Ten Text Characteristics for Guided Reading in Elementary Classrooms
- Genre/Form:
Genre is the type of text and refers to a system by which fiction and
nonfiction texts are classified. Form is the format in which a genre may be
presented. Forms and genres have characteristic
features. - Text Structure:
Structure is the way the text is organized and presented. The structure of
most fiction and biographical texts is narrative, arranged primarily in
chronological sequence. Factual texts are organized categorically or
topically and may have sections with headings. Writers of factual texts use
several underlying structural patterns to provide information to readers.
The most important are description; chronological sequence; comparison and
contrast; cause and effect; and problem and solution. The presence of these
structures, especially in combination, can increase the challenge for
readers. - Content:
Content refers to the subject matter of the text-the concepts that are
important to understand. In fiction, content may be related to the setting
or to the kinds of problems characters have. In factual texts, content
refers to the topic of focus. Content is considered in relation to the prior
experience of readers. - Themes and Ideas:
These are big ideas that are communicated by the writer. Ideas may be
concrete and accessible or complex and abstract. A text may have multiple
themes or a main theme and several supporting
themes. - Language and Literary Features:
Written language is qualitatively different from spoken language. Fiction
writers use dialogue, figurative language, and other kinds of literary
structures such as character, setting, and plot. Factual writers use
description and technical language. In hybrid texts you may find a wide
range of literary language. - Sentence Complexity:
Meaning is mapped onto the syntax of language. Texts with simpler, more
natural sentences are easier to process. Sentences with embedded and
conjoined clauses make a text more difficult. - Vocabulary:
Vocabulary refers to words and their meanings. The more known vocabulary
words in a text, the easier a text will be. The individual's reading and
vocabulary refer to words that she understands. - Words:
This category refers to recognizing and solving the printed words in the
text. The challenge in a text partly depends on the number and the
difficulty of the words that the reader must solve be recognizing them or
decoding them. Having a great many of the same high-frequency words makes a
text more accessible to readers. - Illustrations:
Drawings, paintings, or photographs accompany the text and add meaning and
enjoyment. In factual texts, illustrations also include graphics that
provide a great deal of information that readers must integrate with the
text. Illustrations are an integral part of a high quality text.
Increasingly, fiction texts include a range of graphics, including labels,
heading, subheadings, sidebars, photos and legends, charts and graphs. After
grade one, texts may include graphic texts that communicate information or a
story in a sequence of pictures and words. - Book and Print Features:
Book and print features are the physical aspects of the text-what readers
cope with in terms of length, size, and layout. Book and print features also
include tools like the table of contents, glossary, pronunciation guides,
indexes, sidebars, and a variety of graphic features in graphic texts that
communicate how the text is read.
I.C.
Fountas and G.S. Pinnell. 2011. The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades
PreK-8, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.