ESOL Rt/E3.1a Understand how meaning is built up in a variety texts of more than one paragraph
Understand and identify how meaning is built up in chronological, continuous descriptive and explanatory texts of more than one paragraph, in a range of genres (i) Use a range of strategies to understand how meaning is built up in longer texts of more than one paragraph, including knowledge of context, subject, genre and cultural understanding to help get meaning from text Example: Use experience of bringing up children to understand a child-care text. Read a college prospectus using knowledge of the British education system to aid understanding. (ii) Know that texts of the same genre are likely to have a similar structure and lexis, and use this knowledge to help with understanding (iii) Recognise the common structure of paragraphs, and how paragraphs link together to develop meaning through a text, e.g. how the final sentence in a paragraph may lead on to the subject of the next paragraph (iv) Make use of key discourse markers, such as In the last paragraph... Later on we will go on to show... to aid understanding of the whole text (v) Recognise and make use of topic sentences to aid understanding of the whole text Example: The community outreach project began in the summer of 1999. Workers contacted all the families on the estate in order to ask them what type of support they required. (vi) Recognise the significance of organisational structure and the different uses of paragraphs to build up meaning in texts (vii) Use knowledge of the way texts from a variety of genres are structured to help reading for meaning Examples: Chronological texts: 1. Often use opening paragraph to outline main purpose and final paragraph to summarise importance of events described 2. Structure different paragraphs to deal with particular stages in time period: He didn't have an easy life, and this perhaps explains some of his artistic preoccupations. Born in 1929 into a period of great economic uncertainty, he grew up in a small mining village… Continuous descriptive texts: 1. Often use opening paragraph to introduce subject of description 2. Set the scene, and final paragraph to express the author's feelings: It was the ultimate celebrity wedding: guests arriving by private jet and helicopter clutching gold-plated invitations, dodging paparazzi as they made their way to the exclusive beachfront hideaway that had been redesigned as a chapel… Explanatory texts: 1. Often use opening paragraph to introduce subject and possible definitions of key terms, and final paragraph to sum up key issues or conclusion 2. May outline or deal with different aspects of a problem, give reasons and explanations in the middle paragraph(s) 3. Interact with texts such as short reports, to monitor understanding of main points as well as the overall sense and main ideas: Our skin has numerous functions. Its main function is to protect our bodies.
