for reported results or findings. The instances of this recount text may take in the form of retelling data collecting in a research.
5 Literary recount, i.e. a kind of recount text which is intended to retell a series of events for entertaining the readers. The instances of this recount
type may be similar to imaginative recount or personal recount texts above.
26
In conclusion, a recount text is a text retells a number of past events or experiences chronologically based on time and place. Besides, it
can be in several forms, such as personal, factual, imaginative, procedural, and literary recounts.
b. Structural Features of Recount Text
Knapp and Watkins reveal that a recount text has structural features comprising orientation in which characters are set up in a particular time and
place, followed with sequence of events, and evaluation optional discussing the writer’s interpretation of the events told.
27
Similarly, the structural features or generic structures of a recount text are described as follows:
1 Orientation, i.e. a part in which the background information needed
to understand the text is provided. It comprises who were involved in the story the characters, when did the event happen time, and
where did the event happen place. 2
Sequence of events, i.e. a part which describes the events happened and it is commonly ordered chronologically.
3 Re-orientation, i.e. a part which provides a summary statementan
evaluative commenta return to the starting point.
28
.
26
Ibid.
27
Peter Knapp and Megan Watkins, Genre, Text, Grammar: Technologies for Teaching and Assessing Writing, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Ltd, 2005, p. 234.
28
Government of South AustraliaDepartment for Education and Child Development, op. cit., p. 2.
The three structural features of a recount text above can be described in the following example:
Title : My Vacation
Orientation : Last month, my friends and I went to Pari Island. We
stayed in a hotel there. Sequence
of Events
: During the vacation, we went to a marvelous beach of which name was Pasir Perawan beach. In fact, there
were many foreigners who also visited the beach. It was so nice then. We decided to rent a banana boat
there. After trying the banana boat, we came to other spots near the beach to go snorkeling.
Numerous panoramic and dazzling views, such as the clown fish
as well as beautiful rocks, can be seen under the water.
Re-orientation : On the last day of vacation, we did not forget to buy
some typical souvenirs of Pari island sold by some of the local inhabitants. Although we seemed tired, but
we all still looked happy then.
c. Language Features of Recount Text
Like other kinds of texts, the recount text has a particular language features used. This section attempts to reveals the particular language features
of a recount text in details. First, Knapp and Watkins point out that the language features of a recount text consist of action verbs commonly used in
past tense verbs, e.g. held, did, performed, and temporal connectives e.g. first, then, and so on.
29
In addition, the language features of a recount text may use present tense, for instance in informal anecdotal storytelling e.g. Just imagine—I’m
in the park and I suddenly see a giant bat flying towards me, the subject of a recount text has a tendency to focus on individual or group participants e.g.
29
Peter Knapp and Megan Watkins, op. cit., p. 228.
third person: They all ate it; She ran away, and the first person e.g. I was on my way to your house; We went to school together in terms of personal
recount text.
30
To sum up, language features of recount text consist of using past tense action verb e.g. performed, did, etc., temporal connectives e.g. first,
then, next, and so on, the subject focusing on individual or group participants e.g. third person: They, She, and so on, and the first person
e.g. I and we.
5. Assessing the Writing Skill
Assessing the writing skill is not an easy matter. There are several considerations as raters would like to assess one’s composition. A number of
experts have revealed that there are some kinds of scoring method that can be used to assess the writing skill. This section tries to discuss those kinds of scoring
methods in detail. Hughes asserts that there are two kinds of scoring to assess the writing
skill summarized as follows: a. Holistic Scoring
This is sometimes called as the impressionistic scoring. It is a kind of scoring in which a piece of writing is assessed with a single score based on a general
impression of the piece of writing. b. Analytic Scoring
This is a method in which a piece of writing is assessed analytically, i.e. the aspects of writing are scored separately.
31
Likewise, Heaton also reveals similar methods of scoring with one additional kind of scoring as follows:
a. Impression method
30
South Gloucestershire Council, Revised Framework for Literacy, Support for Writing: Text Types Guidance and Progression Papers, 2015.
31
Arthur Hughes, Testing for Language Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, Second Edition, pp. 94—100.
