S E L E C T I N G & A N A LY S I N G

T E X T S

R E A D I N G TO L E A R NAccelerating learning and closing the gap

2

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© Reading to Learn 2016

A B O U T T H I S B O O KThis book introduces the tools you need for identifying

the genres of the texts you are working with, and analysing each genre so you can plan reading and

writing lessons. The final section provides models of appropriate levels of reading books for each year of school, and a list of recommended reading. Most of

the example texts in this book are extracts from longer texts, such as novels or textbooks. This is intended to show you how you can select good models from the

text you are using with your class.

Genre families in the school curriculum 2

Genres, purposes, stages and phases 4

Phases within stages 5

Stories 6

Poetry 12

Chronicles 13

Explanations 16

Reports 18

Procedural texts 20

Arguments 23

Text responses 26

Creative arts responses 31

Complex texts 32

Selecting reading texts at each year lexvel 34

Some quality reading books 40

Answers to genre analyses 45

CONTENTS

BOOK 2 - Selecting and Analysing Texts 1

Topic or subject matter

How relevant is the subject

matter to our teaching goals

in the curriculum? If we are

going to spend some time

working with the text, it

should be a key text in the

topic we are teaching, as well

as interesting and well written.

What kind of text is it, what is its main purpose, how is it

organised?

If we are going to use the text

as a model for writing, we

need to select good models

of the genre we want our

students to write. But even if

we are not using the text as a

model for writing, in order to

prepare our students to read

it, we need to understand the

genre so we can analyse and

describe it for them.

How highly written is the language?

It needs to be at a level that

is appropriate for the stage of

school we are teaching. The

appropriate language level for

the stage may be challenging

for all your students, and

perhaps well beyond the

independent reading level of

some, but you are going to

support them all to read each

text with Reading to Learn.

There is no need to use low

level texts in the classroom.

SELECTING TEXTS TO WORK WITH IN OUR TEACHING

PROGRAMS INVOLVES THREE CONSIDERATIONS.

Field Genre Mode

1 2 3

BOOK 2 - Selecting and Analysing Texts2

sequence  of  cause  &  effect  -­‐  sequen&al  

con/ngent  causes  (if/then)  -­‐  condi&onal  

mul/ple  causes  for  one  outcom

e  -­‐  factorial  

mul/ple  outcom

es  from  one  cause  -­‐  consequen&al  

my  significant  life  events  –  autobiographical  recount  

stages  in  a  life  (set  in  /me)  –  biographical  recount  

stages  in  history  (set  in  /me)  

suppor/ng  one  point  of  view  -­‐  exposi&on  

discussing  two  or  m

ore  points  of  view  -­‐  discussion  

expressing  feelings  about  a  text  -­‐  personal  response  evalua/ng  a  text  (verbal,  visual,  m

usical)  -­‐  review  

interpre/ng  message/them

es  of  a  text  -­‐  interpreta&on  

one  type  of  thing  -­‐  descrip&ve  different  types  of  things  -­‐  classifying    parts  of  w

holes  -­‐  composi&onal  

arguments  

persuading  

text  responses  cri/quiing  

evalua/ng  

social  purposes  

not  sequenced  in  /me  -­‐  new

s  story  

sequence  of  events  

complica/ng  

no  complica/on  –  personal  recount  

resolved  -­‐  narra&ve  

unresolved  sharing  feelings  –  anecdote  

judging  behaviour  -­‐  exemplum

 engaging  

informing  

explana/ons  causes  &

 effects    procedural  direc/ng  

 

chronicles  stages  in  /m

e    

reports  describing  things  

 how

 to  do  an  ac/vity  -­‐  procedure  (recipe,  experiment,  algorithm

)  

what  to  do  and  not  to  do  –  protocol  (rules,  w

arnings,  laws)  

how  an  ac/vity  w

as  done  -­‐  procedural  recount  (experiment  report)  

temporal-­‐  historical  recount  

causal-­‐  historical  account  

GENRE FAMILIES IN THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM

BOOK 2 - Selecting and Analysing Texts 3

GENRE FAMILIES IN THE SCHOOL CURRICULUMOn the facing page is a map of the range of texts that students read and write across the school curriculum. The map is set out as a series of choices, about the purposes of the texts we are reading or writing. All texts have multiple purposes; the major purpose is the genre.

This map is your first step in lesson planning. Use it to work out the genres of the texts you are using for teaching reading and writing. Each part of the map is set out as a set of questions about the social purpose and structure of each text, which you can ask to identify the genre. Then see the table on page 4 for the stages expected for each genre.

Activity: In the text below highlight the key information in each paragraph and highlight the

same information in the genre map.

Genres and social purposesThe overall purpose of stories is to engage and entertain readers, so the focus of teaching stories is on the language that authors use to engage readers. The overall purpose of factual texts is to inform readers, so the teaching focus is on key information. The purpose of evaluative texts is to evaluate a) verbal, visual or musical texts, in the case of text responses, or b) issues or points of view, in the case of arguments. So the teaching focus is on the evaluative language that accomplished writers use to evaluate and persuade.

Engaging: stories

Is it a news story? News stories are grouped as ‘engaging’ because they start with a ‘Lead’ event, that is designed to engage readers, and then report different angles on it, so they are not sequenced in time. If a story is sequenced in time, is it organised around a major complication? If not it may be a personal recount, which simply recounts a series of events. If it is organised around a complication, is it resolved? In a narrative the characters resolve a complication. If it is not resolved, is its main purpose to share feelings (anecdote) or to judge people’s behaviour (exemplum)?

Informing: recounts, chronicles, explanations, reports, procedures

If the text recounts major events in the writer’s life, it is an autobiographical recount. If it recounts the stages in a person’s life it is a biographical recount. If it sets out stages in a period of history, it is an historical recount. If it explains historical stages it is called an historical account. These genres chronicle events in a person’s life or a period of history.

Does it explain causes and effects? If it explains a sequence of events, it is a sequential explanation. If it explains multiple causes for one effect, it is called a factorial explanation. If it explains multiple effects of one cause, it is a consequential explanation. If it explains effects that depend on alternative conditions (if a then b, if x then z), it is a conditional explanation.

Does it direct the reader in the steps to do an activity, such as experiments and observations, using technology, or making things? These are called procedures. Or does it tell what to do and not to do, such as rules, warnings or laws? These are types of protocols. Does it recount the steps done in a procedure, such as an experiment? These are procedural recounts.

Does it classify and describe things? Reports are about things, that are not sequenced in time. A descriptive report classifies and describes one kind of thing, a classifying report classifies different types of things, a compositional report describes parts of wholes.

Evaluating: arguments and text responses

Does the text argue about one or more points of view? Expositions argue for a particular position, but discussions debate two or more positions on an issue.

Does the text evaluate verbal, visual or musical texts? Personal responses simply express feelings about a text. Reviews describe the text and its context, and evaluate it. Interpretations evaluate and interpret the messages or themes of texts.

BOOK 2 - Selecting and Analysing Texts4

GENRES, PURPOSES, STAGES & PHASESUse this table to identify the stages expected for each genre. If the stages don’t match the genre you identified for your text, check the genres again in the map on page 2.

Activity: Read and highlight the stage names for each genre.

BOOK 2 - Selecting and Analysing Texts 5

GENRES AND STAGESThe table on the facing page includes the stages, along with the purpose of each genre. Every text goes through a series of steps to achieve its purpose. For each genre these steps are more or less predictable. The most predictable steps of each genre are known as its stages, for example the well-known Orientation, Complication and Resolution stages of a narrative. Any text will have more than one purpose, but it is its main central purpose that determines the stages that the text goes through to achieve it.

The stages of each genre are the next step in developing a metalanguage for the classroom. Genre stages are written with Initial Capitals, so students always know when we are talking about genre stages. Importantly we don’t teach these names as a list, but just when we come across them when teaching each text. (But you could enlarge this table as a poster!)

PHASES WITHIN STAGESEach stage of a genre also includes one or more phases. While the stages are highly predictable for each genre, the phases within each stage can be much more variable. But types of phases still depend on the genre of the text, as well as its field – what the text is about.

Stages organise the global structure of each text, but phases organise how it unfolds within this global structure. For this reason it is important to be able to identify the phases in a text, in order to teach our students how to read it with understanding, and to write new texts that use similar patterns. Unlike genre stage, names for phases are not written with initial capitals.

As all texts have more than one purpose, so too phases of a text have more than one purpose, which can be confusing when trying to work what type of phase it is. But each phase also has a main purpose, as each paragraph in a text usually has a ‘main idea’. The functions of various types of phases are described in the following sections. When we analyse a text we can label the types of its phases, as well noting what each phase is about, in a word or two. If the type of phase is not clear, we can just note what it is about.

USING THIS BOOK

Analysing genres, stages and phases

For each set of genres that follows, there are example texts for you to analyse. Name the type of text, and label each stage and phase in the margin, as you did in Book 1. Use initial capitals for the names of Text Stages, but lower case for the names of phases. To make it easier, each paragraph in the examples corresponds to a phase.

At the end of this book are suggested answers for you to check against your own. It is not important if your analyses are different from the suggested answers. It is far more important that you have identified the phases and can use them to explain to your students what is going on in a text.

The kinds of phases we meet in each genre are a third step in developing a metalanguage for the classroom. Again we don’t teach them as a list, but just as we come across them in texts.