Day Two: Intercultural Communication, Audience and Purpose

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a nice weekend and is ready to re-engage in our ongoing discussion of the Foundations of Academic Writing. Today we are going to discuss a few foundational considerations: the degree to which culture influences our communication as well as the importance of understanding who we're writing for (our audience) and why we're writing (our purpose). An outline for today's class can be found below: 

Day Two: Intercultural Communication, Audience & Purpose

Objectives: Students will be able to...

1. Understand and explain the role that culture plays in influencing the way we communicate
2. Understand and explain the importance of audience and purpose in the writing process

I. Warm-Up

What did you do over the weekend?

II. Writing Review

We will begin class by reviewing the writing you did for last week. This will include: 

• Reviewing the discussion forum
• Comments on the "Reflection Journals"
• General & specific feedback on the Diagnostic Essay activity

III. Culture & Communication

With a partner, take five minutes and discuss the following questions. You can write your answers or have a free discussion, but be prepared to share with the class. 

1. What is "culture"? Give an example.
2. What role does "culture" play within a society? 
3. How does culture influence the way we communicate? 

We will discuss the answers to these questions as a class and then we will review this short presentation. Finally, you will find a new partner and discuss the answers to these questions. Once again, you will have five minutes and you will be expected to be prepared to share your thoughts with the class.

IV. The Communication Model

Now, a couple of general questions for the class: 

• How does communication work? 
• If you had to draw a picture of the way that communication works, what would it look like? 

Now, let's take a look at this short video from teacher Krista Price about the way communication actually works. As you watch, consider the answers to these. When the video finishes, you'll have a chance to discuss the answers with a new partner. After that, we'll see if it's necessary to watch the video one more time. If so, we will. If not, we'll discuss!

V. Audience & Purpose

Finally, we will discuss a little bit about the concept of audience and purpose and the roles they play in your writing using this worksheet and focusing on the following questions: 

1. When communicating, who is the "audience"? Can there be more than one? Explain.
2. When communicating, what is the "purpose"? Can there be more than one? Explain. 
3. Why is it important to have a clear idea of who your audience is and what your purpose is? 

Homework

For next class, please be sure to do the following assignments: 

• Prepare a response in your reflection journal
• Post an answer to the "Week Two: Forum Discussion" and respond to one of your classmates' posts
• Prepare for a short academic vocabulary quiz