Planning Complex Texts: Purpose, Audience, Form and Medium

Topic: the reading buddies club. Purposes: persuade (join) and inform (when it meets). Audience: students at the assembly.

The primary audience is the main group the text is made for. A secondary audience is other people who may also read or use it.

A form.

Example: a step-by-step guide with screenshots, printed in large type. Numbered steps match the instruct purpose, and pictures show exactly which button to press.

Listeners can't look back at an audio text easily, so they may forget the date and place. A poster keeps the information visible.

Example: I am writing an illustrated report about how beavers build dams for my classmates to explain the process. I chose a report with a labelled diagram because the diagram shows the parts of the dam that are hard to picture from words alone.

Example: inform (what the exhibit shows, hours) and persuade (come and visit).

Why a text is created.

Your aunt.

Audio (spoken, broadcast on radio).

Any one: short story, comic, play script, funny poem, graphic story.

To instruct.

Examples: use clear pictures or icons of each item and bin; use short, simple sentences; offer the text in other languages spoken in the community. Pictures carry meaning even when some words are new.

Council members expect a formal text with reasons and evidence. A letter shows the request is serious and can be filed and read at a meeting; a comic may not be taken seriously.

Example: make the video shorter, focusing on the best moments, and add captions or a spoken explanation, since Grandma may not know every rule. That way she can enjoy and understand it.

Example: How snowshoe hares change colour for winter. A narrow topic can be covered well in a few paragraphs.

Example: for young children, a picture checklist (turn off the light when you leave the room); for adults, a short article with tips for using less energy, such as hanging laundry to dry. Same topic, different form, words and details.

Example: Topic: learning about First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists working today. Purposes: inform and celebrate. Primary audience: students; secondary: families. Form: a digital slideshow shown at an assembly and posted on the school website. Medium: screen and website. Meaning: artists' own words and images of their work (used with permission and credit) let the audience learn from Indigenous people themselves, and the website lets families see it later.

Told aloud, the speaker's voice, pauses, faces and sound effects add humour and suspense, and listeners react together. Written down, the writer must use word choice, punctuation and paragraph breaks to create the same timing. The words may be the same, but the experience and effect change.

Most writers would disagree. Form decides whether the audience will read, understand and use the facts. Example: correct bus-safety facts in a long essay may not reach Kindergarten students, but a short song or picture book could.