4
Why Does Audience Matter?
An essay. Or a research paper. Or some other written assignment.
Chances are you’ve been asked to write for a general audience of your peers: other classmates. Maybe you’ve had an assignment that directed you to write for a specific audience. Maybe there was no audience specified at all; you just assumed you were writing to and for your teacher.
So if you’re given these assignments in school, and if it’s clear that the one person who is reading and evaluating them is your teacher, why should you care about audience?
That question–the “why should we bother”–is what marks understanding audience as a threshold concept. Remember how we talked about threshold concepts being ideas that challenge us or make us rethink what we’ve already believed? Audience as an important part of any communication might be that concept for you.
Analyzing Audience
Whether you’re writing for an academic assignment where the audience has been specified or sending a random text to your friend, you’re already engaging in a series of decisions about your audience based on your implicit understanding of the person or people you’re writing to.
But successful writers will go a step further and think deeply about audience so they can meet their audience’s needs.
Look at this description of the Common Core standards that high school students are expected to meet:
Both of these standards highlight the importance of writing to a specific audience, because communication cannot happen in a vacuum. Without an audience, we have no one to address. Without a clear understanding of the audience, we may not be able to communicate effectively and fulfill our purpose as speakers.
Analyzing Your Audience
Thinking deeply about your audience–even if it is simply your professor–can help you use the best possible means of persuasion in your message.
You can use the following subjects to think through your audience.
No one likes listening to someone who is talking down to them, and no one likes listening to someone who is talking over their heads. Thinking about your audience’s previous knowledge can help you avoid the mistake of telling them what they already know and the mistake of assuming they know more than they do.
- What is the audience’s background with this topic? What familiarity or experience might they have about the subject? What information can you skip over? What information do you need to fill in?
- What is the audience’s education level? Their education level may help you figure out how much in-depth knowledge they already have. For example, your professors are likely experts in the field. They likely already know the basics, and expect you to go beyond those basics.
- What misinformation might your audience have or believe about the topic? What are common misconceptions that you may have to counter before you can present your message?
What is the level of interest or concern my audience already has about this topic?
Once you’ve determined how familiar y