What Is Informational Text
Informational text is nonfiction writing designed to explain, describe, or teach facts about a real topic. Common examples include textbooks, biographies, news articles, how-to guides, scientific explanations, and historical accounts. Unlike narrative text, informational text prioritizes accuracy and clarity over storytelling.
For struggling readers, informational text presents unique challenges. Research shows students with dyslexia often find dense informational passages harder to decode than narrative text because of unfamiliar vocabulary, complex sentence structures, and technical terminology. However, building fluency with informational text is essential. By grade 4, Common Core standards require that 50% of assigned reading be informational, rising to 70% by high school.
Why It Matters
Informational text comprehension directly impacts academic success across all subjects. A student who struggles with science textbooks, historical documents, or math word problems will fall behind regardless of their reading level in other areas.
The cognitive load differs from narrative reading. Informational text demands active use of text features like headings, captions, tables, and indexes to locate and organize information. Students with processing difficulties may miss these anchors entirely, which is why explicit instruction in text feature recognition is critical during reading intervention.
For students with IEPs focusing on reading comprehension, informational text instruction should include systematic approaches like those in the Orton-Gillingham method adapted for nonfiction. Breaking multisyllabic technical terms into phonetic components helps students decode words like "photosynthesis" or "precipitation" with greater confidence.
How to Support Informational Text Reading
- Pre-teach vocabulary: Select 3-5 key terms before reading and teach their morphology. Many scientific and historical terms share Latin roots that appear repeatedly.
- Use text features as entry points: Start with chapter titles, headings, and images before tackling dense paragraphs. This builds a mental scaffold for understanding.
- Teach question-answer relationships: Distinguish between questions answered directly in the text versus those requiring inference. This clarifies comprehension expectations.
- Match texts to reading levels: A student reading at level 5.2 needs informational texts with appropriate complexity, not grade-level books that frustrate rather than build confidence.
- Use paired texts: Combine narrative and informational texts on the same topic. A biography paired with historical documents reinforces understanding across formats.
Common Questions
How do I know if a text is too hard? Use the 95% accuracy rule. If your student decodes fewer than 95 out of 100 words correctly, the text is too difficult for fluency building. Move to an easier level and gradually increase complexity.
Should I skip informational text if my child struggles with reading? No. Avoidance strengthens the gap. Instead, choose informational texts slightly below current reading level but on high-interest topics. A reluctant reader will work harder for content they care about.
Does informational text help with phonics? Yes, when taught correctly. Decodable informational texts specifically designed with controlled phonics patterns reinforce decoding skills in context, which is more effective than flashcards alone.
Related Concepts
- Expository , a broader writing mode that encompasses informational text
- Nonfiction , the overall category that includes informational, biographical, and memoir texts
- Text Feature , the structural elements (headings, captions, charts) that organize informational text