Dalam pengertian bahasa, biography tersusun dari dua kata
yaitu Bios yang artinya Hidup dan Graphia yang artinya tulisan.
Dalam bahasa inggris dan secara istilahnya,
Biography text is a detailed description or account of a person’s life and
written by someone else, it is non fiction text. Atau dalam bahasa indonesia
teks Biografi adalah suatu teks yang menggambarkan detail dari riwayat hidup
seseorang secara nyata dan ditulis oleh orang lain.
Function of
Biography (fungsi biografi)
1.
To know a person’s story about someone’s life outside of any accomplishments ......
(untuk mengetahui cerita tentang kehidupan seseorang di luar prestasi .....
2.
To give many information easily and educate the
readers. (memberi beberapa informasi dengan mudah mdan mendidik pembaca)
Generic
Structure (susunan atau alur teks)
ORIENTATION
(INTRODUCTION atau perkenalan)
It is the
opening paragraph, gives the readers the background information of the person.
Biasanya berisi tentang biodata yang dinarasikan seperti nama lengkap, tempat
dan tanggal lahir.
EVENTS
(kejadian)
In events,
should be chronological order. Tahap ini adalah bagian kejadian atau peristiwa
yang dialami oleh tokoh. Berisi penjelasan suatu cerita baik itu berupa
pemecahan masalah, proses berkarir, dan berbagai peristiwa yang pernah dialami
oleh tokoh hingga mengantarkannya pada sebuah kesuksesan.
RE-ORIENTATION
(CLOSING atau penutup)
It consist
of conclusion or a comment or the writer. Tell about the echievement or the
contribution of the person. Pada penutup, bagian ini berisi tentang pandangan
penulis kepada tokoh yang dikisahkan. Reorentasi ini bersifat opsional, jadi
boleh ada maupun tidak.
Grammar and
language features ( Tata bahasa dan Pola kalimat)
Use of
simple past tense. Sebuah bentuk sederhana kejadian yang terjadi di masa
lampau. Menggunakan bentuk kata kerja kedua (verb 2).
e.g. : -The
family then moved to his stepfather’s home country.
-He was born
on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Temporal
sequence (urutan waktu) and temporal conjunction (konjungsi temporal). Sebagai
penghubung antara satu kalimat dengan kalimat lain dalam urutan waktu.
e.g. : His
parents separated when he was two years old.
Types of
biography (Jenis bio grafi)
Short
biography (focuses only on highlights of a person’s life)
Long biography
(about life and times of someone in a lot more detail)
EXAMPLE
Abraham Lincoln
---
IDENTIFY STRUCTURE
ORIENTATION
Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 in Kentucky (USA). He
worked on the farm of his father. He attended school for less than a year, but
taught himself to read and write. He did different types of jobs before he
settled as a highly successful lawyer. He was gradually drawn to politics.
EVENTS
The country was having problems regarding the practice of
slavery. The white men owned large farms in the southern states, Blacks were
brought from Africa to work on these farms, They were kept as slaves. The
people of northern states were against this practice of slavery and wanted to
abolish it, The Constitution of America is based on the equality of man.
Therefore, there was no place for slavery in that country,
At this difficult time, Abraham Lincoln was elected
President of the USA in 1860. He wanted to solve the problem of slavery. The
southern states were against the abolition of slavery. This brought the unity
of the country in danger. The southern states were prepared even to form a new
country. Abraham Lincoln wanted all the states to remain united.
He faced many problems. He wanted to preserve the unity of
the country at any cost. Finally a civil war broke out between the northern and
southern states. He fought the war bravely and declared, 'A Nation cannot exist
half free and half slave.' He won the war and kept the country united.
RE-ORIENTATION
Lincoln was elected president for a second term. He was not
against anybody and wanted everybody to live in peace. He made sincere efforts
to heal the people's wounds caused by the war. In 1862, Lincoln declared that
from then onwards all slaves would be free. This made him very popular among
the people. Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
