A study in the autobiographical genre is derived from children's everyday life and experience, which gives the reader the opportunity to express their own views and preferences.

Autobiographical Genre

A passage in the informational genre includes a topic of general interest presented with illustrations, captions, or labels, offering information about children's bibliographic skills (their ability to scan for information). 

Informational Genre

Narrative passages are considered as such if it included a gradually developing theme, drew on everyday events and experiences, and made use of everyday vocabulary. Can also be defined as a story presented in a particular setting with an underlying story-line and certain characteristics, ending on a not of uncertainty that encourages prediction and inference.

Narrative passages are considered to be less difficult to comprehend because they draw on familiar, everyday experiences, and use more familiar words and connectives.

Narrative Genre

Arnold identifies 3 types of writing in the "Diagnostic Reading Record":
- Narrative genre
- Autobiographical genre
- Informational genre

Boston College

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- Littlefair (1991): English for Ages 5 to 16
- Arnold (1992): Diagnostic Reading Record

Genre Theory: Author's Categorizations

Stamboltzis, A., & Pumfrey, P. (2000). Reading across Genres: a Review of Literature. Support for Learning, 15(2), 58. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.uconn.edu/10.1111/1467-9604.00146

Reading Across Genres: A Review of Literature

Littlefair identifies 4 types of writing in "English for Ages 5 to 16):
- Literacy genre
- Expository genre
- Procedural genre
- Reference genre

Genre Theory: Littlefair (1991)

Genre Theory: Arnold (1992)

Genre theory has emerged as a result of Halliday's (1978) study on the relationship between language and its social context. The relationship between cultural environment, the purpose of our communication, and the genres we use in language form the basis of genre theory. 

This theory emphasizes that language and meaning of communication are interactive, thus making it difficult to separate the two ideas. Genre may be considered as reflecting socio-linguistic interactions within society.

Research suggests that genre is a useful tool in enabling educators to categorize texts on the basis of their form and meaning, and genre may have more to do with reading comprehension success/failure than one might initially believe.

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