Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

When comparing Fiction and Non-Fiction texts I found many differences and similarities between the two. While using a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast I wrote down that Fiction gives students the opportunity to read a story and watch characters develop through a setting, plot, problem, climax, and conclusion. Fiction text also has many purposes for the reader. Readers can be entertained, learn valuable life lessons, and interact with text to make connections to their own lives. Non-Fiction in contrast includes features of text that differ from Fiction. In text books, or other Non-Fiction children’s books students will find a Table of Contents, Glossary, Index, Tables, Graphs, Maps, and even Photographs. Furthermore, Non-Fiction is written for the purpose of informing readers, teach them something new, and allow them to add the new information they learned to their background knowledge. When focus is on the language of the text, Fiction offers students with more figurative language aspects, while Non-Fiction introduces students to a wide variety of vocabulary, facts, and information that are essential to understanding the topic being read.

While both Fiction and Non-Fiction are engaging for readers they both also allow students to interact with text and build upon their comprehension strategies of questioning, inferring, determining importance, visualizing, summarizing, and making connections. Both Fiction and Non-Fiction also teach the reader the different features of text that the author provides. We encourage our students to explore a variety of mentor texts of both Fiction and Non-Fiction so they can learn how to become writers themselves of their own genres they want to produce.

Fiction texts give ELL students support by providing a brief introduction of what the story is about or about the author. Giving students opportunity to preview the story will give them a vision for what the story is about. In addition, the title of the Fiction book as well as the chapters can lead ELL students to make predictions while previewing the text. Overall, I believe Non-fiction text features provide more support for ELL students.

Non-fiction text features support ELL students by providing clear visuals. The glossary also allows students to look up the definition to gain meaning of the vocabulary that could be complex. By providing meaning the ELL student can make sense of the topic being researched. The Table of Contents also allows ELL students to go through text in a sequence. Having the text in a certain order makes it easy to follow and comprehend.

In conclusion, both Fiction and Non-Fiction texts provide students with rich reading experiences that engage their interest. As a 2nd grade teacher, I have found that when taking a reading inventory my students are more interested in reading and writing Non-Fiction than they are Fiction. I believe that this is so because they are able to connect with the real life features that the text provides. It is rewarding to see students create their own Non-Fiction books and take on the challenge of determining what facts are important to make note of, and how they can make their book appealing to the reader. The craft of making the Non-Fiction books was challenging for my students, but once they mastered all of the steps necessary there was nothing more exciting for them than to share the book that they were the author of with friends and family.