Expository writing may be especially difficult for elementary grade students due to lack of background knowledge and unfamiliar text structures. A text structure writing intervention aimed at teaching students to write informational text using text structures has been shown to have promise for improving the informational text writing of upper…

Expository writing may be especially difficult for elementary grade students due to lack of background knowledge and unfamiliar text structures. A text structure writing intervention aimed at teaching students to write informational text using text structures has been shown to have promise for improving the informational text writing of upper…

To craft engaging nonfiction prose, young writers should focus on a specific idea or concept of interest and use acclaimed children's books as mentor texts to help them understand options for developing their ideas. In this article, the authors provide examples of high-quality children's nonfiction for exploring various formats and text structures…

The purpose of the study was to examine how disciplinary literacy instruction influenced the quality of science informational text produced by second-grade students (N = 45) using the compare/contrast and the sequence text structures. The instruction took place over eight weeks with two four-week units, and with three 30-minute lessons provided…

This study conducted with French-speaking students living near Montréal, Canada, assess if teaching the shared knowledge between reading and writing of informative texts improves reading comprehension in fourth grade (9-10 years old) to a greater extent than teaching that separates reading and writing. Teachers participating in the experiment…

This article describes the complex cognitive and linguistic challenges of summarizing expository text at vocabulary, syntactic, and rhetorical levels. It then outlines activities to help ABE/ESL learners develop corresponding skills.

This paper presents the results of a predicative analysis led on comparison and problem-solution texts produced by pupils of the second and third grades of primary school following a set of reading and writing instructional activities. The production of those texts is of a special challenge to the young writers because of the cognitive and…

The purpose of this "teaching tips" article is to describe practical classroom instruction that helps elementary students write expository responses to narrative texts. It focuses on the importance of scaffolded, interactive discussions comprised of a combination of teacher think alouds and similar student responses before, during, and…

This study compared two techniques for teaching middle school students to compose from expository text sources, a common but difficult academic writing task. Classroom social studies content was used. Text structure instruction (TSI), which focused on text characteristics using graphic organizers, was compared with PLAN & WRITE for Summarization…

We compared 56 eighth-grade students who, 28 months previously, had received instruction in strategies for planning and revising their writing, with 21 students of similar academic ability from the same school who had not experienced the intervention. Both groups wrote an expository essay whilst logging their writing activities and completed…

Offers a definition of explanatory text, and summarizes research on why abstract concepts and principles are difficult for lay readers to understand. Describes a three-week unit for composition classes on spotting difficult ideas, diagnosing the type of difficulty they pose, and selecting the text features most likely to make them less difficult.…

Describes the Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing (CSIW) program by discussing: (1) knowledge bases that are useful for expository writing and reading; (2) features of instruction inherent in CSIW that help build knowledge for successful writing and reading; and (3) the effect of CSIW on students' expository writing and reading. (MG)

Reflecting the concerns of researchers and practitioners about children's text comprehension, this book defines and provides examples of narrative and expository text and describes research-based strategies for helping children comprehend these two types of text. The book contains the following chapters: (1) "Research on Stories: Implications…

Examines fifth- and sixth-grade students' metacognitive knowledge about the processes of writing narrative and expository texts. Finds that creating a communicative context enhances students' awareness of audience and purpose, as well as their understanding of different aspects of the writing process. (MG)

Traces the revision of narrative and expository text made by sixth grade students during a school year in which the focus was on improving reading comprehension and writing through instruction in text structure. Finds that only expository texts were judged to improve in writing quality by year end. (MG)