The Nature, Structure, and Patterns

of Informative Texts

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Factors to Consider in Selecting Appropriate Reading Texts for Learners

PRIMALS 4-6: Pedagogical Retooling in �Mathematics, Languages, and Science

for Grades 4-6 Teachers

Objectives

1. Enhance reading skills using one’s knowledge of text structure
2. Describe the genre/ global structure of various types of informative/expository texts
3. Determine the organizational patterns of informative/ expository texts

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Objectives

4. Identify the factors to consider in selecting appropriate reading texts for learners

5. Explain readability and readability formulas

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As learners move through the grades, the reading tasks that confront them change drastically.

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Stories become less important, and work with informational, or expository text, increases.

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Perceiving structure in text material improves learning and retention. When students are shown how to see relationships among concepts and bits of essential information, they are in a better position to respond to meaning and to distinguish important from less important ideas (Vacca and Vacca, 2005).

Importance of Text Structure

• Authors impose structure – an organization among ideas – on their writing.
• Research shows that text structure is a crucial variable in learning and memory.
• The recognition and use of organization are essential processes underlying comprehension and retention.
• This is why readers need to have conscious awareness of text structure, whether narrative or informative, and use this to guide their comprehension.

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Importance of Text Structure

• As mentioned in the previous session, narrative and informative texts differ in structure and purpose.
• Since you are now more familiar with the narratives, let us now devote our attention on informative texts as inherent in content area reading.

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What are content area texts?

• Content area texts are written to inform, to tell, show, describe, or explain. This is why exposition is the primary mode of discourse found in informational texts.
• Skilled readers search for structure in a text and can readily differentiate the more important from the less important ideas in the material.

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What Good Readers Are

Research has shown that good readers know how to look for major thought relationships, and they approach a reading assignment looking for a predominant text pattern or organization that will tie together the ideas contained throughout the text passage.

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Informative Texts

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• Also known as “informational texts” or “expository texts”
• These are reading materials or selections that inform, explain, or expose

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Nature of Informative Texts

Informative texts may be distinguished based on their global structure which reflects the genre implying the author’s general purpose.

recount

exposition

information report

explanation

procedure or instruction

Informative Texts

Recount

• a piece of text that retells past events, usually in the order in which they happened
• purpose: to give the audience/reader a description of what occurred and when it occurred

Examples of Recount

• newspaper report
• television interviews
• conversations
• eyewitness accounts
• speeches
• letters

Exposition

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• a piece of text that presents one side of an issue
• purpose: to persuade the reader (or listener) by presenting one side of an argument or an issue

Exposition

• advertisement
• spoken arguments
• editorials
• legal defenses

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Information Report

a piece of text that presents information about a subject

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Explanation

• is speaking or writing about how or why things happen
• some examples are how something occurs; why something happened
• why things are alike or different; and how to solve a problem

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Examples of Explanation

• how something occurs
• why something happened
• why things are alike or different
• how to solve a problem

Procedure or Instruction

a piece of text that tells the reader or listener how to do something

Patterns of Text Organization

• In expository writing, writers intentionally choose the structures of their ideas based on the following patterns:
• description/enumeration
• sequence/time order
• comparison-contrast
• cause and effect
• problem-solution
• Meyer (1975) offers the following explanation of the text patterns that predominate informative texts.

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Patterns of Text Organization

• In description (enumeration), the author describes a topic by listing characters, features, and examples using the cue words for example, characteristics are.

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• In sequence (time order) pattern of text, the author lists items or events in numerical or chronological order as indicated by the cue words first, second, next, then, finally.

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Patterns of Text Organization

• The comparison-contrast pattern of text explains how two or more things are alike signaled by cue words alike, and same as and/or how they are different as signaled by the cue words different, in contrast, on the other hand.

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• Authors using the cause-effect pattern of text list one or more causes and the resulting effect or effects. The cue words are reasons why, if… then, as a result, therefore, because.

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Patterns of Text Organization

• The problem-solution pattern of text states problems and lists one or more solutions for the problem.

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• A variation of this pattern is the question-and-answer format in which the author poses a question and then answers it.

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Transition Markers

• Informative texts contain transition markers that serve as reading roadmaps or directional signs for readers.

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• These markers help readers to adjust their thinking and flow of processing as indicated by the relationships established by markers between and among sentences.

description/

enumeration

cause-effect/

problem-solution

sequence / time order

comparison-contrast

to begin with

first

secondly

next

then

finally

most important

also

in fact

for instance

for example

on (date)

not long after

now

as

before

after

when

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however

but

as well as

on the other hand

not only…but also

either...or

while

although

unless

similarly

yet

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because

since

therefore

consequently

as a result

this led to

so that

nevertheless

accordingly

if… then

thus

Transition Markers (Signals)

• The main focus of reading is getting the main point – the core, the message, the thesis, the main idea, the central focus, the gist, the controlling idea, and the central thought. It is the author’s reason for writing the text.

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• Generally ideas/information in texts are organized as shown in the schematic diagram.

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Understanding Top Three Levels of Ideas

Expository Text Reading Instructional Framework

The following steps are suggested to help readers comprehend informational or expository passages and to predict the possible content of the texts:

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1. Determine the topic (t) of the text. Use the title to predict the topic. Ask: “What is the author talking about?”
2. Analyze the focus (f) of the topic. Ask, “What about the topic is discussed?”

Expository Text Reading Instructional Framework

3. Reread the title to hypothesize about the writer’s global structure and pattern (p) of text organization. Generally, the rhetorical pattern chosen implies the main idea (mi) and the supporting ideas.

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The formula to construct or state the predicted main idea is:

mi = p + f + t

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4. Read the entire selection to confirm if the main idea you have predicted matches the writers’ main idea. If there is a match, the purpose of your reading is to look for the support ideas. Jot down all the important notes that relate to the main idea.

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Expository Text Reading Instructional Framework

However, if there is a mismatch between your main idea and the writer’s main idea, revise or change your hypothesis before you gather the support ideas.

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5. Evaluate the notes you have written, and synthesize the ideas you gathered from steps 1-4 to summarize the informational text in two or three sentences.

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Teaching Top-level Structure

One important objective of the reading program is to teach students awareness of organizational patterns in expository texts

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Activities to achieve this objective involve:

• diagrams
• charts
• outlining

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Teaching Top-level Structure

Suggestions for teaching awareness of top-level structure (Irwin & Baker, 1989)

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1. Teach the identification of main idea and supporting details.
2. Use real classroom tasks to teach organizational awareness (e.g. textbooks and lessons in science and social studies).
3. Use pattern guides to focus students’ on the organization of content area texts.

Teaching Top-level Structure

Suggestions for teaching awareness of top-level structure (Irwin & Baker, 1989)

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4. Relate writing activities to lessons on text structure.

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5. Model/demonstrate the use of graphic organizers (charts, diagrams, maps, timelines, semantic maps, tables arrows, lines, etc.) during your class presentations so learners can visualize the relationships of ideas to one another.

Stop and Think

• What makes reading materials easier to use for learners?

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• Why should I learn about the factors that influence readability?

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• How can this information help me as a TEACHER?

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Stop and Think

• Does the content match my teaching objectives?

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• Do my students have the background necessary for understanding the book?

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• Are there enough examples to help my learners learn the major concepts?

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• Will my learners find it interesting?

Readability

Selection of “just the right” text for students’ reading success leads to the concept of readability.

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Readability

• assignment of a numerical score to rank reading materials in order of difficulty
• the score corresponds to a recommended grade level

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Factors to consider in selecting appropriate reading texts for learners

• Content
• Aids for Learning
• Readability

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Forgan and Mangrum, 1989

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Checklist for Evaluating and �Selecting Texts

Content

1. Does the content match the course objective?
2. Is the information up-to-date?
3. Do my students have sufficient background to understand the ideas introduced in the text?
4. Are new concepts introduced one at a time and are sufficient examples provided to help my students understand the concepts?
5. Are abstract concepts carefully and fully explained?
6. Are the sentences and paragraphs organized and written in a style that contributes to easy reading?
7. Does the author help my students apply their newly acquired information?
8. Does the author highlight information that may be particularly appealing to my students?

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Checklist for Evaluating and �Selecting Texts

Aids for Learning

1. Is there a preface or similar section that overviews the textual material?
2. Do the table of contents and index enable students to locate information quickly?
3. Do the headings and subheadings help students establish purposes for reading?
4. Does the glossary obtain clearly stated definitions for the specialized vocabulary words presented in the textual material?
5. Are the appropriate type and number of illustrations provided?

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Checklist for Evaluating and �Selecting Texts

Aids for Learning

6. Are graphs, tables, and charts clearly explained?
7. Are boldface, prints, italics, and/or other aids used to highlight important information?
8. Are the activities suggested by the authors appropriate and appealing to students?
9. Are questions provided for guiding students’ reading and thinking?
10. Are summaries provided to help students synthesize the information they are learning?

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Checklist for Evaluating and �Selecting Texts

Readability

1. Is the reading level appropriate?
2. Is the vocabulary appropriate?
3. Is the size of the print appropriate?
4. Do the authors use an organizational structure that is easy for the students to follow and understand?
5. Is the writing style appealing?
6. Is the sentence and/or paragraph structure unnecessarily complex?
7. Does the material look as if it would be interesting to read?

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“There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.”

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~ May Ellen Chase

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Thank You!

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You’ve been a wonderful audience!

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