Grenville points out that there a number of writing purposes that are summarized as follows:
a. Writing to entertain The intent of this kind of writing is to engage the readers’ feeling through the
writing’s plot or the emotion conveyed in the writing. The writing to entertain can be in the forms of writing novels, stories, poems, song lyrics, plays, and
screenplays; b. Writing to inform
This kind of writing aims to inform or tell readers about something. The writing to inform can be in the forms of writing newspaper, articles, scientific
or business reports, instructions or procedures, and essay for school and university;
c. Writing to persuade This kind of writing is intended to convince readers about something.
Providing relevant and logical evidence is considered important and entailed in this kind of writing. The writing to persuade can be in the forms of writing
for advertisements, articles, newspaper, and magazine.
22
Similarly, Browne reveals the same thing as Grenville that the purposes of writing consist of writing to entertain, writing to inform, and writing to persuade,
but she also mentions several other notions related to the writing purposes comprising writing to express feeling, to request, to instruct, to record, and to
express opinions and ideas.
23
To sum up, the kinds of writing purposes constitute the grounds that underlie the writers do the writing activity that fit together with the readers’ needs.
Besides, the product of the writing will depend on the purpose of the writing itself.
22
Kate Grenville, op. cit., pp. 1—2.
23
Ann Browne, Teaching and Learning Communication, Language and Literacy, London: Paul Chapman Publishing, 2007, pp. 81—82.
4. Writing Recount Text a. Definition of Recount Text
Many kinds of writing text are learnt by students at school, and a recount text is one of the texts that are importantly learnt by them. This
section tries to discuss the definition related to recount text. First, Grenville reveals that recount constitutes a text of which purpose is to tell a series of
events that occur in order.
24
Based on this definition, a recount text can be considered as the text in which a series of events become the essential part
of a recount text; in this case, the events are told chronologically to readers. In addition, recount constitutes a text that is intended to relate
experiences or retell events for a number of purposes, such as giving information, entertainment, or reflection.
25
Moreover, a recount text can take several forms summarized as follows:
1 Personal recount, i.e. a kind of recount text in which writers retells a personal activity as well as it may have an intention to build the
relationship between the writers and readers. This kind of recount can take several forms, such as anecdote, diary journal, and personal letter.
2 Factual recount, i.e. a kind of recount text which aims to report a particular incident through some factual information reconstructed. The
instances of this kind of recount text can be police reconstruction of an accident, historical recount, biographical and autobiographical recounts.
3 Imaginative recount, i.e. a kind of recount text in which a factual knowledge to an imaginary role is applied to interpret and recount
events. A Day in the Life of Roman Slave and How I Discovered Radium are some of the writing works that constitute the instances of imaginative
recount. 4 Procedural recount, i.e. a kind of recount text in which the steps in an
investigation or experiment are recorded as well as it is used as the basis
24
Kate Grenville, op. cit., p. 194.
25
Government of South AustraliaDepartment for Education and Child Development, Engaging in and Exploring Recount Writing, Numeracy+Literacy, 2012, p. 1.
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.
