Grade by Grade
D. Composition: Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts · Writing with Purpose: Research, Essays, Media and Publishing

Purpose, Audience, Form, Genre and Medium

D1.1About 65 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can identify the topic, purpose and audience for a text I plan to create.
  • I can tell the difference between a text's form, genre and medium.
  • I can choose a form, genre and medium that suit my purpose and audience.
  • I can write a clear justification for my choices that names an alternative I rejected.

Words to know

rhetorical situation
Everything that shapes a text: the writer, the audience, the purpose, the topic and the context.
purpose
What a text is meant to do: inform, explain, persuade, analyze, entertain, reflect or call people to act.
audience
The people who will read, hear or view a text. Most texts have a primary (main) and a secondary audience.
form
The kind of text and its structure, such as an essay, a letter, a speech, a report, a short story or a podcast episode.
genre
A category of texts that share conventions, such as mystery, science fiction, memoir, argument or news.
medium
The way a text reaches its audience: print, digital, audio, video or live. (The plural is media.)
conventions
The expected features of a form or genre, like a thesis in an essay or a headline in a news article.
justify
To give reasons that explain why a choice is a good one.

Remember from Grade 8

In Grade 8 you planned texts on challenging topics, named a primary and a secondary audience, and used a decision matrix to compare forms before choosing one.

In Grade 9 you will make those same decisions more precisely, for the kinds of writing high school asks for: essays, reports, arguments, personal writing and media texts. You will learn to separate form, genre and medium, and to write a short justification like a professional writer explaining a plan to an editor.

One topic, four very different texts

Imagine your school board is thinking about starting high school classes at 9:30 a.m. instead of 8:45 a.m.

  • You text a friend: did u hear?? we might get to sleep in 😴
  • You email the principal to ask when the decision will be made.
  • You write a letter to the local newspaper arguing that a later start would help students who work evening jobs.
  • You record a two-minute podcast segment for the school's morning announcements explaining both sides.

The topic never changed. The purpose and audience did, and so the words, the tone, the length and the way the message travels all changed with them.

The rhetorical situation: every text sits inside oneWRITER(you: voice, role)AUDIENCE(who reads or hears it)PURPOSE(what it should do)TOPIC /MESSAGEContext all around: when, where, and what is happening
The writer, the audience and the purpose pull on each other, with the topic in the middle. Change any corner (a new audience, a new purpose) and the best form, tone and medium change too.

Topic, purpose, audience

Topic is what the text is about. A good topic is narrow enough to cover well. Sleep is too big. Should our school start at 9:30? is workable.

Purpose is what the text should do. Common purposes are to inform, explain, persuade, analyze, entertain, reflect and call people to act. Many texts have a main purpose and a second one (a speech can inform and persuade).

Audience is who the text is for. Ask four questions about them:

  1. What do they already know about the topic?
  2. What do they believe or value?
  3. What do they need from my text (facts, reasons, a story, steps)?
  4. How will they meet the text (scrolling on a phone, reading a printout, listening while driving)?

Form, genre and medium are three different choices

  • Form is the kind of text and its shape: essay, letter, speech, report, review, short story, poem, blog post, podcast episode, infographic.
  • Genre is the category with shared conventions: argument, memoir, news, science fiction, horror, satire.
  • Medium is how it travels: print, digital (screen), audio, video or live performance.

The same choices combine in many ways. A short story (form) can be science fiction (genre) published in a print magazine or as an audio drama (medium). People sometimes use form and genre loosely to mean the same thing; that's fine, as long as you think about all three decisions.

PlanTopicPurposeAudienceForm / genreMedium
A9:30 start timepersuadenewspaper readers in townletter to the editor (argument)print and online newspaper
B9:30 start timeinform, show both sidesstudents at your schoolnews segment (news)audio, morning announcements
C9:30 start timeask a questionthe principalformal emaildigital
D9:30 start timereflectyourself and your teacherpersonal journal entry (reflection)handwritten notebook
Same topic, four plans. Notice how each column depends on the ones before it.
Five planning decisions, in order, each with its question1. TopicWhat exactlyis it about?2. PurposeWhat shouldit do?3. AudienceWho, and whatdo they need?4. Form/genreWhat kindof text?5. MediumHow will itreach them?6. Justify: "I chose this form and medium because my audience ...and my purpose ... I considered ... but rejected it because ..."A strong justification names the audience, the purpose and one alternative.
Decide topic, purpose and audience before form and medium. Then write a justification that names at least one alternative you rejected and why.
Worked example

Let's plan and justify a text together

Your class has noticed that the cafeteria throws out a lot of food. You want the school to start a composting program. Plan the text and justify your choices.

  1. Topic: narrow it. Not food waste (too big), but Should our school start composting cafeteria scraps?
  2. Purpose: mainly to persuade (and to inform people about how much is wasted).
  3. Audience: the primary audience is the principal and the school council, who make the decision. They know the school budget well but may not know the amount of waste. They value cost, safety and student learning. A secondary audience is students and families, who will hear about the proposal.
  4. Form and genre options: a formal proposal (argument), a speech at a council meeting, a poster campaign, a short video.
  5. Compare: posters are good for students but too short for a decision-maker. A video is engaging but harder to make and to share in a meeting. A two-page written proposal lets the council read the numbers and the plan carefully, and it can be handed out and kept.
  6. Medium: a printed and emailed document, with one simple bar graph of the waste you measured.

Justification: I chose a two-page written proposal because my primary audience, the principal and school council, needs exact numbers, costs and steps they can discuss and keep. My purpose is to persuade them to approve composting, and a proposal is the form decision-makers expect. I considered a poster campaign, but rejected it as the main text because posters cannot hold the evidence the council needs; I may use posters later to tell students about the program.

Audience shapes almost everything

Once you know your audience, many smaller choices make themselves:

  • Vocabulary: explain terms for a general audience; use subject terms for experts.
  • Formality: a formal register for decision-makers and essays; a relaxed one for friends.
  • Evidence: numbers for a budget committee, stories for a school assembly, both for most arguments.
  • Length and layout: short and scannable for phone screens; headings and paragraphs for reports.
Hands-on activity

Text audit at home

Collect five real texts from around your home: for example a cereal box, a recipe, a bill or flyer, a news app story and a group-chat message (with permission).

  1. Make a chart with the columns Topic, Purpose, Audience, Form/genre, Medium. Fill it in for each text.
  2. Circle one clue in each text that shows who the audience is (a word, a picture, the size of the print).
  3. Pick one text and rewrite its main message for a different audience: for example, the recipe as a text message to a friend, or the flyer as a formal email to a city councillor.
  4. Write a two-sentence justification for your rewrite's form and medium.

What to look for: every purpose is a verb (inform, persuade...), and the audience is specific (not just "everyone").

Just for fun

The word audience comes from the Latin audire, "to hear," the same root as audio and audition. So when your teacher asks you to think about your audience, they are literally asking: who is listening?

Your turn

1

Name the purpose of each: (a) a recipe, (b) a movie review, (c) a eulogy at a funeral, (d) a campaign speech.

2

Identify the form, genre and medium: a scary story read aloud on a podcast.

3

Narrow this topic so it could be covered in a 600-word essay: technology.

4

Write the four questions you should ask about any audience.

5

Your audience is Grade 4 students and your purpose is to explain why recycling matters. Name two choices this audience changes.

6

Why might a text have a secondary audience? Give an example.

More practice: warm-up

1

True or false: form and medium mean the same thing.

2

Name the medium: a speech given live at a Remembrance Day assembly.

3

What purpose do most persuasive texts end with?

4

Give one example of a genre.

5

Who is the primary audience of a letter to the editor of a local newspaper?

More practice: on your own

1

Your purpose is to convince a town council to build a skateboard park. Which is the best form: a rap song, a formal presentation with a petition, or a diary entry? Why?

2

Rewrite this sentence for a formal audience (the school principal): The new lunch schedule is super dumb and nobody likes it.

3

A science fair report and a TikTok-style video both explain how maple syrup is made. How would their audience needs differ?

4

What is wrong with this audience description: My audience is everyone? Fix it.

5

Write a one-sentence justification for choosing an infographic to share a survey of how students get to school.

Challenge

1

A student plans a formal essay for a purpose of raising awareness among Grade 9 students about online scams. Evaluate the choice and suggest a stronger alternative.

2

Explain how context (time and place) could change your plan for a speech about the 9:30 start time.

3

Same topic, two audiences: write the opening sentence of a text about cutting cafeteria food waste for (a) Grade 4 students and (b) the school council.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which of these is a medium?

2.

What should you decide before choosing a form?

3.

A student writes, My audience is people. What is the problem?

4.

Which is the strongest justification?

5.

A text's primary audience is:

6.

A memoir published as an audiobook. Which part is the genre?

For parents and teachers

This lesson is about making deliberate choices before writing. Ask your teen about real texts you see together (flyers, ads, emails from school): Who is this for? What is it trying to do? Why this format?

Common difficulties: confusing form, genre and medium (use the podcast horror-story example); describing the audience as "everyone"; choosing a form they like rather than one that suits the audience. A good justification always names the audience, the purpose and at least one rejected alternative.

Grade 9 assignments often require a short planning statement or proposal. This lesson builds that habit.