Text+Types

Home Reading Phonics Writing

 Skip to:    Multiliteracies

// Text Types  //

=
 ‘Different kinds of text prompt children to read in different ways: fiction is read for characters and plot and information books are read to find facts and to build concepts’ (Hill, 2006, p.207). ======

=
 Children discover early on that there are two different types of text: fiction (or storybooks); and fact (informative books). They usually find both types exciting and interesting, and powerful for their imaginations. Soon they will learn that there are also many more text types, which come under either of these two main headings, or sometimes in-between. ======

 There are six main genres which teachers refer to, in teaching text-types to children. These are:

 * ====== recount - used to ‘retell past experiences and tell what happened’ (p.314) ======
 * ====== narrative - has a classic storybook format ======
 * ====== procedure - a set of instructions for the reader to follow ======
 * ====== report - displays information in a structured, scientific manner ======
 * ======<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"> explanation - gives reasoning behind how things work or came to be ======
 * ======<span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"> argument - designed to deliver an opinion, provide evidence to support it and influence the reader to agree ======

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(117, 78, 47)"><span style="color: rgb(202, 139, 63); font-family: Georgia,serif">// Multiliteracies //

=
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"> Children not only play computer games now, they use comprehensive learning software, containing pictures, animations, videos and sounds, to aid their learning. These sorts of programs help enhance children’s understandings of texts in multiple formats, while still incorporating print-based texts. ======

=
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"> Commonly, children spend more time on computers at home than in school, sometimes having access to programs which are more advanced. ======

=
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"> These sorts of interactive activities have the potential to help some students progress beyond their levels in literacy development, faster. ======

=
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"> More research needs to be carried-out in this area, in order to realise the full extent of how the operation and creation of multimodal texts can benefit students in the early years. Long-term side-effects of excessive computer usage also needs to be properly looked at, to identify possible risks. ======

=
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(202, 139, 63)"> Either way, ‘becoming multiliterate is viewed as being an essential part of successful learning for these new times’ (Hill, 2006, p.340), and nobody wants to get left behind on the technology superhighway! ======