Great Idea: Annotating texts

What is annotating texts?

Annotating a text means writing on or marking it in some way in order to understand and engage with it. This learning strategy is most used in text-based subjects such as English and humanities. However, it can be effective in any subject area where there is a text to be studied, including science, PE and maths.

Learners for whom English is an additional language will often find annotation to be a very useful learning tool. They may also benefit from using annotation slightly differently at times.

Examples of activities

• Annotating with pictures. Y3 is looking at a text with sentences and a diagram about the life cycle of a frog. The band A learner is new to both English and literacy. The teacher provides her with flashcards which have both words and pictures of eggs, tadpole, frog etc. The band A learner uses these to identify and highlight the key words in the text. Dual coding activities like this are particularly effective for leaners using EAL.
•  Scanning for key words. A Y4 class is looking at texts about how rich and poor families lived in Victorian Britain. Each group has a different focus: toys, houses, food, or clothes. They make notes around their section of a big spider diagram. Two band A learners are working together in the clothes group. They have been given a list of articles of clothing with illustrations. The children scan the text and identify the words, then write the word in their home language next to it in the margin. The teacher encourages and praises the use of many languages alongside English on the final spider diagram.
•  Identifying text structure. Learners in Y6 work in groups of three to look at a text and identify topic sentence, supporting sentences and concluding sentences, using different colours. The band C learner works with a band E peer who shares his language and a first language English speaker.
•  True or False? Learners in Y7 have a geography text about oceans. On the whiteboard is a set of statements, some of which are true and some false. Students read the text and, working in pairs, use the information to mark T or F next to the sentence, underlining the relevant section of text. The Band B learner has received a pre-teaching session in which he has prepared translations of both texts and talked through the concepts. He is paired with a confident buddy, and they receive support from a teaching assistant.

 A variation on this would be cause and effect, where the teacher provides a list of causes and the learners hunt for the corresponding effects within the text.

•  Identifying formal/informal register: Students in Y8 are looking at the text of a promotional leaflet aimed at teenagers, about a youth club. They have been asked to work in threes to underline examples of informal language being used, such as contractions, personal pronouns and colloquialisms. The teacher has modelled the first examples on the board. The band B learner is focussing on contractions (you’ll, they’re etc) and has a list of examples to find in the text. He uses an electronic translator to aid comprehension.
•  Annotating with questions: In a year 10 GCSE PE class, students are individually reading a text about aerobic and anaerobic exercise. A band C learner, finding that she doesn’t understand some of the concepts, writes notes to herself in the form of questions which she will later research in her first language, and follow up by clarifying with her teacher.
•  Sophisticated annotation- using all the tools: For homework, a Y11 class is examining the text of a poem from the unseen task in last year’s GCSE paper. The teacher has asked them to make notes around the poem on various poetic devices including rhyme and rhythm. A band D learner uses an immersive reader with headphones to help her identify rhymes and rhythms. She identifies and highlights examples of alliteration, assonance, metaphor and simile, marking a question mark if she is unsure, to seek clarification from a teacher later. She also writes translations next to some unfamiliar words, and some questions around the theme of the poem to clarify with their peers/teacher later.

How annotating texts works

As learners may not be familiar with annotation, it is useful to model what you require by annotating a text on the IWB, before asking learners to do a similar task. If learners who use EAL are being asked to do something slightly different, make sure this is also modelled for them. They might benefit from having an adult or friendly peer talk them through the first attempt.

Annotating works well as a collaborative activity in groups or pairs, and this can be beneficial to learners using EAL. It can also be done individually e.g., as homework.

Top Tip: Encourage learners using EAL who read and write in other languages to make full use of this resource. Allow users of the same language to confer and individual users to access translation tools.

Why is annotating texts a Great Idea for EAL learners?

Annotating texts helps learners to interact meaningfully with texts written in English. It helps model and make explicit the strategies used by fluent readers (Gibbons,2009). For learners at the earliest stages of acquiring English, Annotating can help make a page of text less daunting by focussing on a task which is achievable, such as identifying some key words and matching them to translations and/or pictures. Learners who have age-appropriate literacy in their home language will benefit from annotating texts written in English with notes in their home language, a form of translanguaging which helps make connections and activate prior knowledge.

As learners progress through the stages of English language proficiency, they will be able to attempt more annotation strategies, such as identifying key parts of a text, or literary devices, and eventually develop a useful set of study tools.

References

Crisfield, E. (2022). Principles for planning an EAL-aware curriculum. In: H. Chalmers, ed., The researchED Guide to English as an Additional Language: An evidence-informed guide for teachers. Woodbridge: John Catt Educational Ltd, pp.51–66.

Daborn, E., Zacharias, S. and Crichton, H. (2020). Subject Literacy in Culturally Diverse Secondary Schools. Bloomsbury Academic.

‌Gibbons, P. (2009). English learners, academic literacy, and thinking: learning in the challenge zone. Portsmouth, Nh: Heinemann.

‌Joseph, H. (2022). Reading for EAL learners. In: H. Chalmers, ed., The researchED Guide to English as an Additional Language: An evidence-informed guide for teachers. Woodbridge: John Catt Educational Ltd, pp.129-140.