People communicate about our world for many different reasons (or purposes). Storytellers might aim to entertain their audience, inform them about something, teach them, persuade them, make them laugh or even make them scared. Whether on the page or on the screen, the purpose of a story informs the text type its creator chooses.

• Imaginative texts
  Fictional stories that include characters, settings, events and messages or themes. For example, narrative books and films, poems, plays.

• Information texts
  Non-fiction exploration or explanation of a topic. For example, information reports, describing why something happens.  

• Interpretive texts
  Explain and interpret events, ideas, representations, or concepts. For example, autobiographies, biographies, documentary films.

• Personal texts
  Expressing, describing, and sharing personal experiences, events, ideas, or opinions. For example, diaries, letters, notes.

• Persuasive texts
  Share a point of view and attempt to influence or persuade the audience’s beliefs or opinions. For example, advertisements, essays, debates.

• Procedural texts
  Provide instructions for how to do something. For example, instruction manuals, cookbooks, ‘how-to’ videos.

View the following clip from Are You Tougher than Your Ancestors?

What is the purpose/s of this story? Is it communicating real or imagined ideas? How is the audience intended to respond? What did you learn or feel when watching it? Did your peers respond in the same way? Why / why not?

In books, stories about our world are always told through words on the pages. In film or television though, the stories can be told by people (like news presenters), or actors playing a character. Stories can also be told through animated drawings, clay, paper, images, or other materials.

Watch the following clips from children’s television series. Each story is told in a different way.

In this clip, a presenter shares words from the Noongar/Nyoongar language. How is the story told? What is the purpose? Who is the intended audience?

In this clip, children share their thoughts about rubbish. How is the story told? What is the purpose?

This clip shows a boy introducing his pets. This text type is called a ‘mockumentary’: it is an imaginary story presented as if it is non-fiction. How is the story told? What is the purpose?