detailed description used to create richer meaning, which might involve using expanded noun

groups consisting of factual adjectives or expanded adverbial groups that elaborate on the
circumstances surrounding the happening.

Use an inquiry process to help students find out the purpose, structures and features of text types. Cycle
diagrams, flowcharts and cause and effect charts can be used before writing and during reading to
organise information.

TEACHING FOCUSES FOR EXPLANATIONS

Provide multiple paper-based, digital and multimodal models of explanations for
students to read, discuss, deconstruct and reconstruct, as explanations are perhaps one
of the most challenging of text types for students to write. Often young students revert
to procedural writing during the writing of an explanation. Draw the students’
attention to the fact that they are to tell how or why something happens and not how
to do something. Build on the students’ prior knowledge of explanations and help
them to inquire into the structure, organisation and features of explanations.

PURPOSE
Help students to think about their everyday experiences and about when they have had to
explain something.
Scan texts to find the parts that explain how or why about an event or action. Draw the students’
attention to the titles used and ask them to identify the purpose of the explanation. Talk about
how explanations may describe something but also include information that tells how or why
actions directly associated with it happen. For example, the features and parts of the circulatory
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system may be described (as in an information report), but information about how or why these
parts work is also included.
Teach about explanations during authentic contexts. Opportunities will arise in many subject
areas. For example:
Health—how food is digested.
Science—how rain is formed.
History—why the United Nations was formed.
Geography—why people settle in some geographical areas.
Literature Studies—why a character acted in a certain way.

THE CAUSE OR ACTION AND EFFECT RELATIONSHIP

Jan, L. W., & Taylor, S. (2020). Write ways 5e ebook. Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand.
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 Use situations as they arise to demonstrate this. For example, when compiling class
rules and expectations, reword these so that the action/effect relationship is explicit.
For example, we put things away so others can use them. We walk in the classroom
because it is safer than running.

LANGUAGE FEATURES
The use of specialised vocabulary: discuss why specific terms are used. Provide opportunities for
the students to locate and list these. Draw the students’ attention to the purpose of glossaries and
encourage them to use dictionaries to locate the meanings of unknown words. Build up lists of
topic-related words (e.g. words associated with the water cycle, respiratory system, sedimentary
rocks or technology). Word walls that display technical language related to a topic being studied
can make helpful classroom displays.
The words that link action/cause and effect: ask the students to locate these in texts. Compile a
class chart for future reference. Conduct ‘Add the cause’ or ‘Add the effect’ or cause and effect
cloze activities (see pp. 213−6 for instructions and p. 200 and 234 for cloze activities) to help
students identify and use words that link action/cause and effect.
Words that join two or more happenings in a sentence: help students identify the main ideas,
points and information in sentences and the words that link them. Conduct a cloze activity in
which the conjunctions are omitted and the students provide the missing words.
Words that are used to link paragraphs so that the information in one paragraph connects with that
in the previous paragraph: help students identify the words or groups of words that help make the
text cohesive and logically organised.
Language to create rich descriptions: encourage the students to locate the words or groups of
words that describe nouns: talk about the use of adjectives and adjectival phrases. In order to
adequately analyse explanations with their class, it is important for teachers to introduce the
Copyright © 2020. Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand. All rights reserved.

concept of metalanguage. This is specific language used to describe the language being used. This
will assist students to understand the building blocks of the language present in the explanations
they analyse and later construct (Rossbridge & Rushton, 2011).
Active and passive voice: provide activities in which the students identify examples of both and
discuss their purposes and features. Provide sentences and ask students to identify the subject of
the sentence and locate the verb. Note the formation of and use of verbs in examples of passive
and active voice.

Compare and contrast the purpose, structure and language features of a variety of texts.

WRITING PROCESS
Emphasise the importance of a clear sequence of information to explain how or why things

Jan, L. W., & Taylor, S. (2020). Write ways 5e ebook. Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand.
Created from ecu on 2023-10-13 02:29:59.