Definition of Recount Text
Literally, recount means “to tell.” So recount text can be interpreted as “Text
that tells”. If referring to the information in school books (Read: Junior High
School / Senior High School). Recount text is a text that tells the reader about
one story, action or activity. Its goal is to entertaining or informing the reader.
But Inside Recount Text there is no complication just like in Narrative Text.
Generic Structure of Recount Text
# Orientation : tells who was involved, what happened, where the events took
place, and when it happened.
# Events : tell what happened in chronological sequence.
# Re-orientation : consists of optional-closure of events/ending.
Purpose of Recount Text
The purpose of a recount is to list and describe past experiences by retelling
events in the order in which they happened. Recounts are written to retell events
with the purpose of either informing or entertaining their audience (or both)
In a simple word the purpose of recount text is To retell past experience
Language Feature of Recount Text
– Using the simple past tense, past continuous tense, past perfect tense, and past
perfect continuous tense.
– Using temporal sequence, e.g. On Saturday. On Monday, On Sunday
– Focus on specific participant, e.g. I (the writer)
– Using the conjunctions, such as: then, before, after, etc.
– Using action verb, e.g. went, stayed
Example of Recount Text
My Vacation with My Beloved People
One day, my sister named Putri said to me that she really wanted to go to the beach. So I
promised her that the next week we would go to Mutun beach in Lampung.
The next week, we prepared everything needed in the morning. We brought some foods and
beverages, such as chocolate wafers, potato chips, water and orange juice. Before going to the
beach, I ask our brother, Bayu, to join us. He agreed to join and we went there together with
our parents. We went there by car. It took 3 hours to arrive there. Then, we bought tickets in
the entrance gate. Before swimming, we changed our clothes first. We swam there for more
than one hour. We felt so tired that we decided to eat the foods that we had brought. Next,
three of us created a very big sand castle, while my parents were enjoying the beautiful
scenery there. After that, we decided to go home because it was getting dark.
On the way home, we still felt hungry. So we stopped at a restaurant to have dinner. I ordered
sruit, Lampungnese traditional food, while my brother, my sister, and my parents ordered
fried rice. After finished eating, we paid our bills. Then, we went home. We arrived at home
at 9 o’clock. We were tired but we were absolutely happy.
Came Late to school
Last wednesday, I came late to my school because I played playstation untill 2.00 am
in the night. Because that I woke up late.
I woke up about 6.30 am and the class would be began at 7.00 am. I ran to bathroom
to take a bath. I usually had a breakfast after took a bath, but in that day I did not do that.
I always went to school by my moyorcycle. But in that day, I forgot where I put the key. So, I
went to the school by public transportion. It made me took a longer time. I arrived at school
at 7.15 am, I ran to my class but I saw my teacher has stood in front of the class to teach. I
entered to my class and of course my teacher was angry to me because I came late.
It was my bad experience and I hoped I would not do that again.
