Text and structu orga r nisa e tion
Understand that cohesive links can be made in texts by omitting or replacing words (ACELA1520) © Australian Curriculum: Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012
Related terms
Teacher information
Texts
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Written, spoken or multimodal forms of communication for a range of purposes. Text forms, organisation and conventions have been developed to enhance effective communication. Cohesion
• Text cohesion is achieved in many different ways and it is important that students can recognise some of the ways in which writers do this. These include: by using word associations, keyword repetition, word omission and substitution, and by visual representations.
Devices used to connect different parts of a text, including paragraphs, connectives, ellipses and word associations. Word associations
Teaching points
• When you read, it is important to think about how information in the text is linked. If you don’t understand how things are linked, you won’t be able to understand the text. • There are many ways writers make links between different ideas and information in the texts they write. They do this so we know when they are referring to the same thing or when they are letting us know that things are connected in a particular way.
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• For a text to be understood it must be cohesive.
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Grammatical or lexical relationships that make links between different parts of a text and hold it together. Cohesion is achieved through devices such as paragraphs, connectives, ellipses and word associations. Linking devices
What this means
• Word associations are used to make text more interesting and to add more information. Examples include: synonyms such as ’bears’ and ’these wild creatures’; pronoun reference, such as ’them’; and antonyms such as ’tame’. • Keywords can be repeated for effect and to link ideas; for example, in a poster promoting a resort as a retreat, the words ’relaxing’ and ’peaceful’ could appear in each different section of the poster describing a particular feature of the resort.
The semantical relationships between words which form links within texts. Pronoun reference
• Texts can be cohesive when words are omitted; for example, information which is closely linked to and builds on the previous sentence, such as: ’Bill favourite food is fish. Ben’s is chocolate’.
Word a pronoun is replacing and referring to.
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Synonyms
• Word substitutions can transfer information from the more specific to the general or vice versa; for example, from ’whales’ to ’sea creatures’ or ’large mammals’, or from ’insects’ to ’mosquitoes’.
Words with the same or a similar meaning. Antonym
• Writers can also use visual information to link ideas and to further explain concepts. Examples include diagrams, graphic organisers, flow charts, maps, illustrations and photographs.
Words with the opposite meaning. Ellipsis
Elaborations
Graphic organisers
E1. Identifying how cohesion is developed in text through word associations such as
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Visual representations of ideas, knowledge and concepts. Juxtaposition
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synonyms, including pronoun reference, antonyms and the repetition of keywords.
E2. Noting how writers can make text cohesive by omitting words or substituting a more general word for a more specific one.
o c . che e r o t r s super
Elements placed side by side, leaving it to the reader to establish connections and to impose meaning. Continuity
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The omission of words that have gone before, sometimes indicated with three dots.
E3. Understanding ways in which writers can link information and show relationships visually. Examples include: similarity, contrast, juxtaposition, repetition, class-subclass diagrams, part-whole diagrams, cause and effect figures, and visual continuities and discontinuities.
Uninterrupted connection, succession or union.
Further resources
Student vocabulary linked
ellipsis
word association
vice versa
synonyms
flow chart
antonyms
diagram
pronoun reference
graphic organisers
keywords
juxtaposition
cohesive
continuity
• http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/graphic/graphic.htm#persuasion An excellent collection of free online graphic organisers
omitted Australian Curriculum English – Language: Text structure and organisation (Year 6)
www.ricpublications.com.au
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