TEXT EXPLANATION

Kompetensi Dasar
3.8.Membedakan fungsi social , struktur teks, dan unsur kebahasaan beberapa teks explanation lisan
dan tulis dengan memberi dan meminta informasi terkait gejala alam atau social yang tercakup
dalam mata pelajaran lain di kelas XI, sesuai dengan konteks penggunaannya.
4.8.Menangkap makna secara kontekstual terkait fungsi social, struktur teks, dan unsur kebahasaan
teks explanation lisan dan tulis, terkait gejala alam atau social yang tercakup dalam mata pelajaran
lain di kelas XI.

Tujuan Pembelajaran
1. Diperlihatkan text explanation, siswa dapat mengidentifikasi struktur teks tersebut dengan tepat.
2. Diperlihatkan text explanation, siswa dapat menentukan fungsi social dan kata-kata kunci pada teks
tersebut dengan tepat.
3. Diperlihatkan beberapa text explanation, siswa dapat membandingkan makna teks-teks tersebut
dengan tepat.
4. Diperlihatkan text explanation, siswa dapat menangkap makna teks tersebut terkait menentukan
informasi utama dan rinci pada teks tersebut dengan tepat.

An Explanation text is a nonfiction text that is used to describe how or why things happen. It usually
includes a sequence of events (explaining how) and provides reasons for a process or phenomenon
(why).
For example:
 Rain
 The water cycle
 Earthquakes
 Poverty
 Corruption
Types of explanation texts

Explanation texts are categorized according

to the type of process they describe.

Sequential explanation Cause and effect explanation

Explanation text that links cause and effect in

Explanation that describe natural and non- explaining how and why an event occurred,
natural phenomena, for example life cycles. for example volcanoes.

Structure of an Explanation Text

A. Social Function
An explanation text is used to describe how or why a certain phenomenon happens.
B. General structure
 A title that identifies the topic to be explained (Introduction)
 An opening statement (general statement) that identifies the process to be explained
 A clear order of paragraph that describe how and why (sequence of explanation)
 A concluding paragraph that puts all the information together (Conclusion)
 Finally, a visual text (a labeled image)
 C. Linguistic features
 Focuses on general nouns rather than specific, such as clouds.
 Use of linking words like in general, rather, for instance.
 Use of reaction verbs like breaks, erupts.
 Use of present tense like is, wake, are.
 Reference to people should not be given
 Passive voice may be used.
 Use of technical terms and language relevant to the subject.
 Conjunctions should be used to make connections like and, but, when, as.
 Gives a detailed description to create a rich meaning.

The examples of Explanation Text

Tsunami
The term “tsunami comes from the Japanese which means harbor (“tsu”) and wave
(“nami”). A tsunami is a series of waves generated when water in a lake or the sea is rapidly displaced
on a massive scale.
A tsunami can be generated when the sea floor abruptly deforms and vertically displaces the
overlying water. Such large vertical movements of the earth’s crust can occur at plate boundaries.
Subdaction of earthquakes is particularly effective in generating tsunamis, and occurs where
denser oceanic plates slip under continental plates. As the displaced water mass moves under the
influence of gravity to regain its equilibrium, it radiates across the ocean like ripples on pond.
Tsunami always brings great damage. Most of the damage is caused by the huge mass of
water behind the initial wave front, as the height of the sea keeps rising fast and floods powerfully into
the coastal area.

Chocolate
Chocolate start with a tree called the cacao tree. This tree grows in equatorial regions,
especially in places such as South America, Africa and Indonesia. The cacao tree produces a fruit
about the size of a small pine apple. Inside the fruit are the tree seeds, also known as cacao beans.
The beans are fermented for about a week, dried in the sun and then shipped to the chocolate
maker. The chocolate maker starts by roasting the beans to bring out the flavor. Different beans from
different places have different qualities and flavor, so they are often sorted and blended to produce a
distinctive mix. Next, the roasted beans are winnowed. Winnowing removes the meat nib of the
cacao bean from its shell. Then the nibs are blended. The blended nibs are ground amount of fat, and
cacao beans are not different. However, cacao beans are half fat, which is why the ground nibs from
liquid. It’s pure bitter chocolate.

HOW DOES FOG FORM?

Fog is a natural weather conditions that can cause visibility to become zero. It can cause
accidents on normally safe roads and is such a serious weather condition that school delay the start of
the day until the sun burns it off. So how does fog form? First it is important to understand that fog is
basically a cloud on the ground. This means like clouds it is a collection of tiny water droplets formed
when evaporated water is cooled. The way it is cooled determines how fog is formed.
The first way that fog is formed is by infrared cooling. Infrared cooling happens due to the
change of seasons from summer to fall and winter. During the summer the ground absorbs solar
radiation. As air passes over it is made warm and moist. When the seasons change this mass of warm
moist air collides with the cooler that is now prevalent. This cause is the water vapor in the air mass to
condense quickly and fog is formed. This fog is often called radiation fog due to the way it forms. This
kind is the most common type of fog. It also happens when an unseasonable day of warm weather
combined with high humidity is followed by dropping temperatures.
The next way that fog forms is through advection. Advection is wind driven fog formation. In
this case warm air is pushed by winds across a cool surface where it condenses into fog. There are also
other kinds of fog like hail fog or freezing fog. Each of these conditions is where condensed water
droplets are cooled to the point of freezing. There is also fog formed over bodies of water. One type is
sea smoke. This is a type of fog that forms when cool air passes over a warm body of water or moist
land.
 In general we see that fog is formed whenever there is a temperature difference between the
ground and the air. When the humidity is high enough and there is enough water vapor or moisture
fog is sure to form. However the kind of fog and how long is last and its effects will depends on the
different conditions mentioned. One interesting kind of fog actually helps to make snow melt faster.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

What is photosynthesis? Photosynthesis is a food-making process that occurs in green plants. It is

the chief function of leaves. The word photosynthesis means putting together with light. Green plants
use energy from light to combine carbon dioxide and water to make sugar and other chemical
compounds.
How is the light used in photosynthesis? The light used in photosynthesis is absorbed by a green
pigment called chlorophyll. Each food making cell in a plant leaf contains chlorophyll in small bodies
called chloroplasts. In chloroplast, light energy causes water drawn form the soil to split into hydrogen
and oxygen.
What are the steps of photosynthesis process? Let me tell you the process of photosynthesis, in a
series of complicated steps, the hydrogen combines with carbon dioxide from the air, forming a simple
sugar. Oxygen from the water molecules is given off in the process. From sugar together with nitrogen,
Sulphur, and phosphorus from the soil green plants can make starch, fat, protein, vitamins, and other
complex compounds essential for life. Photosynthesis provides the chemical energy that is needed to
produced these compounds.

Task 1.
Read the example of Explanation Texts above and identify text structure of a text (choose one of the
texts).

Task 2
Read the two texts below . One of them is an explanation text, while the other one is a report.
An explanation text gives you a step-by-step explanation, while a report text gives you general
description of something.
Which one is which?

Text 1
Bees
Bees are flying insects that are found all over the world. There are over twelve thousand different
species of bees, but only about two thousands of these are found in North America.
Bees can be divided into two groups according to their living styles. Solitary bees live alone. On
the other hand, social bees, like ants, live in groups. Only about six hundred species are of his social
category.
Social bees are interesting because in their “society” there are different classes of bees. Each class
perform a different task. Queen bees lay eggs. Workers, underdeveloped females, work in the
hive but never reproduce. Males do not work; their only task is to mate with the queen.
Solitary bees occur as males and females. Every female makes a nest in the ground where she will
lay her eggs. The nest consist of many cells. After an egg is laid and put in a cell, the female also adds
some pollen and honey for food. Then she seals the cell. The females then go elsewhere to build a new
nest or die. When the eggs hatch, the larvae will feed on the pollen and honey which the female left for
them.

Text 2
How Planes Fly
All planes need air pressure under their wings to stay up in the air. As they move forward, the
higher air pressure underneath their wings pushes them upward and gives them lift.
The smooth, streamlined shape of the plane allows air to flow easily over its surface. This helps to
reduce the drag caused by the air pushing against the plane and allows it to move rapidly through the
air.
 Planes move forward using engines. This movement is called thrust. Moving forward keeps a
stream of moving air passing over the wings, which allows the plane to stay up in the air. If the engines
fail, the plane will begin to descend very quickly.
Air above the wing moves faster, so it is at a lower pressure than the air under the wing.
Air under the wing moves more slowly and is slightly squashed, so it is at a higher pressure
than the air above the wing..

Task 3
Find the synonyms of the words/phrases below in the texts 1and 2 in Task 2
No Word/Phrase Paragraph Synonym
Text 1
1 Alone (adj) 2
2 (of birds or animals) join sexually to 3
produce young (v)
3 (cause to) come out of an egg (v) 4

Text 2
1 Act of launching a spacecraft into the air 1
2 (n) 2
3 Moving with great speed (adv) 2
Having a contour designed to offer the
least resistance in moving through air,
4 water, etc. (adj) 3
5 Come or go down 3
6 Forward-moving force of an engine (n) 5
Press flat, crush (v)

Task 4. Read the following text and answer the questions that follow.
How Lenticular Clouds are Formed
Lenticular clouds look like very smooth, round or oval, lens-shaped clouds. They usually appear
near the mountain range or over the mountain.
Lenticular clouds are typically formed when most air, which is relatively stable, flows in a
vertical direction over a mountain. When this vertically moving air comes in contact with the
horizontally moving upper-level wind in a nearly perpendicular manner, it causes deflection. It results
in the formation of several standing waves on the downwind side of the mountain. When the
temperature of the wave’s crest goes on reducing and reaching the dew point, the lenticular clouds are
formed.
The process of formation of lenticular clouds goes on constantly and continuously near the
crest of the atmospheric waves. They appear to remain stationary. The fact is that there is always a
constant movement of wind through these clouds.
The lenticular clouds tend to disappear when the temperature rises above the dew point. It
occurs as the moisture evaporates in the form of vapor.

Questions:
1. What is the text about?
2. What is the purpose of the text?
3. What does paragraph one tell us about?
4. Which paragraphs explain the process of formation of the natural phenomenon?
5. What tense is used in the text?
6. Why does the text use the tense?
7. What kinds of verbs are used in the text: action, verbal, or mental?
8. Why does the text use such verbs?
9. What conjunctions or sentence connectors are used in the text?
10. Are there any technical terms in the text? What are they and what do they mean?

Task 5.
Fill in the blanks with suitable words from the box.
  Significant company technology digital
 Distribution designed automation computer
 Effectively fusion smart devices giant leap

Industrial Revolution 4.0 along with IoT (Internet of Things) is central to (1) _______________
Transformation in manufacturing industries. Computers and (2)_____________________ come
together in a new and innovative way to control robotics with very little human intervention, ultimately
creating a “smart factory”.
Industry 4.0 has already begun to transform products, how companies operate, and how they
manage production. It is a (3) _______________________for manufacturing innovation, characterized
by (4) ______________________ that can take control of machines on the shop floor, communicating
autonomously “device-to-device” to manage manufacturing operations and (5)
___________________. Through the monitoring of productivity and efficiency of employees,
machinery, and business processes, the company management is now able to access important
information in real-time. The entire manufacturing value chain can be monitored, from concept to
completion and beyond.
The (6)___________________of Big Data, the Internet of Things, and advanced analytics are
providing manufacturers with unprecedented insights into manufacturing performances, customer
behaviors, and new product development, as never seen before. Another critical benefit this new (7)
____________________________delivers is a consistent feedback flow between companies and their
customers in which products could be improved or highly influenced by the end-users. It can transform
how products are (8)_____________________and produced.
Manufacturers need to manage the transition by up-skilling their workforce to utilize these
technologies (9) _______________________ and prepare knowledge and awareness into concrete
investments and real projects. They need to be convinced that Industry 4.0 will make a (10)
____________difference to their businesses.

Task 6.
Write an explanation text and add a picture, if necessary

Grammar
Passive Voice

We use passive voice:

1. When we want to focus on the person or object affected by the action, or the action itself.
2. When it is not important who or what performed.
3. When the subject is unknown
4. When we intend to be more formal, as in most forms of academic writing.

Here are ways to change active sentences into passive ones.

1. The subject of an active sentence becomes the object of a passive sentence.
2. The object of an active sentence becomes the subject of a passive sentence, usually preceded by a
preposition ‘by’, known as ‘by agent’. ‘By agent’ is not always stated in a passive sentence, such as
by you, by me, by them.
3. The verb is changed into be + past participle (V3). The form of ‘be” depends on the tense (past,
present, future) and the subject (singular or plural) of the sentence.

See the changes below

Active : Gilang plays badminton every Sunday morning
Subject verb object

Passive: Badminton is played by Gilang every Sunday morning

Subject verb object

Here are other example

 Tense Active Voice Passive Voice
Simple Present The students study English English is studied by the students.
Simple Past The students studied English English was studied by the students
Present Continuous The students are studying English English is being studied by the students.
Past Continuous The students were studying English English was being studied by the students
Simple Future The students will study English English will be studied by the students
Future Continuous The students will be studying English English will be being studied by the students
Present perfect The students have studied English English has been studied by the students
Past Perfect The students had studied English English had been studied by the students
Modals The students should study English English should be studied by the students

Task 7.
Change the sentence below into Simple Past, Present Continuous, Past Continuous , Simple Future,
Future Continuous, Present Perfect, Past Perfect and Modal as the example above.
Then Change all sentences into passive.

Several presidents attend the summit

Task 8.
Change the following active sentences into passive
1. Earthquake hit Ambon last month
2. Flood has caused destruction in this area.
3. Scientist will observe total solar eclipses.
4. Volunteers are attending the charity program.
5. People should gain knowledge to improve technology.
6. Many people had uploaded the wonderful pictures of aurora.
7. The secretary was typing the report when the director called him.
8. The company launches its new products every the end of the year.
9. High waves wept the beach which made people run to save themselves.
10. Several presidents will be attending the summit in Bali to discuss environment issues.