How can I exploit knowledge of text types?
An invaluable support to L2 reading is awareness of how texts are typically structured.
With discursive texts the structure might be:
- A general background opening section, followed by arguments for a point, arguments against and then a concluding paragraph. For an example, see Module 7, section 7.6.1 j.
- A general opening, then each argument 'for' is followed by an argument 'against', after which comes a conclusion. For example: comprehensive education is a more just system BUT it denies parents choice; it offers equal opportunities to all BUT the most able are sometimes not stretched, etc, etc.
- A situation is described - a problem is outlined - a solution to the problem is proposed - an evaluation follows of how the solution has worked or might work. For example: a company's products are described; its failure to reach new markets is explained; a consultant recommends using the Web as a marketing tool; the impact on the company's sales figures is assessed.
- Main facts to supporting details; this is especially common in newspaper reports where a first paragraph, often just a sentence, gives most of the principal facts. For example: 'Seven people were killed yesterday when a suicide bomber drove a car into a crowded Jerusalem shopping mall'; subsequent paragraphs fill in the detail (how old the victims were, how many were injured, where they were taken, who the bomber was, his or her political affiliation, etc).
With descriptive texts the possible patterns are (cf Module 7, section 7.6.1k):
- Movement from detail to overall appearance or vice versa (eg description of a school pupil's stressful time revising for exams leads on to a point about the teething problems the new exams are causing across the country).
- Development from a specific instance to a generalized statement (eg Text 5, 'It's unthinkable').
With fiction, on the other hand, it is important for learners to be aware of typical story-line markers and logical progression ('first of all', 'then', 'a few days later', 'subsequently', 'eventually') as well as forward- and backward-referencing, turning points and dénouement.
One way to help develop this awareness is to give students a jumbled paraphrased version before they see the actual text or story. This works best if the paraphrases are simply expressed. For example:
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So he decides to phone
her She suggests going to
the coast. They haven't seen each other for months. They decide to go camping
for a week. But where
is there a good camp site? She suggests a fortnight's camping somewhere. They both like the mountains.
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He only has 8 days off work. If help is needed with this, learners can be encouraged first to decide how many characters appear in the story, next to group pronouns with proper nouns, then to identify likely first and last sentences and finally to match pairs of sentences together.
After comparing their version with that of others in the group, learners compare their 'running order' with the actual text and look for evidence to back up their version. Apart from providing a genuine reason to read and previewing key vocabulary, this preliminary work on a simplified version helps to establish likely narrative patterns and thus either draws on or fills out learners' text-type schemata, or background knowledge of text types (see Module 7, section 7.1.4).
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