A text response is a style of writing in which you are sharing your reaction to something. It is an opportunity to let the world know how you feel about something.
A text response can also be referred to as a reader response which is accurate, but you may also confuse them with a literacy narrative. This is not an accurate comparison as a literacy narrative is more an assessment of how you became literate whereas a text response is a specific response to a specific text.
A text response by definition is specifically a response to a book you have read but it can also be a response to a film you have just seen, a game you have been playing, or for occupational work it could be a response to a decision the government is making that affects you or your community that you have read from a newspaper or website.
When writing a response, it is important that you get the following points across to your audience.
- How do you feel about what you are reading / saw / heard?
- What do you agree or disagree with?
- Can you identify with the situation?
- What would be the best way to evaluate the story?
Please note that we are not on a book review only – it can be as small as a response towards a single email you receive.
- What is the purpose of a text response?
Often when we talk about the development of language skills it is useful to discuss things in terms of four distinct areas. These are commonly grouped into the two active areas of speaking and writing and the two so-called passive areas of listening and reading. Learning to write a text response bridges this gap as it requires our students to not only develop high-level writing skills but also to consider reading as much more than a mere passive activity.
Writing a text response hones the student’s critical thinking skills as well as their ability to express their thoughts in writing. It gives students an opportunity to engage in reading as an active exercise, rather than something that is analogous to watching TV!
- Eternal response structure
KEEP IT FORMAL: This is a calculated and considered response to what you have read or observed.
USE EVIDENCE: Frequently refer to the text as evidence when having an opinion. It becomes the reference point for all your insights within your text response.
HAVE AN OPINION This is not a recount. This is your OPINION on what the author or film producer has created. Don’t shy away from that.
TENSE & STYLE Can be written in either past or present tense. Feel free to use your own style and language but remember to keep it formal.
- Getting started: the prewriting stage of a text response.
As with much of the formal school experience, you can greatly benefit from undertaking a methodical approach when started writing a text response. The following process outlines step-by-step how you can best approach writing their text responses in the beginning.
The keyword and emphasis in the phrase writing a text response is not writing but response. The whole thing starts with the reading and how the reader considers the text they are engaging with. Whether the text they are being asked to respond to is an unseen piece in an exam situation or a piece of coursework based on something that has been studied over time, the structure remains the same. This is true too regardless of age and ability levels. Younger readers should be taught to approach writing a text response using the same concepts but in a simplified and more scaffolded manner.
Read for Understanding:
Persons should read the text they are responding to initially for a basic comprehension of what the text is about. They should read to identify common themes and narrative devices that will serve to answer the question. Often, the question will demand that the student consider and explain the author’s use of a specific literary device or how that literary device develops a central idea and the author’s purpose. In preparing our students to write competent text responses they must first be familiar with the literary devices and conventions that they will be asked to discuss.
The reader may instinctively know what they like to read, but what is often not instinctive is the expressing of why they like to read it. They may acknowledge that the writing they are reading is of a high quality, or not as the case may be, but they may lack the vocabulary to express why the writing is successful or unsuccessful. When reading, regardless of the genre, to point out literary devices, techniques, and stylistic considerations that will help the reader when it comes to writing a text response.
As humans, we are hardwired to understand the world around us in terms of the stories we tell ourselves and others. We do this by employing comparisons and drawing parallels, we play with words in our everyday use of idiom and metaphor, alliteration and rhyme. Encourage students to keep an ear out for these techniques in the music they listen to, the comics they read, and the TV they watch. Even in the advertising they are exposed to.
WHEN RESPONDING TO A NON-FICTION TEXT BE SURE TO INTEGRATE RELEVANT HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT.
Be sure too to offer your readers and/or students opportunities to practice writing their own metaphors, similes, alliterative sentences etc. There is no better way to internalize an understanding of these literary techniques than by having a go at writing them yourself. And, it doesn’t have to be a dry academic exercise, it can be a lot of fun too.
(Teaching alliteration? Have the readers come up with their own tongue twisters. Want them to grasp simile? Have them produce Not! similes, for example, give them an adjective such as ‘cuddly’. Tell them you want them to write a simile using the simile structure employing ‘as’. Tell them too they must use the word ‘cuddly’ about someone who is not cuddly at all. Offer them the example He is as cuddly as a cactus to get the ball rolling. They can do this for any adjective, and they will often achieve hilarious results!)
Read Directions Carefully:
It should go without saying to read the directions carefully, but experience teaches us otherwise! Often it is not the best writers among our readers who receive the best grades, but those who diligently respond to the directions of the task that has been set. Readers should be sure to check that they have read the directions for their text response question closely. Encourage them to underline the keywords and phrases. This will help them structure their responses and can also serve as a checklist for them to refer to when they have completed writing their text responses.
Have readers pinpoint exactly what the question is asking them. For more experienced readers, these questions will likely comprise several parts. Have the readers student separate the question into these component parts and pinpoint exactly what each part is asking them for.
A good practice to ensure a reader has adequately understood what a question is looking for is to ask to paraphrase that question in their own words. This can be done either orally or as a written exercise. This helpful activity will inform the student’s planning at the prewriting stage and as mentioned, can provide a checklist when reviewing the answer at the end.
The Process:
- To ensure readers fully understand the question, have them underline or highlight keywords in the sentence or question. Distribute thesauruses and have readers find synonyms for the keywords that they have highlighted.
- Have them rewrite the question as a series of questions in their own words. This will allow the teacher to assess their understanding of what they are being asked to do. It can also serve as a structured plan for writing their response.
- Allow some time for readers to discuss the question together, either in small groups or with talking partners. After the allotted time, readers must decide on a yes, no, or maybe response to the central question.
- Their response to Step 3 above will formulate their contention, which will serve as the driving force behind their text response as a whole.
- On their own, readers brainstorm at least three arguments or reasons to support their contention.
- For each of the reasons, readers should refer to the text and choose the best evidence available in support of their contention.
- Readers should not be overly concerned with forming a logical order to their notes gathered so far. The purpose of this activity is to let ideas flow freely and capture them on paper.
When completed, it is at this point that they are ready to begin the writing process in earnest.
HOW TO WRITE A TEXT RESPONSE
As with writing in many other genres, it is useful to think of the text response in terms of a three-part text response essay structure. It is a simple process of learning how to write a response paragraph and then organizing them into the ubiquitous beginning, middle, and end (or intro, body, conclusion) that we drill into our readers will serve us well again. Let’s take a look:
The Introduction:
The first paragraph in our readers’ text responses should contain the essential information about the text that will orientate the reader to what is being discussed. Information such as the author, the title of the book or extract, and a general statement or two about the content will provide the reader with some context for the discussion to follow.
The SOAPSTONE acronym is useful when considering which information is essential to include in the intro: Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, TONE. Readers should reflect on which of these aspects should be addressed in the introductory paragraph. The genre of the text will largely determine which of these should be included and which are left out. However, it is important that the reader does not get too bogged down at this stage, these orientation sentences usually require only three or four sentences in total.
Be sure to check out our own complete guide to writing perfect paragraphs here.
The tone of a text response should be such that it assumes the reader does not understand the text that the writer does. It is useful to tell them here to picture one person in their life they are writing to. Someone that would not be familiar with the text, perhaps a family member that they are explaining what they read to. Remind them though, the language should be formal too.
Once the reader/student has established some context in the reader’s mind, they will then need to address the central idea that will form the ‘eye of the storm’ of their argument.
SOME TEXTS ARE VERY POLARIZING. THESE MAKE FOR GREAT DISCUSSION AND INSIGHTS IN THE CLASSROOM
The Body:
When learning how to write a text response body paragraph one of the most common pitfalls that readers fall into is that they engage in a straightforward retelling of the text. Discussion of the text is the name of the game here. Readers must get into the text and express their opinions on what they find there. It is quickly apparent when reading a student’s response when they are merely engaging in a retelling and when they are delivering a thoughtful response. Be sure readers are aware of the fact that this fools nobody!
The notes readers have made in the prewriting stages will be extremely useful here. Each of the arguments or reasons they have produced to support their contention will form the basis for a body paragraph. The TEEL acronym is useful here:
Topic Sentence: Readers should begin each of their paragraphs with a topic sentence. This sentence introduces the point that will serve as the main idea of the paragraph – the central riff if you like. It will engage directly with an aspect of the question or writing prompt.
Expand / Explain: The purpose of the next few sentences will be to narrow the focus of the topic sentence, often by referring to a specific character or event in the text and offering further explanation of the central point being developed in the paragraph.
Evidence / Example: At this point in the paragraph it is essential that the student makes close reference to the text to support the point they have been making. Having an opinion is great, but it must be based, and be shown to be based, on the actual text itself. Evidence will most often take the form of a quotation from the text – so make sure your readers are comfortable with the mechanics of weaving quotations into their writing!
Link: The end of each body paragraph should link back to the student’s central contention. It restates the argument or reason outlined in the topic sentence, but in the wider context of the central contention which usually is the yes, no, or maybe uncovered at the prewriting stage.
As the readers/student moves through their essay, it is important that they reference the main theme of the text in each and every paragraph. The structure of the essay should illustrate an evolution of the student’s understanding of that theme.
References should be made to how the writer employs the various literary techniques to construct meaning in his or her text. However, reference to literary techniques should not be made merely in passing but should be integrated into a discussion of the themes being explored in the essay.
Writing a text response conclusion:
SOCIAL INFLUENCERS ARE FREQUENTLY PAID TO PROVIDE THEIR OPINIONS ON BOOKS, FILMS AND PRODUCTS AS PEOPLE VALUE THEIR OPINION.
Writing the conclusion involves essentially restating the contentions made already, as well as summarizing the main points that were discussed. Though the conclusion will inevitably have much in common with the introduction, and some repetition is unavoidable, make sure readers use different wording in their conclusion. The paraphrasing exercise in the prewriting stages may be helpful here.
Encourage readers too to link back to their reasons and arguments developed to support their contention in the body paragraphs. The conclusion is no place to introduce new ideas or to ask rhetorical questions. It is the place for gathering up the strands of argument and making a statement about the relevance of the text in relation to the wider world.