Dramatic text types use acting to communicate ideas and experiences. Drama can be spoken and written. They often use visuals such as facial expressions,
costumes, and sets to help communicate meaning.
2.9 Narrative
According to Mark and Kathy Anderson 1997 narrative is a piece of text that tells a story and, in doing so, entertains or informs the reader or listener.
According to Derewianka 1990:43, one of the functions of the language is to enable us to represent the world and not only the real world but also the
imaginary world. The world is made up of people, places, objects, animals, plants, concepts, and so on. However, we have to remember that the world is not static. It
also involves events and happening. Narratives are stories of stories of personal experience Martin Cortazzi
1994:1. Narrative appears not just as a discourse form but as a mode of mental organization that is found in memory construction and that features in the early
social experiences. It means almost all of people’s events or experiences belong to narrative. Similarly, our imaginative stories, which are created, belong to narrative
too. Key features of narrative are the organization of events in time, the intentional actions of participants, cause and effect, and the resolution of
problems, often through some surprising events.
2.9.1 The Purpose of Narrative
The basic purpose of narrative is to construct a view of the world that entertains or informs the reader or listener Mark and Kathy Anderson 1997:3.
Furthermore, narrative may also seek to teach or inform, to embody I’s reflections or experience, and perhaps, the most important is to nourish and extend the
readers imagination Derewianka 1990:40.
2.9.2 Types of Narrative
There are many types of narratives. They are typically imaginary but can be factual. They are as follows:
1 fairy stories,
2 mysteries,
3 science fiction,
4 choose-your-own-adventures,
5 romances,
6 horror stories,
7 humor,
8 heroes and villains e.g. TV
cartoons, 9
adventure stories, 10
fables and moral tales, 11
myth and legends, 12
parables, 13
historical narratives, 14
diary novels, 15
crime, 16
fantasy.
2.9.3 Language Features
According to Dewerianka 1990:42, narrative also has language features as follows:
1 Specific, often-individual participants with defined identities. Major
participants are human, or sometimes animals with human characteristics.
2 Mainly action verbs material processes, but also many verbs which
refer to what the human participants said, or felt, or thought verbal and mental processes.
3 Normally uses past tense.
4 Many linking words to do with time.
5 Dialogue often included, during which the tense may change to the
present or future. 6
Descriptive language chosen to enhance and develop the story by creating images in the reader’s mind.
7 Can be written in the first person I, We or the third person he, she, it.
In choose-your-own-adventures, the reader is involved in the story as a major character and addressed as “you”.
2.9.4 Text Organization
Narrative is a story. Thus, narrative tells us about something that happens on a sequence of events. Mark and Kathy Anderson 1997:8 describe the steps
for constructing a narrative text are: 1
An orientation can be a paragraph, a picture or opening chapter in which the narrator tells the audience about who is in the story, when the
story is taking place and where the action is happening.
2 A complication that sets off a chain of events that influences what will
happen in the story.
3 A sequence of events where the characters react to the complication.
4 A resolution in which the characters finally sort out the complication.
5 A coda that provides a comment or moral based on what has been
learned from the story an optional step.
Another explanation comes from Neo 2003:8, narrative has structure, shape, or pattern that can be represented graphically in this way:
Climax Rising
action Falling
action
This is known as freightage triangle. From the graphic above, we know that it consists of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
Below is the explanation of each item: 1
Exposition : It establishes the characters and the situation.
2 Rising Action : It refers to a series of complications, which leads to the
climax. 3
Climax : It is the critical moment when problems or conflicts demand something to be done about them.
4 Falling Action : It is the movement away from the highest peak of
excitement. 5
Resolution : It consists of the result or outcome.
2.10 Guidelines for Text Selection
