SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk

Document : 499
Title    : Talking, Reading and Writing about Fiction Texts
Author(s): James McGonigal
           Andrew Philp

Copyright holder(s): University of Glasgow: re-use of Crown Copyright
material

Text

Children can learn to read and write through guided focus on texts in class
– those of ‘authors’ and also their own texts.  The reasons for this
focus by teachers on texts are (a) to provide a model for the pupils’ own
reading strategies when reading by themselves, and (b) to allow the pupils
to try to emulate in their own writing the kinds of writing techniques used
by writers in similar contexts.  These two processes come together in that
the pupil eventually learns to ‘read like a writer’ and become aware of
how language techniques create specific effects for the reader.

In this paper, the intention is to consider the learning involved in
working with fictional texts (which mainly involve the 5-14 strands of
reading for enjoyment and/or to reflect upon the writer’s ideas and
craft; and personal/imaginative writing). Non-fictional texts (involving
functional writing and reading for information/awareness of genre) are
dealt with in Position Papers 6 and 7.

1. Discussing fiction texts in the classroom.

Reading for Meaning.  
Often when we come to teach poems or stories to children, we fall back on
memories of how we ourselves were taught: ‘What does this word mean?’
‘What is interesting or unusual about that word?’ ‘Which words
rhyme?’ and so on.  The poem or story becomes a sort of quiz, with
limited time to explore what the text means, and where its meanings come
from.

A better way is to see the reading of any poem (or story, or chapter, or
article, or whatever) not as a quiz but as a quest – a quest for meaning:
What is the writer trying to tell us here?  What clues to his/her intention
can we find in the words he/she has woven together in order to create this
particular text, and this particular effect on us as we read?  Teacher and
pupils can then explore texts together, discussing the impact of the words,
and the feelings and thoughts these words evoke in the reader.

Words never occur in isolation, but are chosen and combined by the writer
to create such effects.  Before discussing any text with children, either
to focus on aspects of the writer’s craft or of his/her chosen genre, it
is important for the teacher to be aware of how choices are working
together to create particular effects on the reader. This approach is
outlined in Booklet A in the following way:
The four broad areas of language choice.
There are four broad areas of written language where choices happen:
LEXIS - vocabulary: words and meanings
GRAMMAR - types and combinations of sentences, clauses and phrases
PHONOLOGY - patterns of sound, repeated or emphasised
TYPOGRAPHY - layout, typeface, punctuation and pictures

Lexis
Lexis operates in terms of broad patterns of word choices which have
effects on the reader, rather than as set structures (as grammar does),
e.g. words repeated, often with slight variations; choices of similar or
contrasting words.

The words chosen may have specific connotations which create a particular
effect or impression for the reader, e.g. words chosen may create a ghostly
atmosphere, or introduce a particular bias on the topic, or they may be
neutral, suggesting an objective or scientific viewpoint.

Lexical sets are series of words occurring through a text which have
similar connotations.  These sets can create particular atmospheres or
impressions, or they can be related to a particular topic or field. 
Lexical sets often also have a cohesive effect, ‘holding a text
together’, e.g. dark, deathly, eerie, hushed, nervous all combine to
create a feeling of tension and fear – good words for a horror story! 
Similarly, innings, wicket, crease, leg side, medium-pace bowler relate to
the topic of cricket and their use builds up an authentic sense of that
topic in a text.

The words chosen may be words that frequently go together, or
‘collocate’.  These may be usual or common collocations, or they may be
startling, e.g. metaphors, personifications and other ‘figures of
speech’, which all combine words in a surprising way, so as to create
very vivid word pictures or lively language. Unusual or ‘deviant’
collocations are striking or paradoxical combinations of words that have a
particular effect upon the reader, e.g. ‘Their headstones march beside
me’; ‘a silent echo’  (as in the Whispers in the Graveyard extract in
Booklet A).

Grammar
Writers create meaning through
a. The structures of noun phrases and verb phrases – building these up to
create detail or density in the noun and verb elements which carry the
central meaning of the sentence, or simplifying the structure to create a
pointed or stark effect.
b. The structure of clauses – more or less complex ways of binding
elements of the meaning together in one sentence.  Changes in the word
order of the elements of the clause, that is variation in the theme or
first element, create a range of stylistic effects in a text.  Repetition
of features can also create stylistic effects in a text.  This is
frequently seen in texts for young children where the repetition also
serves to reinforce the words or phrases used. It can also be seen in poems
such as The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, where the Iron Man’s hunger for metal
is emphasised:  ‘He ate, ate, ate, endlessly’.
c. The types of sentences, whether  statement or question or command or
exclamation or minor sentence, also have an impact on meaning and tone.

Phonology
Writers convey meaning by using aspects of the language’s sound-system
for special effects.  Phonology subsumes various ‘figures of speech’ or
‘tricks’ of writing relating to its sound when read aloud, and these
can help bring the text to life.
• alliteration – repetition of consonant sounds
• assonance – repetition of vowel sounds
• rhyme – full rhyme (start, part)
• half rhyme or part rhyme – (hart, hurt)
• rhythm – regular patterns of stress
• onomatopoeia – sounds enact the sense.

Typography
Writers create meaning by the way in which they present their text
visually.  In this multi-media age, the sophisticated visual presentation
of printed texts has assumed much greater importance.
We should consider the importance of
• layout on the page
• use of pictures/other illustrations
• punctuational devices
• size of print and typeface/font being used.

2. Teaching a text

Before teaching a poem or story the teacher should explore for herself what
the key meaning of the text appears to be, and also what the writer has
chosen to do with the words and other patterns of language in order to lead
the reader to that conclusion.

Explorations of this kind should also provide good models for the children,
as beginning writers, of how real writers work, and this should help them
to write more effectively themselves in specific contexts and genres.

Then, remembering to give time for the children to hear the text read and
re-read, and to think and talk about it, the closer quest for meaning can
begin.  This should not be done in a line-by-line series of closed
questions, but in a sort of conversation with the text and with each other
about the impact it makes, and how it does so.

Because good conversations are not usually predetermined, the order in
which the language elements of texts will be explored will vary. But, over
all, this sort of text-centred exploration will involve pupils in learning
about how writers make words work together (in the areas of lexis, grammar,
phonology and typography).  It will also involve them in a variety of 5-14
strands. The teacher should not, of course, try to hit all those 5-14
targets with one machine-gun-like lesson.  Rather, the focus should be
carefully selected and the activities so organised that a deeper and more
satisfactory sharing of the text can take place, in which both pupils and
teacher can learn from each other's responses.

How a fiction text works
Consider, as an example, how the following text works on us as we read it.

[NOTE: Extract here from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' by Roald
Dahl]


All four areas of patterning combine in this passage to create a frenetic
atmosphere of speed, excitement and urgency.  This combination can be seen
in the first sentence, which begins the paragraph with a command, ‘Switch
on the lights’, and the lexical choice ‘shouted’; the punctuation
feature, exclamation mark, also suggest urgency.  This effect is continued
into the second sentence, where the choice of ‘suddenly’ to suggest the
speed of response is supported by the connective ‘and’, which suggests
a very close link; also, the variation in the expected order, ‘suddenly
on came the lights’, creates an effect of suddenness and urgency.

Lexis
The sense of speed which pervades the passage is conveyed by a set of words
and phrases indicating speed, or shortage of time: ‘very fast’,
‘rowing like mad’, ‘rocketing along’, ‘furious pace’, ‘faster
and faster still’, ‘whizzing’, ‘flashed’, ‘just enough time’,
‘there’s no time’.

The excited, almost frenetic behaviour of Mr Wonka is suggested in another
set, which also adds to the overall effect of speed and urgency:
‘shouted’, ‘jumping up and down’, ‘calling’, ‘clapped his
hands’, ‘laughed’, ‘kept glancing’, ‘shouted’.  In fact, the
use of ‘shouted’ and ‘cried’ (twice each) by the various characters
who speak all contributes to the urgent, excited mood.

There is also a lexical set which suggests extremes and this perhaps adds
to the exciting, larger-than-life atmosphere being experienced by Charlie
on the chocolate river: ‘brilliantly lit up’, ‘gigantic’,
‘great’ (upward curving wall), ‘pure white’, ‘spotlessly
clean’, ‘flowing very fast’ (this overlaps with the  ‘speed’
set).  Moreover there is a set of colours indicated (‘white’,
‘pink’, ‘green’, ‘violet’), and also a set of sweet foods
(‘chocolate’, and ‘all the creams’ – except ‘hair cream’),
which all add to the reader’s impression of the attractive, exotic place
which Charlie is visiting.

There are also various unusual collocations in the passage but these only
relate to actual features of the setting observed by Charlie; they do not
create an individual perception or attitude, as might be found in a passage
for older children, such as "Whispers in the Graveyard" (‘silent echo’,
‘headstones march’, etc.).  The unusual collocations here are ‘river
of chocolate’, ‘white tunnel’, ‘pink boat’, ‘chocolate
river’.  The noun phrases on the notice on the storeroom (in block
capitals) are perhaps all normal collocations, except for ‘violet
cream’ – and the phrase ‘hair cream’ does not go with the others,
as Mike Teavee immediately points out.

Grammar
We have seen in the introduction above the use of commands to create a
sense of urgency, seen also in ‘Row on!’ and ‘Look, Grandpa!’  The
narrative is mainly conveyed in terms of past-tense statements, and, apart
from ‘as’ and ‘if’, the only connective used, for either sentence
cohesion or clause linkage, is ‘and’.  This constant use of ‘and’
creates a repetitive, ‘breathless’ effect, in keeping with the frenzied
mood of the passage and it is also found connecting the verbs in ‘clapped
his hands and laughed and kept glancing’, to create the same manic
effect.  ‘And’ is also used rather unusually in ‘It was a green door
and it was set into the wall of the tunnel’, where ‘a green door which
was set…’ might have been expected.  This use of this conjunction also
seems to give the effect of a series of fleeting sense-impressions that the
more controlled-seeming ‘which’ might not have achieved.

Typography
The use of exclamation marks at the end of shouted commands or comments
creates an excited, urgent mood in the passage.  Mike Teavee, untypically,
uses questions, but his first excited, sceptical question is indicated by
the use of italics (‘Hair cream?’).

These typographical features all have implications for the phonology, in
that they indicate how the passage should be read aloud at this point.  Yet
the use of block capitals for the storeroom notice is different in that it
suggests to the reader how the notice looked; it also helps to create for
the reader the sense of immediacy which is conveyed throughout the
passage.

Phonology
The use of clauses and sentences linked by ‘and’, together with the
strings of phrases – noun, verb and prepositional – throughout, creates
an exciting, pacy, rhythm (e.g. through a white tunnel in a pink boat on a
chocolate river or to see if they were enjoying it as much as he [was
enjoying it]).

As was mentioned above, the use of exclamation marks and italics also
suggests how we might read aloud the dialogue in the passage, which is a
phonological aspect of this written text.

3. Possible strategies for encouraging discussion of the text.

This exploration of the text works at the adult level of preparation for
teaching. But the teaching itself will involve other strategies, including
questioning, that aim to encourage discussion of the text in order to alert
young readers to how the words are ‘behaving’. This enables some
terminology to be used to help them to ‘fix’ or label a technique, for
ease of reference or imitation. Questions which might encourage such
discussion are:

(a) What was going on in this part of the story?
(b) What was it like to be on the boat in the tunnel?  What is the main
feeling you get from reading the passage? (a and b are obviously general
orientation questions, leading to the pupils’ discussion of the
impressions or effects created by the passage.  They lead to a closer focus
on how these impressions or effects are created.)
(c) How do we know Mr. Wonka was so excited? (So we can either focus on the
effect and ask how it was created, or focus on the language choice and ask
what the effect seems to be.)
(d) Why do you think so many sentences start with ‘and’?
(e) Look at ‘a white tunnel in a pink boat on a chocolate river’.  Do
you find anything interesting or unusual about these phrases?
(f) Why is the part about the storeroom notice written in big capitals?

As an alternative to focusing on a particular piece of language in the
passage, we could provide the pupils with an alternative version to it and
ask them to compare the two versions, thereby noticing how the effects are
created by the writer's version, for instance, ‘And suddenly, on came the
lights’ could be compared with ‘The lights came on suddenly’.

It is also possible to set up an exploration of a text without asking
direct questions at all:

(g) Look at the list of creams.  Pick out the ‘odd-man-out’ and say why
you picked it.
(h) I want you to pick out examples of words and phrases connected with
speed and movement.  Then I'd like you to say how these words make us
feel.
(i) Compare the characters of Mike Teavee and Charlie.  Write down what you
think the main differences between them are.
(j) List all the different kinds of print you see in the passage.  Try to
say why each one has been used.
(k) I like the way Roald Dahl uses colours here ........

Finally, we might move on to aspects of characterisation arising in the
passage, thus:
(l) How does Mike Teavee feel about Mr. Wonka making hair cream?  How do
you know?
(m) What kind of boy do you think Mike Teavee is?
(n) What more have you learned from this passage about the kind of person
Willie Wonka is?

Follow-up activities
(1) Pupils could write the letter which Charlie might have written back to
his other grandparents about his adventure that day on the chocolate
river.
(2) They could create an alternative notice for a set of creams which the
storeroom might contain, following the same kinds of collocational
tendencies, with at least one questionable combination and one
‘odd-man-out’.
(3) Most important, they should be asked to use the same kinds of language
devices, to create a similar exciting and urgent atmosphere, but within a
different context.  This might be an account of
• the frantic last five minutes of a cup final (of a sport of their
choice)
• an exciting roller-coaster ride, with an enthusiastic, or a terrified,
friend or relative
• a school relay race, where someone almost drops the baton but catches
it and then overtakes the leaders.
(4) They could create an illustration of the journey along the chocolate
river, trying to follow as closely as possible the narrative and
descriptive details in the text.

Strategies for Involving Pupils with Texts

As has already been implied by the various suggestions for activities
related to the text above, there is a variety of strategies which teachers
can use for involving pupils in exploring the language of texts, other than
through teacher-pupil discussion.  Position Paper 5, How do we teach
Knowledge about Language?, describes some of these.  With this particular
text, we might consider the following: 
• Many texts can be presented in two different formats, such as the
conventional verse layout and the slanted one for the poem ‘Shower’ in
Booklet A. What alternative layout might there be for this passage
(consider the list, or the conversation) and what difference would that
make to its impact?
• Cloze procedure can be used to focus on particular effects created in
the text; for instance the teacher could delete some of the members of the
lexical sets in the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" extract, thus
focusing children’s attention on the clues provided by the rest of the
lexical set – and on the nature of lexical sets.
• An alternative text could be created by substituting the members of the
‘speed’ set for words with ‘slow’ connotations (e.g.
flashed/drifted past).  The pupils can then be asked to speed up the
passage and find equivalents, and can finally compare their altered version
with the original.
• The text can be transformed into a different version, such as an
eye-witness commentary on the voyage on the chocolate river.  This
particular example would mainly involve converting past into present
tense.
• The text can profitably be compared with a similar but different one;
for example, the river journey here could be compared with more leisurely
descriptions in Mark Twain’s "Tom Sawyer" or "Huckleberry Finn".
• In various novels the necessary focus on details of a particular place
makes it useful to encourage pupils in groups to create a map of the
setting. Similarly, a scene with a distinctive action and setting, as here,
can usefully lead to the creation of an illustration based closely upon the
actual details in the text.

Through such active involvement with text and meanings, young readers
develop increasing confidence and maturity in their sense of how texts
work. Because such activities create contexts in which technical terms can
be used naturally and relevantly, Knowledge about Language expands to meet
their growing awareness.


This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The SCOTS Project and the University of Glasgow do not necessarily endorse,
support or recommend the views expressed in this document.

Information about document and author:

Text
Text audience
Adults (18+): Specialists: Audience size: 1000+

Text details
Method of composition: Handwritten
Year of composition: 1998
Word count: 3138
General description: One of a series of position papers on current educational developments in relation to language education

Text medium
Book: Other: CD Rom of teacher materials (LILT)

Text publication details
Part of larger text: Contained in: CD Rom: LILT Materials
Editor: J McGonigal / C Kay
Part of a longer series of texts: Name of series: Position Papers: CD Rom: LILT Materials

Text setting
Education: 
Text type
Prose: nonfiction: Report: 

Author
Author details
Author id: 60
Forenames: Andrew
Surname: Philp
Gender: Male
Decade of birth: 1930
Educational attainment: University
Age left school: 17
Upbringing/religious beliefs: Catholicism
Occupation: Retired Lecturer in Education
Place of birth: Londonderry
Region of birth: Co. Londonderry
Country of birth: Northern Ireland
Place of residence: Airdrie
Region of residence: Lanark
Residence CSD dialect area: Lnk
Country of residence: Scotland
Father's occupation: Tool Fitter
Father's place of birth: Auchterarder
Father's region of birth: E & SE Perthshire
Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Per
Father's country of birth: Scotland
Mother's occupation: Seamstress in shirt factory
Mother's place of birth: Ture
Mother's region of birth: Co. Donegal
Mother's country of birth: Ireland

Languages:
Language: English
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: At work, at home
Language: Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Evening classes and immersion
Language: Italian
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: No
Understand: No
Circumstances: Elementary
Language: Japanese
Speak: Yes
Read: No
Write: No
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Very elementary
Language: Scots
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Elementary - intermediate
Language: Urdu
Speak: Yes
Read: No
Write: No
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Elementary


Author
Author details
Author id: 78
Forenames: James
Surname: McGonigal
Gender: Male
Decade of birth: 1940
Educational attainment: University
Age left school: 18
Upbringing/religious beliefs: Catholicism
Occupation: University lecturer
Place of birth: Dumfries
Region of birth: E & Mid Dumfries
Birthplace CSD dialect area: Dmf
Country of birth: Scotland
Place of residence: Glasgow
Region of residence: Glasgow
Residence CSD dialect area: Gsw
Country of residence: Scotland
Father's occupation: F.E. Lecturer
Father's place of birth: Cleland
Father's region of birth: Lanark
Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Lnk
Father's country of birth: Scotland
Mother's occupation: Primary School teacher
Mother's place of birth: Midcalder
Mother's region of birth: West Lothian
Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: wLoth
Mother's country of birth: Scotland

Languages:
Language: English
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Work and home
Language: French
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Used occasionally
Language: Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic
Speak: No
Read: No
Write: No
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Very limited vocabulary
Language: German
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Used occasionally
Language: Scots
Speak: No
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Work (language study) and creative writing
Language: Spanish; Castilian
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Used occasionally