Audience and purpose
Comprehension
Definition
Audience is defined as “the intended group of readers, listeners or viewers that the writer, designer, filmmaker or speaker is addressing.”
Purpose is defined as “in very broad terms, to entertain, to inform or to persuade different audiences in different contexts. Composers use a number of ways to achieve these purposes: persuading through emotive language, analysis or factual recount; entertaining through description, imaginative writing or humour, and so on.” (NSW English K-10 Glossary)
Audience and purpose form part of reading comprehension.
Teaching and learning activities
The resources below provide targeted teaching strategies to support student improvement in this skill.
Each downloadable lesson activity includes:
learning intentions
a list of required resources
a step-by-step lesson sequence
printable classroom materials
Select the download all icon to download all available activities or select each activity separately.
PLAN2 Areas of focus
An Areas of focus template has been created in PLAN2 to support targeted teaching of Text structure in your learning area.
Search for the DoE template titled ‘DoE HSCMinStd Writing: Text structure’ in the Areas of focus template library tab within the Plan menu, and customise it for your students’ needs.
For more information about using PLAN2 Areas of focus templates with this resource, visit the Using this resource with PLAN2 page.
Relevance to reading test marking
The feedback for a Level 3 performance in the HSC minimum standard online reading test states:
Individuals performing at this level typically “comprehend everyday texts in familiar and some less familiar contexts” and “recognise the distinguishing features of common types of text.”
In the reading test, students apply strategies to identify the intended audience and purpose of a variety of texts.
Connections with ACSF Level 3 descriptors
The relevant Level 3 ACSF descriptors for reading are shown here to demonstrate how audience and purpose is assessed in the HSC minimum standard online test. The performance features identified show what a student is able to do in order to achieve at this level and are provided to support teachers to understand what is required to achieve a Level 3 in this skill.
Reading Indicator .03: Audience, purpose and meaning-making
Focus area: Purpose
Level 3 performance features:
identifies some explicit who/what/when/why/how questions to be answered by reading fiction or non-fiction texts
begins to reflect on the usefulness of a selected text for the purpose
Reading Indicator .03: Audience, purpose and meaning-making
Focus area: Prediction and prior knowledge
Level 3 performance features:
integrates new ideas and information with existing understanding
Reading Indicator .03: Audience, purpose and meaning-making
Focus area: Critical reading and text analysis
Level 3 performance features:
identifies the purpose and intended audiences of a range of familiar, and some unfamiliar, texts types
recognises that authors select structure, tone and language to achieve specific purposes
interprets and extrapolates information from texts containing graphs and diagrams
understands why it may be important to identify who has created a text and begins to consider the validity of the source
identifies some implicit meanings and draws simple inference, e.g. infers author’s stance from a cartoon used to illustrate a text
Connections with National Literacy Learning Progression
The progressions describe a typical developmental sequence of literacy and numeracy learning. The literacy progression sub-elements, levels and indicators relevant to audience and purpose are provided here to assist teachers to identify students’ capabilities and needs to support targeted teaching.
Element: Reading and viewing
Sub-elements: Understanding texts (UnT)
UnT7 — Comprehension
reads and views predictable texts (see Text complexity)
identifies the purpose of a broad range of informative, imaginative and persuasive texts (e.g. advertisements, diary entry)
draws inferences and identifies supporting evidence in the text
recognises that texts can present different points of view
UnT7 — Processes
identifies language and text features that signal purpose in a predictable text (e.g. diagrams, dialogue)
UnT7 — Vocabulary
describes the language and visual features of texts using metalanguage (e.g. grammatical terms such as cohesion, tense, noun groups)
recognises how evaluative and modal words are used to influence the reader (e.g. important, should, dirty)
UnT8 — Comprehension
reads and views some moderately complex texts (see Text complexity)
draws inferences and verifies using text evidence
UnT8 — Processes
identifies and explains techniques used to present perspective (e.g. emotive or descriptive language, order in which ideas are presented)
uses knowledge of the features and conventions of the type of text to build meaning (e.g. recognises that the beginning of a persuasive text may introduce the topic and the line of argument)
identifies language features used to present opinions or points of view
UnT9 — Comprehension
reads and views complex texts (see Text complexity)
summarises the text identifying key details only
evaluates text features for relevance to purpose and audience