AUDIENCE Who is the audience? The pie iece(s) may be targeted at a - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Targeting an AUDIENCE

Who is the audience? The pie iece(s) may be targeted at a specific ic group of people: • Volunteers • Music enthusiasts • Parents • Parents of young children • Parents of young children who play musical instruments • Secondary school students • Residents and voters in Melbourne

Ok, that’s great, but what type of [parent/student/enthusiast] are they appealing to? What values, beliefs or attitudes are being targeted?

Values CONSERVATIVE EMPIRICAL values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes Beliefs  Tradition/Traditional  Evidence  Convention/Conventional  Verifiable by observation/experience  Stability/Stable Attitudes  Acquired by senses  Unchanging/Unprogressive  Myopic  Status quo RATIONAL MORALISTIC NATIONALISTIC PRAGMATIC values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes  Reason/Reasoned  Realistic  Patriotism/Patriotic  Judges behaviour  Sensible  Sensible  Pride/Proud  Strong sense of right and  Judicious wrong  Best solution in given  Sense of superiority circumstance  Black and white  Cogent  Protective/Defensive  Useful decisions/actions  Logic/Logical LOGICAL LIBERAL FEMINIST HUMANISTIC values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes  Straight thinking  Tolerance/Tolerant  Gender equality  Values agency of people  Objectivity/Objective  Freedom from prejudice  Respect  Worth of individuals  Clarity/Clear  Progressive  Self-determination  Dignity  Evidence/Analytical  Human rights

This next section will use the first article of the 2013 VATE practise exam (‘City Living’) for examples.

NATIONALISTIC / PATRIOTIC Having strong feelings of pride in one’s country, and potentially a belief in the superiority of one's own country over others. • Patriotism/Patriotic • Pride/Proud The use of inclusive language and repeated references to national • Sense of superiority successes, such as the economy and building industry, are designed to • Protective/Defensive elicit pride in an audience with nationalistic or patriotic values , who would be drawn to agree with the author due to the sense of superiority and pride in Australia that he is able to establish in his opening remarks.

LOGICAL / RATIONAL A person who favours clear, sound reasoning that is explicable through the application of evidence and logic. • Straight thinking The use of language that carries strong • Objectivity/Objective negative connotations of illogicality and senseless, such as the author’s • Clarity/Clear description of the “apparent randomness” of the housing estates and • Evidence/Analytical the “waste” of “arable land”, is designed to grab the attention of a rational audience, who would react strongly • Reason/Reasoned against the lack of a clear and sensible purpose that is evident in the use of • Sensible valuable land for “unnecessarily large houses”.

HUMANISTIC A person having a strong interest in or concern for human welfare, values, and dignity. • Values agency of people • Worth of individuals • Dignity “The author’s use of emotive language in his description of “young people who regularly perish” on country roads, and • Human rights juxtaposing their “mourning families” against the “selfish indulgence of…city dwellers”, would resonate strongly with a humanistic audience, who would object to the devaluation of human life implied by his appeal .”

PRAGMATIC Dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical or doctrinal considerations. • Realistic • Sensible The author’s urging to adopt a more “sensible plan” and • Best solution in given consequential outlining of steps to take advantage of existing circumstance infrastructure would resonate strongly with a pragmatic audience, who would see this as • Useful decisions/actions a realistic and useful action in the circumstances outlined by the author.

CONSERVATIVE Favouring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change. • Tradition/Traditional • Convention/ Conventional • Stability/Stable The author’s solution is phrased in a manner • Unchanging/ that emphasises how it will actually allow for the preservation of rural areas and the Unprogressive conservation of finances, which would appeal to a conservative audience who • Status quo values stability and maintaining the status quo, and who may actually support this approach due to its focus on using “existing” infrastructure instead of “building more”, “leaving” other things alone.

MORALISTIC Wishing to make moral judgements about others' behaviour and actions; seeing things in stark decisions, such as ‘good’ and ‘evil’. • Judges behaviour Not used in this text, but • Strong sense of right could still come up: and wrong The letter opens with a clear appeal to • Black and white moralists over pragmatists by asking the audience to consider the “moral worth” of accepting refugees and strongly questioning whether the issue of “cost” deserves to be at the “forefront”.

LIBERAL Being willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas and views progress and reform favourably. Not used in this text, but • Tolerance/Tolerant could still come up: • Freedom from prejudice However, a liberal audience would react strongly against these appeals, as they • Progressive promote prejudice over tolerance. OR… A liberal audience would sympathise with this appeal, as they would see value in the potential for progress and wider social improvements that it implies.

FEMINIST Advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. • Gender equality • Respect Not used in this text, but could still come up: • Self-determination The author’s decision to focus on the experiences of female…in particular highlights the unique problems that gender poses in this regard, and would thus appeal to people who harbour feminist ideals and who desire to see equality in such situations.

Remember: the text will usually target a specific audience (here it was residents and voters in Melbourne), but that audience will usually embody several values/beliefs/ideas that the author will then target.

LIBERAL HUMANISTIC values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes  Tolerance/Tolerant  Values agency of people MORALISTIC  Freedom from prejudice  Worth of individuals values/beliefs/attitudes  Progressive  Dignity  Judges behaviour  Human rights  Strong sense of right and wrong  Black and white

PRAGMATIC NATIONALISTIC values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes  Realistic  Patriotism/Patriotic CONSERVATIVE  Sensible  Pride/Proud values/beliefs/attitudes  Best solution in given  Sense of superiority  Tradition/Traditional circumstance  Protective/Defensive  Convention/Conventional  Useful decisions/actions  Stability/Stable  Unchanging/Unprogressive  Status quo

PRAGMATIC HUMANISTIC values/beliefs/attitudes values/beliefs/attitudes  Values agency of people  Realistic RATIONAL  Worth of individuals  Sensible values/beliefs/attitudes  Dignity  Best solution in given  Reason/Reasoned circumstance  Human rights  Sensible  Useful decisions/actions  Judicious  Cogent  Logic/Logical

How to use this approach… • It needs to come after you discuss arguments, language and persuasive devices: it is the final step in your analysis, and a way of showing a deeper engagement with the purpose behind the author’s language and reasoning. • Think of it as the ‘cherry on top’ of your analysis that suggests to the assessor that you harbour a detailed and nuanced understanding of the ways in which people are persuaded. • Make sure you know what each of the ‘audiences’ are: you need to understand them and be able to explain them. • It is not enough to say “this targets a rational audience” or “this would resonate with a humanist audience”: you need to explain what makes it rational or why a humanist would respond to it! • Make sure you get a lot of practise!