Lesson 1: Literary Reading through a Biographical Context

There are reasons to read literature through the biographical context (Gioia
and Kennedy 2007):

● Understanding the author’s life can help you understand his or her work
thoroughly.

● Reading the author’s biography or autobiography helps you see how much
his experiences shape his or her work directly and indirectly.

Here are biographical strategies that you may use:

● Research on what the author believes in and also what he or she does not.

● Analyze how the author’s belief system is reflected in his or her work.

● Look at the author’s other works and analyze if there is a pattern with
regard to the theme that is indicative of his or her life and beliefs.

When you are reading literature through a biographical context:

● In what year was the text written and published?

● Is there anything significant that happened in the author’s life during

this time?

● Were there several drafts of the text? What can you say about the changes
that the author made?

● Are there characters and situations in the text that could be

representative of or are similar to the ones in the author’s life?

Take note of the following before reading a text through a biographical

context:

● You should not assume that all works are confessional, biographical, or
even “true to life.”

● A literary text is according to the author’s perspective and will be

heavily influenced by him or her, but it is not the only way of studying
literature
Lesson 2: Literary Reading through a Sociocultural Context

According to the critic Wilbur Scott, “Art is not created in a vacuum; it

is the work not simply of a person, but of an author fixed in time and space,
answering a community of which he is an important, articulate part.” In
reading using the sociocultural context, you will examine the factors that
affect the writing of the literary text and how the work was received by the
readers during the time it was written.

The following are reasons to read literature through sociocultural context

(Gioia and Kennedy 2007):

● Reading using the sociocultural context helps you understand the social,

economic, political, and cultural forces affecting the work that you are
reading.

● Analyzing the sociocultural context of the text makes you examine the role
of the audience (readers) in shaping literature.

Literary Theories

Marxism Historicism

According to the Marxist perspective, Historicism or traditional

literature shows class struggle and historical criticism is a
materialism. Thus, it looks into the perspective dealing with the history
social classes portrayed in the work. that influenced the writing of
It also looks into how the text serves literature.
as a propaganda material. It also
examines oppression, social
conflicts, and solution to these
struggles as shown in the literary
work.
 Queer Theory

The queer perspective is concerned

Feminism
The feminist perspective examines
the role of the women in the
literature. It looks into how the
female character may be empowered
or discriminated against.
with the queer or the third gender.
The perspective itself was named in
1991. Under this perspective, the
third gender, meaning the gay,
lesbians, and other characters or
persona in literature that may fall
under queer are being examined.

Lesson 3: Literary Reading through a Linguistic Context

According to David Richter, “Practically everything we do that is

specifically human is expressed in language.” This is why literary texts
can be read through the context of the language used to write the text as
well as the way language is used in the text.

Here are some reasons to read literature through the linguistic context:

● Reading the text on its own, regardless of the author’s biography and
sociocultural context, may help you understand the literary text through
analyzing the words, sentences, patterns, imagery, etc. of the text.

● Analyzing the literary text’s grammar, syntax,or phonemic pattern may

help you find the meaning of the text

The following are some strategies you may use to read a text through the
linguistic context:

● Analyze the diction or choice of words in the text.

● Examine the texts’ syntax or use of sentences, clauses, phrases, line

cuts, etc.

● Observe the use of figurative language.

● Analyze the mood and tone of the text.

● Observe the text’s overall structure.

● Analyze the content of the text.

Here are guide questions that may help you when you read literature through
the linguistic context:
● What were the striking words in the text? What words were unfamiliar to
you? Which words attracted your attention? What words were dramatic?

● What nouns are the most prominent? Are these concrete or abstract nouns?
What about verbs? Does the author use common words or lofty diction? Are the
words short or long? Is there any word that has two or more meanings?

● You may consult literary approaches that focus on language. Structuralism,

poststructuralism, and formalism have linguistic aspects. These approaches
may lead you in your view of reading through the linguistic context.

Structuralism relays the Formalism or New Poststructuralism

texts being examined to a Criticism is a school of is the reaction to
larger structure. The literary criticism and structuralism. In
structure may be a literary theory that the linguistic
particular genre, a range of focuses on the structure context, there may
intertextual connections, a of a particular text. It be underlying
model of a universal examines a text without structures that may
narrative structure, or a taking into account any have different
system of recurrent patterns outside influence. interpretations
or motifs. based on how the
words or phrases
Lesson 4: Critical Reading Strategies in Literature
were used in the
To help you in your critical reading, listed below are the text.
steps or modes of analysis that are reflected in three types
of reading and discussion as presented by Daniel J. Kurland
(2000):

● What a text says is the restatement. At first, you simply talk about the
same topic as what is written in the original text.

● What a text does is the description. Next, you discuss and examine the
aspects of the discussion or the content of the text.

● What a text means is the interpretation. As you read critically, you should
analyze the text and assert a meaning for the text as a whole

Here are the three main goals of critical reading that require inference from
reading within the text (Kurland 2000):
● First is to recognize the author’s purpose, which involves inferring a
basis for choices of content and language.

● Second is to understand the tone and persuasive elements of the text, which
involves classifying the nature of language choices used by the author.

● Third is to recognize bias, which involves classifying the nature of

patterns of choice and language used in the text.

The following critical reading strategies will help you cope with different
reading texts:

● Previewing. Before you begin reading the text, preview it by gathering

important information about it. Previewing helps prepare your mind for the
barrage of information that is to come when you do the actual reading.

Consider the following:

❏ Who wrote the text? What are the author’s other works?

❏ Where and when was the text published? What were the major events around
the time the text was written or published?

● Annotating. Annotating involves highlighting or making notes of important

ideas in the text.

● Contextualizing. When you contextualize, you consider the historical,

cultural, or biographical context of the text.

● Outlining and Summarizing. Outlining and summarizing the text help you
identify the main ideas in the text and express them again in your own words.

● Analyzing. Analyzing a text deals with examining the information presented

to support the author’s argument(s). In analyzing a text, you look at the
evidence, sources, and author’s bias(es).

● Rereading. Rereading requires a repeated examination of the text to enable

you to improve your comprehension of the text and to identify ideas that you
may not have noticed in initial reading.

● Responding. After you have developed a clear understanding of the text,

you are now ready to respond to the text. Responding to the text means drawing
meaning from what you have read and presenting it in writing or talking about
it to others.