Bachelor of Teaching Programme (PISMP) Teaching of English as a Second Language (TSLB) TSLB3023 English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Audience and Style

1. Audience and Style
Identifying nature and purposes of writing

2. AUDIENCE

3. The audience for a text will make a difference to its content,
style and layout.
Audience
A known
audience
An unknown
audience

4. A known audience
Myself A teacher
A family
member
A friend
The rest of
my class/set
My year-
group
The whole
school
A well-known
personality

5. An unknown audience
Any reader/viewer/listener
Any adult
Any child
A child of a particular age-group
Someone interested in a particular topic

6. Adapting Writing to the
Audience

7. 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.

8. 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 writing
style of an author but also includes how formal or informal (relaxed) the
tone of voice should be.
 However this same style is not appropriate in professional situations where
a more formal tone is expected.

9. 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.

11. Types of
reading styles
Tell Me
Everything
Just Give Me
the Facts
Be Nice to Me Be Interesting
Different readers have different reading styles.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. Adapting to Style
Differences in Writing

17.  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?”

18. THANK YOU.