Literacy Teaching Toolkit

Genre in the primary curriculum

We use language to achieve a range of social purposes, for example, telling a story, retelling what we did on our holidays, or persuading an audience of a particular point of view about a topic such as whether students should do homework.

The texts we create to achieve these social purposes can be referred to as genres or text types (Derewianka & Jones, 2016, p. 7).

Genres which achieve the same social purpose tend to follow similar structural patterns or generic structure (Butt, Fahey, Feez & Spinks, 2012, p. 251). For example, a typical structure for narrative is Orientation, Complication, Resolution, with Evaluation phases included across the narrative or in one particular place. Importantly, texts can also deviate from what might be seen as the typical or generic structure.

A narrative can also begin ‘in the action’ or an argument might begin with a short narrative. Once students are familiar with the more generic structure, ways of innovating on the genre should be explored and encouraged.

In the primary school, genres or text types commonly composed (and read) across the primary curriculum in different forms are: narrative, recount, persuasive, procedure, information report and explanation. For an overview of genres, see Genre overview (docx - 35.12kb)

Macro genres are texts which involve different genres. For example, a text about sleep might begin with an information report about sleep and later include an explanation of what happens when we sleep.

Genre in the early years

In the teaching of writing, it is important that students understand: 

  • the purpose of the text being written,
  • the audience it is intended for and
  • the language choices which shape the intended meanings for both purpose and audience.

Children in the early years of primary school will typically compose texts which do not include all stages of a structure, or texts which might include brief or abridged versions of the stages. Although these texts might be rudimentary examples of the genre, these texts will still represent the main function or purpose of the text type.

For example, a young child might write the following kinds of texts about cats:

  • Cats are furry animals.
  • Cats are better than dogs because they clean themselves.
  • Yesterday, we took my cat Fluff to the vet.
  • Once upon a time there was a cat that had nowhere to live. One day a family found the cat and they lived happily ever after.

Each text serves a different social purpose and, while there are some similarities in the language choices in each, there are also differences which help establish a certain meaning.

References

Butt, D., Fahey, R., Feez, S & Spinks, S. (2012). Using Functional Grammar: An Explorer`s Guide (3rd edition). South Yarra: Macmillan Education Australia.

Derewianka, B. & Jones, P. (2016). Teaching language in context (2nd ed.). South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.