Page 62 - E-module IC Reading

7. Historical Recount Text

Objectives of the Unit
Upon completion of this unit, you are expected to be able to:
1. Understand a historical recount text with the appropriate generic structure (orientation,

events, re-orientation);
2. Identify social functions, text structures, and language elements of historical recount
text and how it should be used in context;
3. write historical recount text by using appropriate generic structure and language
features.

Prepare Before Reading

Before we go to the text, we have to know what historical recount text is and why it is
different from other types of recount text. The purpose of a historical recount is to provide
an objective account of a significant event that happened in the past. As the writer, in this
case, the student was not a witness to the events they are writing about, they will
reconstruct the event’s details by using various primary and secondary sources. At a higher
level, historical recounts don’t just simply relate events in chronological order, but they also
offer an opportunity for the writer to express their understanding of the significance of

these events in a broader historical context. With its primary focus on providing a factual,
objective retelling of significant events, the purpose of this type of recount is more to
inform than to entertain.
The structure of a recount, historical or otherwise, can be divided into three main
sections.
1. Orientation: It gives the readers the background information needed to understand
the text, such as who was involved, where it happened, and when it happened.
2. Events: A series of events, ordered in a chronological sequence.

3. Re-orientation: This section also provides an opportunity for the student writer to
reflect on the wider historical significance of the events they have retold earlier in
the recount.
With a solid structure to hang their texts on, students will now need to familiarize
themselves with the features specific to this distinctive text type.
1. Using the simple past tense, past continuous tense, past perfect tense, and past
perfect continuous tense: the event has passed. Be sure your audiences read your
historical recount in the past tense.
2. Third-person perspective: Whilst you can write a historical recount in the first
person, most commonly they are written from a third-person perspective.
3. Using conjunctions: then, before, after, etc.

4. Using temporal sequence, e.g. On Saturday. On Monday, On Sunday

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