As you grew up, your communication skills developed accordingly. Language is the tool humans use to make sense of our world. Without language, it is hard for us to think clearly or understand others, so acquiring language is probably the most important thing you did during the first years of your life. First, you learned to understand spoken language as well as express it, and you practiced those things for a few years before you learned about another important tool: written language.
If you are making any sense of this right now, then you know how to read, which means you are making sense of all these little characters called letters. You look at how they are arranged before you, your brain processes this input into thoughts or concepts, and when you are finished you understand the meaning, the message the writer (that's me!) wanted to share. Because you know how to read, you can also write. As with anything else, the degree of sophistication with which you read and write is determined by how much you have practiced these skills, so let's look at what these skills entail.
Communication is the exchange of information. For our purposes, we'll call that information text. (We tend to think of text only as collections of written words, like in books, but a text can be anything that conveys information: book, movie, audio CD, web page, etc.) Also, different kinds of texts serve different purposes.
Functional Text tells you how to do things. It is impossible to get along in life independently if you do not comprehend functional text. Examples of functional text are things like instruction manuals, maps, schedules, phone books, dictionaries, schematic diagrams, the little instruction balloons that pop up periodically in video games, and the YouTube video that teaches you how to pitch a curve ball. Functional text is not particularly fun to read or write, but it is necessary. Functional text helps you DO something.
Informational Text provides information about a specific topic. When you do research for a class project, you will sift through a variety of informational texts. In fact, most of the text you are faced with in school is informational. Textbooks, in-class lectures, encyclopedias, newspapers, magazines, educational movies (think science and history classes), and many educational Internet sites are examples of informational text. What you are now reading is informational text. Informational text helps you KNOW something.
Literary text is designed to entertain, engage, and move the reader emotionally. Literary texts includes novels, short stories, poetry, stage plays, movies, songs, and creative writing. You often study literary texts in English and/or literature classes. If you read novels or watch movies for fun, then you know how literary texts differ from other kinds of texts.
As a receiver of information, you will read, listen to, and view these kinds of texts. As a sender of information, you will write, speak, and present information by creating the kind of texts that suit your purpose. Let's look at the roles of sender and receiver.
Kim's Korner: Modes of Writing
Seven Types of Paragraph Development
Expository writing (Exposition) is the type of writing (or speech) used to explain, describe, or inform. Many school essays fall into the realm of expositiory writing, and exposition can include elements of the forms of expression below. Most academic essays are of an expository nature.
Descriptive writing (Description) describes a topic, person, or thing by listing features and examples. Good description allows the receiver to create a mental picture that is exactly what the sender intended. A descriptive essay or speech is devoted to describing one particular topic in detail. Descriptive passages often appear in novels and essays to help the reader develop a mental picture of the person or thing being discussed.
Narrative writing (Narration) tells a story about an experience, event, or series of related events. Obviously a good story is made up of narration, but you might also narrate certain examples in an essay or speech in order to make a point.
Persuasive writing (Persuasion) offers supporting evidence and examples to influence the receiver (audience). The purpose of persuasion is to convince the audience to make some sort of change or to take action on the topic in question. We are surrounded by the elements of persuasion in the form of advertising, but you can also find persuasive essays on the editorial pages in the newspaper. In school, this is probably the most important mode of writing to be able to identify, analyze, and write.
Creative writing entertains, engages, and/or moves the reader emotionally. Literary text is creative writing, but there can be elements of creativity in any form of communication. Creativity shows through even in communication that is not specifically designed to entertain.
Organization is an important aspect of communication. The way you organize
ideas can help you achieve the results you desire. These are organizational
patterns that make essays
more effective: Cause/Effect,
Chronological Order,
Comparison
(Contrast), Spatial Order, Order of Importance (Emphatic Order), General-to-Specific/Specific-to-General.