Reading an Audience
Introduced| English |
|---|
| relate to an audience's emotions and values/rɪˈleɪt tʊ ən ˈɔːdɪənsɪz ɪˈməʊʃnz ænd ˈvæljuːz/ |
| appeals/əˈpiːlz/ |
| modes of persuasion/məʊdz ɒv pəˈsweɪʒn/ |
The same argument fails with a different room
- An argument that persuades one group can leave another unmoved.
- Nothing about the logic changed — the audience did.
- This unit makes the audience the engine of every choice.
A speech about quiet libraries delivered to a marching band may need a new opening.
Perceptions, not facts
- Writers' perceptions of an audience's values, beliefs, needs and background guide the choices they make.
- The word is perceptions — the writer's picture of the audience, which may be wrong.
- That is why an argument can fail: it was aimed at an audience that was not there.
The CED says a writer's choices are guided by...
It is the writer's picture of the audience, which may be inaccurate — and that is why arguments fail.
Reaching emotions and values
- To achieve a purpose, writers make choices that relate to an audience's emotions and values 情感与价值观.
- That is not manipulation by definition — it is what addressing a real reader requires.
- The examinable question is always which value the writer reached for.
Do not treat pathos as a synonym for "emotional manipulation". The CED says writers make choices to relate to an audience's emotions and values — appealing to what a reader cares about is what addressing a real audience requires, and a scoring answer says which value was reached for.
Which appeal is being used?
Sort each move by the appeal it makes.
Select all the modes of persuasion.
Syntax is a stylistic feature, not a mode of persuasion.
Appealing to an audience's emotions is by definition manipulation.
The CED frames it as relating to an audience's emotions and values — what addressing real readers requires.
Match each appeal to what it reaches for.
Naming the appeal is a label; naming what it reaches for is the analysis.
The appeals
- Arguments persuade or motivate action through appeals 诉求 — the modes of persuasion 说服方式.
- Ethos reaches for trust in the speaker, pathos for what the audience cares about, logos for their judgement of what follows.
- Naming an appeal earns nothing; naming what it reaches for is the analysis.
To find a text's audience, ask what the text ____ you already agree with.
What a text takes for granted describes who it was written for.
Reading a text for its audience
- Ask what the text assumes you already agree with — that assumption describes the audience.
- Ask what it explains and what it takes for granted; the split reveals what the writer thought you knew.
- A text that explains nothing was written for people already inside the conversation.
A text arguing for a school rule explains nothing about how the school works and opens by naming a shared frustration. Both choices describe its audience: people already inside the institution who already share the complaint.
A writer's perceptions of an audience guide every choice. Arguments relate to an audience's emotions and values through appeals — ethos, pathos, logos. To find the audience in a text, ask what it assumes and what it bothers to explain.