Appendices
Appendix 1: Criteria for Effective Narratives
Evaluation Questions for Effective Fairytales
Is there aclear Orientation which introduces and creates acontext and participants?
Does the story give the reader a definite sense of moving towards some endpoint whereby a problem/confli ct (Complicating Action) in the experience of the charactersis resolved (Resolution)?
Does the writer use the optional move of Evaluation effectively to foreshadow events and create expectations/tensionin the reader?
3.
Purpose:To entertain,amuse, shock,or reflect on experience Genre
1.
2.
Tenor 4.
5.
Does the writer make the participants and theiraction alive and real to the reader? Is the reader able to identifywith the participants?
Does the writer develop the participants by:
- the use of direct and indirect speech to reveal the thinking, feelings and motives of the characters (mental processes)?
- usevaried and explicit vocabulary to indirectly comment on events and actions?
- create a sense of characters' responses and motives?
- use imagery,rhetorical questions,repetitions, exclamations to build suspense, atmosphere and characterisation,and make the story aliveand entertaining to the reader?
Field 6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Mode 12.
Does the writer build up the reality of the situation by sequencing eventsproperl y and creating specific people and events (use appropriate vocabulary to describe 'doing ' [material]
processes)?
Does the writeruse varied, precise and discriminating vocabulary to describedifferent action that enhance the story e.g. 'squeezed ' instead of'held '?
Does the writer use discriminatingand evocative vocabulary to describe the thinking (mental) and doing (material) processes of the participants?
Does the writer build up a picture of the situation clearly by the use of prepositional phrases (through the woods,under the bridge) and adverbials(suddenly,frantically,fearfully). Is the past tense used consistently?
Does the writer use languagethat extends, enhances and elaborates on information using a range of linking words to link sentences,clauses and ideas?
Has the writer created a context independent text for the eventsof thenarrativeby:using varied sentence beginnings to denote changes in the temporal sequence; and using a range of cohesive devices (conjunctions,repetition,synonymsand reference items [she,he,the,this.
those]?
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Appendix 2: Literate Life History Questions
What has writing been like for you from the time you first remember until the present?
1. What do you remember about writing before you began school? Who did reading and writing around you? What kind of reading and writing did you see happening around you in the home and for what purpose was the reading and writing being done? How did you learn to write? Did anybody in your family, or around you, help you learn to read and write? Did anybody read or tell you stories? Can you remember any of these stories?
2. What was writing like for you in the primary school? High school? What sorts of things did you write about (topics, different kinds of writing)? What did you feel about those writing tasks? How many extended writing tasks (essays, letters, reports etc) do you remember doing per year at primary and high school? How wereyou taught to write these different tasks? How did teachers respond to your writing? How did you feel about their responses? What did you do with their responses? When was writing really good for you in your educational experience? When was it really bad for you? Can you give explain why these experiences were good or bad?
3. Can you remember the whole process of doing a writing task in school from the time the teacher presented the task to the time you handed it in and got it back? What role did the teacher play? How did you go about tackling the tasks? What was the process like for you?
When was it rewarding/exciting and when was it bad? How did other people help or hinder that process? Try and do this for both primary and secondary education.
4. Did your parents or other family members help you with your writing during you school years? How was that help given and how did you feel about it? Did anybody else help you with your writing (neighbours, relatives, friends) and how did you feel about it?
5. Where did you live and what were your schools like? What impact do you feel your schooling and where you lived have on your writing development? Where did you do your writing while you were at school? Did this place affect your writing positively and negatively? Explain.
What is writing like for you right now?
6. What kinds of writing do you do now and for what purposes? Write about a typical day and how writing fits into that day.
7. Some people say that writing is uncomfortable even distressing for them. Is this ever true for you?When? Why?
8. What would a picture of you writing where you live look like? Where do you write,when, how, with what? Do you find it a comfortable place or not?
9. What makes writing easy for you? What makes it difficult for you? What do you worry about when writing? Do you try and work out what people want when you write?
What sense do you make of your experience with writing?
10 Thinking about your past experiences of writing (especially your educational experiences) what things come to light? What things strike you as very important/noteworthy in your development as a writer?
11 What things are important to you in life? How does writing connect with what is important?
12 When you reflect back, what do you realise about schooling and its effect on you as a writer? How has the experience of writing in school been good/bad/exciting/
boring/distressing/demotivating/motivating? To sum up,what things so you feel promoted 2
your writing development and what hindered it?
13 Is there anythingimportant that has not been covered by these questions?
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Students' Literate Life Histories (Appendices 3 - 8) Appendix 3: Extracts from an Interview with Thulani
T - Thulani R -Researcher Primary School
T We were not encouraged to write even composition, not taught how to be independent, how to write a composition. We just copy composition to see how composition appears.
Afterw ards write the same composition in a test. We are not educated how to write a composition. If you say we must write the composition. If you say we must write the composition you willsee we have a problem ...are not educated how to write it. We will just want to draw the ideas before we write. We are not fully independent i how to write our things, create things for ourselves
T. They talked about [introductions] but did not make sure that we understand how to use it.
They just talked, if then the teachers work is done. a.K. finished. Ya. They taught us [paragraphs] but it is taught, ifthe example is given the pupils just take the copied message then the teacher will explain each and every paragraph what it is about. Most children will ignore that,the teacher will just say 'you understand?' and the few people, maybe four, will say 'yes ,we understand'.
T In the letter we used to be given a topic to write about the topic. We wrote to friends. R. Didyou write a composition on your own?
T. Ya, we used it,if we came back here's a topic 'How was the holiday?' R. What types of comments were made on your writing?
T. No. only marked, given a mark if address good, organisation is good. If paragrpahs are separated it would be the mark for that.
High School
R. What types of letters did you write in high school?
T. Business and informal letters.
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R. What comments were made about your letter?
T. No comments, just a mark.
R. What compositions did you write in Standards six, seven, and eight?
T. On birthday parties, trips.
R. Did you write about a debate?
T. No.
R. How many compositions did you write?
T. We write one composition and write one composition in the exams,two compositions.
R. What teaching about how to write did you get?
T. We know a little about writing. The teacher in class with a book oflanguage we will get an exercise book on top of the desk. We just read the comprehension. After that we will just answer the question. We will not be given maybe anything, maybe like a composition to make us create something for ourselves. We usually depend on the books, depend on the teacher.
R. Why do you copy notes from the board?
T. We copy because we can'tput information on the head. We must know maybeto place the information. Like in the English sentencethe first thingwe must know is how to palce the words that we might help the ideas, the meaning. The children most time the don't understand how to write in maybe like a sentence, how to put a thing in a sentence in an understandableway. That's why you may find that ifyou talk with the students he taketime to understand what is being said because most of the time he is nottalking he isjust given the work,giventhe work. When you done the work,given the mark, finish.
T. In history in those essays we were not told how a history must be written. During standard eight and seven we didn't write essays, we were just answering short questions ... [In standard nine] while we were given the topic [of history essay] we were not informed about how we must put our ideas, we just put it all scattered, all of it not in paragraph form.
R. Why did you do that?
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T. We have no idea what strategies we must use. Our writing was like the notes on the board.
We done it, and when she marked it she didn't complain that we used the wrong tactic to write the essay.
R. What sort of comments did the History teacher put on your composition?
T. Just spelling, just to comment about spelling. No other things.
T. During standards six,seven and eight I didn't know that the idea must be planned according to the events that occurred. I thought if you are writing a composition you just write. If the idea you have forgotten to write it at the top, it is alright to put it on the bottom. The teacher will comment about the idea that the ideas are scattered all over the composition, but the solution how to arrange those ideas will not come because she will think that I was sort of lazy during my writing, but the knowledge of how to write it was not advised.
R. What sorts of writing do you do during a school day?
T. The notes are very much and in History we are taught then given the skeleton notes of the chapter and then the teacher asks us to make our own notes to most ofthe time. I make notes in History, Biology and Geography.
Second Interview with Thulani
T. Itwas in a assignment that we were going to go home and write it and bring it back to the teacher to be marked. Whey we were given this topic we were not informed about how we must put our ideas. We just put it on all scattered write it in write all of it not in a paragraph form. We just wrote all the information from A up to Z not in the matter of a essay. All right.
R. Now why did you do that?
T. We have no idea what must what strategy.
R Was your writing like the notes from the board?
T. Yes. R. Was it?
T. Yes. We do,we done it when she marked it she didn't complain that we used the 6
wrong pattern to write the essay and then when our when we get on to the other teachers like the English last year okay we were told that how to write a essay and then we know that we were wrong but the teachers don't get it right all the time. I thought that if you are writing a composition you just write if the idea, if the idea that you must that you have forgotten to put on top it all right if you put it on the bottom.
R. So you didn't know you just put ideas as they come to you?
T. As they came. Yes if we were to write a composition there is no plan how I can arrange the ideas but I would take the pen to the exercise book and write the ideas and try to remember them as they come and write it and write it until I finished.
R. So what you are saying you didn't wit and plan something you just wrote you were given a topic.What did the teacher say? Just here is a topic write a composition?
T The teacher will comment about the ideas that are scatter all over the composition but the solution how to arrange those ideas will not come because she will think that I was sort oflazy during writing of that composition but the knowledge of how to write it was not in my head.
R. But writing down ideas and things like that you are saying you actually like that you don't like it when you don't know how to doit but are you saying now you know more on how to do it.
T. Yes.Yes I have information how to plan the writing I enjoy more writing than the past because in the past I didn't know how to write the composition that's why I prefer to write the poetry than writing the compositions/letters and something like that.
R. So you find writing poetry easier?
T. Easier because you just write.Just write.
R. Why do the teachers put the notes on the board. Why do they not just say use the book? Or make own notes or something?
T. Book sometimes mentions the things that are not very much important.
R Mmm...So?
T The teacher will give the notes because he knows what the test means. But the important things in the writing. Ifwe writing on the book the exercise book will be finished in 6 months.But if the teacher makes the notes for use we
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R. O.K.in a day at school you are writing notes from text books.What other writing do you do at school?
T. Other writings.... like?
R. Now you'vegot English, History, Biology and Geography.
T. Other writing only a fake as we are studying literature.On that literature the teacher will give us the questions on the questions so that student must write the answers yes so that the teacher will know each student each will know how to or she understands it for the literature.
R. So it is short questions on the literature?
T. Yes.
R. O.K. And in English and Zulu What other writing do you do there?
T. Some compositions.
R. What do you do in Zulu?
T. In Zulu we do the words for the Biology how the words are pronounced all that and we do composition letters and the invitation cards and the ... what is it called in the meeting.
R. Minutes of a meeting.
T. Yes, minutes of the meeting. So how many until standard 8.
R. You hadn't done many compositions in Zulu. You had done mainly letters.
T. Yes, we write letters but the compositions maybe in the whole year we will write two compositions.
R. In standard nine?
T. Standard nine I think we wrote maybe two.
R. And this year?
T. This year we haven't written.
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R. How did you know how to organise your essays you said you know when you writing it wasn't a problem you knew how to organise that is 1,2,3. Now where did that come from?
T. Itcame from the teachers we were told how to organise like this like a spider diagram.
R. So you using that as part of your plan.
T. Yes.
R. a.K. Now are you saying that last year is the first time you were told really how to orgamse an essay.
T. Yes.I know it last year, from last year.
R. Now you said that first one you got last year. You didn't know how to write that history essay.Didyou not enjoy that?
T. I didn't enjoy it because that created the confusion because I will write the assignment and finish the assignment. When the assignment I had finished I know nothing about the assignment. So the teacher will ask the question and after heask I iwll not get the answer.
R. You first learnt to arrange points round topic in spider diagram.
T. Itwas hard because the topic I just write the topic on the sheet write topic and then write right through write - write the ideas write until I finished.
R. Where did you get those ideas from?
T. Ijust remember then others I did not remember Ijustjump over them continue I don't know.
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