ABSTRACT
There is a danger that we make assumptions regarding what children know about how texts work. At a surface level we recognise that they need to learn that an information book will have a contents page and index but their ability to read, comprehend and use such a book will depend on much more subtle features from page layout to the way sentences, paragraphs and sections are actually constructed. Consider a simple text found on a card in a newsagent’s window:
You will have read this without difficulty but only because you are aware of the conventions which apply to it. It only makes sense if you read it with this knowledge in mind. Other texts, for example poems, may have much more complex conventions.
