Text Types Dalam Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris Blog Seputar Dunia Pendidikan NARRATIVE

NARRATIVE
What is a narrative?
A narrative is a text that tells a story and, in doing so, entertains the audience.
The purpose of a narrative, other than providing entertainment, can be to make
the audience think about an issue, teach them a lesson, or excite their
emotions.
Written narratives often take the form of novels. The story is usually told
by a narrator. If the narrator is one of the characters in the story, the story is
said to be told in the first person. If a person outside the story is the narrator,
then the story is being told in the third person.








Examples of narrative texts include:
myths
fairytales

Aboriginal dreaming stories
science fiction
historical fiction
romance novels

NARRATIVE
Features of a narrative
Constructing a narrative
The steps for constructing a narrative text are:
 an orientation 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
 a complication that sets off a chain of events that influences what will
happen in the story
 A sequence of events where the characters react to the complication
 A resolution in which the characters solve the problem created in the
complication
 a coda that provides a comment or moral based on what has been learned
from the story (an optional step).

Grammatical features of a narrative

Narratives usually include the following grammatical features:
 nouns that identify the specific characters and places in the story
 adjectives that provide accurate descriptions of the characters and settings
 verbs that show the actions that occur in the story
 time words that connect events, telling when they occurred.

NARRATIVE
The narrative scaffold
1. Orientation
In this paragraph the narrator tells the audience who is in the story, when it
is happening, where it is happening and what is going on.

2. Complication
This is the part of the story where the narrator tells about something that will
begin a chain of events. These events will affect one or more of the
characters. The complication is the trigger.

3. Sequence of events
This is where the narrator tells how the characters react to the complication.
It includes their feelings and what they do. The events can be told in

chronological order (the order in which they happen) or with flashbacks. The
audience is given the narrator’s point of view.

4. Resolution
In this part of the narrative the complication is sorted out or the problem is
solved

5. Coda
The narrator includes a coda if there is a moral or message to be learned
from the story.

NARRATIVE

MODEL OF A NARRATIVE
Structures

The Drover’s Wife

Grammatical
features


(adapted from a short story by Henry Lawson)
ORIENTATION
TELLING WHO
AND WHERE

COMPLICATION
THAT TRIGGERS
A SERIES OF
EVENTS
SEQUENCE OF
EVENTS WHERE
THE
CHARACTERS
REACT TO THE
COMPLICATION

RESOLUTION
IN WHICH THE
PROBLEM FROM

THE
COMPLICATION
IS SOLVED
CODA THAT
GIVES THE
MORAL TO THE
STORY

The two-roomed house is built of round timber, slabs and stringy-bark
and floored with split slabs. Bush all round-bush with no horizon, for the
country is flat. The drover, an ex-squatter, is away with sheep. His wife
and children are left here alone.
Four ragged, dried-up looking children are playing about the
house. Suddenly one of them yells ‘Snake! Mother, here’s a snake!’
It is near sunset, and she knows the snake is there. She makes up
beds for the children and sits down beside them to keep watch all night.
She has an eye on the corner and a green sapling club ready by
her side. Alligator, the dog, lies nearby.
It must be one or two o’clock in the morning. The bush woman
watches and listens, thinking about her life alone whilst her husband is

gone.
It must be near daylight now. The hairs on Alligator’s neck begin to
bristle. Between a crack in the slabs an evil pair of small, bead-like eyes
glisten. The snake-a black one-comes slowly out.
Alligator springs. He has the snake now. Thud, thud as the woman
strikes at the snake. The dog shakes and shakes the black snake. The
snake’s back is broken. Thud, thud is head is crushed.
She lifts the mangled reptile and throws it on the fire. The eldest
boy watches it burn and looks at his mother, seeing tears in her eyes.
He throws his arms around her and exclaims, ‘Mother, I won’t
never go droving; blarst me if I do!’

SPECIFIC
CHARACTERS

ADJECTIVES
PROVIDING
DESCRIPTION

USE OF TIME

WORDS TO
CONNECT
EVENTS
VERBS SHOWING
ACTIONS

ADJECTIVES
SHOWING
DESCRIPTIONS