Language Support - Writing - Frames - Comparison

Writing frames - Writing a comparison

Comparisons tend to place two or more things side by side, next to each other, overlapping each other, or in any other imaginable way that they 'fit' in a diagrammatical structure which best lets you see them and compares them. A Venn diagram, for example, shows you the characteristics which are shared, you can see these characteristics.
Writing frames for writing about comparisons incorporate this diagrammatical structure into their own arrangement on the page. The other ingredient is the necessary language learners are required to produce. The job for the teacher, then, is to embed this language within the structure they've decided to exploit to represent the piece of content they want their learners to write about.


A handout writing frame for writing comparisons (linked to pdf)

The image above shows an example of a writing frame for supporting writing comparisons. You can see plenty of examples of standard subject language embedded within the overall structure.


Exploiting diagrams for producing writing frames (linked to Word)

Visuals of many kinds exist throughout the curriculum. They usefully lend themselves to organizing a writing frame. The image above shows a Venn diagram, a table, and a pair of cells. There is a language box in each to exemplify embedding language within the structure of the diagram.

Both of these pages are available at the foot of this page in Word and pdf.