Letting the Secret Out: Successful Writing in Secondary English

Abstract

This paper discusses the teaching and learning of important response genres, referred to as thematic interpretations, because they involve discussing selected texts - verbal and/or visual - in the light of a particular theme, normally provided by the teacher. Examples of two texts are considered in some detail with a view to describing what constitutes successful completion of the task. Using the systemic functional grammar, the writers argue that the first text shows at least two features not found in the second text, accounting for its success, and that these features can be taught. They are: a strong sense of overall organisation, and a capacity to offer abstract ideas about the texts discussed, and later to elaborate on these in some detail.