TEKS Talk - SLA Authors Purpose image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances.

Instruct students to change the mood, voice, or tone of a selection by changing the language used to achieve their desired effect. Have students explain the changes the student made, what their intended outcome was, and how successful those changes were.
 

Further Explanation

The student is expected to examine how an author uses language to help determine the voice of a written work such as an author’s use of literary devices such as point of view determines the voice and mood of a written piece.

Students are expected to examine how an author uses carefully chosen words and phrases to create an emotional atmosphere for the readers as they engage with the text. Authors create certain moods to help the reader become more invested in the text and immersed in the description. Mood in a text is the feeling the reader has while reading as opposed to the feelings the author expresses about the subject.
Students are expected to examine how authors use words and phrases to create a style of writing that expresses the author’s distinct perspective on a subject. For an author’s voice to be recognizable, it should be consistent throughout the text. Having a strong voice in writing is comparable to being eloquent in speech; it requires using language in a way that seems natural, engaging, and authentic to the audience.

Research

Fisk, C,, & Hurst, B. (2003). Paraphrasing for comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 57(2), 182+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A109218181/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=5259f22e

Summary: This article identifies the author's voice as the starting point for students when learning how to paraphrase. The authors provide a step-by-step process for paraphrasing, including how to identify the author's voice.