Discourse in written language

Question 1

Writing in discourse

Answer 1

• Sentence order
• Paragraphing
• Topic sentences
• Genre conventions
  e.g. letters: address, greeting, sign off, signature, paragraph, introducing purpose
  information leaflet: title, statistics, definitions, pictures, labelled, columns

Question 2

Joan Rothery’s theory

Answer 2

Evaluated children’s writing in schools and found 4 distinct categories

Question 3

Joan Rothery’s categories for evaluating children’s writing

Answer 3

Observation/comment: observations followed by evaluative comment
Recount: recalling chronological sequence of events written subjectively
Report: factual and objective description of events or things - usually not chronological
Narrative: story genre, aligns with Labovs Narrative Categories i.e. orientation, complication, resolution, coda

Question 4

Britton’s Theory

Answer 4

Proposed 3 modes of writing used by school children. They focus more on stylistic choices than on the content of the writing, as in Rothery’s categories

Question 5

Britton’s Three Modes of school children’s writing

Answer 5

1) Expressive: the first mode to develop because it resembles speech, uses first person perspective, content usually based on personal preferences
2) Poetic: develops gradually - requires skill in shaping and crafting language, encouraged early because of its creativity; phonological features used e.g. rhyme, rhythm, alliteration; linguistic features used e.g. adjectives, similes
3) Transactional: develops last (secondary school), clear dissociation of speech from writing academic essay style, impersonal; third person used; formal sentence structures, graphological features to signpost sections/ideas; tends to be chronological

Question 6

Katherine Perera’s theory

Answer 6

Suggested an alternative framework for classifying texts: chronological and non-chronological

Question 7

Perera’s writing categories

Answer 7

Chronological texts: rely on action words (verbs) and on linking ideas using connectives e.g. then, after that
Non-chronological texts: considered harder to write because they require logical connections between ideas

Question 8

Britton’s view on Perera’s framework

Answer 8

Despite their perceived difficulty, he suggested children are actually encouraged to tackle non-chronological texts early on because of their creative aspect e.g. poetry

Question 9

Rothery and Perera’s framework

Answer 9

Complements Rothery’s genre categories focusing also on the importance of the discourse structure of the writing task as a way of assisting children to become confident and competent writers