In order for students to write for a general audience, they must be able to address unknown readers. Research into how successful writers perceive their audience suggests that they write to an audience who is an idealized version of themselves. Writing for an unknown audience can be a writer's search for common ground, for a set of beliefs and…

Explores the background of "mutual knowledge"--an aspect of language theory--and modifies that notion so that it can be applied to composition theory and instruction, specifically audience analysis.

Describes a comparison of the function of audience in students' writing processes with that of experienced technical writers. Examines students' rough and final drafts for content and style as audience considerations influenced revisions. (HTH)

Using James Britton's model of discourse as a touchstone, this paper develops a theoretical base for writing instruction in adult literacy programs. The paper explores writing from an interactionist perspective that views writing as a complex recursive process in which the writer builds meaning with a text according to the purposes for writing,…

Studies original and revised essays of 60 university freshmen to determine the effects of attention to audience on improving overall compostion quality. Finds audience attention effective as a revising strategy but more effective as a drafting strategy. (NH)

Describes how teachers can use computer programs to combine the systematic coverage of a writing class with the individualization of a writing workshop. (MM)

Investigates the implications of conceiving writing-as-performance. Claims that public speaking compares closely with a writing-as-performance course. Focuses on students' perception of themselves as writers and of their audience and presents several analogies comparing writing with other performance activities. (JD)

In the "real" world of writing, people make writing decisions based in part on their analyses of audience expectations and their own purposes. Yet, composition teachers at all levels assign general or abstract topics for essays rather than create writing tasks that require students to reflect on target audiences. Even students are aware…

Writing teachers and theorists face political and pedagogical dangers because of their increasing tendency to align themselves against each other on the side of either rhetoric or composition. As the differences between the two schools widens, writing teachers stand to lose political ground in English departments and their students stand to lose…

Although theories on developmental writing assume that basic writers do not write well because of cognitive deficits, recent research and classroom experience suggest that poor writers lack skill because they have not had sufficient contextually meaningful practice. Writing research indicates that the unskilled writer's tendency to write as if…

Many essayists on writing believe that a student's level of cognitive development determines the organization of thought expressed by the student's writing and that an individual cannot use language at a level that goes beyond his or her stage of cognitive development. Without the maturation of formal operational structures, students cannot easily…