While browsing the archives the other day, I found this article, "Audience: Getting student writers
to see past the professor," by peer tutor Bryan
Householder from the Writing Center Lab Newsletter to be quite relevant. The article expresses a very familiar aspect of tutoring; it examines the way that students write specifically for their professor and have a hard time applying their writing to a larger or different audience (something instilled in them from the "5-paragraph essay" in high school).
Bryan believes that: "If we, as tutors, can encourage students to view their writing as a form of communication and show them that they are not just writing to the professor but also to a larger group, students will become more impassioned about their writing and, therefore, their writing will be of a much higher quality."
He goes on to explain some steps that tutors can take to help develop their students' perception of intended audience:
- showing students that their writing can be influential and important is to show students the value of making the work their own
- be willing to work with the student and determine what they want to say
- it is necessary that an intended audience be discovered
- either the student could revise the paper to fit his audience or he could focus more on what audience his paper was for
Bryan believes that: "If we, as tutors, can encourage students to view their writing as a form of communication and show them that they are not just writing to the professor but also to a larger group, students will become more impassioned about their writing and, therefore, their writing will be of a much higher quality."
He goes on to explain some steps that tutors can take to help develop their students' perception of intended audience:
- showing students that their writing can be influential and important is to show students the value of making the work their own
- be willing to work with the student and determine what they want to say
- it is necessary that an intended audience be discovered
- either the student could revise the paper to fit his audience or he could focus more on what audience his paper was for
- discuss the different types of papers and forms of
writing that may be most accepted by different groups of people
I get a student almost each day that I tutor that mentions what they think "the professor wants to hear." I constantly find myself having to remind or ask a student who their audience is, so this article offers a more direct way to get student to "think beyond their professor."
I've seen several tutees, especially from ENG 1020, that don't quite understand the concept of an audience very well. Something that seems to spark their brains is how I explain to them that research is like a conversation. Your paper is in response to all of these other people who have researched the same topic as you. Did the article mention any strategies the author found effective in helping all kinds of learners understand the concept of an audience?
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