Author's craft and the making of meaning: using text features in writing

When children are first taught to read, one of the first skills they must acquire is the ability to track words from left to right in order to construct meaning from linear text. As students advance through elementary school and beyond, most explicit instruction in reading and writing continues to focus on traditional, linear text. By the intermediate grades, however, literacy can no longer presume linearity (Hammerberg, 2001). The formats of many textbooks, magazines, manuals, and Web sites offer multiple entrances and exits for the eye and imagination and require understanding of, and facility with, complex text format and a variety of text features.