Reading Journals

A reading journal provides the opportunity for children to reflect on their reading and experiment with ideas that stem from it. Entries can take an infinite variety of forms to include jottings, diagrams, charts, lists, mind maps, questions, predictions and letters, as well as more formal writing such as reviews or pieces related to close analysis of character, plot, setting and author’s choice of language.

A reading journal can involve different people: pupils only, pupils and teachers in dialogue and pupils, teachers and parents.

The following pages give detailed ideas about how the different activities might be used. Giving children a choice of familiar activities allows them to take ownership of their journal and to record their thoughts and ideas in response to the task set.

Reading journals can be used in many ways to support the children as they develop as independent readers. With teacher guidance it will serve to promote and enhance children’s confidence, fluency and critical awareness, opening up the enjoyment and pleasure of books and instilling within them a life-long love of reading.

How to use the Reading Response Journal

Many of the activities used will need to be explicitly demonstrated to the children before they are required to use them independently. Teachers will need to develop a core of activities with which the children will become very familiar. These will need to be modelled with a range of texts and the children given frequent opportunities to practise and consolidate them. They can be used in shared, guided and independent work and there are many links with drama and lots of opportunities for oral work.

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The activities are a rich source of evidence for Assessment Focuses 2-7 and can provide a robust evidence base for periodic assessment using APP.(see pages4-6 for details of what the assessment focuses mean in practice).

We have provided notes on each of the devices with annotations to support you.

There are pages where children can make lists of, for example, words and phrases that describe a setting or show a build up of tension.

Some of the pages with both lines and blank areas would be appropriate to use for a personal response to a story or to evaluate the usefulness of a non-fiction text, to record key events or important pieces of information or to make predictions. The blank areas could be used for pictures or diagrams.

Several blank pages have been included so that pupils can:

o prepare further ’Double Bubbles’ o outline the structure of a storyo draw a visual representation of a setting or

character o invent their own response sheets.

Acknowledgements

*The SWOT, Single Bubble and Double Bubble are taken from The Eye Q Course handbook- a Model Learning production (the country’s leading trainers in visual thinking) www.modellearning.com PO Box 5346 Brentwood CM14 5RW tel/fax 01277 202812. Published by Network Educational Press Ltd. PO Box 635 Stafford ST16 1BF tel. O1785 225515 www.networkpress.co.uk

#The Reading Like a Writer diagram comes from Creating Pathways to Powerful Thinking – presented by Susan Close sclose@sd40.bc.ca www.sd40.bc.ca - Focus on Learning

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* The SWOT diagram Based on Danny, Champion of the World the SWOT diagram could be used to investigate the position that Danny finds himself in at the point where he finds his dad is missing.

strengths weaknesses

Opportunities threats/barriers

Questions

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There are several ways in which these pages might be used. The children might …

ask questions of one of the characters or of the author

devise interpretative and deductive questions to ask the other pupils during group discussion of the text. This is a very valuable technique which can develop children’s understanding of higher order reading skills

record questions to which they want to find answers in different non-fiction texts.

It could be used to prepare questions or answers for use in a guided or plenary session.

Questions, questions

????????

Questions I could ask

Before reading During reading After reading

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#Reading like a writer

This grid provides the children with a processing strategy.A child can respond initially in the way he or she favours and then extend their thinking by completing the other boxes.

Following discussion about the theme ofDanny, Champion of the World a child might draw what they felt was of greatest importance to Danny, list words and phrases that back up that choice, show how it links with the important themes in the book and pose questions to ask a response partner or to bring to a plenary session. It could be used to identify key elements in a non-fiction text, providing the reader with a summary of important facts and identifying information he/she would still like to find out about the subject.

Words

Sketch

? Questions ?

Important ideas

----------------------

----------------------

----------------------

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Story Hill - plotting story structuresThe blank pages could be used to plot the twists an turns of a story. For example the plot of Farmer Duck might look like this:

Poor Duck is exhausted and sad

Duck doing all the chores animals make a plan on the farm they throw the farmer off the farm

Farmer Duck running farm all the animals join in to help lazy farmer in bed run the farm

opening scene build up the problem problem solved ending (resolution)This is a typical problem/resolution structure which the children could use to support their own writing.Taking the temperatureThese pages could be used to show how a character’s emotions change during a story. For example:

Feelings

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Duck is very happy,happy Duck is relieved

Farmer Duck is sad

Duck is very tired and very miserablesad Key events in the story opening Farmer Duck does all the work He hears what the They all work animals have done together*The Double Bubble

The double bubble gives the children an opportunity to explore similarities and differences. They can investigate relationships between characters, events or information.

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#*The Single Bubble

The single bubble map is a useful tool for gathering information which is relevant or important to a particular character or event in a story. It could also be used to gather and sort general points in a story or a non-fiction text. In the story Danny, Champion of the World the children may choose to look in detail at Danny or his dad or even at Victor Hazel. It might be used as an alternative to role on the wall.

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What if…? Talking and thinking bubblesThese pages offer the children opportunities to delve into characters’ motives and feelings and to think about other possible events or outcomes.

For example, changing the setting of Goldilocks For example, we know what the to a block of flats in the middle of a city. bears said, but what might they have been thinking?How might the story be different as a result?

rich

Victor

greedy

money

mean

pheasants

Who’s been eating my porridge?

Who’s eaten my porridge all up?

Who’s been eating my porridge?

Thank goodness. I hate porridge.

What a mess!I’ll have to make some more.

I wonder if they are still in the house.

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Put yourself in the character’s shoes…

This page could be used to encourage the children to hone the skills of visualisation and close reading. It can also support the development of empathy as the child enters the world of the character and tries to put themselves in the character’s shoes.

Goldie escapes in lift

Police called

Bears on a bike ride

Seen by neighbou

r

Cheerios not

porrigde

A flat with no upstairs

What could I smell?Porridge, a ‘beary’ sort of

smell

What could I see?Bowls on the table, empty pan on the draining board, table with three different

sized chairs

What could I taste?Porridge – some was too hot, some was too sweet,

some was perfect

How did it make me feel?

My tummy was full, I felt a little bit sleepy. I felt

inquisitive – Who lives here? Where are they? What does

the upstairs look like I wonder?

What did I touch/feel?

Different sized bowls and spoons. A hard chair, a soft

chair and a chair which was really comfortable.

What could I hear?A grandfather clock ticking.

Inner city Goldie

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Role on the wall

Goldilocks and the Three Bears –

Sketch of Goldilocks in the kitchen

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This is a very popular and widely used device to help children explore characters.

They can write things that they know about the character around the outside of the figure, perhaps adding textual evidence to support their findings.

On the inside of the figure they can put in the feelings and emotions of the character at a given point in the story.

They can add to the role on the wall as they continue to read the story, observing how the character changes and the effects that events have on him or her.

Observe, wonder, infer

What I observe What I wonder What I infer

This grid is useful when reading fiction and non-fiction. It is a particularly valuable tool to support cross curricular reading.

In fiction it could be used to: explore setting, particularly

where photographs or paintings are used

understand the development of a character in a story as events unfold

show how the relationship between two characters grows and changes throughout the story.

In non-fiction it could be used to: examine how painters have

interpreted events, people etc. (history/art)

look closely at a particular settlement and make observations about how people live, (geography/history)

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Introducing the Assessment Focuses for Reading

There are 7 assessment focuses (AFs) for reading that describe the key elements of performance in this attainment target. They are linked to the national curriculum programmes of study and the level descriptions and are designed to give a detailed, analytic view of pupils’ attainment across all the key stages and in all types of reading.

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What the assessment focuses mean in practice

AF1 Use a range of strategies including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning AF1 has most prominence in describing early stages of

reading Evidence comes from listening to pupils read aloud and observing how they decode words to make

meaning from texts Reading aloud with fluency, understanding and expression also involves taking note of punctuation and

other written language conventions

AF2 Understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference to text

AF2 applies to all levels of reading and all kinds of text Pupils’ skills in retrieving information from texts are shown in different ways, from comments to

paraphrase or retellings to summary and synthesis At the highest levels, work in AF2 demonstrates critical insights based on close reading, merging with

AF3

AF3 Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts AF3 is vital to making progress in reading and underpins attainment across all the AFs Opportunities to develop inferential skills come from engagement with whole texts that challenge

thinking and encourage different interpretations In APP, classroom discussions about books and open ended questions from pupils as well as teachers

provide effective evidence for this assessment focus

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AF4 Identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level

AF4 makes most sense in relation to whole texts so that pupils can explain what is significant about the overall shape and structure of what they are reading

Work on the grammar of texts encourages pupils to explore how different elements hang together and contribute to their distinctiveness

This reading assessment focus is the counterpart of AFs 3 and 4 in writing

AF5 Explain and comment on writers’ uses of language, including grammatical and literary features at work and sentence level

AF5 applies to information as well as fiction texts: deliberately crafted language can be found in many different forms of writing

Pupils may learn to spot specific features in texts but attainment in this AF depends on being able to explain why particular usages are effective and what they mean

In APP, evidence for this assessment focus sometimes comes from comparative work on a range of texts or different treatments of the same topic

AF6 Identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect of the text on the reader

AF6 has two strands: understanding that all texts have a point of view and that this can impact on readers’ responses

At the most basic level, pupils detect overt purposes and express personal likes and dislikes Progression in AF6 is about developing evaluative skills supported by an analytic vocabulary

AF7 Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts and literary traditions AF7 demands engagement with a wide repertoire of reading

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Even young readers can talk about some of the ways that texts are the same or different from one another

Working with texts from different cultures is one way of exploring the significance of context on what is written; another is comparing books from different times, in different genres or media

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Examples of questions about narratives, plays, scripts and poetry

Examples of questions about non-fiction and information texts, from all curriculum subjects

AF2 Where/when does the story take place? Who was the character that…?Show me in the text where you found…?Read/write down the part that tells the reader about…What is happening at this point/in this part of the story/play?Find one/two things that the main character did in this part of the story/play.

Where can you find an important piece of information about …?Find two pieces of information that tell you about …?What does this part of the text tell us about ….?Which part of the text tells us about …?

AF3 Why was…important in this story/play?

Did any characters help each other in this story/play? How did they do this?Tell me/write about what sort of character/person…was from the things they did/said in the story/play. (and AF5)What do you think…thoughts were at this point in the story/play? Use the text to help you think through your answer.If you were going to interview one of the characters, which questions would you ask and why?Which is the most interesting/exciting/funniest/scariest/your favourite part of the story/play? Why? Which part of the text shows this?How did one of the characters change their ideas/attitudes

How do you know that …? Can you explain why………….? How do you know that this text is trying to tell you more about…?Do you agree with this/the author’s opinion? Explain your own opinion using the texts to help you?How do you feel about this topic? Why?What do you think about/is your opinion of…? Can you support your view with evidence from the text?

What do you think are the important points the

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during the story/play? What was it that brought about this change?In this part of the play/story, what do you think the character feels about...? How can you tell?What do you think would have happened if…?Write/tell me about one important event that happened that could not be left out. Say why it was so important.Did any of the characters show their feelings? How/why did they show this/these feeling(s)Why was (a character) angry/upset/pleased/puzzled in this part ofthe story/play?If…had not done…, how might this have changed other events in the story/play?What you think is going to happen next. Why do you think this? Which part of this poem did you like best? Why?How did you think this story/play/poem will end/should have ended?Can you tell me what word the poet might have used here? (delete significant word(s)) Why?

author is trying to get over to you as the reader? (and AF6)What was it that made…want to…? (biographies, autobiographies, history texts)

Which do you think are the most important issues and why? (environmental/health/)

AF 4 How has the author organised the writing?Why does the author begin a new paragraph here?How does the layout of this playscript help actors to read and perform the play?Why are brackets used in this playscript?How does the punctuation help you as the reader of this

Why are particular words/sections within a text in bold/italics/larger print? Why have bullet points/numbers been used in this text?How does this text layout help the reader?Why has this text been highlighted?How does (a diagram/picture/caption) help you to

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poem/playscript?What is/are the main event(s) that happen(s) in this/each paragraph?Can you find any repeated patterns in this poem?

understand the information on this/these pages?What is the purpose of the list/diagram/caption/sub-headings in this text?Why has some of the information been presented in a table? What is the main idea of this/each section/paragraph?What would be a good heading for this section? Why?

AF5 How has the author used words/phrases to make this character funny/sad/adventurous/clever/frightening/ excited/disappointed/ etc?What does/do this/these words tell you about (a character)?Which part of the story best describes the setting/characters/action? Which words and /or phrases do this?

Find and copy some words or phrases that show us that this character is special/helpful/adventurous/unsure/worried etc.Why is … a good title for this story/book/chapter/play? Do you notice anything special or unusual about the words the poet has used here?

What do these words tell you about…?Which word(s)/phrases/types of sentences are used well in this text…?Is this writer an expert on …? How do you know?Why do you think the writer chose to use the word(s)/phrase(s)…to describe…?

Why do you think the author chose…as the title//headline/heading…? (and AF3)Find something that is not a fact but the author’s opinion.

AF6 Did you enjoy reading the story/play/poem or not? Explain What does the writer think about/is the writer’s

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your answer by referring to the characters, events and how it made you feel.How did the story make you feel? Why did it make you feel like this? Why do you think the author chose this particular setting for this poem/story/play?How has the author started this in an interesting way. How does this make the reader want to read on?How do you feel when you read this poem? Which parts make you feel like this?

opinion on/is the writer’s viewpoint on …… in this part of the text?Why do you think the writer produced this article/leaflet/flyer/brochure etc?How does the writer try to persuade you to…? Which information/facts does the writer include to make you believe that…?Which words/points do you think are the strongest/most powerful in persuading the reader to…?Why do you think the writer says/writes…? Why do you think the writer included details about …?Which advert/text would most persuade you to buy/take part in…? Why?

If … was alive today he/she would he be arguing for …?The writer says …. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

AF7Read these two poems? What do they have in common? How are they different?When do you think this story/poem was written? How do you know?In which country do you think this story takes place? Why?Does the setting remind you of a setting you know from

What kind of a text is this? How do you know?When you have read these two texts, what can you find that is the same about them and what is different?Do you know of any other texts with similar issues or themes?

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another story/poem? Do you know any more stories like this? Tell me why they are alike.Do you know another story with similar characters in? Tell me how they are similar.Many traditional tales have messages. What do you think this story is trying to tell us?

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Developing reading comprehension through shared, guided and independent reading

Recent research suggests that reading comprehension development can be improved through regular use of specific strategies. These strategies are designed to actively involve the child with the text to create meaning. Below is a list of strategies to support readers in understanding, responding to and reflecting on texts. Some will be more appropriate as pre-reading strategies, others used during guided reading sessions and some may be used as post-reading activities. You might also consider how children could use these strategies in independent reading.

Activating prior knowledge

There are many ways of encouraging children to bring to the

forefront of their minds knowledge that relates to the text

they are about to read or are reading: gathering ideas around the title, chapter heading,

picture on the front cover (these can be written, oral or drawn)

word association chain around key word in title or an image in the text;

asking for memories around key word in a title or an artefact (This reminds me of……it makes me think of….);

filling in a mind-mapping, concept mapping or other grids/proforma (e.g. the first column of a KWL grid—what do you already know,what do you want to find out, what have you learnt?)

Prediction/Group Prediction

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this involves discussing a text with a teacher or a reading partner, to encourage reasoning whilst reading and to test predictions;

the children read the text a section at a time and as they do so the teacher encourages them to explain what is happening, predict what will happen next, predict how it will end, revise their earlier predictions in the light of new evidence found in the text. The children should offer evidence for their hypothesis. This can be oral, or the children could make written predictions/revisions in a reading journal;

prediction is one of a group of strategies, including cloze procedure, summarising, sequencing, comparing texts and alternative representations. These are known collectively as Directed Activities Related to Text (DARTS), which were developed by Lunzer and Gardner in the 1980s.

Constructing Images (visualising, drawing, drama)

Creating visual images is claimed to improve comprehension by linking prior experiences to the new idea thus building richer schemas;

the teacher models the process by reading aloud and talking about any associations that come to mind and asking the children to picture it. Children are the encouraged to do the same for other passages and verbalise this process to a partner. Can be used with both fiction and non-fiction texts;

during and after reading children can sketch what they see, undertake freeze frames of key moments in a story

and make models based on the text.

Summarising

Effective summarising involves children evaluating a text and deciding which elements of it are most significant;

model skim reading a text. Then encourage skim reading or re-reading and ask for oral summaries;

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go through a text paragraph by paragraph highlighting the key sentence/sentences in each;

children can be asked to write brief summaries at the end of each chapter outlining key events and further insights into character and plot;

summarise by restructuring key information contained in a text into a non-prose form. It may involve children drawing a matrix, a tree diagram, a semantic map/word web, a labelled picture or a retrieval chart.

Questioning/Clarifying

Discussion - class or group focused discussion with the aim of clarifying understanding. Such discussion goes beyond simple recall questions into inference and deduction.

Talk to the Author - a text is provided (with wide margins). Questions to the author are written in the margin, for example “Who was this?” Why did this happen?” The teacher models the process initially and then the children try. It is claimed that it encourages children to engage with the text and helps them to differentiate between fact and opinion, as well as helping them search for bias.

Story Grammar/Text Structure Analysis

Throughout the 1970s and early 80’s psychologists argued that, as we listen to and read stories so, our knowledge about stories grows and we can draw on this to help us predict and understand what is happening, and is likely to happen in new stories.

This accumulating knowledge of story texts develops in us a set of expectations for the structure of a story, helps us facilitate our understanding of stories and improves our memory/recall of a story.

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This gave rise to several classroom strategies, such as story mapping and story structure charts.

Story maps/story shapes/story charts -Children draw a “map” of the events in a story. This helps them to recall and retell the story. The particular structure of a story, such as circular or an “A to B” journey can also be made explicit via story mapping.

In the 80’s and 90’s attention turned to the non-fiction texts.

Structural organisers -Recognising the structure of non-fiction texts and then mapping the content onto various organiser grids e.g. point/evidence grid, argument/ counterargument list, cause/effect grid.

Interpretive strategiesThese encourage the reader to relate to, identify with or respond to a text.

Character Development

Imagining how a character might feel and identifying with them. There are many strategies that require children to make explicit their response to and knowledge of a character. These include;

feeling graphs or map showing how emotions develop throughout the story;

hot seating; TV interviews. Compile a list of questions to ask if

you were to interview the character. This can be combined with hot seating and the interview conducted with the “character”;

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drawing character and surrounding the drawing with phrases from the text;

writing bubbles for characters at key moments in the text when they don’t actually speak;

relationship maps between different characters with evidence from text;

relationship grid with each character listed along the top and down the side. Each cell represents a relationship to be explored;

speculating on actions and motives e.g. asking why did … what if…?;

character emotions register. This involves creating a 5-point emotions scale with pupils for the possible range of reactions at certain specific points in the story (for example from “mildly irritated” to“ incandescent with rage”). Pupils then rate characters on the scale.

Identifying themes/information

the author’s chair:child takes on the role of the author, answering questions about the book and justifying what “they” have written;

draw a diagram, grid, flow chart etc. to show information;

draw a cartoon/story board identifying 4/5 main points from story or information;

highlight words, phrases which link together to build a picture of character or mood or setting etc.;

write a blurb for the book; identify facts and opinion and consider how they are

woven together; make a what’s important grid.

Reading for Multiple Meanings

justify the actions of a villain; retell a scene from the point of view of a minor

character within it;

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rank characters according to criteria e.g. most powerful to least powerful, kindest to meanest. Do different criteria give different insights?

problem solving. Stop at the point where a character faces a problem or dilemma. List alternative suggestions from the group. Consider the consequences of each suggestion. Arrive at a group decision.

identify and discuss any differences or additional information to be found between the text and illustrations;

give the text only or pictures from a multi-layered picture book and ask the children to tell the story/read the prose story before reading the complete book. Discuss any changes in their perceptions and responses.

Looking for/challenging a consistent point of view

genre exchange – ask children to transpose something from one written form they have just read to another;

criteria rating certain scenes at a crucial point – most likely to happen/least likely to happen, most likely to be true/least likely to be true;

story comparison charts. Several versions of a story are read(e.g. Cinderella tales) and a comparative chart is completed.

Relating Texts To Personal Experience

say what they would have done at certain points in the story;

choose the funniest, scariest, most interesting moment from the story or information book. Justify their choice;

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response journals (ongoing throughout the reading of long books);

relate to other books by the same author or on same topic, read by the group or individual. Discuss similarities or differences.

Semantic strategies

Exploring the relationship between words and their meanings:

previewing vocabulary – teacher provides a list of words

related to the book or topic and meanings discussed before reading;

building banks of new words – as children read they mark or note on post-its or in vocabulary journals any new words they are unsure of. After reading, the group discusses ways of working out the meaning (e.g. root, morphology etc.). Once a word is understood children note its meaning. They could add a visual cue to remind them;

word tracker/oral thesaurus – children track particular groups of words/phrases (e.g. appearance words). They list these and suggest alternatives;

making dictionaries and glossaries – children can track words whose meanings are unclear (e,g, technical words, dialect words, slang etc.). They then investigate the meanings and create text specific dictionaries or glossaries.

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Guiding Reading

It is essential that we provide opportunities for the pupils to express and refine their responses to the literature they read.

The following statements are a brief summary of the PNS objectives which are concerned with the development of positive and enquiring attitudes towards reading.

Read further stories by the same author Express own views about an author Develop an awareness of authors and express

preferences Develop an active attitude towards reading, seeking

answers and anticipating events Empathise with characters and imagine events that

are described Contribute constructively to a shared discussion

about literature, responding to and building on the views of others.

One way in which we can help the children to achieve these ends is by careful questioning. It is not always easy to know what questions to ask when addressing a particular objective or skill.

The statements above and the suggested questions which follow are found in Angela Housbaum, Nikki Gamble and David Reedy (2002) Guiding Reading - A handbook for teaching guided reading at Key Stage 2 . (Second Edition) ISBN 0-85473-720-0The Institute of Education. www.ioe.ac.uk/publications

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Here are some suggested questions which deal with aspects of reading which the children will be meeting in a variety of texts. These prompt questions are a starting point and you will want to adapt them to suit your class, text type and purpose.

FictionSetting:

Where did this story take place? Is the setting really important to the story or could it

have happened anywhere? Was the setting for this story familiar or unfamiliar to

you? Did you really get a clear picture of where this story

was set? Do any particular words or phrases help you to

imagine the place where the story is set? Do any words or phrases provide an indication of the

time when this story is taking place?

Point of view: Who is telling the story? How do you know who is telling the story? Is the story told in the first or third person? Who do you feel closest to in this story? Can you say

why? Through whose eyes do you think you are seeing this

story? When you were reading did you feel you were part of

this story or did you feel you were an observer?

Character: Which character did you feel closest to in this story?

Why? Which character did you find most interesting? Why? Did you dislike any of the characters in this story? Were you reminded of anyone you know by the

characters in this story? Do any words or phrases help to build up a picture of

this character? Do you learn about this character from their

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appearance, what they say or what they do? Did your opinion of this character change while you

were reading?

Subject and theme: Can you suggest some words to summarise what

this story means to you? Does this story remind you of any personal

experience/something that has happened to you? Does this story have a message? Do you know other

stories that have a similar message?

Style: Was there anything you particularly liked or disliked

about the way in which this story is told? How did the author try to capture your interest in

the first four lines of this story? Which words/phrases have been used to develop an atmosphere of suspense/mystery? Are any words or phrases repeated? What effect

does this create? Compare the way in which different authors write

dialogue. Does the author tell you what the character is

thinking or do you have to work this out from other clues and hints?

Can you tell from the first paragraph what kind of story you are reading? What are the clues that help you identify the type of story?

Poetry

Form: Do you hear any repeating patterns in this poem? Can you predict what word the poet might have

used here? Can you hear any patterns in this poem when we

clap the rhythm? Can you predict the rhythm of the last line if I clap

the first three lines? (Strong regular rhythms in traditional ballads, for example.)

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Figurative language: Describe/draw the pictures that this poem creates in

your mind.

Word play: Do you notice anything special or unusual about the

words the poet has used?

Vocabulary: Are there any words or phrases that you particularly

like? What do you feel when you read this poem? Sad?

Angry? Are there any words or phrases that stick in your

mind?

Non-fiction—generic features

Structural organisers:

What’s the purpose of this book? Why would you read it?

Does this book have a central character? What makes it different from a story? Does this (non-fiction) book have chapters? How has the author organised the material in this

book? What could you find out from this book? How do you know if the information is accurate?

What kind of expertise does the author have? How do you know?

Compare the contents page of a fiction and a non-34

fiction book: what do you notice? Look at the bibliography: why might this be useful?

Headings and subheadings:

Where could you find out about … in this book? Is there any other way? What’s the quickest way? How many levels of headings and subheadings does

this book have? Are they factual or do they ask questions?

Do you take notice of the headings when you scan?

Index:

What is the difference between the index and the contents?

If you want to find out about … how could you do it? Where would you start?

What’s the best place to look for information about … ? If you can’t find information in the contents where

else might you look? If there isn’t an entry in the index, what might you

do to find out about … ? How could I use the search engine to find

information about … ? Why are the sites found organised in this order? Why

are ‘hot links’ useful?

Glossary:

Compare the definitions of… given in the glossary of at least two books. Which one is clearer?

When you were doing research about … were there 35

any words that you looked up in the glossary? Was the glossary helpful?

Specialist technical vocabulary:

Does this sound complicated? Could you write this in simpler terms? What words and phrases tell you that the author is

describing the anatomy of an insect? Why did he use thorax and abdomen and not body?

Perspective:

Which article/letter would most persuade you to change your mind? Why?

What words/phrases/questions/points were the most powerful in persuading you that hunting was wrong?

Has one author given information in their book that the other hasn’t? What has been left out? Is it important?

Have the books/authors presented the information in different ways? Which is the most effective? Why?

What does the writer want to persuade you to think/do?

Who is this advert trying to persuade? Who wrote this advert/article? Can you tell what they think? How?

Illustrations:

What do the diagrams tell you that the words do not?

If you just look at the pictures, what would you say this book was about?

What can you find out by looking at the photographs?

Why is this exploded diagram better than a 36

photograph?

Register:The PNS framework does not explicitly refer to register. However, the concept of register is implied in all references which compare different kinds of non-fiction texts.

Do you think the letter writer is a friend of the person who will receive it? Why/why not?

What words/phrases have been used which give you clues that this a formal letter?

Who wrote the book about Mandela’s life? How would it be different if Mandela had written it himself?

Highlight the words and phrases that you find in formal documents. Which ones wouldn’t you use if you were writing to a friend?

Why has the author set out the instructions like this? Could they have been written any other way?

How could this be made to sound more friendly and informal?

How could this be made to sound more formal or serious?

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