Decoding Non-Fiction Texts

Whāinga ako: Lesson Goals

To identify language features and how they help us understand non-fiction text

Non-fiction, heading, sub-heading, caption, language features.

Title (Whārangi ingoa)

The main name of the doc/article/book this gives you the overview of the topic of the text.

Headings and sub-headings (Upoko)

Read and think about the heading. A good heading will inform you about the text’s content. It’s always nice if headings are also interesting, catchy, or even clever, but the most important job of a heading is to let the reader know what’s coming and what the text will be about.  Sub-headings break the text down further.

Paragraphs (Kōwae)

Paragraphs are where the details are held. We can usually tell where paragraphs start and finish as there will be a gap in the text or a new line is started.

Photos and captions (Whakaahua & Whakapūaho)

We can use images provided to us to help understand the text better. We need to consider how it links to the text and how it helps us further our understanding. When identifying, describing and analysing a text we can talk about these things too.

Symbols (In imagery) (Tohu)

Any time we see a certain colour it evokes an emotion, this is used intentionally when posters are made. There are also things that are included that have meaning that we may not necessarily consider, for example, usually the use of a bird represents freedom, if the bird is in a cage...