In your group, discuss the following question:

Why is the concept of audience such an important component of the rhetorical

situation?

Why AUDIENCE Matters. Without a receiver/audience, the source/speaker has

only himself or herself in which to send the message. Giving attention to this
aspect of the rhetorical situation (Audience) will allow you to gain insight into
how to craft your message before you present it.

Elaborate:
The receiver (i.e., listener or audience) is one of the basic components of
communication. Without a receiver, the source (i.e., the speaker) has only
himself or herself in which to send the message. By extension, without an
audience you can’t have a speech. Your audience comes to you with
expectations, prior knowledge, and experience. They have a purpose that
makes them part of the audience instead of outside playing golf. They have
a wide range of characteristics like social class, gender, age, race and
ethnicity, cultural background, and language that make them unique and
diverse. What kind of audience will you be speaking to? What do you know
about their expectations, prior knowledge or backgrounds, and how they
plan to use your information? Giving attention to this aspect of the
rhetorical situation will allow you to gain insight into how to craft your
message before you present it.

https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_business-communication-for-success/s16-02-strategies-for-
success.html

How does your audience influence what and how you write?

Why AUDIENCE are significant. Audience is one of the most important rhetorical
concerns for technical communicators. Technical information may need to be
conveyed, but if information does not appropriately address an audience, the
communication opportunity may have been lost.

Audience is one of the most important rhetorical concerns for technical

communicators. Technical information may need to be conveyed, but if
information does not appropriately address an audience, the
communication opportunity may have been lost. Audience especially
becomes highlighted when technical communicators are required to
convey the same information to different audiences. For example, how
would a technical communicator communicate similar technical
information to the following different audiences?
• colleagues, or persons with similar education, training, and work
background
• fourth grade students
• non-native speakers of English
Ways to address these different audiences may include changing
vocabulary (from specialized vocabulary to general vocabulary); using
concrete examples appropriate to the background and education of
audience members; using visual aids to communicate technical
information.
Similarly, communication may change in situations that involve an
audience of various organizational positions. How might you
communicate bad news (for example, lack of funds to support a
project) to the following audiences?

What do you think it’s important to know about your audience? How
does it help you as a writer?

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Who could be the audiences for the following writing pieces?

 A thank-you card: Family, Friends, Special Someone, Faculty/Staff and

Crew.
 A Wedding Invitation: Family, Close relatives, Close friend.
 A letter of complaint to an airline company: Administration, Management,
Crew
 A book review for an academic journal: Publisher, Author, Panelist,
Readers
 A personal ad in a local newspaper:
 An annotated bibliography for a research paper:
  A college lab report: Panelists, Instructor, Teachers, Students
 A resume/CV/cover letter: Management, Boss, Employer, Interviewer,
Staffs

What content and genre(s) would be considered inappropriate for the following
audiences?

 A 10-year old child: Tragedy, Dystopia, Satire, Horror (subset genre of

Fiction)
 A university professor: Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, and Horror
 Readers of an academic journal: Fantasy, Comedy, Horror, and Fiction
 A potential employer: Fantasy, Romance, Drama, and Horror
 A newspaper editor:
 A classmate: