English · Year 7 · The Art of the Story · Term 1

Types of Conflict in Narrative

Identifying and analyzing different types of conflict (person vs. person, self, nature, society) and their role in driving the plot and character development.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9E7LT01
• AC9E7LY05

About This Topic

Types of conflict form the engine of narratives, creating tension that advances plots and shapes characters. Year 7 students identify four key types: person versus person, direct clashes between characters; person versus self, internal dilemmas like moral choices; person versus nature, struggles against elements like storms; and person versus society, battles against rules or groups. These distinctions help students trace how conflicts influence a character's journey from introduction to resolution.

Aligned with AC9E7LT01 and AC9E7LY05 in the Australian Curriculum, this topic builds skills in analyzing literary structures and language effects. Students examine how conflict resolutions reveal themes and predict alternate outcomes if conflicts shift, fostering deeper text responses and creative thinking.

Active learning benefits this topic greatly because students engage kinesthetically through role-plays and collaborative mapping. These approaches make conflicts tangible, encourage peer discussions on nuances, and connect abstract analysis to personal experiences, ensuring lasting understanding.

Key Questions

1. Differentiate between internal and external conflicts and their impact on a character's journey.
2. Analyze how the resolution of a conflict reveals a story's theme.
3. Predict how a change in the primary conflict would alter the narrative's outcome.

Learning Objectives

• Classify examples of narrative conflict into person vs. person, person vs. self, person vs. nature, and person vs. society.
• Analyze how specific conflicts drive plot progression and character development in a given text.
• Compare the impact of internal versus external conflicts on a character's motivations and decisions.
• Explain how the resolution of a primary conflict contributes to the story's overall theme.
• Predict how a change in the type or intensity of conflict would alter a narrative's outcome.

Before You Start

Elements of Narrative

Why: Students need a foundational understanding of plot, characters, and setting to analyze how conflict interacts with these elements.

Character Traits and Motivations

Why: Identifying internal conflicts requires students to understand a character's inner thoughts, feelings, and reasons for their actions.

Key Vocabulary

Person vs. Person Conflict	A struggle between two or more characters, often involving opposing goals or desires.
Person vs. Self Conflict	An internal struggle within a character, such as a moral dilemma, a difficult decision, or a battle with their own fears or weaknesses.
Person vs. Nature Conflict	A struggle where a character faces challenges posed by the natural environment, such as extreme weather, wild animals, or natural disasters.
Person vs. Society Conflict	A struggle where a character is in opposition to the rules, laws, traditions, or social norms of a group or society.
Internal Conflict	Conflict that takes place within a character's mind or heart, often involving a choice or a struggle with their own beliefs or feelings.
External Conflict	Conflict that occurs between a character and an outside force, such as another person, nature, or society.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

All conflicts involve physical fights between people.

What to Teach Instead

Conflicts include internal struggles and battles against nature or society. Sorting activities with excerpts help students categorize broadly, while role-plays reveal emotional depth through peer feedback.

Common Misconception

Conflicts stay the same throughout a story.

What to Teach Instead

Conflicts evolve, layering types to build tension. Mapping arcs in groups shows progression, and predictions during debates clarify how shifts drive plot changes.

Common Misconception

Resolving conflict always leads to a happy ending.

What to Teach Instead

Resolution reveals themes, often bittersweet. Discussions after role-plays guide students to analyze outcomes, connecting conflicts to deeper messages via shared examples.

Active Learning Ideas

Card Sort: Conflict Excerpts

Prepare cards with short excerpts from familiar stories showing different conflicts. In small groups, students sort cards into four types, justify choices with evidence, then write one new excerpt per type. Share one example per group with the class.

35 min·Small Groups

Role-Play: Conflict Showdown

Pairs select a story scene and act out the main conflict, exaggerating elements to highlight the type. Switch roles to explore internal versus external shifts. Debrief with class votes on conflict identification.

40 min·Pairs

Story Arc Mapping: Conflict Paths

Small groups chart a novel's plot on large paper, marking conflict types, peaks, and resolutions with quotes. Predict changes if the primary conflict alters. Present maps and discuss theme impacts.

50 min·Small Groups

Formal Debate: Conflict Twists

Whole class divides into teams to debate outcomes if a story's conflict changes type, using evidence from the text. Vote on most convincing prediction and link to theme.

45 min·Whole Class

Real-World Connections

• Lawyers and mediators work to resolve person vs. person conflicts by understanding the motivations and perspectives of opposing parties in legal disputes.
• Wilderness survival guides teach clients how to manage person vs. nature conflicts, preparing them for challenges like extreme temperatures, navigation difficulties, and encounters with wildlife.
• Activists and social reformers engage in person vs. society conflicts, challenging established norms or unjust laws to bring about societal change, as seen in historical movements for civil rights.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

Provide students with short scenarios (e.g., a character facing a tough decision, a group protesting a new law). Ask them to identify the primary type of conflict in each scenario and write one sentence explaining their choice.

Quick Check

Display a short video clip or read a brief narrative excerpt. Ask students to write down the main conflict and whether it is internal or external, providing one piece of evidence from the text or clip to support their answer.

Discussion Prompt

Pose the question: 'How might a story's theme change if the main character's internal conflict was resolved differently?' Facilitate a class discussion where students share their predictions and reasoning, referencing specific story examples.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the four main types of conflict in Year 7 narratives?

The types are person versus person (character clashes), person versus self (internal struggles), person versus nature (environmental forces), and person versus society (institutional opposition). Students analyze these to see how they propel plots and develop characters, using examples from texts like novels studied in class.

How do types of conflict impact character development?

Conflicts challenge characters, forcing growth or change. Internal conflicts build self-awareness, while external ones test resilience. Tracing arcs helps students link conflicts to journeys, revealing traits through decisions and resolutions in line with curriculum analysis skills.

How can active learning help students understand types of conflict?

Active methods like role-plays and card sorts make conflicts experiential. Students embody tensions, discuss nuances in groups, and map arcs collaboratively, turning analysis into discovery. This boosts retention, as physical and social engagement cements distinctions between internal and external types.

How does resolving conflict reveal a story's theme?

Resolution shows consequences of choices, highlighting messages like perseverance or justice. Students examine language in climaxes to connect outcomes to themes, predicting alternates to deepen insight per AC9E7LT01 standards.