic text is the selection above?

a. an essay b. concept paper c. a position paper d. a reaction paper
____2. In which part of the selection is positive discipline defined?
a. sentences 1 to 3 b. sentence 3 c. sentences 10-12 d. sentence 2
____3. In which part of the composition is positive discipline and corporeal
punishment
compared?
a. sentences 4 to 14 b. sentences 4 to 12 c. sentences 6 and 7 d. all of these
____4. The comparison of positive discipline with corporeal punishment is part of the
_____.
a. introduction b. thesis c. body d. conclusion
____5. In which part of the text would you look to find how the writer clarified the
culture that she was trying to change?
a. introductory paragraphs b. concluding paragraphs c. body d. none of these
____6. What does Belarmino want parents to do?
a. Go back to school.
b. Attend trainings to acquire skills in parenting.
c. Defend their power-assertive styles of parenting.
d. Develop the habit of positive approach to parental discipline.17
____7. At which part of the text did you find the answer to item number 8?
a. introductory paragraphs c. body
b. concluding paragraphs d. none of these