Module 3: CONTEXT AND TEXT MEANING
21ST CENTURY Lesson 4: Context and Text Meaning
LIT.
In reading literature, you are able to find rich cultures, beliefs and language of different authors. As a 21st century
learner, you encounter literary text which challenge your understanding. In this module, you will find out that learning the
biographical, linguistic and sociocultural contexts can enhance the text meaning and enrich your understanding of a
certain literary work. Context originates from the notion of weaving together. It is defined as the circumstances that form
the setting of events, statements, or ideas and in the way of which it can be fully understood and assessed. Reading a
literary piece may contribute to the production of the author and the reception of the reader as they appreciate and explore.
Learning these various contexts will lead you to appreciate literary piece and authors. Eventually, this will help
you to show more sympathy to every person you meet knowing that they may have similar or different experiences.
Context means a variety of things. Context can be biographical, sociocultural and linguistic context.
BIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT- requires the readers to analyze the life and the experience of the author to understand
the literary text. It is essential for readers to understand the author’s background. Understanding the author’s life can help
you understand his or her work thoroughly. This can happen by reading the author’s biography or autobiography.
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 authors\’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.
SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT- requires reader to analyse the social, economic, political, and cultural standpoint of
the literary text. It is also important to note the year or period a literary text was written for readers to identify the
historical or significant events that took place in that year which add on the readers’ understanding of the text. In reading
using 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.
Here are some guide questions that you may answer when you are reading literature through the sociocultural context:
What is the relationship between the characters or speakers in the text and their society?
How does this story reflect the notion? What does this say about the country and its inhabitants?
LINGUISTIC CONTEXT- or verbal context refers to the linguistic environment in which a word is used within a text.
As a matter of fact, understanding the meaning of vocabulary items using linguistic context may involve syntactic and
morphological interpretation of the elements within a text. In other words, to determine the meaning of an item, it is
necessary to know whether the item is a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb, functioning as a subject, a predicate or a
complement. This information gives important clues to the meaning of the text. But it is not sufficient to provide a full
understanding of utterances.
MODULE 3 (LESSON 4)
ANSWER SHEET IN 21 CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND
st
THE WORLD
NAME: __________________________________________ SECTION:________________
GENERAL DIRECTION: Write all your answers here. Detach and submit this part to your teacher.
POST TEST: POEM ANALYSIS
DIRECTION: Read and answer the questions that follow.
TYPHOONS (AN EXCERPT)
RIO ALMA
(translated by Marne Kilates)
The typhoons’ episodes of terror are yearly; Berserk wind Turning wildly, they tore every roof,
and shattered glass They toppled and smashed every wall and post;
Streaming from the mouth of a thousand serpents, The drains and canal choked,
Smoke of dark crystal billowing The distressed bamboo begged for mercy.
From beyond the ancient shoulders of the bristling land. We shut out eyes
The heavens crawl with crackling electricity At the final rumbling rape
And the verdicts of thunder are without forgiveness or Of our prostrate crops, the helpless land. Tightly we shut
pity. our eyes,
There were nights Tightly, ever tighthly…
When we were children watching Only to wonder in the morning
And listening for the keening What power of sun expunged
And whiplash of wet, demented monsters: And expelled these armies of the night.
Essential Questions:
1. What is the event that the author was talking about in his poem?
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2. Where do you think did the story happen? [Link] or Rural area, etc.
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3. What are the words that caught your attention? Why?
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4. Can this story happen in real life? Why?
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5. In what way the incident in the poem similar or differ from your own experience?
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ACTIVITY 2: KNOWING THE AUTHORS CONTEXT
DIRECTION: Read the short background about Rio Alma and answer the questions.
Rio Alma came from a family of peasant farmers in the province of Bulacan, near Manila.
His collection of criticism “Ang Makatasa Panahon ng Makina” (The poet in the Age of Machines) is
one of the founding works of modernist criticism in Tagalog. He is well known as a scholar in the
national language and a promoter of literature. His poetry covers a broad range of forms, and is often
exuberant in expression and passionate in its sympathy for the poor and the working class. His earlier
works ranged from expansive free verse to sonnets, but his more recent work emphasizes formal
convention. He founded the Children’s Communication Center (publisher of Adarna Books), conducts
the long-running poetry clinic, Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Arte (Lira), has been executive
director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and is currently dean of the
college of liberal arts at UP. He was conferred the order of National Artist for Literature in 2003.
The poem written by Rio Alma entitled “Typhoons,” (2005). He tells of the “perennial
tempests” that visit the land, as he finds himself waking with full amazement to be greeted by clear
Daylight with each new morning.
1. Discuss the environment that surrounds the author while writing the poem. Prove your answer.
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2. Discuss the occurring event during that time that influences the author in writing the poem.
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3. Discuss the message of the author in the poem.
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ACTIVITY 3: LINGUISTIC CONTEXT
In what way the striking words from the poem that caught your attention add to the meaning of the literary text?
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ACTIVITY 4: SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT
What attitudes, beliefs and experiences of Filipinos are reflected in the poem especially during a natural calamity
like typhoons? How do these enrich your understanding of the literary text read?
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ACTIVITY 5: COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Interview your parents, guardians or older family members. Ask them about their perspective of the recent
happening in the country such as Covid-19 pandemic, the actions of government and the citizens, etc. Then, compare and
contrast it to your viewpoint, and write your realization about it.
OTHER PERSPECTIVES YOUR PERSPECTIVES
REFLECTION
ACTIVITY 6: ENRICHMENT
Direction: Recall one of your favourite stories. Find out the life story of the author and answer the following
question:
Title of the story:___________________________________________
Author:____________________________________________________
1. Describe the author of the story?
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2. What are some personal experiences of the author that affect his viewpoint in life?
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3. Compare and contrast the expression of love from the past and the present time.
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