The Nature, Structure, and Patterns

of Informative Texts
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
Objectives
4. Identify the factors to consider in selecting appropriate reading
texts for learners
5. Explain readability and readability formulas
As learners move through the grades, the reading tasks that
confront them change drastically.

Stories become less important, and work with informational, or

expository text, increases.
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.
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.
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.
 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.
Informative Texts

 Also known as “informational texts” or “expository texts”

 These are reading materials or selections that inform, explain,
or expose
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

Informative Texts

information procedure or
explanation instruction
report
 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

 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
 Information Report

a piece of text that

presents information
about a subject
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
 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.
 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.
 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.
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.

 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.
Patterns of Text Organization
 The problem-solution pattern of text states
problems and lists one or more solutions for the
problem.

 A variation of this pattern is the question-and-answer

format in which the author poses a question and then
answers it.
 Transition Markers
 Informative texts contain transition markers that serve as
reading roadmaps or directional signs for readers.

 These markers help readers to adjust their thinking and flow of

processing as indicated by the relationships established by
markers between and among sentences.
 Transition Markers (Signals)

description/ sequence / comparison- cause-effect/

enumeration time order contrast problem-solution

to begin with on (date) however because

first not long after but since
secondly now as well as therefore
next as on the other hand consequently
then before not only…but also as a result
finally after either...or this led to
most when while so that
important although nevertheless
also unless accordingly
in fact similarly if… then
for instance yet thus
for example
 Understanding Top Three Levels of Ideas
 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.
 Generally ideas/information in texts are organized as shown in the
schematic diagram.
Main point

major detail major detail major detail

minor minor minor minor minor minor

detail detail detail detail detail detail
 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:

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.

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

mi = p + f + t

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.
 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.

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.
 Teaching Top-level Structure
One important objective of the reading program is to teach
students awareness of organizational patterns in expository
texts

Activities to achieve this objective involve:

 diagrams
 charts
 outlining
Teaching Top-level Structure
Suggestions for teaching awareness of top-
level structure (Irwin & Baker, 1989)

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)

4. Relate writing activities to lessons on text structure.

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?

 Why should I learn about the factors that influence

readability?

 How can this information help me as a TEACHER?

Stop and Think
 Does the content match my teaching objectives?

 Do my students have the background necessary for

understanding the book?

 Are there enough examples to help my learners

learn the major concepts?

 Will my learners find it interesting?

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

Readability
 assignment of a numerical score to rank reading materials
in order of difficulty
 the score corresponds to a recommended grade level
Factors to consider in selecting
appropriate reading texts for learners
• Content
• Aids for Learning
• Readability

Forgan and Mangrum, 1989

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

~ May Ellen Chase

 Thank You!
You’ve been a wonderful audience!