D. How to teach text types
How to Teach Text Types by Rudi Hartono, SS, M.Pd
How to teach information text
How to teach instructional text
Posters of text types
English K-6 module Board of Studies NSW
Reading 1 English K-6
Reading 2 English K-6
Speaking English K-6
Writing English K-6
How to Teach Text Types
At the end of this course, the students generally are expected to be able to write texts based on the genres of writing.
At the end of this course, the students specifically are expected to:
- To know the basic theory of the genres of texts: recount, report, analytical exposition, news item, anecdote, narration, procedure, description, hortatory exposition, explanation, discussion, review, and commentary.
- To be able to analyze the social function, schematic structure, and significant grammatical patterns of texts.
- To be able to write texts based on the genres.
A. Building knowledge of the field:
CLASS « TEACHER STUDENTS « STUDENTS
- Cultural context
- Shared experience
- Control relevant vocabulary
- Grammatical patterns
- Use of visual—photographs, filmstrips, video—to build context.
- Do activities such as cooking, going for a vacation, interviewing an informant, listening to guest speakers, etc.
- Reconstruct and discuss activities done when back in the classroom.
- Design activities in order to share, discuss, and argue about aspects of the topic.
- Set language lesson focused on vocabulary or grammatical patterns.
- Study a broad range of written texts related to the topic, such as school brochures, notes, newsletter, labels, leaflets, and enrolment forms.
- Develop reading strategies appropriate to the texts, including predicting, skimming, scanning, or identifying the logo.
B. Modeling of Text:
CLASS « TEACHER
- Cultural context
- Social function
- Schematic structure
- Linguistic features
Study the model text shown by the teacher or read it yourself or collectively in the references.
- Develop an understanding of the social function and purpose of the text:
- Why are such texts written?
- By whom are they written and read?
- What is the context in which they will be used?
- Analyze the schematic structure of the text (distinguishing and labeling stages within the schematic structure of the genre).
- Analyze the grammatical pattern or language features of the text (use of tense, technical language, specific or generic participants).
C. Joint Construction of Text:
STUDENTS « STUDENTS TEACHER « CLASS
- Schematic structure
- Linguistic features
- Knowledge of field
Revise and discuss the purpose, context, and structure of genre/text.
- Explore further field building activities where necessary.
- Negotiate the beginning, middle and end construction of text between teacher and students, and between students, draw on shared knowledge about the genre.
- Re-draft and edit the text, draw on shared knowledge about the genre together in groups (between teacher and students, and between students).
D. Independent Construction Text:
STUDENTS « STUDENTS TEACHER « STUDENTS
- Schematic structure
- Linguistic features
- Knowledge of field
- Build and develop knowledge of the field through activities such as reading, information gathering, and note taking.
- Write your own text with appropriate schematic structure and grammatical patterns.
- Consult with other students or with teacher regarding the appropriateness of the text.
- Re-drafting and editing where necessary.
- Discuss any difficulties with students or teachers in writing texts.
- Focus on language lessons (spelling, punctuation, layout of text, handwriting). (Hammond, 1992)
E. Implementing a text-based approach
Feez and Joyce (1998, 28-31) give the following description of how a text-based approach is implemented:
Phase1. Building the context
In this stage students:
• Are introduced to the social context of an authentic model of the text-type being studied
• Explore features of the general cultural context in which the text-type is used and the social purposes the text-type achieves
• Explore the immediate context of situation by investigating the register of a model text which has been selected on the basis of the course objectives and learner need
• An exploration of register involves:
Building knowledge of the topic of the model text and knowledge of the social activity in which the text is used, e.g. job seeking
Understanding the roles and relationships of the people using the text and how these are established and maintained,
e.g. the relationship between a job seeker and a prospective employer
Understanding the channel of communication being used, e.g. using the telephone, speaking face-to-face with
members of an interview panel
Phase one. Context building activities include:
• Presenting the context through pictures, audiovisual materials, realia, excursions, field-trips, guest speakers etc
• Establishing the social purpose through discussions or surveys etc
• Cross cultural activities such as comparing differences in the use of the text in two cultures
• Comparing the model text with other texts of the same or a contrasting type e.g. comparing a job interview with a complex spoken exchange involving close friends, a work colleague or a stranger in a service encounter.
Phase 2 Modelling and deconstructing the text
In this stage students:
• Investigate the structural pattern and language features of the model
• Compare the model with other examples of the same text-type
Feez and Joyce (1998) comment that “modeling and deconstruction are undertaken at both the whole text, clause and expression levels. It is at this stage that many traditional ESL language teaching activities come into their own”.
Phase 3 Joint construction of the text
In this stage:
• Students begin to contribute to the construction of whole examples of the text-type
• The teacher gradually reduces the contribution to text construction, as the students move closer to being able to control text-type independently
Joint construction activities include:
• Teacher questioning, discussing and editing whole class construction, then scribing onto board or OHT
• Skeleton texts
• Jigsaw and information gap activities
• Small group construction of tests
• Dictogloss
• Self-assessment and peer assessment activities
Phase 4 Independent construction of the text
In this stage:
• Students work independently with the text
• Learner performances are used for achievement assessment
Independent construction activities include:
• Listening tasks, e.g. comprehension activities in response to live or recorded material such as performing a task, sequencing pictures, numbering, ticking or underlining material on a worksheet, answering questions
• Listening and speaking tasks, e.g. role plays, simulated or authentic dialogs
• Speaking tasks e.g. spoken presentation to class, community organization, workplace
• Reading tasks e.g. comprehension activities in response to written material such as performing a task, sequencing pictures, numbering, ticking or underlining material on a worksheet, answering questions
• Writing tasks which demand that students draft and present whole texts
Phase 5 Linking to related texts
In this stage students investigate how what they have learnt in this teaching/learning cycle can be related to:
• Other texts in the same or similar context
• Future or past cycles of teaching and learning
Activities which link the text-type to related texts include:
• Comparing the use of the text-type across different fields
• Researching other text-types used in the same field
• Role-playing what happens if the same text-type is used by people with different roles and relationships
• Comparing spoken and written modes of the same text-type
• Researching how a key language feature used in this text-type is used in other text-types
Problems with implementing a text-based approach
As can be seen from the above summary, a text-based approach focuses on the products of learning rather than the processes involved. Critics have pointed out that an emphasis on individual creativity and personal expression is missing from the TBI model which is heavily wedded to a methodology based on the study of model texts and the creation of texts based on models. Likewise critics point out that there is a danger that the approach becomes repetitive and boring over time since the five phase cycle described above is applied to the teaching of all four skills.
Sumber: Communicative Language Teaching, Jack C. Richards