Understanding Your Audience

After reading Lisa Ede and Andrea Lunsford "Audience Addressed/Audience Invoked: The Role of Audience in Composition Theory and Pedagogy," I agree that "writers must rely in large part upon their own vision of the reader, which they create, as readers do their vision of writers, according to their own experiences and expectations" (158). I agree with this statement because when I write, I do give much thought to who I am writing for. My experiences, vision, and the genre for which I am writing, all contribute to how I compose. For example, while composing the literacy biography, I knew I would be writing for myself, peers, the instructor, future students, and critics. In knowing this, I wanted to make sure that my tone was serious yet genuine, factual and yet descriptive. In this "Audience Addressed" (156) mode of writing, I was able to focus on what message I wanted to convey to the reader, because i knew the reader would also form his/her own reaction to me as a writer. Although "Audience Addressed" (156) is probably the most typical way that I approach audience (depending on what I am writing) rather than "Audience Invoked" (160) (usually in creative writing), I do agree that, "to acknowledge that readers' own experiences, expectations, and beliefs do play a central role in their reading of a text, and that the writer who does not consider the needs and interests of his audience risks losing that audience" (165). This is true and makes the composing process that much more difficult because you cannot, from this perspective, write in a linear fashion when it comes to audience. There are many variables that come into question when considering audience. I believe that Edward P.J. Corbett's model of "The Rhetorical Interrelationships" (169) is the most effective model in terms of flexibility in addressing an audience. His model "allows for interaction among all the elements of rhetoric, may at first appear less elegant and predictive and Mitchell and Taylor's. But it is finally more useful since it accurately represents the diverse range of potential interrelationships in any written discourse" (169). I believe the key word is diverse. As a student, I don't write for one particular audience. It depends on what I am writing (research paper, comparative analysis, explication...) that determines who I write for and what language I use to either persuade, inform, or invoke a reaction from the reader. The questions that come to mind for me after exploring the topic of audience are: If you understand that your reader may formulate an opinion about your writing based on their own beliefs, experiences, and moral codes, what hope do you have of reaching your audience in a positive manner? In the big scheme of things, how much does it affect your writing if your paper is focused, targeted at the correct audience, and you are able to incorporate your own voice? In my literacy autobiography audience is the thing that came up, so I am wondering how to master this for the future?