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9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 7 of 12

Forms & Features

Text patterns, visuals and media

What your child practices

Knowing what each text form does, how features such as an index, footnote or caption help readers, how signal words show a text's pattern, and how images, color and design shape meaning.

Alaska content standards learning standard: RI.9-10.5; RI.9-10.7 · text patterns, visuals and media features

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Text forms have jobs: a script has dialogue and stage directions; an epistolary text is told in letters.
  2. Headings guide readers, footnotes add sources or notes, captions explain images.
  3. Signal words show patterns (because, in contrast, first). Images, color and design shape meaning too.

Example: A story is told in letters between two characters. What is this text form called? “Epistle” is an old word for letter. A text made of letters is epistolary. Answer: an epistolary text

Forms & Features in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 7 of 12 in 9th grade English Language Arts, after Digital Smarts and before Summarizing Texts.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A scene is told in letters between two characters. What is this text form called?

    • an index
    • a script
    • an editorial
    • an epistolary text

  2. Question 2

    A bar graph in a news article is mainly used to…

    • show and compare data at a glance
    • give the author's biography
    • list the sources alphabetically
    • tell a story with characters

  3. Question 3

    What is a hyperlink in an online article used for?

    • To hide the author's name
    • To change the font
    • To count the words
    • To connect readers to related information or a source

  4. Question 4

    In an infographic, why are icons and short labels used?

    • To present key information quickly and clearly
    • To tell a long story
    • To replace every number
    • To hide the facts

  5. Question 5

    Which pair of signal words shows a compare and contrast pattern?

    • because, as a result
    • similarly, however
    • first, next
    • for example, such as

  6. Question 6

    Which feature of a nonfiction book helps readers find a topic quickly?

    • The cover blurb
    • The index
    • The dedication
    • The copyright page

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