Text structure is important to teach, but what exactly is it? Why is it important? And, how do you teach it?

WHAT IS TEXT STUCTURE?

Put simply, text structure is the way an author has organized the information. It is an essential aspect of reading comprehension and writing skills. Understanding text structure can help readers to better understand the information they are reading, while also helping writers to effectively convey their ideas. My school asks us to explicitly teach cause and effect, compare and contrast, problem and solution, description, & sequence. Read on to find out more about why text structure is important and gain a few tips for teaching it effectively.

HOW DOES TEXT STRUCTURE HELP READERS?

Comprehension. It helps the reader understand what is important in the text. The text structure is a signal to our brain to read in a certain way. Writers usually organize their text so that readers can clearly see what is or isn’t important.

Comprehension. It gives readers a specific purpose for reading. Different kinds of texts are organized differently because they are to be read differently. We don’t read a narrative the same way we read an instruction manual. Our purpose for reading directly affects our comprehension.

Comprehension. Understanding text structure helps readers find important topics and ideas so that they can summarize what they’ve read. Students can use the structure of the text to guide their retelling.

HOW TO TEACH TEXT STRUCTURES

1. Introduction: I tell my students that text structure refers to the ways that authors organize information. I then present a general overview of each type: Cause and Effect, Compare and Contrast, Problem and Solution, Description, & Sequence. Talking about organization helps students see the overall structure of the text. It gives them a framework to figure out how all the small pieces of information fit together.

2. The next day, we revisit one specific structure. I use a short reading passage with a graphic organizer and we complete it together as a group. The day after that, we review the structure once more, and they are asked to complete a similar task on their own. We review it together and make corrections as needed.

3. I continue this process until we have worked through all of the text structures mentioned above. To assess their understanding, I give them a quiz at the end.

4. It takes us approximately two weeks. And, of course, we continue to revisit it throughout the year. We reference which structure we are reading during class and use fun games like this sort during our ELA workshop.

Identifying how writing is organized is an important skill for readers of all ages. But don’t let the learning end there! Continue developing comprehension by encouraging students ask and answer questions, read critically, and write complex texts.