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) |
