Text types

Text types

1. Narrative

   • Is central to children's learning
   • Purpose: Is to tell a story (it may according to genre)
   • Most commun structure;
     • Establishes setting and introduces characters.
     • A complication and resulting events.
     • A resolution/ending
   • Adventure [To entertain]
     • Typically a retelling of a series of exciting events leading to a high impact resolution.
   • Mystery [To intrigue and entertain]
     • Structure is often cchronological, even in a longer narrative, but complex structural techniques are sometimes used for effect.
   • Science fiction [To entertain and, sometimes, to speculate about the future]
     • Can use any of the varied structures typical of narrative.
   • Fantasy [To entertain and to fuel the imagination]
     • May simply basic chronological narrative set in a fantasy world but some fantasy narratives extend the fantastic element to the structure as well.
   • Historical fiction [To entertain and sometimes, to inform]
     • The narrative is about something that has already happened in the past so a series of events is usally the underlying structure
   • Contemporary fiction [To entertain and, sometimes, to create empathy with familiar characters]
     • Contemporary settings are often familiar ones.
   • Stories wich raise dilemmas [To entertain and to explore issues or dilemmas]
     • The strength of the story often depends on a character facing a difficult dilemma, with a limited choice of actions.
   • Traditional stories
     • It includes myths, legends, fables and fairy tales.
   • Myths [To provide a fictional explanation for natural phenomena]
     • The plot is often based on a long and dangerous journey, a quest or a series of trials for the hero.
   • Legends [To provide information about the way particular people lived]
     • Structure is usually chronological, with one episode told after another.
   • Fairy tales [Were originally intended for adults and children]
     • Structure is most tipically a recount in chronological order, where events retell what happened to a main character that came into contact with the fairy world.
   • Fables [To teach the reader or listener a lesson they should learn about life]
     • Structure is typically the simplest kind of narrative with a beginning, a complication and a resolution.

2. Non-fiction

   • Are wide ranging and occur in many forms in everyday life.
   • It presents a reasoned and balanced overview of an issue or controversial topic.
   • Explanatory [To explain how or why, to explain the processes involved in natural/social phenomena or to explain why something is the way it is]
     • A general statement to introduce the topic begin explained and the steps or phrases in a process are explained logically, in order.
   • Instructional [To ensure something is done effectively and/or correctly with a successful outcome for the participant(s)]
     • Begin by defining the goal or desired outcome.
   • Persuasion [To argue a case from a particular point of view and to encourage the reader/listener towards the same way of seeing things]
     • Strategically organised information presents and then elaborates on the desired view point.
   • Non-chronological reports [To provide detailed information about the way things are or were]
     • In the absence of a temporal structure where events happen in a particular order, non-chronological reports usually have a logical structure.
   • Recounts [Their most common intentions are to inform and/or entertain]
     • Structure sometimes reorganises the chronology of events using techniques such as a flashbacks.

3. Poetry

   • It can have many different purposes, to entertain, to reflect, to convey information, to tell a story, to share knowledge or to pass on cultural heritage.
   • Are often grouped for learning and teaching by theme, structure, form or language features.
   • Free verse
   • Visual poems
   • Structured poems