| | Nonfiction | Fiction |
| Illustrations | -illustrations are more closely tied to the words on the page -illustrations are drawn. -illustrations are very simple | -illustrations are drawn. -illustrations are very busy with additional pictures |
| Number of words on each page | -fewer words on each page. | -more words on each page |
| Content/text structure | -common objects that can be found in a backyard -each page introduces the item (i.e. The ball.) | -common animals on a farm -may be difficult for students to understand what is happening in the story (i.e. The cows go.) |
The two books that I chose were Go, Go, Go and The Backyard. Both books are from readingatoz.com and are at a DRA-A level. At this reading level, there are more similarities between the two types of texts than there are differences. I believe the closeness between the two types of texts may prove to be very difficult for the students to understand. For example, each book had illustrations that were drawn, making it very difficult to decide which was fiction and which was nonfiction just by looking at the pictures. For ELL students, clearly seeing the difference between drawn illustrations and photographs definitely helps to decide fiction from nonfiction. Although each book had drawings, the nonfiction illustrations had a more obvious tie to the concept than did the fiction text.
The nonfiction text had fewer words on each page than did the fiction text. The nonfiction text would be easier to read and to understand for ELL students because of how closely the words and the illustrations matched. The fiction text would be more difficult to read simply because the illustrations did not lend much support to the text.
Besides the obvious difference between theme (the nonfiction text was about objects found in the backyard and the fiction text was about farmyard animals getting in a truck to go somewhere), the text structure was not that different between the two texts. Each page of both texts introduced a new item or animal while maintaining the pattern.
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ReplyDeleteJonell,
ReplyDeleteYou did a nice job highlighting some differences in fiction and non-fiction text structure. I agree that if both books had illustrations it would be difficult to decide which was fiction or non-fiction.
I am sure there is a big difference in non-fiction text at the early childhood stage compared to a 3rd grade text. More features are added, which can make it all the more confusing for our ELL kiddos.
Jonell,
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a very good point about the illustrations in A to Z readers. I have NEVER thought about how ELL learners would have difficulty in deciphering between "real" and "make-believe", because both sets of illustrations are drawn. Because of this, you would really have to emphasize the main idea of the story versus the pictures.
It is always interesting to see the difference between the ECE learners and 3rd grade. :-)