TSLB3023 English for Academic Purposes (EAP) - Audience and Style
Transcript of TSLB3023 English for Academic Purposes (EAP) - Audience and Style
Audience and StyleIdentifying nature and purposes of writing
AUDIENCE
The audience for a text will make a difference to its content, style and layout.
Audience
A known
audience
An unknown
audience
A known audience
Myself A teacherA family
memberA friend
The rest of
my class/set
My year-
group
The whole
school
A well-known
personality
An unknown audience
Any reader/viewer/listener
Any adult
Any child
A child of a particular age-group
Someone interested in a particular topic
Adapting Writing to the Audience
Knowing who your audience
adapt the content of your writing to address the main concerns of your audience.
If you know your readers are specialists in a particular area, the writing style should acknowledge this and differ from an article written on the same topic for the general public.
Knowing your audience will also help you to decide on the “voice” to use.
The writer's “voice” is a literary term used to describe the individual writingstyle of an author but also includes how formal or informal (relaxed) thetone of voice should be.
However this same style is not appropriate in professional situations wherea more formal tone is expected.
If you are writing to very busy people who perhaps receive hundreds of similar communications…
adopt a brief and succinct written style that conveys the key messages quickly and clearly.
consider including charts, diagrams or illustrations if this helps to convey the key messages more succinctly than elaborate and convoluted text.
Provide the detailed content if you know that you are writing to people who want or need it and do ask if you do not know how much detail is required.
Types of
reading styles
Tell Me
Everything
Just Give Me
the FactsBe Nice to Me Be Interesting
Different readers have different reading styles.
Tell Me Everything
needs plenty of details, along with sources for more information
anticipate and answer all your reader’s questions
Generally, begin with an executive summary, lay out the key points, provide details,describe alternatives, and list possible next steps.
Just Give Me The Facts
They need just the facts.
When writing to this type, be very concise.
Use an action-oriented subject line, a one-sentence summary, crisp bullet points, a quick conclusion, and your name and phone number.
Be Nice to Me
Be Nice to Me readers need to be recognized as people.
They prefer friendly, courteous language and sincere individual comments.
They also want people issues to be addressed.
Be Interesting
They need evocative stories, rich metaphors, and thought-provoking scenarios.
They need big-picture visions and inventive thinking.
They need to be engaged because most business writing concisely communicates routine information, these readers go through most days uninspired by what appears on their screens.
When you give them something special, you get their attention.
Adapting to Style Differences in Writing
For your Tell Me Everything readers, attach additional data and provide sources for more information.
For your Just Give Me the Facts readers, use precise headings so that they can skim and skip to their bottom line.
For your Be Nice to Me readers, include Please, Many thanks, and Have a good trip, along with relevant human factors.
For your Be Interesting readers, refer to the big picture or the future. If possible, include an engaging question such as “What if for just one day all of us challenged conventional thinking?”
THANK YOU.