At this stage stories frequently share simple beginnings such as 'Once upon a time…'; poems have strong rhymes: 'Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock;' and informational texts make straightforward use of facts. Pupils should be alerted to these differences once a sufficient number of texts has been read to them. Thereafter, as a new story or poem or informational text is begun, the teacher should ask the pupils to suggest which it is and encourage them to say how they knew.

Gradually, the range of distinguishing features of fictional, poetic and informational texts should be extended. Beginnings in fiction now take different forms but are still quite distinct from the opening sections of informational texts. Similarly, poems may no longer always have rhymes but they will retain strong rhythms which no prose text is likely to possess. Pupils should be frequently invited to identify these differences and to say what are the markers which allowed them to make the distinction.

In story, pupils should be led to expect that parts of it will be devoted to setting, to introducing the characters and to dialogue which reveals personality. In poetry they should expect the poem to develop through its verses; to feel the mood of the poem in its rhythm; and to expect vivid pictures to be painted by means of comparison (in simile and metaphor). Pupils should learn to recognise some of the basis structures of such functional texts as interviews, eye witness accounts, discussions. In these texts each aspect may be dealt with in turn, or a basic thesis may be supported by evidence and facts, or events may be set out in chronological order, or a conclusion may be built up from a basic set of facts or premises.

The work begun at the previous level should be continued until pupils are confident in identification of these distinguishing features. After that, they should be encouraged, once into a text, not merely to identify its basic type but also to anticipate how it might be structured. At this stage, pupils' experience should be extended to a wider range of non-narrative texts and functional texts.

At this stage, the range of text being watched or listened to needs to expand further into drama, news, debate and interview; and their distinguishing features explored by taking notes, discussing, making examples. Pupils should look for evidence in the text of the purposes for which it was made. It is particularly important to study the effects of the relationship between sound and vision.