Day 3: Audience and The Communication Model

In this lesson you will learn:
 
  • to explain how communication through writing is represented by the communication model by defining key terminology
  • to describe the ways through which writing can be un/successfully executed in terms of the communication model
  • to understand the importance of considering audience in the process of encoding their messages by identifying their audience of the diagnostic essay prompt
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    Before we start today's discussion, let us answer the following question:
    What and who do we write for?
    How often do you think about it before you start writing a paper, an article, an essay, a journal entry etc? Have you ever thought about these questions? 

    We write primarily to send a message! With the help of that message we may want to accomplish any number of goals including: to persuade our readers, to encourage them, to motivate them etc., but does the message we intend to send always get to the target receiver? What do you think? Unfortunately, not always...

    Let us watch this video that will help you better understand the idea of the communication model and how to make sure that the message you send gets to its intended receivers.

    Now discuss the following issues with your partner:

    What may prevent the receiver of your message from understanding, correctly interpreting, and hearing it? How to make sure your message is understood the way you intended it to be understood? Note: Do not forget to discuss Physical, Psychological and Semantic Noise/Interference. Provide examples of each one. 

    Open this template and are there any terms which are still unclear to you? Discuss them together. 

    This PPT explains the difference between different types of audience and how to assess and predict them before you start writing.

    Always remember!! Knowing the knowledge level of your audience will help you determine how to write, how much information to include, how long to make your text, how subjective or objective you should be, and how formal or informal your text should be.


    Homework: due Saturday--January 26th--at 11.59 PM 

    Engineering (prewriting) activity #1:

    Click here to access the Diagnostic Analysis prompt.

    Look back at the prompt for the diagnostic. Does your prompt either explicitly or implicitly identify an audience? If not, who do you think the audience (according to the prompt) should be?
    Now look at your introduction. Do you explicitly or implicitly identify an audience? If not, who do you think your audience should be? (HINT: consider education level, background, knowledge of the topic--what do you assume that your audience knows?)


    Then, put your thoughts into words, create a Word document in your Homework folder, name it Engineering Activity #1, and write a brief analysis--no more than 300 words--covering the aforementioned questions.
    Note: Do not worry about the structure of your work at this point. However, do your best to make your ideas flow, think about how connected your paragraphs are--if you choose to write several. Use font 12, Times New Roman.