Generic Structure of Explanation Text

1. Definition of Explanation Text

The explanation text type tells how or why something occurs. It looks at the steps rather than the things. The purpose of an explanation is to tell each step of the process (the how) and to give reasons (the why). (Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, 1997:81) Explanation is a text which tells processes relating to forming of natural, social, scientific, and cultural phenomena.

According to Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson (1997: 82) says that the explanation text type is often used to tell how and why thing (phenomena) occur in nature. Some examples of explanations are: How something occurs, why something happened, why things are a like or different, how to solve a problem, etc.

2. Generic structure

According to Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson (1997: 82) features of an explanation consists of

a. Constructing a written explanation

The steps for constructing a written explanation are:

A general statements about the event or thing A series of paragraphs that tell the how’s or why’s A concluding paragraph

b. Language features in an explanation

The language features usually found in an explanation are:

Technical language Words that show cause and effect Use of the timeless present tense

Explanation is a text which tells processes relating to forming of natural, social, scientific, and culture phenomena.

Generic structure of explanation:

General statement                   : stating the phenomenon issues which are to be explained

Sequenced explanation           : stating the series of steps which explain the phenomena.

The best discourse on how and what is explanation text is answering the question word

“how” and “why”. Such question words need detail explanation on it relates.

However, explanation text is written innarrative style and not instructional. If it is written for

the purpose of instruction, then the text genre will be labeled as PROCEDURE.

English Arkan Rabbani P & Arman Sastra W XII IPA 3

From the above example of explanation text, we see that it has the generic structure as follow:

General Statement; the introduction of the passage on why theEiffel Tower was built.

Sequenced Explanation; this is the main element of explanation text. This explanation

is explored to answer the “why” or “how” question introduced in the general statement.

From the example above, the text was written to explain why, not how,

the Eiffel Tower was built. Then it elaborates the reasons. First is for the show case and

the second is for scientific and technological purposes.

Example Explantation Text:

Why Eiffel Tower was Built

If we talk about the Wonders of the World buildings, then we will seeEiffel Tower as one

of them. However many of us do not know the tower’s past history on why it was build.

Everything has the reasonable background, especially for the tower which is to be one of the

most recognized buildings in the world.

Primarily, the Eiffel Tower was built for the World Exhibition. It was called Paris

Exposition in 1889. The exhibition was organized to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the

French Revolution. The purpose of buildingEiffel Tower in such structure was to show to the

world France’s advancement of technology and beauty. The Eiffel Tower was designed by

Gustave Eiffel. It seemed that then the name of the tower was derived from the designer’s last

name, “Eiffel”

Another reason on why the tower was built was for scientific progress. Although few

realized it, the Eiffel Tower would become the prominent structure in terms of science and

technology. Many experiment with temperature, pressure and pendulums were performed atop

the unique famous building. Additionally the Eiffel Tower was used for radio transmission

tower. Many experiments were conducted atop the EiffelTower for radio transmission

advancement. Once the Eiffel Tower was proposed to be demolished but it was spared because

the tower had the promising future as a radio tower.

English Arkan Rabbani P & Arman Sastra W XII IPA 3