Expository text
From WikEd
== EXPOSITORY TEXT ==
What is expository text?
Expository text is nonfiction reading material. The intent of these written works is to inform or explain something to the reading audience. Expository text can vary in nature. Some common formats of expository writing include the following:
How-To (Procedural)
Definition
Description
Persuasion
Analysis
Classification
Comparison
Places where you can find expository text...
[textbooks, encyclopedias, scientific books/journals, atlases, directions, guides, biographies, newspapers
It is important to expose students to many forms of expository text. It often serves as prior knowledge for expository writing. Children can find it challenging to comprehend expository text. According to the Teaching Today website [http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/weeklytips.phtml/146, "struggling readers require intervention in order to understand what they are reading". Signaling, as found in textbooks, often assist with the task of such comprehension. This may appear in the forms of headlines, charts, captions, and more. Identifying the structure in which expository text is written can be helpful for grasping its underlying concepts as well. Some examples of these structures include the following patterns: cause-effect, time-order sequencing, problem & solution, comparison/contrast, question & answer. Graphic organizers can help students sort through and make sense of expository text.
This non fiction text can include writing and pictures. It typically helps learners understand more about their world. However, accuracy is key so "the line between fiction and nonfiction is a fine one."(Fountas and Pinnell 2001)Teachers should choose textbooks, articles from reputable news agencies, autobiographies, and some primary doucments to be more certain that they are using truthful information in the classroom. If teachers use expository information frequently, it is important to teach their students about the importance of recognizing fact from fiction and sorting through biases.
It's not always clear what is truthful and not. Recently, author James Frey's best selling book, A Million Little Pieces was discovered as being mostly untrue although categorized as "non fiction". ("A Million Little Lies")It was tragic for some poeple beacause they so closely identified with the struggles of the author and wanted to believe his story.
Testimony:
I decided to go ahead and begin this WikEd link because I find it closely related to my Expository Writing and Signaling pages. I try to expose my students to expository reading frequently and find that they are oftne captivated by nonficition books. Nonfiction does not have to mean boring by any means. We read abut expository topics that captivate their interest and fascinate them. Some examples of books we read include science-related texts (from minerals to Mars!), sports, history, places, and more. There are also great materials, like Time For Kids and Weekly Reader, to regularly expose children to this genre while learning about current events. -Heidi M. Savoca, 3rd grade teacher
I use non-fiction expository writing in my classroom all the time as a middle school history teacher. It is critical for students to use this to learn the story of history. Most importantly, I choose to introduce primary documents and have children contrast them with the secondary source of the textbook. So often individual experiences differ with the glossed-over image of the text. It's important to see all sides, but to recognize that not all primary documents are entirely truthful. In the end, it's hard to say if there is truly any non fiction; even photographs can lie. Teachers just have to do the best they can by providing various viewpoints. -L. Keener REFERENCES
http://cps.uwsp.edu/Courses/EDUC310/TextStruct/expository.asp
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/weeklytips.phtml/146
http://www.kidbibs.com/learningtips/lt39.htm
http://cps.uwsp.edu/Courses/EDUC310/TextStruct/expository.asp
http://www.literacymatters.org/content/readandwrite/expos.htm
"A Million Little Lies" An article on the fine line between fiction and non fiction
Fountas and Pinnell. (2001) Guiding Readers and Writers: Grades 3-6 Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy. Heinemann Publishing: Portsmouth.
