ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

Critical Approaches in
Writing Critique
Objectives
• differentiate the approaches in literary
criticism;
• write an objective assessment; and
• express ideas using an appropriate
language and manner .
 Te s t Yo u r k n o w l e d g e !
Directions: Identify the critical approach being described by the
fo lowing statements. ANSWER ONLY!
Biographical Feminist Formalist
Historical Marxist Psychological
• It emphasizes the importance of knowing the author’s
life and background when analyzing a text.
• It focuses on the literary elements of a literary work and
how they work to create meaning.
 Te s t Yo u r k n o w l e d g e !
Biographical Feminist Formalist
Historical Marxist Psychological
3. It focuses on the roles, positions, and influences of
women within literary texts.
4. It suggests that every literary work is a product of its
time and its world.
5. It focuses on understanding how power, politics,
and money play a role in literary texts.
 TAKE A LOOK.
What can you say
about the picture?
List down all your
ideas in a box.
USE YOUR
NOTEBOOK!

FilSciHub's Poster-Slogan Contest: 4th PLACER Gabriel Kenneth C. Aglibot Biñan

Integrated National High School Biñan City, Laguna Province
FilSciHub's Poster-Slogan Contest: 4th PLACER Gabriel Kenneth C. Aglibot Biñan
Integrated National High School Biñan City, Laguna Province
 • What are your bases
of listing down those
words?
• Are the words in your
list based on facts?
How do you know?
• Do you consider your
list as your opinion?
Why?
FilSciHub's Poster-Slogan Contest: 4th PLACER Gabriel
Kenneth C. Aglibot Biñan Integrated National High School
You may express your opinion
using these words…
Formal - In my opinion, technology is
very important nowadays.
Informal - Technology is important.
You are entitled to your opinions but...
• these opinions must be based on facts for you not to be biased.
• your opinion should be presented in an organized manner.
• do not focus on giving opinions. Look for information that will
support your opinion because...
-it will make your opinion credible and valid.
-more people will believe in what you express.
In expressing your opinion, it is important to use an
appropriate language for a specific discipline.
Here are the examples of terms that you can use in the following disciplines:
 Importance of writinga critique/ reaction paper...

• It is written to communicate a fair assessment of

situations, events, and literary and artistic works.
• It conveys incisive insights into its analysis of events and
interpretation of the work or performance.
• It may include the main purpose of the event; the devices
and strategies employed; evaluation of its success or
failure; and assessment of its significance.
ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

APPROACHES IN
LITERARY CRITICISM
 CRITICAL APPROACHES
It is sometimes called lenses. These
are different perspectives we can
consider when looking at literary
pieces. You will be able to see a
literary piece in different
ways by using these
lenses and will also be
able to come up with
varied interpretations.
1. Formalist Approach
(Formalism)
• Formalist criticism is a way in
which the reader can approach,
analyze and understand using the
inherent features of a text.
• Formalism disregards the
environment, era and author to
focus only on the work itself,
because it sees the literary work as
an object in its own right
1. Formalist Approach
(Formalism)
• This approach regards literature as
“a unique form of human
knowledge that needs to be
examined on its own terms.”
• The primary goal for formalist
critics is to determine how the
elements of form such as style,
structure, tone, imagery, etc., work
together with the text’s content to
shape its effect upon readers.
2. Feminist Approach

• This approach examines how

sexual identity influences
the creation and reception of
literary works.
• Feminist criticism attempts
to correct the imbalance by
analyzing and combatting
such attitudes.
2. Feminist Approach

• Feminist criticism reveals the

ways in which literature
portrays the economic,
political, social, and
psychological oppression of
women.
• This looks at how aspects of
our culture are patriarchal
(male dominated) and aims to
3. Historical Approach

• Historical criticism, also

known as New Historicism,
investigates the social,
cultural, and intellectual
context that produced it.
• it focuses more on how time
and place of creation affect
meaning in the work.
4. Reader-Response Approach
• Reader-response criticism
argues that the meaning of a
text is dependent upon the
reader’s response to it.
• To put it simply, it suggests
that meaning is not created
by the text nor the author.
Meaning is created by the
reader.
5. Media Approach
• examining an d judging the
media.
• Media bias occurs when the
media seems to push a
specific viewpoint rather
than reporting the news
objectively and ignoring an
important aspect of the
story.
6. Marxist Approach
• It focuses on the economic
and political elements of
art.
• Marxist Criticism can
illuminate political and
economic dimensions of
literature other approaches
overlook.
6. Marxist Approach
• Marxist criticism grew out of
the writings of Karl Marx,
who was highly critical of the
capitalist system of economics
and politics.
• it is concerned with issues of
class conflict, wealth, work,
and the various ideologies that
surround these things.
7. Structuralism Approach
• It focuses more on how human
behavior is determined by social,
cultural and psychological
structures.
• The essence of structuralism is the
belief that things cannot be
understood in isolation, they have
to be seen in the context of a larger
structure.
8. Biographical Approach
• Contrary to formalist
criticism, biographical
criticism uses details about an
author ’s personal life to
analyze the author ’s work.
• The goal of this approach is
understanding why the author
wrote what he/she wrote.
8. Psychological/Psychoanalytical
Approach
• Psychological criticism
examines works through
theories of psychology.
• It looks into the minds of
the characters or the author
to understand what the work
means.
Sigmund Freud
9. Psychological/Psychoanalytical Approach
9. Psychological/Psychoanalytical Approach
• For example, suppose the
protagonist in the story is a
murderer; evaluating the
psychological state, the past of the
character might help the reader to
understand why he became a
murderer. This criticism approach
can explore the writer's motivations
in selecting this subject and how his
past has influenced his choice.
Directions: Below are key questions that a critic may use in
examining a work. Identify the critical approach meant to answer the
questions. Choose the letter of your answer.

1. “What types of roles do men/women have in the text?”

Do any stereotypical characterizations of men/women
appear?” What are the attitudes toward women held by the
male characters?”
a. Biographical
b. Feminism
c. Formalism
d. Marxism
 Directions: Below are key questions that a critic may use in
examining a work. Identify the critical approach meant to
answer the questions. Choose the letter of your answer.
2. “What did the author intend for you to feel while reading this
work, and how did he or she make you feel it?” What kind of
reader is implied by this text? For example, does it address you
as if you are intelligent and well-informed, or as if you are
inexperienced and innocent?”
a. Biographical
b. Formalism
c. Psychological
d. Reader-Response
 Directions: Below are key questions that a critic may use in
examining a work. Identify the critical approach meant to
answer the questions. Choose the letter of your answer.

3. “Is the author part of a dominant culture, and how does that status
affect the work?” What events occurred surrounding the original
production of the text?” How may these events be relevant to the text
under investigation?”
a. Biographical
b. Historical
c. Marxism
d. Reader-Response
 Directions: Below are key questions that a critic may use in
examining a work. Identify the critical approach meant to
answer the questions. Choose the letter of your answer.

4. “What does the work suggest about the psychological aspects of the
author?” Does the work have any hidden meanings, or subconscious
elements that help to interpret the work?” How can characters’actions be
explained using theories of fear or attraction to death, or using the struggle
between the id, ego and the superego?”
a. Biographical
b. Historical
c. Psychological
d. Reader-Response
Directions: Below are key questions that a critic may use in
examining a work. Identify the critical approach meant to
answer the questions. Choose the letter of your answer.
5.“How is the work’s structure unified?” How do
various elements of the work reinforce its meaning?”
What recurring patterns (repeated or related words,
images, etc.) can you find? What is the effect of these
patterns or motifs?”
a. Feminism
b. Formalism
c. Marxism
d. Psychological
Directions: Below are key questions that a critic may use in
examining a work. Identify the critical approach meant to
answer the questions. Choose the letter of your answer.

5. “How is the work’s structure unified?” How do various

elements of the work reinforce its meaning?” What recurring
patterns (repeated or related words, images, etc.) can you
find? What is the effect of these patterns or motifs?”
a. Feminism
b. Formalism
c. Marxism
d. Psychological