how texts work: literacy and the english ! ! ! ! ! !...

HOW TEXTS WORK: Literacy and the English Language Arts programs

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PURPOSE OF THE HANDBOOK

The goal of this handbook is to provide a foundation for teaching the structures and features of a whole range of texts to our students in order to develop their capacity to use language consciously and fluently.

In order for literacy to develop, students need to make connections between how texts are constructed and the purposes and functions they were designed to serve in our society. There is really nothing accidental about most texts. A poster, for example, looks the way it does because it has a very specific purpose, such as to advertise a movie or to promote an event. Given the fact that we look at a poster for less than a minute, on average, it is constructed in a certain way to get its message or information across as quickly and as accurately as possible. The poster gets our attention by using a catchy or appealing phrase or image, informs us in as few words as possible and relies upon a succinct message. It is the structures and features of texts that make them recognizable and that communicate their meaning or message, as in “Once upon a time…” in a fairy tale, or “Dear Sir/Madam” in a formal letter, or the theme music that is used to announce a popular radio show.

The handbook includes background on structures and features in texts, models of specific texts in graphic form that connect specific structures and features to the text’s function, or purpose, a lexicon of terms used in the ELA programs and a chart of required text types, or genres, for elementary, secondary cycle one and secondary cycle two classrooms.

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WAYS OF TALKING ABOUT TEXTS

Texts are connected to the social and cultural contexts in which they are used. Some texts are very old and link us to our human history, such as the narrative, that was first developed by the travelling “journalists” of yesteryear, called minstrels, who brought news from village to village in song. Even the earliest myths were communicated in song and verse. As time went on, other forms of narrative texts emerged in the form of legends, fables and folktales. These ancient texts have come down to us today and provide a kind of living link to the past. We continue to use and create different kinds of texts that allow us to communicate with one another in a great variety of ways. The laws we enforce, the email we send and receive, the journal we keep, the magazines and books we love to read, the contracts we sign, the lists we make – these are just a few examples of the way texts contribute to the socio-cultural relationships we form. By the time we reach adulthood, we have been exposed to and recognize a large range of texts that we have learned to call upon in different situations for different purposes. Learning how texts are made and why they “look” and “act” the way they do is essential social knowledge. Without this knowledge, we are handicapped from developing the kind of literacy that allows individuals to fully participate in society.

In the Elementary and Secondary English Language Arts programs, students are introduced to texts in broad categories, or types. Each text type, or genre is based on its purpose or function in our society and the texts that fall into each of these categories conform to this purpose. For example, narrative text types/genres are texts that tell a story in some form or other and would include picture books, novels, narrative poetry, plays, myths, radio dramas and certain types of movies.

It is important to recognize that genres make meaning; they are not simply a set of formal structures into which meanings are poured.

(J.R.Martin, in Dewitt, 2004)

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HOW TEXTS ARE MADE: STRUCTURES, FEATURES, CODES & CONVENTIONS)

The lexicon of the elementary and the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) programs provides teachers with a common vocabulary for talking about the way written, spoken and media texts are made. In the past, we have tended to be most familiar with the lexicon used to discuss literary texts. However, given the explosion of non-literary and information-based texts and the expectations that high school graduates will be fluent with a range of texts, it becomes clear that students require a much larger repertoire of texts than simply the literary. The elementary and the secondary ELA programs focus on a number of different text types, or genres for this reason. This is essential knowledge in a literacy curriculum such as ours that aims to produce students who read many different types of texts critically and produce a range of texts for specific purposes.

The purpose of including these terms and their associated concepts is to allow teachers to weave the appropriate vocabulary for talking about texts and language into their teaching at appropriate times. Giving names to key textual elements allows the learner to build understanding about how texts are constructed and how they are understood in our society at this time. In other words, the ELA programs for elementary and secondary school focus on acquiring the knowledge to call upon different text types/genres in a range of contexts, or situations and for different purposes or functions. For additional examples and information, teachers are encouraged to consult the respective ELA programs for elementary and secondary schools, where more explicit information about specific texts can be found.

Usually we need to learn how something works in order to understand it properly. If we asked our students to make a poster, we would begin by looking at and talking about posters, making connections between how a particular poster is made and its purpose or function, including its message. In order to do this we would talk about a number of posters that represented some of the different functions and messages that we find on posters. Following this kind of demonstration and teacher modeling – referred to as “immersion into text” in the secondary ELA programs -- we could then expect our students to select the structure and features that are associated with posters and that suit the purpose of a particular poster they are going to create.

The goal of the elementary and secondary ELA programs is to provide students with a large, varied repertoire of texts that they both read and produce. The idea here is that students are learning through doing, rather than by memorizing lists of terms. In other words, it is completely inappropriate to teach and/or evaluate the structures and features of texts as a form of rote learning, or in a de-contextualized fashion, as though how texts work amounts to a series of static structures into which people “…pour meanings.” Learning about how texts work should be initiated by an immersion into the text type, or genre, that is going to be read, listened to and/or produced. Along the way, as students work with the text, teachers name pertinent structures and features, as well as pointing out the function, or purpose, they serve. In other words, learning about how texts are made is always embedded in activities, or learning

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situations. This approach helps students to consolidate their learning, since placing learning in a context provides the support and the guidance that students require when they are learning something new.

In the elementary and the secondary ELA programs, certain text types, or genres, and specific structures and features are highlighted. The additional features of mode, codes and conventions are introduced into the two secondary ELA programs. Many of the codes and conventions found in the texts taught in high school are too conceptually difficult for students in elementary school, although the concepts associated with mode, code and convention are, in fact, introduced at the elementary school level through reading and producing multi-genre texts such as illustrated picture books, photo essays and so on.

A lexicon listing key terms used in the elementary and secondary ELA programs is included in the appendix. It should be noted that the lexicon that appears in this handbook is excerpted from the elementary and secondary ELA program documents.

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Suggestions for further reading

FOR ALL (ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY) Kress, Gunther & Theo Van Leeuwen (1996) Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London and New York:

Routledge. ISBN: 0-415-10600-1 Wilhelm, Jeffrey D. (2002) Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension. New York, Toronto & etc.: Scholastic

Professional Books. ISBN: 0-439-21857-8 ------- (2007) Getting It Right: Fresh Approaches to Teaching Grammar, Usage and

Correctness. New York, Toronto & etc.: Scholastic. ISBN-10: 0-439-66933-2 ------- (2001) Strategic Reading: Guiding Students to Lifelong Literacy 6-12. NH: Boynton-

Cook HEINEMANN. ISBN: 0-86709-561-X Zimmerman, Susan and Ellen Oliver Keene (1997) Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop.

NH: Heinemann. ISBN: 0-45-07237-4

ELEMENTARY

Stead,Tony. (2002) Is That A Fact? Teaching Nonfiction Writing K-3. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers. ISBN: 1-57110-331-7

LEARN, QUEBEC (2004) Differentiating Writing Across the Curriculum: Multiple Genres, Multiple Ways. ISBN: 0-9735184-8-0 Peterson, Ralph & Maryann Eeds (2008) Grand Conversations: Literature Groups in Action. Toronto: Scholastic Teaching

Resources. ISBN-13: 978-0439926454 Harvey, Stephanie and Anne Goudvis (2007) Strategies That Work (2nd Edition). Markham, Ontario: Pembroke Publishers.

ISBN-13: 978-1-57110-481-6 Forms & Features of Text: A resource for intentional teaching. On the net and can be downloaded. Net address: http://

www.spokaneschools.org/ElementaryLiteracy/Writing/features.pdf Text Forms: Narrative and Expository. On the net and downloadable. Net address: http://www.spokaneschools.org/

ElementaryLiteracy/Writing/forms.pdf Moline, Steve (1995) I See What You Mean: Children At Work With Visual Information. Markham, Ontario: Pembroke

Publishers. ISBN: 155138065X McCarthy, Tara (1998) Narrative Writing: mini-lessons-strategies- activities. Toronto: Scholastic Professional Books.

ISBN: 059020937X (1996) Teaching Genre. Toronto: Scholastic Professional Books. ISBN: 05906033450

http://www.spokaneschools.org/ElementaryLiteracy/Writing/features.pdf




http://www.spokaneschools.org/ElementaryLiteracy/Writing/forms.pdf




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Buss, Kathleen and Karnowski, Lee (2002) Reading and Writing: Nonfiction genres. Newark, Delaware: IRA. ISBN-13: 978-0872073463 (NOTE: There is also Reading and Writing: Literary genres in this series.)

Harvey, Stephanie (1998) Nonfiction matters: Reading, Writing and Research in Grades 3-8. Markham, Ontario: Pembroke Publishers. ISBN-13: 978-1571100726

SECONDARY, CYCLE ONE & CYCLE TWO

Cope, Bill and Mary Kalantzis (1993) The Powers of Literacy: A Genre Approach to Teaching Writing. Pittsburg, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN: 0-8229-6104-0

Abrams, M.H. (various editions) A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. ISBN: 03-076585-4 Golden, John (2001) Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English Classroom. Urbana, Illinois: NCTE.

ISBN-13: 978-0814138724 McCloud, Scott (1994) Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harpercollins. ISBN-13: 978-0060976255

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APPENDIX A-1

REQUIRED GENRES K - 11

NOTE: The charts that follow include the text types/genres that appear in the Elementary and Secondary ELA programs. Teachers may also consult the Progression of Learning for the Elementary and Secondary ELA programs that contain required text types/genres by cycle, as well as their structures, features, codes and conventions.

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ELEMENTARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTSRequired Genres/Text types

Throughout elementary school, students are required to read and produce texts from each of the social functions listed below. The texts themselves are also compulsory, unless otherwise indicated, since all of them appear in the program content of one or more of the competencies of the EELA program. By the end of cycle three, it is anticipated that students have read, listened to and/ or produced all of the required genres/text types listed below.

It is anticipated that many individual text types, such as stories, are read, discussed and produced. In this way, texts serve as models for our students, allowing them to learn how a text is made before they produce one of their own. In turn, as students read and produce a wide range of texts over the six (6) years of elementary school, they also learn to draw upon the structures and features associated with specific text types for different purposes, e.g. to produce their own texts for different age groups, to discuss a text, to interpret the message in a text, etc. For this reason, the texts listed below have been categorized according to their dominant social function, e.g. a report may describe a phenomena that has been observed, but its dominant function in our society is to report.

By the end of elementary school, students’ Integrated Profiles must reflect a balance of spoken, written and media text types, as well as a range of LES contexts, or situations, in which different texts are read and produced.

ELEMENTARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTSRequired Genres/Text types

Throughout elementary school, students are required to read and produce texts from each of the social functions listed below. The texts themselves are also compulsory, unless otherwise indicated, since all of them appear in the program content of one or more of the competencies of the EELA program. By the end of cycle three, it is anticipated that students have read, listened to and/ or produced all of the required genres/text types listed below.

It is anticipated that many individual text types, such as stories, are read, discussed and produced. In this way, texts serve as models for our students, allowing them to learn how a text is made before they produce one of their own. In turn, as students read and produce a wide range of texts over the six (6) years of elementary school, they also learn to draw upon the structures and features associated with specific text types for different purposes, e.g. to produce their own texts for different age groups, to discuss a text, to interpret the message in a text, etc. For this reason, the texts listed below have been categorized according to their dominant social function, e.g. a report may describe a phenomena that has been observed, but its dominant function in our society is to report.

By the end of elementary school, students’ Integrated Profiles must reflect a balance of spoken, written and media text types, as well as a range of LES contexts, or situations, in which different texts are read and produced.

SOCIAL FUNCTION (S) TEXTS

PLANNING texts are used to plan and organize our thoughts, ideas, and actions and to help us monitor our own learning.

SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency): brainstorming ways to plan and organize a project; drawing different ideas together to produce a coherent plan of action; sharing ideas related to planning group projects/activities; using questions to clarify the stages of a procedure or organizational plan

READING (traditional & media texts): visual organizers such as graphs, charts, outlines, timelines; rereading own and others’ notes to clarify a process, plan of action, etc.

WRITING + MEDIA Production: learning/thinking logs; graphic organizers, specifically webs and concept maps; outlines; note-taking; lists

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REFLECTIVE texts help us to reflect, think, and/or wonder about life, current events, personal experiences, as well as to reflect on our actions and evaluate what we learn.

SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency): sharing initial reflections, for example, about a current event; imagining how a character in a story must have felt; discussing journals and diaries; role-playing; dramatizing a part in a play that deals with reflection and/or imagining; peer-editing and feedback during writing and production processes; rereading and presenting contents of the Integrated Profile, including self-evaluation conferences

READING (traditional & media texts): journals; diaries; multimedia journals; personal & family scrapbooks; written self-evaluations and reflections

WRITING + MEDIA Production: personal and family scrapbooks; multimedia journals, including photographs; written self-evaluations and reflections

NARRATIVE texts are one of the oldest forms for recording and making sense of human experience, as well as articulating the world of the imagination.

SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency): storytelling; sharing personal anecdotes; role playing; taking part in a play

READING (traditional & media texts): children’s literature and fiction, including illustrated picture books; wordless picture books; short stories; chapter books; novels; classic and modern fairy tales; rhymes, riddles and songs. Poetry, such as ballads; plays; scripts; multi-genre texts; young adult fiction. Non-fiction, such as biography, autobiography and memoirs. Age-appropriate films including animation; comic books; feature stories in children’s magazines

WRITING + MEDIA Production: accounts of personal experiences and events, such as memoirs, poetry, adventure & fantasy stories; plays; scripts; storyboards; illustrated narrative in comic strip; wordless picture books; illustrated picture books using drawings and/or photos

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EXPLANATORY texts answer the questions “why” and “how.” These texts allow people to share their expertise in a range of fields and form the basis of many texts from which we learn throughout our lives, such as textbooks and reference books.

SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency): giving directions and

instructions; explaining procedures; explaining reasons for a decision; explaining the events on a timeline of an historical event

READING (traditional & media texts): encyclopedias; dictionaries;

thesaurus; textbooks; recipes; how-to books; web sites; magazine articles and segments of television shows whose purpose is to explain and which are produced for children; nonfiction magazine articles in children’s magazines; visual representations of information, such as maps, timelines, charts, graphs; informational multimedia picture books

WRITING & MEDIA Production: recording decisions taken by a group; recipes; explaining a procedure about which the writer has expertise, such as the stages of a life cycle of a plant/animal/reptile on a chart; how-to books; informational multimedia picture books; nonfiction magazine article for children’s magazine

REPORTS describe the way things are or were, conveying information in a seemingly straightforward and objective fashion. They focus on the classification and/or synthesis of a range of natural, cultural or social phenomena in order to name, document and store it as information.

SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency): presenting an oral report, for example, on an observed scientific event such as a solar eclipse or the life cycle of an animal; discussing how to classify information with teacher/peers/whole class; reporting on a social event in the role of a reporter

READING (traditional & media texts): local & national newspapers; eyewitness accounts; reports & interviews on television and radio that are appropriate & accessible to children; documentary (film, television, radio) that is appropriate & accessible to children; multi-genre texts, such as an article that includes a map, charts and/or graphs; photographs that report and/or document information; nonfiction magazine article in a children’s magazine

WRITING + MEDIA Production: science/maths/social studies journals that focus on reporting information & other kinds of data; interviews based on recounts of an experience or event; nonfiction magazine article for children’s magazine; reports on a topic of interest, such as dinosaurs; photo essays with written text

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EXPOSITORY texts are constructed in deliberate ways and interpret some aspect of the world in a particular way.

Argumentative texts try to convince people of a point of view about a topic or issue through a logical sequencing of ideas and/or propositions.

Persuasive texts try to move people to act or behave in a certain way, including selling or promoting a product or ideology.

SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency):

Persuasive texts include an informal expression of an opinion that seeks to change the actions or behavior of others, specifically during a discussion, in a literature circle, or etc; listening to a radio talk show that aims to change public opinion or behavior

Argumentative texts include the informal expression of different points of view or opinions with the intent of gaining consensus about topics & issues relevant to the student

READING (traditional & media texts):

Persuasive texts include advertisements and commercials aimed at children; promotional posters; book and movie reviews aimed at children, such as those in children’s magazines or on children’s television programs; popular signs and symbols, such as the logos of popular merchandising and food chains, product labels, school crests, etc. (NOTE: These become persuasive because we associate them with behaviors such as buying a burger at a popular place, belonging to a school community, etc.); family photographs, specifically as a means of preserving, reinforcing and circulating values; toy and fast-food commercials on television or on the internet

Argumentative texts include letters to the editor in a children’s magazine; articles written for children on topics such as global warming, species in danger of extinction etc. that promote a point of view and seek to build consensus

WRITING & MEDIA production:

Persuasive texts include magazine and newspaper articles for an audience of peers or younger children that seek to change some aspect of human action or behavior; book and movie reviews for peers or younger children that promote the product being reviewed; magazine ads and posters for a target audience of peers or younger children

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Secondary English Language Arts, Cycle One (SELA)Repertoire of Required Genres/Text types

Throughout Cycle One, students are required to read and produce texts from each of the social functions listed below. The texts themselves are also compulsory, since all of them appear in the program content of one or more of the competencies of the SELA program. (NOTE: In the paragraphs below and in the columns, e.g. is used to designate an example and i.e, is used to designate texts that are compulsory.) SELA is an integrated language arts program that promotes a reading-production connection in the classroom. It is anticipated that students are engaged in reading and interpreting texts for pleasure and to learn, as well as reading to learn how to produce texts and to foster the imagination. It should be noted that texts whose function is to persuade or argue are introduced in Cycle One largely through the Talk and Media competencies, where it is anticipated that the social function of the text is stressed, e.g. how arguments are made and defended in a debate. For this reason, the texts listed below have been categorized according to their dominant social function.

By the end of Cycle One, students’ Integrated Profiles must reflect a balance of genres and modes, as well as a range of learning contexts, or situations, in which different texts are read and produced.

Secondary English Language Arts, Cycle One (SELA)Repertoire of Required Genres/Text types

Throughout Cycle One, students are required to read and produce texts from each of the social functions listed below. The texts themselves are also compulsory, since all of them appear in the program content of one or more of the competencies of the SELA program. (NOTE: In the paragraphs below and in the columns, e.g. is used to designate an example and i.e, is used to designate texts that are compulsory.) SELA is an integrated language arts program that promotes a reading-production connection in the classroom. It is anticipated that students are engaged in reading and interpreting texts for pleasure and to learn, as well as reading to learn how to produce texts and to foster the imagination. It should be noted that texts whose function is to persuade or argue are introduced in Cycle One largely through the Talk and Media competencies, where it is anticipated that the social function of the text is stressed, e.g. how arguments are made and defended in a debate. For this reason, the texts listed below have been categorized according to their dominant social function.

By the end of Cycle One, students’ Integrated Profiles must reflect a balance of genres and modes, as well as a range of learning contexts, or situations, in which different texts are read and produced.

SOCIAL FUNCTIONS TEXTS


READING & DISCUSSION (Talk competency): Outlines for research; note-taking based on sources read and/or consulted; storyboards; transcripts and other informal notes including the results of individual and group brainstorming activities; self-monitoring texts such as rubrics or checklists

WRITING + MEDIA Production: Outlines for research; note-taking based on sources read and/or consulted; storyboards; transcripts and other informal notes including the results of individual and group brainstorming activities; self-monitoring texts such as rubrics or checklists


SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency): Class and small group discussions, including responses and interpretations of texts; presenting contents of the Integrated Profile in self-evaluation conferences; written self-evaluations and reflections; peer-editing & feedback; post-production discussions READING: self-evaluations; reflections conveyed in print and in multi-media texts; writer’s notebooks; diary; various types of journals, including multi-media journalsWRITTEN + MEDIA Production: diary; journals such as reading logs, media logs, learning/process logs, and/or writer’s notebook; written self-evaluations and reflections; written feedback to peer;


Reading: popular, mass-produced narrative texts such as magazines, graphic novels, and film; a range of genres from young adult literature; introduction to traditional literature written for adults, e.g. plays

Production (spoken): improvisations, role play, storytelling; poetry readings, dramatization of plays and other selections

Writing + Media (production): script, story, personal narrative, poetry, multi-genre narratives and narratives that combine different media

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EXPLANATORY texts answer the questions “why” and “how.” Describing a procedure and/or explaining social/natural phenomena, these texts allow people to share their expertise in a range of fields and form the basis of many texts from which we learn throughout our lives, such as textbooks and reference books.

SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency): Pre-production discussion of photo-essay with text and “how to” booklet/manual or video; sharing expertise by explaining a process to peers and teacher

READING: photo-essays with text whose purpose is to answer the questions “why” and/or “how”; “how to” booklets/manuals/videos; various reference textsWRITING + MEDIA Production: photo-essays with text whose purpose is to answer the questions “why” and/or “how”; “how to” booklets/manuals/videos


SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency): Discussion of how different kinds of reports in different media are constructed; pre-production and production decisions in pairs and groups; discussion of research methods and key organizational strategies; comparison of news reports in different media, such as how a news item is handled on a popular radio station vs. television station; conducting interviews READING: Introduction to research: reports on areas of student interest and expertise that draw on the Broad Areas of Learning, e.g. the media, environmental issues, health and well-being; photo essays with text; news reports in different media; listening to interviews on radio and televisionWRITTEN + MEDIA Production: research projects of student interest & expertise that draw on Broad Areas of Learning, using multi-media & presented to peers; interviews; ]‘news reports in different media on topics of student interest

EXPOSITORY texts are constructed in deliberate ways and interpret some aspect of the world in a particular way. Whereas fictional texts may occupy a prominent place in our leisure time, persuasive and argumentative texts are central not only to leisure activities, as in reading newspapers, but also play an important role in post-secondary institutions, different professions and in the world of work in general.

Persuasive texts try to move people to act or behave in a certain

way, including selling or promoting a product or ideology. Argumentative texts try to convince people of a point of view about a topic or issue through a logical sequencing of ideas and/or propositions.

PERSUASIVE:

SPEAKING & LISTENING: Exploring structures and features of texts read and produced

READING: book and film reviews; posters; advertisements, including public service announcements; publicity campaigns; popular slogans; book and film trailers

WRITTEN + MEDIA Production: book and film reviews; posters; advertisements, including public service announcements; publicity campaigns; popular slogans; book trailers

ARGUMENTATIVE:

SPEAKING & LISTENING (TALK competency): debate; discussion of texts read (below) with a view to examining how they are made and how their structures & features advance the argument

READING: internet sites that promote a particular point of view; editorials on topics of interest to young adolescents; current events, e.g. the difference between two opposing parties/countries points of view on the same issue/topic

WRITTEN + MEDIA Production: research for debate; internet site or blog that promotes a particular point of view; editorial presented in video or multi-media on topic of concern to this age group

Secondary English Language Arts, Cycle Two (SELA2)Repertoire of Required Genres/Text types

Throughout Cycle Two, students are required to read and produce texts from each of the social functions listed below. The texts themselves are also compulsory, since all of them appear in the program content of one or more of the competencies of the SELA2 program.

In most cases, the chart makes no distinction between the texts that students read and those they produce: SELA2 is an integrated language arts program that promotes a reading-production connection in the classroom. It is anticipated that students are engaged in reading and interpreting texts for pleasure and to learn, as well as reading to learn how to produce texts and to foster the imagination. In other words, students read more widely than they produce over the three years of the cycle, and learn to draw on these reading-production connections to consolidate their understanding of the affordances of specific genres and modes. For this reason, the texts listed below have been categorized according to their dominant social function.

By the end of secondary school, students’ Integrated Profiles must reflect a balance of genres and modes, as well as a range of TLE contexts, or situations, in which different texts are read and produced.

Secondary English Language Arts, Cycle Two (SELA2)Repertoire of Required Genres/Text types

Throughout Cycle Two, students are required to read and produce texts from each of the social functions listed below. The texts themselves are also compulsory, since all of them appear in the program content of one or more of the competencies of the SELA2 program.

In most cases, the chart makes no distinction between the texts that students read and those they produce: SELA2 is an integrated language arts program that promotes a reading-production connection in the classroom. It is anticipated that students are engaged in reading and interpreting texts for pleasure and to learn, as well as reading to learn how to produce texts and to foster the imagination. In other words, students read more widely than they produce over the three years of the cycle, and learn to draw on these reading-production connections to consolidate their understanding of the affordances of specific genres and modes. For this reason, the texts listed below have been categorized according to their dominant social function.

By the end of secondary school, students’ Integrated Profiles must reflect a balance of genres and modes, as well as a range of TLE contexts, or situations, in which different texts are read and produced.



Proposals, action plans, outlines and storyboards; field notes, transcripts, minutes, and other informal notes including the results of individual and group brainstorming activities; self-monitoring texts such as rubrics or checklists


Class and small group discussions, including responses and interpretations of texts; rereading and presenting contents of the Integrated Profile, including self-evaluation conferences and written self-evaluations and reflections; peer-editing and feedback conferences; journals such as reading logs, media logs, learning/process logs, and/or writer’s notebooks


Reading: popular, mass-produced narrative texts such as magazines, graphic novels, and film; young adult literature; novels, short stories, poetry and plays from classic, modern and contemporary literature

Production (spoken): improvisations, role play, storytelling; poetry readings, dramatization of plays and other selections

Production (written/media/multimodal): script, story, personal narrative, poetry, narratives using different media such as print, radio, video, photography

EXPLANATORY texts answer the questions “why” and “how.” Describing a procedure and/or explaining social/natural phenomena, these texts allow people to share their expertise in a range of fields and form the basis of many texts from which we learn throughout our lives, such as textbooks and reference books.

Photo-essay with text, spoken explanations of a process, “how to” booklet/manual or video


Research reports, interview transcripts, news reports in different media on topics of personal, national and international interest

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EXPOSITORY texts are constructed in deliberate ways and interpret some aspect of the world in a particular way. Whereas fictional texts may occupy a prominent place in our leisure time, persuasive and argumentative texts are central not only to leisure activities, as in reading newspapers, but also play an important role in post-secondary institutions, different professions and in the world of work in general.

Argumentative texts try to convince people of a point of view about a topic or issue through a logical sequencing of ideas and/or propositions.

Persuasive texts try to move people to act or behave in a certain

way, including selling or promoting a product or ideology.

Action research plan, speech, editorial, book or film review, book trailers, poster, debate, advertisements including public service announcements: print, radio, television. Texts that promote a particular argument or point of view such as documentary film and Internet sites. Essays dealing with personal and social concerns, as well as issues/topics arising from literature.

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APPENDIX B-1

ELEMENTARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTSSTRUCTURES & FEATURES OF TEXTS: EXAMPLES*

(* NOTE: In the case of the illustrated picture book, below, the focus is on one particular purpose or function, that of telling a story. Illustrated picture books can be used for other purposes as well. If, for example, they are used to provide information then the structures and features would change accordingly. However, regardless of function, the illustrated picture book

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differs from a book with illustrations or photos, insofar as the text uses illustrations to communicate something not found in the written text but absolutely essential to the story or the information provided.)

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APPENDIX B-2

SECONDARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, cycle one

STRUCTURES, CODES & CONVENTIONS OF TEXTS: EXAMPLES

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APPENDIX B-3

SECONDARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, cycle two

STRUCTURES, CODES & CONVENTIONS OF TEXTS: EXAMPLES

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APPENDIX C

LEXICON OF TERMS

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LEXICON OF TERMS

In most cases, all of the terms listed below apply to written, spoken and media texts. Terms for the elementary level are identified by (E); secondary cycle one terms by (S1) and secondary cycle two terms by (S2). Terms and the concept associated with them that repeat from the beginning of elementary school to the last year of secondary school are identified as (A). Features that are specific to a particular text type or genre are identified as such.

Affordances (S2): the distinctive potentials, or possibilities, offered by specific genres and modes, in a given context, to represent intended meanings/messages. See also Gunther Kress, Literacy in the New Media Age.

Codes (S1+S2) are the “grammars” of the representational systems of spoken, written and visual language governed by conventions, or socially agreed upon meaning(s) that are known to both the speaker/writer/producer and to the listener/reader/viewer of a given text. It can be difficult to disassociate a code and convention since the two are closely linked in the manner in which they construct meaning. For example, the codes of televised news include the direct address and register of the presenter (spoken language), the structure of news stories (5 W’s), and the use of accompanying visuals. The conventions of televised news include the dress of the anchor, the way the anchor is presented (camera angle, the set), the order (highest impact to local interest) and categorization (local/national/international) of news stories depending on the “signature” of the station, which is also a convention. For example, although both CBC & CTV order their news stories in the same way, they categorize their news segments differently: CBC moves from local to national to international, while CTV moves from international to national to local.

Context (A): i) the teaching-learning-evaluating environment or situation, e.g. classroom or a specific learning-evaluation situation (LES); ii) the environment or situation in which communication takes place, involving a particular set of relations among producer, reader and meaning(s)/message(s) rendered via specific genre(s) and mode(s); and iii) the environment or situation in which texts are produced and in which they are interpreted, such as, a lead story in a newspaper.

Conventional grammar (A): the grammar of written texts is a language code and includes conventions such as grammatical rules & patterns, diction, syntax and so forth.

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Discourse (A): language used for the purposes of communication, giving expression to the social context and conditions in which it is interpreted and understood. For example, communities distinguish themselves by creating a discourse that identifies members of that community and their relationship(s) to one another, including shared knowledge, customs and genres that perform particular functions. Everyday examples include the medical, academic and educational communities, as well as the idiom of adolescents in a particular decade, such as the vocabulary of punk rock.

Features of written, spoken and media texts (E): codes, conventions, rhetorical devices and other elements proper to the text type, or genre, and/or the mode(s) of representation in which the text is expressed. In the elementary ELA program document, specific features are indicated for the texts that appear in each competency.

Genre (A): a category of texts defined in terms of their social function(s), as would be the case with narrative texts, for example. Narrative texts include all written, spoken and media texts that tell a story and, therefore, include the sub-genres found in children’s, young adult and adult literature. Genres, or text types, may draw on a single mode of representation, as is the case with literature that only uses words. Or, a text may be multimodal; for example, the newspaper is a multimodal text that combines images and words to produce feature stories, classified ads, etc. Some modern texts may also fall into the category of multigenre, e.g. contemporary narratives may include letters, poetry or visuals; too, elements of several sub-genres of literature, such as mystery, romance and science fiction may be found in a single text. (See also Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis (eds) Multiliteracies; Alan Luke, The Social Construction of Literacy in the Classroom; and Gunther Kress, Literacy in the New Media Age.)

Language (A) in the ELA programs refers to spoken, written and media discourse.

Mode of representation (A): refers to the “channel” through which a given discourse communicates. Speech, writing, film, television, sound, color, the visual image, gestures and body language are modes. For example, the modes of mime are a combination of gesture and body language; the mode of a traditional novel is writing; the mode of a movie is film, a play on the radio or on stage is in the speech mode, even though the substance of the play is recorded in a written mode. Multimodal refers to texts that use two or more modes of representation, such as a newspaper.

Register (A): a set of features of speech or writing characteristic of a particular type of linguistic activity or a particular group who are engaging in it, e.g. the style, choice of vocabulary, tone and nonverbal gestures of an election speech differs from the register of a conversation between two friends. In other words, a register tailors language to suit the intended audience and context, e.g. writing for younger children as opposed to parents. Register also varies according to text and content, e.g. relating scientific facts to an uninformed audience, sports commentary on an all-sports show.

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Rhetorical strategies: devices used by speaker/producer to influence an audience, e.g. emotional appeals

Stance (S1; S2): the relationship a speaker/reader/producer has to a text. For example, stance in writing is defined as the relationship a writer has to the topic and audience, as characterized by distance in time and space; i.e. how close the writer is to the events and people portrayed, whether s/he is involved and writing about her/his own experiences, or is removed from the characters and events. Stance in reading is the reader’s relationship to a text and is heavily influenced by the context in which a reader is reading, e.g. reading a poem on an exam favors taking the kind of stance that allows you to “export” material into questions you will be asked, or an essay you will be asked to write.

Structures (A): These refer to the structural devices used that make up the internal organization of spoken, written and media texts. Structural devices are often used when a writer/producer manipulates and organizes the features, codes and conventions to create new meanings or messages. Examples of structural devices in a novel include: title, chapters, sentence structure, paragraph and dialogue, structural irony, use of time, chronology of events, incidents, episodes, etc. In an argumentative essay or a research paper: introduction – body –conclusion, footnotes and bibliography. In a speech, structural devices include welcome or opening remarks, introduction – body – conclusion, as well as point of view and stance of the speaker. In a newspaper, structural devices include headlines, juxtaposition of print and image, columns, sections such as sports, arts, obituary, crossword, etc., Style (A): a characteristic manner of expression, including diction, figures of speech, rhythmic patterns of language, sentence structure and rhetorical devices and their effects.

Target audience (A): a specified audience or demographic group for which a media production is designed. Involves determining the characteristics of the target audience/group (e.g. their attitudes, interests, habits, degree of expertise, expectations, preferences) as a key step in the production process. This term pertains mainly to media texts, even though the concept of characterizing an audience is central to the writing process. In the case of the media, identifying a target audience may influence how a product is designed, scheduling (as is the case when particular television shows are targeted for adult viewers) and the ways in which a particular product is advertised or promoted to consumers, as is the case with product placement in popular movies.

Text (A): the product of a process of production and interpretation of meaning(s) expressed in spoken and/or written and/or media discourse, i.e. a product that serves a social purpose or function. Texts frequently combine different structures and features, as would be the case with newspapers that combine images, words and symbols as well as including written and media discourse, editorial, feature story and classified ads. A text may be a class discussion, a poem, a magazine advertisement, a student journal, a Web site. The definition of text in the ELA programs for elementary and secondary schools also allows for non-traditional uses, such as an exchange between a teacher and a student as text, a fictional character as text, a shopping mall as text, etc.

Tone (A): the attitude to the subject matter and to the audience implied in the language of a spoken, written or media text.

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Usage (A): language choices or behaviours; the changing fashions of “correctness” within societies.

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