Today's students are surrounded by information. The ability to figure out exactly why authors write—and not accept every opinion as fact—is a key skill. The following strategies teach them how to figure out why authors really write.
Start with why. "Why did the author write this piece?" is the key question asked to identify author's purpose. To help students expand their understanding of "why," post various types of nonfiction (an advertisement, opinion article, news article, etc.) around your classroom and have students quickly identify a purpose for each.
Talk about structure. Authors use different structures for different purposes. For example, one author may use time order to explain an event, while another author uses compare and contrast to put that event into context.
Often when authors write, they're trying to get readers to feel a certain way. Perhaps the author of an article about whale conservation wants readers to feel sad about the difficult situation of whales. Or the author of a letter may want to make the recipient feel better about a situation. After students read a text, stop and ask: How do you feel? And how did the author get you to feel this way?
Connect it to students' own writing. It doesn't have to be said that writing and reading go hand in hand. When students are asked to write about a topic that they think everyone should know about, to explain a procedure or to share a personal memory, they'll become more conscious of how authors approach writing.
Observe how purpose changes within a text. Author's purpose is often studied through the text as a whole, but authors have different reasons for writing within texts as well. Then, they may launch into a list of facts that make the reader feel discouraged about the situation. And finally, they may conclude with an appeal. Take a short article and break it apart, identifying the different purposes so that students see how author's purpose changes as they read.
A. Get to the heart.
B. Identify the topic.
C. The readers may get more advanced in their work with informational text.
D. For example, an author may include a funny anecdote (轶事) to draw the reader in.
E. In particular, they'll need to figure out author's purpose and draw their own conclusions.
F. Expand students' awareness of why people write by having them write for different purposes.
G. Or keep a running Author's Purpose board with a list of the various reasons that authors write.
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