DAY 2
LESSON PROPER:
Textual aids refer to non-textual elements that help readers
understand the content of the text. They also refer to elements that
stand- out from the main text such as titles and subtitles, bold,
italicized and underlined texts. Non-textual elements include
illustrations, maps, tables, graphs and charts.
These aids have two main functions, namely: first, to direct the readers"
attention to important ideas in the text and second, to provide more
information as a supplement to what is already written.
1. Titles and subtitles provide initial idea on what the text is all about, thus
activating what the readers already know about the topic. According to Elite
Editing (2015), these aids "represent the key concepts (title) and supporting
ideas (subtitles) in the paper". The layering or positioning of these aids
convey the ideas" level ofimportance and their prominent text format
distinguish the idea that they contain from the rest of the text.
Here is an interactive example so that you will understand better
how titles and subtitles work as textual aids.
NOTE TO LEARNERS: notice how the titles and subtitles
presented below and think of the answers to the questions that
follow. Discussion of the answers follows after the example.
1. What do you notice with these textual aids? How do they
look like?
2. Between Title 1 and Title 2, which do you think is the
overall title of the article? Why do you say so?
3. From all the titles, which are the key concepts and which
are the supporting details? Why do you say so?
4. Based on how the sample is presented, do you think the
positioning of these titles is correct and appropriate? Why
do you say so?
5. Given the titles and subtitles, what do you think is the
article about? What do you already know about it?