Review Text: Definition, Generic Structure, Language Features

Definition:

Review text is an evaluation of publication, such as a movie, video game, musical composition, book; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live concert, a ply, musical theater show or dance show.

Purpose:

       Ø  Review text is used to critic the events or art works for the reader or listener, such as movies, shows, book, and others.

         Ø  To critique or evaluate an art work or event for a public audience

Generic Structure:

     ü  Orientation/Introduction: General information of the text.

     ü  Interpretative Recount: Summary of an art works including character and plot.

     ü  Evaluation: Concluding statement: Judgment, opinion, or recommendation. It can consist of more than one.

     ü  Summary: The last opinion consist the appraisal or the punch line of the art works being criticized. 

    Language Features:

         1.      Using the present tense

         2.      Focus on specific participants

         3.      Using adjectives form example like ad, good, valuable, etc.

         4.      Using long and complex clauses

         5.      Using metaphor (in Indonesia it’s called Majas/Pengandaian

Spoof Text: Definition, Generic Structure, Language Features, and Example

Definition:

Spoof text is a text which tells the events of the past with an unexpected ending and funny.

Purpose:

To entertain the readers with funny story.

Generic Structures:

         1.      Orientation: Introduction of the participant of the story, where it happens and when it happens. By giving the orientation, reader will recognize the story.

          2.      Events: Tells about the chronological of the story. Several events are explored in chronological way which able to arrange the story read nicely.

        3.      Twist: An unpredictable plot in the end of the story which amuse the reader. Readers even didn’t predict before that it would be.

Language Features:

          1.      Focusing on individual participant like as people, animals or certain things

          2.      Using past sentence

          3.      Using action verb (ate, ran, was walking, etc.)

          4.      The use of adverbial phrase of time and place (in the garden, two days ago)

          5.      Told in chronological order

          6.      Use of direct speech or indirect speech for the dialogues

          7.      The use of connective (first, then, finally)

Example:

Green Pink and Yellow

Can you name the colors in English? Yes, you’re right. Blue, red, yellow, and so on. By the way, I have funny story about the colors. Do you want to hear it? Okay, listen to me carefully.

            One day, an English teacher was explaining about colors to his students.

            After he had finished explaining, he asked his students. “Who can make a sentence using the words green, pink, and yellow?”

            Kris the cleverest student in the class, quickly raised up his hand and answered, “when the yellow morning sun comes, I see a beautiful girl wearing a pink dress walking through the green grass”.

            “Great! Kris, you are a very good student.” said the teacher.

            “Me, me, sir” Niel, the most stupid student in the class said while rising his hand. And the said, “I heard the telephone was ringing green …… green, then I pink up the receiver and I said “Yellow, who’s speaking there?”

What is Anecdote Text?

Definition:

          1.      Anecdote text is a text which retells funny and unusual incidents in fact or imagination.

          2.      A type of spoken or written text that deals with past incidents.

 Purpose:

          1.      To share with others an account of unusual, uncommon or amusing incident

          2.      To entertain the readers

Generic Structure:

          1.      Abstract: Signals the retelling of unusual, uncommon or amusing incident

          2.      Orientation: Introduction or sets the scene

          3.      Crisis: Provides details of unusual, uncommon or amusing incident

          4.      Incident: Reaction to the crisis

          5.      COA (Optional): A reflection or an evaluation of unusual, uncommon or amusing incident

Language Features:

          1.      Using exclamation word: It’s awful!, what a bad day!, a very strange incident!

          2.      Using imperative: Listen, let’s read this story

          3.      Using rhetoric question: do you what?, what do you like to do when you make wrong thing

          4.      Using action verb: go, write, stand, speak, so on

          5.      Using conjunction of time: then, afterwards, before, after, ever since, while, so on

          6.      Using simple past tense

Example

Everybody has a dream. You have and so do I. when the dream will come true, there is something wrong last minute before it. What will we feel? What will we do? There was a black family in Scotland years ago. They were John family with nine children. They had a dream to go to America. The family worked and saved. They were making plan to travel with their children to America. It had taken several years but finally they had saved enough money. They had gotten passport. They had booked seats for the whole family member in a new liner to America. The entire family was full of anticipation and excitement with their new life in America. However few days before their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. The doctor sewed up the boy. Because of the possibility of getting rabies, they were being quarantined for long days. They were in quarantine when the departure time came. The family dreams were dashed. They could not make the trip to America as they had planned. The father was full of disappointed and anger. He stomped the dock to watch the ship leaved without him and his family. He shed tears of disappointment. He cursed both his son and God for the misfortune. Five days later, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland. The ship, the mighty Titanic, had shank. It took hundreds of passenger and crew with it. Titanic which had been called the unsinkable ship had sunk. It was unbelievable but it was. The John family should have been ship, but because of the bitten son by a dog, they were left behind. When the father heard the news, he hugged the son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives. It was a blessing behind a tragedy.

Two Discussion Text Examples

Pro and Con of Giving Money to Beggars

By Kurniasih

Nowadays, beggars are easily found in most places in city corners, such as on the street, shopping Centre, town square, ATM and other public places. Giving money to beggars always becomes a hot topic to discuss because people tend to have different point of view for that case. Some people argue that giving money to beggar is one way to help poor people to have better life. In fact, it is difficult for them to find job with good monthly income, for most of them are uneducated. Therefore, helping them is an honorable attitude, and it reflects religious value. In other words, they believe that what they have done is a matter of giving charity to poor people. On the other hand, others believe that not all beggars are poor. Even though they always wear dirty clothes, set innocent/sad face, and show weak body, those are part of their tricks to get people’s attention.  In addition, begging habit leads to another serious problem in which they start to think that begging is their profession because they can earn much money without having any skill. In relation to religious value, people can find a smart way of donating they money to a reliable institution that organize people’s donation well. Taking everything into account (conclusion), people have their own human right to give money to everyone including beggars. If they want to help beggars, they have to be very selective. Moreover, it is wise to give money to very old and disable beggars. Thus, it can avoid increasing number of young and powerful beggars. 

 

Pro and Con Computer with Internet Access will Replace Teachers’ Position

By Muhammad Rifa’i

These days, it has been becoming a public discussion that computer with internet access will replace teachers’ position in education atmosphere. There are many people who have different point of view toward this issue because computer with internet access has positive and negative effect. Knowing this issue, some people argue that computer with internet access can replace teachers’ position because internet provides all materials which students need to study; meanwhile teacher has limited knowledge to be taught to the students. There are many students who can’t understand the teachers’ explanation in the class because the teacher doesn’t explain the material well. In this case, the teacher just gives simple explanation, few or even just one example about the material, and sometimes teacher explains in wrong explanation. As a matter of fact, there have been many teachers who can’t explain the material well and explain in wrong explanation because they don’t master the materials first before coming to the class. On the other hand, others believe that computer with internet access can’t replace teachers’ position in education atmosphere because what becomes teachers’ roles are not had by computer itself. The roles of the teachers like controlling, asking, assessing, and evaluating the students’ result on study. When the teachers should be replaced by computer, of course they will not be able to know more even at all what the students really do with the computer with internet access then. As what the writer knows that computer with internet access has the negative effect that the students can easily do when they have no any controls from the teachers. They can watch porn videos or other negative things on internet. Taking everything into account (conclusion), teachers’ will not be able to totally be replaced by computer that has internet access. Students can still download their additional materials that have and have not been explained by the teachers in the class with the teachers’ roles as those are to hide from unexpected actions that will be done by the students on the computer with the internet access.

Explanation Text: Definition, Generic Structures, Language Features, and Example

Definition:

Explanation text is to explain process of accordance phenomenon in the real.

Generic Structure:

         Ø  General statement: Stating the phenomenon issues which are to be explained.

         Ø  Sequenced explanation: Stating a series of steps which explain the phenomenon.

Language Feature:

         1.      Featuring generic participant: sun, rain, etc.

         2.      Using chronological connection: to begin with, next, etc.

         3.      Using passive voice pattern

         4.      Using simple present tense

Example:

How does Rain Happen?

Rain is the primary source of fresh water for most areas in the world, providing suitable conditions for diverse ecosystems, as well as water for hydroelectric power plants and crops irrigation. The phenomenon of rain is actually a water circle. The concept of the water cycle involves the sun heating the Earth’s surface water and causing the surface water to evaporate. The water vapor rises into the Earth’s atmosphere. The water in the atmosphere cools and condenses into liquid droplets. The droplet grows until they are heavy and fall to the earth as precipitation which can be in the form of rain or snow. However, not all rain reaches the surface. Some evaporates while falling through dry air. This is called virga, a phenomenon which is often seen in hot, dry dessert regions.