Discussion Accompanying Contrasting of Textbook and Fiction
I created a “double-bubble” thinking map to compare and contrast fictional books and textbooks. The two large bubbles on the left and right represent textbooks (left) and fictional books (right). The three center bubbles are used for things each of these genres have in common. I have placed the “Title Page” and “Table of Contents” as similar features. Both textbooks and fictional books have a title page that contains the title, author, and publisher. Both also have a table of contents that lists things in the order of presentation. After these two areas of similarity, I saw many differences between the two genres.
I used the upper left bubble (textbook) and upper right bubble (fictional books) to show what each genre covers. The fact they this information is presented in opposite boxes shows that there exists a similarity in the major category under examination, namely “what each genre covers.” But the fact that this information is presented in opposite bubbles instead of the three interior bubbles shows that there is a major contrast. Fictional books cover character development, plotline, and theme. These categories are usually not addressed in a textbook. A textbook usually covers content and vocabulary.
The rest of the information presented in my thinking map is all listed under the textbook genre and does not have a corresponding category in fictional books. In sharp contrast to fictional books, textbooks usually have heading and subheadings, appendixes, graphic features, a bibliography, and a glossary. Also, textbooks tend to be structured differently than fictional books. Textbooks are usually structured chronologically, of course there are some exceptions. Textbooks can be structured chronologically, especially history textbooks. But textbooks can also be structured topically, by comparing and contrasting things, in a cause and effect manner, and even in a problem and solution manner.
I believe most features of texts will support English language learners. There are less text features in a fictional book, but those present will only support an English language learner. The table of contents will be very helpful, especially if it gives names to each chapter. The reader can look at the chapters and get a general idea what happens. The reader can even look at the entire list of chapters, if they have names, and get a sense of the entire flow of the story; the reader may get a sense of some of the events in the book and the different places in which these events may occur. Such previewing can only help an English language learner, or any reader for that matter. The back of the book may also provide the English language learner with additional support. The back of the book often gives a brief summary of the synopsis of the book, which would help the English language learner get an overall sense of the plotline, the major characters, and even the setting. The title page might offer some support. The English language learner could certainly develop an idea about the story by the book’s title. He might even recognize the name of the author and thereby anticipate a certain style of writing or genre. I doubt the name of the publisher would either provide support or cause any additional difficulties.
Textbooks generally have more features than fictional books—and most of these features will provide added support for an English language learner, or any reader for that matter. The title page will give the English language reader a sense of what topic the textbook covers. The table of contents will provide a big help to the English language learner. He can preview the overall scope of material covered in the book. He can also get a sense of what he can expect to be covered in each chapter before he actually begins reading the chapter. The progression of the chapters presented in the table of contents will even tell the reader in what manner the book is structured, such as chronologically, topically, cause and effect, problem solution.
There are several features commonly seen in textbooks that will also provide support for the English language learner. Most topics have headings and sub-headings. While this language may be academic and, therefore, cause some difficulties, such language cannot be avoided in textbooks. Once the English language learner can grasp the meaning behind this language, heading and sub-headings are very helpful. They help the reader keep his thinking focused only on the material under consideration. The reader knows that all the information they read should fit under the broad heading or slightly less broad sub-heading. Graphic features are also very helpful. Pictures, graphs and photos can be very helpful for and ELL student struggling with some of the language to make sense of the material. A glossary is also very helpful for the ELL student. Textbooks by nature are academic—and this is usually the last type of language developed by an ELL student. The ELL student may know the word under consideration in his native language—he may know the concept. But he may not know the word in English. The glossary will allow the ELL student to look up the definition of an academic word he does not know.
A couple features of a textbook will probably not be that helpful to an ELL student, but neither will they cause difficulties. Textbooks often have a forward. It could help, if the student even reads the forward. I must admit, I often do not read the forward. If the student reads the forward, he may indeed get some meaning from the forward. If he is only confused by the forward, however, this will not interfere with his reading of the text, as the text can certainly stand on its own independent of the forward. I also think the bibliography will offer little in the way of support and nothing in the way of difficulties. The bibliography could provide some support if a student was really passionate about a subject and wanted to do some additional research. But it will not provide any difficulties because, like the forward, it is really independent from the meaning of the text itself.
The main difficulty I see for the ELL student reading a textbook is the academic language, which is typically the last part of language developed, and the academic content and concepts, which may entirely new to the ELL student, or for any student.
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