Modelling a Text Type or Genre

This article is drawn from content originally included in PETAA Book Exploring how Texts Work, 2nd Edition, written by Beverly Derewianka and published in 2020.

If children are to write in a particular genre, they first need to become familiar with its purpose and features through immersion in the genre, and by exploring sample texts.

  • Introduce a model of the genre to the class (for example, using the smartboard or a hovercam). Choose or compose a text which is similar to the one to be written later as a joint construction by the class.
  • Discuss the purposes for which we use this type of text in our society (for example, the purpose of a Recount is to tell what happened).
  • With the class, identify how the text is structured. Each genre has a distinctive set of stages which helps it to achieve its purpose. These stages make up its schematic structure. (The schematic structure of a Recount, for example, consists of an orientation which sets the scene, followed by a series of events which tell what happened.) It’s a good idea to give the students a photocopy of the model text so they can annotate its stages and features for later reference.
  • Discuss the function of each stage. (For instance, the function of the orientation of a Recount is to let the reader know who was involved, when and where the events took place, and any other information necessary to understand the events which follow.)

Note:

  • Some teachers might introduce the features of a text directly to the children, while others might prefer, through careful guidance and questioning, to help the children discover the features themselves (in which case the class may need to examine several examples of the same genre).
  • During the modelling phase you may wish to compare a successful text with one that has not achieved its purpose, asking the children to work out why.
  • It may also be interesting to compare the structure and stages of this genre with one previously examined.
  • Model texts can be commercially published pieces of writing, texts written previously by students, or texts written by the teacher at the level of a high-performing student.
  • In the modelling phase, you can also refer to language features other than the structure of the text, but it’s probably most helpful to start with an overview of the text as a whole, introducing selected language features later on.