Belajar bahasa Inggris di tingkat menengah, baik itu SMP ataupun SMA, kini tidak akan lepas dari pelajaran "wajib" tentang narrative text. Dalam pelajaran ini, siswa biasanya dituntut untuk bisa menceritakan sebuah kisah, dongeng ataupun cerita dalam bentuk tulisan.

Meski "storytelling" adalah salah satu komponen spoken English yang sekaligus meramaikan pelajaran ini, narrative text nyatanya lebih dominan diajarkan dalam bentuk tulisan, memahami generic structure sebuah cerita, ataupun menganalisa karakter, latar, ataupun alur cerita narrative.

Perlu diketahui bahwa narrative text, dalam mata kuliah writing and composition biasanya disebut narration, adalah salah satu jenis teks dalam sebuah bahasa sastra. Biasanya, narrative text (teks naratif) berisi tentang cerita--baik cerita fiksi, cerita non-fiksi, dongeng, cerita rakyat, cerita binatang / fabel dll, pokoknya semua hal tentang cerita ya narrative namanya... :-)

Mengacu pada keterangan di atas, contoh - contoh narrative text sebenarnya sudah banyak diterbitkan dalam blog ini, seperti :

Cerita Bahasa Inggris berisi kumpulan kisah / cerita rakyat bahasa Inggris yang melegenda di bumi nusantara Indonesia.
Dongeng Bahasa Inggris Pilihan berisi kumpulan dongeng-dongeng terkenal baik di dunia ataupun di Indonesia.
Cerita Binatang / Fabel Bahasa Inggris berisi kumpulan cerita tentang hewan atau disebut juga "fable" terpopuler.
Cerita Nabi berbahasa Inggris Pendek berisi cerita naratif islami tentang Nabi dan Rasul dalam bahasa Inggris.

Silahkan klik link-link di atas untuk memilih contoh narrative text pilihan anda sendiri. Sangat tidak sulit kan?

Sekarang sedikit serius, karena akan menjurus pada penjelasan, oke...

Pengertian Narrative Text

Disebutkan bahwa A narrative text is an imaginative story to entertain people (teks narasi adalah cerita imaginatif yang bertujuan menghibur orang).

Jika melihat pada kamus bahasa Inggris, secara harfiah narrative bermakna (1) a spoken or written account of connected events; a story. (2) the narrated part of a literary work, as distinct from dialogue. (3) the practice or art of narration.

Cerita Narrative Text

(Narrative bermakna : 1. sebuah cerita baik terucap atau tertulis tentang peristiwa-peristiwa yang berhubungan. 2. bagian yang diceritakan dalam sebuah karya sastra, berbeda dengan dialog. 3. Praktik atau seni bercerita)

Jika disimpulkan, maka sebuah narrative text adalah teks yang berisi sebuah cerita baik tertulis ataupun tidak tertulis dan terdapat rangkaian peristiwa yang saling terhubung.

Generic Structure dari Narrative Text

Bagi sobat yang masih duduk di bangku sekolah tingkat menengah, penjelasan mengenai narrative texts tak usah sulit-sulit ya.. Intinya, narrative text ini mempunyai struktur / susunan seperti di bawah ini :

Orientation : It is about the opening paragraph where the characters of the story are introduced.(berisi pengenalan tokoh, tempat dan waktu terjadinya cerita (siapa atau apa, kapan dan dimana)

Complication : Where the problems in the story developed. (Permasalahan muncul / mulai terjadi dan berkembang)

Resolution : Where the problems in the story is solved. Masalah selesai, --- secara baik "happy ending" ataupun buruk "bad ending".

Kadangkala susunan (generic structure) narrative text bisa berisi: Orientation, Complication, Evaluation, Resolution dan Reorientation. Meski “Evaluation” dan “Reorientation” merupakan optional; bisa ditambahkan dan bisa tidak.Evaluation berisi penilaian/evaluasi terhadap jalannya cerita atau konflik. SedangkanReorientation berisi penyimpulan isi akhir cerita.

Jika sudah mahir membuat cerita narrative, susunannya bisa diubah-ubah kok, yang terpenting bagian-bagian di atas masih tetap ada dalam tulisan narrative sobat.

Grammar Used dalam Narrative Text

Grammar (tata bahasa) yang sering muncul dalam membuat narrative text adalah:

Menggunakan tenses "Past", baik simple, past perfect, past continuous, past perfect continuous, atau bisa saja past future continuous. (aturan ini bukan aturan wajib yang mutlak harus dipenuhi kok. Tidak percaya, tanyakan pada guru bahasa Inggris sobat)

Untuk lebih jelasnya, lihat contohnya di bawah ini :

Contoh Narrative Text (1)

Sincere Will Get a Great Return

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom named Auretto, all people lived peacefully there. One of them was Charlita, the king’s daughter who was assumed as the most beautiful and kindest Princess of Auretto.

One day, Charlita looked blue. Because of that her father got confused. “What’s the matter my beautiful daughter? Why are you so sad?” asked King Fernando. Charlita was just silent. She did not say anything.

Then, King Fernando decided to make a competition to cheer Charlita again. After that, the palace representative announce: “I will make a competition. The aim is to make my daughter, Princess Charlita to be happy and laugh again. Everyone who can do it, will get a prize. It will be held tomorrow when the sun rises. Sign: King Fernando.”

The following morning, everybody came to the palace, tried to give their best performance. They seemed happy and laugh, but not for Princess Charlita. She was just silent and still looked sad.

King Fernando started to give up. No one amused his daughter. Then, there came a young handsome man. “Excuse me King Fernando. I would like to join your competition. But, would you mind if I took Princess Charlita for a walk?” said the young man gently. “As long as you make my daughter be happy again, it will totally alright.” said King Fernando. The young handsome man took Princess Charlita for a walk in a beautiful blue lake with a green forest around it. Princess Charlita smiled and looked happy after that. Every body looked happy, too. “I know why are you so my beautiful daughter. Now, I promise I will environment green. I regret for always destroying it. Finally, the environment around the kingdom became so beautiful and green, full of plants. Then, the young handsome man got a prize from the king. “I will marry you off my daughter.” said him. “That is the prize I promise for you. Thanks for keeping our environment well. Thanks for making my daughter happy again.”

Contoh Narrative Text (2)

The Legend of Rawa Pening

Once upon a time, there was a little poor boy came into a little village. He was very hungry and weak. He knocked at every door and asked for some food, but nobody cared about him. Nobody wanted to help the little boy.

Finally, a generous woman helped him. She gave him shelter and a meal. When the boy wanted to leave, this old woman gave him a “lesung”, a big wooden mortar for pounding rice. She reminded him, “please remember, if there is a flood you must save yourself. Use this “lesung” as a boat”. The “lesung” was happy and thanked the old woman.The little boy continued his journey. While he was passing through the village, he saw many people gathering on the field. The boy came closer and saw a stick stuck in the ground. People challenged each other to pull out that stick. Everybody tried, but nobody succeeded. “Can I try?” asked the little boy. The crowd laughed mockingly. The boy wanted to try his luck so he stepped forward and pulled out the stick. He could do it very easily. Everybody was dumbfounded.

Suddenly, from the hole left by stick, water spouted out. It did not stop until it flooded the village. And no one was saved from the water except the little boy and the generous old woman who gave him shelter and meal. As she told him, he used the “lesung” as a boat and picked up the old woman. The whole village became a huge lake. It is now known as Rawa Pening Lake in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia.

Penjelasan Narrative Text (untuk tingkat Mahir)

Untuk mengetahui definisi dan penjelasan tentang narration (narrative text) sobat mahasiswa dan mahasiswi bisa membaca buku buku tentang writing di perpustakaan terdekat dan terlengkap, dan disini saya hanya akan mengutipkan pendapat Thomas S. Kane (2000: 363-364) di bawah ini:

A narrative is a meaningful sequence of events told in words. It is sequential in that the events are ordered, not merely random. Sequence always involves an arrangement in time (and usually other arrangements as well). A straightforward movement from the first event to the last constitutes the simplest chronology. However, chronology is sometimes complicated by presenting the events in another order: for example, a story may open with the final episode and then flash back to all that preceded it.

A narrative has meaning in that it conveys an evaluation of some kind. The writer reacts to the story he or she tells, and states or implies that reaction. This is the "meaning," sometimes called the "theme," of a story. Meaning must always be rendered. The writer has to do more than tell us the truth he sees in the story; he must manifest that truth in the characters and the action.

Characters and action are the essential elements of any story. Also important, but not as essential, is the setting, the place where the action occurs. Characters are usually people—sometimes actual people, as in history books or newspaper stories, sometimes imaginary ones, as in novels. Occasionally characters are animals (as in an Aesop fable), and sometimes a dominant feature of the environment functions almost like a character (the sea, an old house).

The action is what the characters say and do and anything that happens to them, even if it arises from a nonhuman source—a storm, for instance, or a fire. Action is often presented in the form of a plot. Action is, so to speak, the raw material; plot, the finished product, the fitting together of the bits and pieces of action into a coherent pattern. Usually, though not invariably, plot takes the form of a cause-and effect chain: event A produces event B; B leads to C; C to D; and so on until the final episode, X. In a well-constructed plot of this kind we can work back from X to A and see the connections that made the end of the story likely and perhaps inevitable.

Stories can be very long and complicated, with many characters, elaborate plots, and subtle interpenetration of character, action, and setting. In writing that is primarily expository, however, narratives are shorter and simpler. Most often they are factual rather than imaginary, as when an historian describes an event. And often in exposition an illustration may involve a simple narrative. Being able to tell a story, then, while not the primary concern of the expository writer, is a skill which he or she will now and again be called upon to use.