More to Know: The Benefits of Informational Texts An infusion of informational texts—particularly about topics that stoke students’ interests— may be the easiest way to build students’ conceptual knowledge and vocabulary base, which is essential for comprehension in general (Duke and Carlisle, 2011)—and this may be especially true for challenged readers and emerging bilinguals who can benefit from informational texts in ways not possible with fiction. Vulnerable readers or new-to-English readers may be challenged by their developing English vocabularies, making processing complex fictional narratives difficult. Informational texts feature headers, labels, sidebars, and diagrams that scaffold readers, enabling them to more easily navigate the text and access the content. Not surprisingly, many students prefer to read informational texts. This may be truer than ever, given its abundance, particularly in a digital format, and may also be especially true for boys (Allyn, 2011). Indeed, as Fountas and Pinnell (2012) explain, all readers need the reading workout that nonfiction offers: As students process nonfiction texts, they learn to adjust their reading according to the purpose, style, and type of text. This flexibility expands their reading ability. Complex nonfiction texts present a challenge to students partly because of their great variety and also because of the many ways writers can crafts texts to provide information. It takes many years for readers to become skilled in reading the various genres and types of nonfiction texts. In general, reading lots of nonfiction—and learning to navigate different informational text types and formats—is the best way to learn how to access, use, and apply nonfiction genres. Furthermore, nonfiction may be our best and most efficient way to build “world knowledge and an extensive vocabulary. Informational texts are written “to convey key facts about the natural and social world” (Duke and Carlisle, 2011). To that end, they often reflects a highly specialized, domain-specific vocabulary, helping teens develop a robust vocabulary and wide-ranging conceptual knowledge (Fountas and Pinnell, 2012). Because nonfiction texts can also be literary, they provide our young teens with superb models of exquisite language. For example, nonfiction writers may “employ many of the techniques of the writer’s craft: figurative language, lyrical description, unique or surprising comparisons, and interesting ways of organizing and presenting information” (Fountas and Pinnell, 2012). Duke (2014) reminds us that to do the “hard cognitive work of informational text.” Students need “compelling purposes and contexts for informational reading and writing.”
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