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When we communicate, we use a wide variety of language forms, which have their particular structure, style and purpose. They have been called text-types or discourse forms. In learning the language students should experience and actively create a wide variety of discourse forms, proceeding from simpler to more complex as they develop and their knowledge of language increases.
Students should have passive or active experience of a variety of text types which are current and useful, relevant to the students’ interests and aspirations, and have the potential for a range of activities.
The following list of text types will be useful in developing courses, activities and teaching strategies.
account |
graffiti | poem |
advertisement (radio, newspaper, television) |
graph | prayer |
greeting or congratulation | proclamation | |
anecdote | guide (television, tourist, race) | profile |
argument | history or chronicle | program |
article (magazine, newspaper) | horoscope | proverb |
autobiography | index | questionnaire |
ballad | inscription | receipt |
brochure | instruction or recipe | reference (job) |
bulletin | interview | report (analytical, conjectural, factual) |
cartoon (with words) | joke | |
case-study | label | request |
catalogue | lecture or talk | resume or curriculum vitae |
chart | legend or myth | riddle |
cheer |
letter (business, literary, personal or to the editor) | script (film,television) |
comic | sermon | |
commentary | libretto or lyric | short story |
contract | list or inventory | sign (with words) |
conversation | map and legend | sketch |
critique or review | meeting (including agenda, motion, minutes, terms of reference, or procedure) |
slogan |
debate | soliloquy | |
dedication | song, hymn, or anthem | |
definition | menu | specification |
diagram | message (telegram, telephone, verbal or written) |
speech |
diary or journal | sticker | |
discussion | narrative | story |
documentary (film or video) | notice | summary or synopsis |
editorial | novel | telephone call |
essay (factual, conjectural, creative or analytical) |
order or command | testimony |
parable | textbook (instruction manual) | |
folk-tale | personal account | timetable |
form | plan (essay) | trial |
game | play | wordplay (pun, tongue twister) |