Types of Text

We encounter a wide range of text types in the teaching of English and literacies. In the Australian Curriculum: English, texts are loosely grouped according to three purposes: Imaginative, or Literary, Informative and Persuasive. However, each of these loose categories contains a number of different text types written for more refined purposes. For example, Literary texts include narrative, poetry, fables, biographical recounts, and dramatic scripts. Informative texts include the many forms of information reports and explanations, as well as inquiry reports. Persuasive texts include advertisements, arguments and discussions, and hortatory texts. Engaging with a text type begins with identifying its context, purpose and intended audience, its structure (at entire text, passage and sentence levels), and understanding how the language choices work to achieve its communicative purpose.