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The students should be challenged and stimulated by interesting and fun activities during the teaching and learning process. Teaching writing
is not just opening the book, giving assignments, and grading paper. The students are not just writing based on the topic given and collecting the
product at the end of a lesson. According to Brown, one of the challenges of becoming an effective writing teacher is by facilitating the students in
learning writing. As the facilitator, the teacher must offer guidance in helping students to engage in the process of writing.
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B. Narrative Text
1. Definition of Narrative Text
A narrative is a piece of text which tells a story and, in doing so, entertains or informs the reader or listener.
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While Woodson states narrating is when you tell a story, when you describe actual or fictional
events.
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Also, narrative whose purpose is mainly to inform often contain large passages arranging the events in a story strictly in chronological order.
Narrative can be imaginary or factual fairy tales, mysteries, fables, romances and adventures stories, myths and legends. Anderson and
Anderson describe many different types of narrative namely humor, romance, crime, real
–life fiction, historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, diary-novel, and adventure.
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2. Purpose of Narrative Text
People write narrative text might be basically for pleasure, to gain and hold the rea
der’s interest in a story. It means that they like to write any kinds of stories to entertain or even to teach the readers a
bout the writer’s reflections on experience. This is equal
to Anderson’s explanation that
27
H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principles …p. 340
28
Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types in English 2, South Yarra: Mcmillan, 1997, p. 8
29
Linda Woodson, From Cases to Composition, Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1982, p. 145
30
Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types …p. 18
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narrative is used to present a view of the world that entertains or informs the reader or listener.
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3. Schematic Structures of Narrative Text
The generic structures of narrative texts are orientation, complication, resolution, and re-orientation. A more detailed generic
structure of a narrative text has been proposed by Anderson and Anderson who argue that a narrative text includes a orientation that sets the scene
when where and introduces participantscharacter who, b complication where a crisis arises and something happened unexpectedly,
c resolution when the crisis is resolved in which the characters finally sort out the complication, and d a coda which is closing to the narrative an
optional step.
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4. Linguistic Features of Narrative Text
The language features usually found in a narrative are a specific characters, b time words that connect events to tell when they occur, c
verb to show the action that occurs in the story, and d descriptive words to portray the characters and setting.
In the following is the example of schematic structure and language features of narrative text.
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31
Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types …p. 6
32
Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types …p. 8
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Departemen Pendidikan Nasional Standar Kompetensi Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris SMP MTs, Jakarta: Pusat Kurikulum, Balitbang Depdiknas: 2003
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SNOW WHITE Schematic
Structures Language
Features Once upon a time there lived a little girl
named Snow White. She lived with her Aunt and Uncle because her parents were dead.
One day she heard her Uncle and Aunt talking about leaving Snow White in the
castle because they both wanted to go to America and they
didn’t have enough money to take Snow White.
Snow White did not want her Uncle and Aunt to do this so she decided it would be
best if she ran away. The next morning she ran away from home when her Aunt and
Uncle were having breakfast. she ran away into the woods.
She was very tired and hungry. Then she saw this little cottage. She
knocked but no one answered so she went inside and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, the seven dwarfs were coming home from work. They went inside.
There they found Snow White sleeping. Then Snow White woke up. She saw the dwarfs.
The dwarfs said, what is your name? Snow White said
, ‗My name is Snow White’. Doc said
, ‗If you wish, you may live here with us”. Snow White said, ‗Oh could I
?Thank you ’. Then Snow White told the
dwarfs the whole story and Snow White and the 7 dwarfs lived happily ever after.
Orientation
Major Complication
Resolution
Complication Resolution
Complication
Major Resolution
Specific participants
Past tense action
Samples of temporal
sequence
Figure 2.2 The Example of Narrative Text
