• Read and understand recount texts.
• Identify the structure of recount texts;
Recount is very similar to narrative. Recount explores the series of events which happen to participant/s. These events are the main element in composing recount text. However, it just focuses on the events themselves. It does not include the conflict inside.
The events will be told in chronological order based on time and place. If we get recount text with complete generic structure, it will be constructed by structuring orientation, events and re-orientation.
The absence of complication/problem/conflict in the generic structure is actually to differentiate from narrative text. Arranging these series of event in beautiful and attractive way is the power of a writer in composing a recount text.
The Social function of a recount text to retell events for the purpose of informing or entertaining the readers.
Generic Structures of Recount include :
1. Orientation: Introducing the participants, place and time
2. Events: Describing series of event that happened in the past
3. Reorientation: It is optional. Stating personal comment of the writer to the story
Language Features of Recount Text mainly consist of :
1. Introducing personal participant; I, my group, etc
2. Using chronological connection; then, first, etc
3. Using linking verb; was, were, saw, heard, etc
4. Using action verb; look, go, change, etc
5. Using simple past tense
1. Spoof and Recount Text; What Make them Different?
Reading spoof and recount text will arouse the convenience. Both spoof and recount genre explore the informative fact for the past experience. In literary term, experience can be factual or imaginative, objective or subjective. Both spoof and recount focus on series of event which happened.
However, for functional view, recount text emphasizes in detailed information of the events. It reveals the series of events in chronological order based on time or place. On the other hand, spoof text tends to project the amusement of reading. Spoof text uses tricky plot to drive readers to a certain view and sooner brings the reader to the opposite point. This trick will produce an amusement of reading.
Clearly, the different plots used by spoof and recount are seen at the applied generic structure. For the first stages, both spoof and recount have similarity. Both introduce the participants of the story and, orientate the main event and set the time and place. After that, both spoof and recount text expose the following events in detail. The last phase is what makes them different. Recount text will summarize the introduction and closed with the writer's subjective feeling concerning the events. Meanwhile, spoof text will end the story with what we call TWIST. It is the unpredictable thing. Reader has expected certain point in the ending of a story. On the contrary, the story itself moves to another unexpected ending.
In simple way, the easiest way to catch the differences between them is in analyzing the generic structure. Recount text presents the past experiences in order of time or place with detailed series of events without struggle on how to make them happen. The events happened smoothly.
On the other hand, narrative introduces crises and how to solve them. It always appears as a hard potrait of participant's past experience. It also reveals the conflict among the participants.
2. Let’s read and understand the examples of recount text below!
Text 1
My Horrible Experience
Let me remind you my experience during an earthquake last week. When the earthquake happened, I was on my car. I was driving home from my vocation to Bali.My Horrible Experience
Suddenly my car lunched to one side, to the left. I thought I got flat tire. I did not know that it was an earthquake. I knew it was an earthquake when I saw some telephone and electricity poles falling down to the ground, like matchsticks.
Then I saw a lot of rocks tumbling across the road. I was trapped by the rock. Even I could not move my car at all. There were rocks everywhere. There was nothing I could do but left the car and walked along way to my house, in the town.
When I reached my town, I was so surprised that there was almost nothing left. The earthquake made a lot of damage to my town. Although nothing was left, I thanked God that nobody was seriously injured.
Analyzing the Text :
Generic Structure Analysis:
- Orientation; Introducing the participant, using first person point of view, I was on the car last week.Events;
- Describing a series of event which happened. The car lunched to one side. Telephone and electricity poles was falling down, etc.
- Re-orientation; Stating the writer's personal note. Thanking God because nobody was seriously injured.
- Using personal participant; I
- Using chronological connectives; then, and, suddenly
- Using linking verb; was, were
- Using action verb; moved, left, walked, made, etc
- Using simple past tense pattern; earthquake happened, I was on the car, my car lunched on one side, etc
Text 2
My Rush Time as a Journalist
My Rush Time as a Journalist
I usually woke up at eight o'clock a.m. and went to the Press Center to check the daily schedule of briefings and press conferences. It was usually held by the United Nation officials or disaster mitigation team.
It was challenging to visit different refugee camps to find soft stories, human interest stories. After that I went back to the Press Center to cover the press conferences of the day.
It was heart breaking when I saw these survivors fight for food and secondhand clothing. Unfortunately as they said, the food and clothing were limited and inadequate. Emerging to glaring, fool noon, it was time to go back to Press Center to write stories and race against time. I was always fearing that the internet would come crushing down.
After everything was done, only then I remembered to eat. Most times, I only ate once a day because I always had to rush and again it was difficult to find food. I had to travel quite far. I needed to spend a 30 to 45 minutes by car just to find fresh food.
On the day of the tour, he was ready. My friend and his group drove on through mountains. Singaraja is a city of about 90 thousands people. It is a busy but quiet town. The street are lined with trees and there are many old Dutch houses. Then they returned very late in the evening to Kuta.
The second tour to Ubud was a very different tour. It was not to see the scenery but to see the art and the craft of the island. The first stop was at Batubulan, a center of stone sculpture. There my friend watched young boys were carving away at big blocks of stone. The next stop was Celuk, a center for silversmiths and goldensmiths. After that he stopped a little while for lunch at Sukawati and on to mass. Mass is a tourist center.
My friend ten-day-stay ended very quickly beside his two tour, all his day was spent on the beach. He went sailing or surfboarding every day. He was quiet satisfied.
They boarded a large Boeing flight. The flight was nearly fourteen hours. On the plane the cabin crews were very friendly. They gave them news paper and magazine to read. They gave them food and drink. There was a film for their entertainment. They had a very pleasant flight. They slept part of the way.
On arrival at Heathrow Airport, they had to go to Customs and Immigration. The officers were pleasant. They checked the document carefully but their manners were very polite. Mr. Richard and his family collected their bags and went to London Welcome Desk. They arranged the transfer to a hotel.
The hotel was a well-known four-star hotel. The room had perfect view of the park. The room had its own bathroom and toilet. Instead of keys for the room, they inserted a key-card to open the door. On the third floor, there was a restaurant serving Asian and European food. They had variety of food.
The two week in London went by fast. At the end of the 14-day, they were quite tired but they felt very happy.
It was challenging to visit different refugee camps to find soft stories, human interest stories. After that I went back to the Press Center to cover the press conferences of the day.
It was heart breaking when I saw these survivors fight for food and secondhand clothing. Unfortunately as they said, the food and clothing were limited and inadequate. Emerging to glaring, fool noon, it was time to go back to Press Center to write stories and race against time. I was always fearing that the internet would come crushing down.
After everything was done, only then I remembered to eat. Most times, I only ate once a day because I always had to rush and again it was difficult to find food. I had to travel quite far. I needed to spend a 30 to 45 minutes by car just to find fresh food.
Text 3
Visiting Bali
There were so many places to see in Bali that my friend decided to join the tours to see as much as possible. My friend stayed in Kuta on arrival. He spent the first three days swimming and surfing on Kuta beach. He visited some tour agents and selected two tours. The first one was to Singaraja, the second was to Ubud.Visiting Bali
On the day of the tour, he was ready. My friend and his group drove on through mountains. Singaraja is a city of about 90 thousands people. It is a busy but quiet town. The street are lined with trees and there are many old Dutch houses. Then they returned very late in the evening to Kuta.
The second tour to Ubud was a very different tour. It was not to see the scenery but to see the art and the craft of the island. The first stop was at Batubulan, a center of stone sculpture. There my friend watched young boys were carving away at big blocks of stone. The next stop was Celuk, a center for silversmiths and goldensmiths. After that he stopped a little while for lunch at Sukawati and on to mass. Mass is a tourist center.
My friend ten-day-stay ended very quickly beside his two tour, all his day was spent on the beach. He went sailing or surfboarding every day. He was quiet satisfied.
Text 4
Vacation to London
Mr. Richard’s family was on vacation. They are Mr. and Mrs. Richard with two sons. They went to London. They saw their travel agent and booked their tickets. They went to the British Embassy to get visas to enter Britain. They had booked fourteen days tour. This includes travel and accommodation. They also included tours around London.Vacation to London
They boarded a large Boeing flight. The flight was nearly fourteen hours. On the plane the cabin crews were very friendly. They gave them news paper and magazine to read. They gave them food and drink. There was a film for their entertainment. They had a very pleasant flight. They slept part of the way.
On arrival at Heathrow Airport, they had to go to Customs and Immigration. The officers were pleasant. They checked the document carefully but their manners were very polite. Mr. Richard and his family collected their bags and went to London Welcome Desk. They arranged the transfer to a hotel.
The hotel was a well-known four-star hotel. The room had perfect view of the park. The room had its own bathroom and toilet. Instead of keys for the room, they inserted a key-card to open the door. On the third floor, there was a restaurant serving Asian and European food. They had variety of food.
The two week in London went by fast. At the end of the 14-day, they were quite tired but they felt very happy.
Text 5
My Day
I had a terrible day yesterday. First,I woke up an hour late because my alarm clock didn't go off. Then, I was in such a hurry that I burned my hand when I was making breakfast. After breakfast, I got dressed so quickly that I forgot to wear socks.My Day
Next, I ran out of the house trying to get the 9:30 bus, but of course I missed it. I wanted to take a taxi, but I didn't have enough money.
Finally, I walked the three miles to my school only to discover that it was Sunday! I hope I never have a day as the one I had yesterday.
Text 6
Earthquake
Has everybody here heard of an earthquake? Do you know what it is like when it happens? Well, I once experienced it. Okay, I’ll tell you about my experience. Listen. Earthquake
I was driving along the coast road when the car suddenly lurched to one side. You know what happened? At first I thought a tire had gone flat but then I saw telegraph poles collapsing like matchsticks. It’s terrible, isn’t it? Next, guess what? The rocks came tumbling across the road and I had to get out of the car.
When I got back to town, well as I said, there wasn’t much left. My God, that was a nightmare.
