Characters of exposition text Text Structures of Exposition

a. Characters of exposition text

As stated before, exposition text presents the information. It does not argue for or against a point or seek to defend an opinion. There are many characters of exposition text. According to Axelrod and Charles 1994, there are six characteristics. They are as follows.  It seeks to inform people about a specific subject.  It presents information efficiently. Consider who the audience is and what they will already know about the subject and what the presenter still needs to explain.  It tries to engage the reader or the audience’ interest although the point of exposition text is not to entertain, but rather to instruct and to inform.  It relies almost exclusively on established information.  It does not include the author’s experiences or feelings.  It does not express an opinion to be defined.

b. Text Structures of Exposition

There are seven text structures organizational patterns, commonly identified with expository text including definition, description, process e.g., sequence, classification, comparison, analysis e.g., cause and effect, and persuasion Heller, 1991; Meyer Freedle, 1984: 21 1, 121-143. Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. 27 Cooper 1994 also identified the text structures of exposition text in which consist of:  Definition To define the basic terms that are needed to explain a concept since the reader cannot be expected to familiar with the presented topic.  Classification and division Classification and division is functioned to divide the information into many categories and to address them one by one. The reader only has to understand one part at a time, and sees the structure and relationship between the categories, which help with understanding the overall topic.  Comparison and contrast To show how the topic is similar to or different from something to help the reader or the audience constructs the point clearly.  Description and narration To provide the vivid illustrations, or explains how the process works. Although the patterns are not absolutely similar one to the other proponents, however the overarching skill identified with expository text is the students’ ability to recognize and understand these expository text structures Flood, Lap, Farnan, 1986; Harvey, 1998; Mc Gee Richgels, 1985. 28

5. Cooperative Learning