English Language Arts and Reading.3.10.B

The student is expected to

explain how the use of text structure contributes to the author's purpose;

author's purpose strand teks talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances.

While reading a text aloud, use an anchor chart to illustrate the organization of the text. Begin the anchor chart by modeling ideas and then encourage students to share their ideas as you build the chart as a group. After the chart has been completed, ask students to analyze the structure of the information on the chart and thus the text. Then, have students explain why the author may have decided to organize the text in such a way.

Further Explanation

This assessment item requires students to describe how an author organizes ideas in a text to accomplish a particular purpose. Students should be able to explain how the text structure helps the author achieve the purpose.

Students are expected to describe how the author’s purpose has a specific effect on readers. An author writes for diverse reasons. If the purpose is to inform the reader of the history of their local community, the author might select a sequence structure. However, to convince a reader to believe that one course of action is better than another, the author might use a compare/contrast structure.
Students should determine and describe how an author organizes ideas in a text to accomplish a specific purpose. For example, in an informational article about soil formation, the author may use a cause-and-effect structure to organize ideas. By doing this, the author may want readers to understand that soil is formed (effect) by weathering of rock and the decomposition of plants and animals (cause).

Research

Meyer, B. J., & Ray, M. N. (2011). Structure strategy interventions: increasing reading comprehension of expository text. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education,4(1), 127–152. Accessed online at https://eric.ed.gov/?q=expository+text&pr=on&ft=on&id=EJ1070453

Summary: In this literature review, researchers examine empirical studies designed to teach the structure strategy to increase reading comprehension of expository texts. Strategy interventions employ modeling, practice, and feedback to teach students how to use text structure strategically and eventually automatically. The analysis suggests that direct instruction, modeling, scaffolding, elaborated feedback, and adaptation of instruction to student performance are keys in teaching students to strategically use knowledge about text structure.