Reading Through a Critical Lens · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Asking sharper questions of a text

English · Reading Comprehension · ages 17-18
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Before applying a critical lens to a text, what should you do first?

    • Summarise its claim, reasons and evidence fairly
    • Judge it before reading closely
    • Select a lens and keep only details that fit it

  2. What is a critical lens?

    • A verdict to stamp on any text
    • A set of questions for reading a text
    • A fixed conclusion supplied by a critical theory

  3. A lens is a verdict you apply to a text.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. One lens reads a feast scene as celebration, another as satire. What should decide between the two readings?

    • The reading that best matches the lens chosen before examining the scene
    • The reading that fits the scene's cheerful setting without checking its tone
    • The reading the quoted lines support better

  5. Which pair of questions directly examines who receives service and benefits from power in a passage?

    • Who is served and who gains
    • Which words show attitude
    • Whose work goes unnamed

  6. Reading through two lenses can show what each brings out that the other misses.

    Circle one:   True   False

  7. Nadia claims a narrator mocks the rich but points at no lines. What is wrong?

    • The claim needs only a familiar lens, not quoted support
    • The narrator's attitude is clear enough to need no evidence
    • No lines cited, so it is a guess

  8. A lens on unseen labour surfaces nothing quotable after a full pass. What is the honest move?

    • Keep the lens because its theory should explain every passage
    • Log that it found nothing, then drop it
    • Take absence as proof of hidden labour
LightMySky · lightmysky.comW1-mt_ceYRZV1vOe-s1

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Asking sharper questions of a text W1-mt_ceYRZV1vOe-s1

  1. Summarise its claim, reasons and evidence fairly · First understand the text's claim, reasons and evidence, then judge it.
  2. A set of questions for reading a text · A lens is a way of asking, not an answer in advance.
  3. False · It is a way of asking questions, not a pre-written answer.
  4. The reading the quoted lines support better · Only words on the page can back one reading over the other.
  5. Who is served and who gains · Questions about service and gain identify who benefits from power. The other choices ask about tone or unnamed work rather than directly identifying those beneficiaries.
  6. True · Comparing the two views shows what each brings out that the other misses.
  7. No lines cited, so it is a guess · A reading without quotable support is not yet a reading.
  8. Log that it found nothing, then drop it · A lens need not explain every passage. Missing evidence does not prove that labour is hidden. Record that this lens found nothing, then drop it.
Worksheet · LightMySky