How to teach author's purpose using everyday texts

Teach author's purpose by asking what the writer wants the reader to know, feel, believe or do. Then ask your child to point to words that support their answer. Labels such as inform, persuade and entertain help organise the idea, but the explanation needs evidence from the text.

Understand the idea

The topic is what a text is about. The purpose is why the writer created it. Two texts about a school garden can have different purposes. One might explain how plants grow. Another might ask families to volunteer.

Say, "What is this writer trying to get us to do or understand? Which bit makes you think that?" This keeps the discussion on the writing rather than on a guess about the author's private thoughts.

Texts can have more than one purpose. An advertisement might give opening hours while trying to persuade people to visit. A funny story might entertain readers and raise questions about fairness. Identify the main purpose while recognising others that the text supports.

The audience matters too. A poster asking parents to donate seedlings uses different words from instructions telling children how to plant them.

See it worked through

An invitation

What does the writer want you to do?

A factual notice

What does the writer want you to know?

An advertisement

What does the writer want you to choose?

Two messages about the same garden

Text A

"Seeds need water and suitable temperatures to germinate. A seedling is a young plant. Our class will record changes in the seedlings each week."

Text B

"Help our school garden grow. Bring a spare seedling to the office on Friday. Your donation will give more children a chance to plant and care for something."

Text A mainly informs. It gives information about seeds, defines seedling and tells readers what the class will record.

Text B mainly persuades families to donate. "Help" and "Bring" ask readers to act. The final sentence gives a reason to take part. Friday and the office provide information, but those details support the request.

Ask, "If we removed the request from Text B, would it still do the same job?" This helps your child see why a fact inside a text does not automatically make informing its main purpose.

Try it together

A ten-minute purpose detective activity

Read these mini-texts together. Ask your child what each is about, what its writer wants the reader to do or understand, and which words support that answer.

1. "Place the pot on a saucer. Add soil until the pot is almost full. Press a small hole in the centre."
2. "Join our Saturday planting morning. Even one hour of your time can help us prepare the beds for the next class."
3. "Finn whispered to his sunflower, 'Please stop growing.' By lunchtime it had borrowed his hat and blocked the kitchen window."

Discuss who might read each text. Then rewrite the first as a request for volunteers and notice which words need to change.

Check the answer

1. The main purpose is to instruct or explain how to prepare the pot. "Place", "Add" and "Press" give actions in sequence.
2. The main purpose is to persuade people to volunteer. "Join" asks for action, and the second sentence gives a reason to help.
3. The main purpose is to entertain. The sunflower's impossible actions create a comic scene. A child might also suggest another purpose, but they need evidence beyond the shared garden topic.

A possible rewrite is "Help us prepare pots on Saturday. Come to the garden at nine and give the new seedlings a home." It changes directions into an invitation and a reason to participate.

Check their understanding

Ask, "What is the difference between saying 'This is about planting' and saying 'This asks us to help plant'?" Listen for a distinction between topic and purpose.

Then choose a real notice, food packet or page from a book. Ask your child to finish: "The main purpose seems to be ... because ..." Accept a different interpretation if they can support it with the text. If they only name a category, ask them to show the sentence or image that led them there.

Make it easier or harder

Make it easier with two choices, such as "explain something" or "ask us to do something". Read the text aloud and discuss it orally.

Make it harder by finding a text with mixed purposes. Separate its factual information from its request or opinion. Ask which purpose seems central and how the other one supports it. Include images when they contribute to the message.

Teaching notes

The Australian Curriculum's parent information about English learning describes reading texts with different purposes and recognising language for different audiences. This guide practises those distinctions with original everyday examples.

Reading practice

Use short reading practice to help your child explain what a text says and what its clues suggest.

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