Close Reading for Audience and Purpose Essays - Communication Design

Close Reading for Audience and Purpose Essays - Communication Design Close Reading for Audience and Purpose Key Terms: Audience: defined as the group of listeners or readers for whom a text or message is intended Purpose: describes the writer's intentions in writing a text, be they to entertain, enlighten, persuade, inform, evaluate, define, instruct, explainor even deceive. Writer's and speakers want to instigate a response from their audience. Context of Interpretation: refers to the factors that can influence a reader of a text, such as time, place, or personal experience. Context of composition: refers to the factors that influence a writer when creating a text, such as time, place, and personal experience. AUDIENCE In order to study the relationship between a text and the context in which it was written, you need to know and understand the concept of audience. Like eavesdropping on a conversation, when analyzing texts for the course you need to "fill in the gaps" and look for what is implied. Texts are neither written nor read in a vacuum. Time and place can influence how and why a text is written and how it is interpreted. In the course you will examine texts where you will feel a distance between yourself and the intended audience (think of picking up a magazine that targets people with completely different interests that your own) When considering audience, think of the following questions: Who was the text written for? How are you part of or different from the target audience? PURPOSE Writers want to create a response in their intended audience. Therefore, every text has a purpose. To determine purpose, ask yourself the following: What is the writer's intention? Why did the writer write the text? CONTEXT OF INTERPRETATION Readers are often influenced by the contexts in which they read. They are affected by their particular circumstances and environment, as well as their personal history. This is known as the context of interpretation The context of interpretation is why you may interpret a text differently from someone else or why you may interpret it differently that the author intended. CONTEXT OF COMPOSITION Writers, just like everyone, are affected by their environment and their personal experiences. Time, race, gender, nationality and family history are a few factors that influence writers. Factors such as these are called the context of composition. As you read you need to be a detective looking for pieces of evidence that reflect the context of composition. These pieces of evidence are called contextual clues. The figure below shows the relationship between the context of composition, the target audience, and the context of interpretation CONTEXT OF COMPOSITION 3363162124968 Time and Place020000 Time and Place 14685265212100344606-20471600 6718585622100 327342535560 Writer020000 Writer 140632216459009359904889500 296227551435 Text020000 Text 11899902159000 9810751676400 1261110106680 Aim of Communication: aka Purpose020000 Aim of Communication: aka Purpose 3455035133350 Time and Place of Target Audience020000 Time and Place of Target Audience344606-20471600 16757658699500 9359904889500 3105150118110 Target Audience020000 Target Audience 13265156413500 981075412750 1255395106045 Reader's Placement of Text020000 Reader's Placement of Text 3452751122918 Your Place and Time00 Your Place and Time 167145210203700344606-20471600 6700345870500 9359904889500 3084616125392 Text020000 Text 13265157048500 14065254381500 3357748160622 You020000 You CONTEXT OF INTERPRETATION