Transformative Teachers
Webinar 14 - Know your reader
Summary notes
Thank you for participating in the Trinity College London teacher support webinar series. We are delighted to have over 1000 teachers from 70 countries participate in the series.
In this webinar, Trinity's Cathy Taylor Senior Academic, Language, interviews Rachel Clarke, Senior Examiner. They discuss writing organisation.
If you were unable to attend the webinar, you can watch it again via the following link:
Webinar 14 video - Know your reader
Summary of questions and responses
Interview: Alex Thorp and Martin Oetegenn
Could you recap what Robin was saying in the video?
Good writers follow a process – this is a sequence of steps
One of the early steps is to select content for the writing, and key to doing so successfully is to think about who is going to read the response.
Good writers are constantly mindful of who is going to read the finished text.
For learners it is difficult to know what to include – so encourage learners to think about who is going to read the text and what is relevant for them. This means students need to understand it's not what is interesting or relevant to them, but to consider what is most useful for the reader.
Why is it so important to know your reader?
It’s so easy to get it wrong. For example ‘being overly formal when turning down and invitation to a dinner ‘ - I regret to inform you that I will not be available on that evening’ People might think you’re being distant/unfriendly. Sending an email to a new colleague with ‘hey ben, how are you doing? I’m gonna be your new…’ This might be too informal and cause confusion in roles.
If you imagine you don’t know your reader – this can lead to a lot of confusion or even irritation through inappropriate content and style.
As a teacher, focussing learners’ attention on identifying and considering the reader will help them develop reading and writing skills. It’s not just about the way they write their own texts - they need to be able to identify tone, style and so on when reading, as well as in their own written texts. It’s not just something learners have to do in an exam, it very important in day-to-day life.
Does knowing the reader inform the type of writing in regard to formality and register?
Yes, absolutely, and this can be challenging for the learner, but once you identify the reader you can consider your relationship to them and decide what would be an appropriate manner in which to communicate.
It’s not just about knowing the usual conventions of the genre you’re focussing on – the relationship you have with the reader also needs to be considered – if you’re writing an informal email but you don’t know the person very well, your tone is going to be different than an informal email to an old friend.
How can identifying the reader help you apply an appropriate writing genre? Can you give some examples?
The learner needs to think about the relationship between the writer and the reader; generally speaking the more familiar the relationship the more informal the writing will be.
For example – Air BnB – writing a review would not be highly formal nor include a lot of personal information about why you were on holiday etc… Most people who use Air BnB probably read reviews of apartments themselves before booking. This (should) mean they know exactly what the reader wants to get out of reading their review. Learners don’t always have such strong empathy with the reader, so we as teachers need to think about how we can provide opportunities for learners to feel this in the class.
As teachers, we often focus on text types and genres, but we need to help learners understand about what is and isn’t informal and how these are identified in text features.
Learners are used to knowing their audience – aren’t they?
Yes, of course, think of where they write:
- Texts – texting friends
- Emails
- Tweets and snapchat
Sometimes they need help activating the ability to consider the reader when writing in a second language, or when writing a text-type they’re less confident about.
There is a danger that we overemphasise text types without enabling learners to put themselves in the shoes of the reader. Importantly here, it’s not about writing only, it’s also about reading – as this is how the text will be processed.
In the real world is there quite a degree of flexibility in writing, so it’s not always an ‘extreme’ of formal or informal; how should learners try to work out the balance?
Again, this is about considering the reader, and thinking about the relationship between the writer and reader. There are, of course, many dynamics to consider, such as past correspondence, degree of familiarity and emotional aspects of the communication. The easiest way to work with this as the writer is to try to put yourself in the shoes of the reader. It’s also good to take your lead from the other person (if you’re responding to them).
What are the potential consequences of a learner not identifying their reader.
- Missing information
- Not being able to access information how you expect to
- Incorrect tone/style - too informal/stuffy
- Not understanding
- Not being interesting or entertaining to read
- Being too wordy or brief.
Again, teachers could use ‘extreme’ examples of written responses to tasks to raise awareness of any of the above problems.
Have you got any examples of typical problems learners have with this in their writing?
Learners who don’t realise they’re using abbreviations like 2u. Contractions, words they don’t realise are informal like ‘stuff’. Not identifying the info they need to include in the text.
What is the role of empathy in ‘knowing your reader?
If learners put themselves in the position of the reader, this can help. Empathy is a highly transferrable critical thinking skill. Being able to "see" through someone else's eyes involves seeking, analyzing, and evaluating different perspectives on a tricky question or issue so our learners are likely to need help developing this in English.
How can we help learners develop their empathising skills?
Younger learners need more help here.
- Classroom activity: 3 pieces of paper (Reader – Writer – Teacher) – pairs work together, move from one to another and discuss perspective of each.
- Classroom activity: Exaggerated examples, such as a highly formal letter, are good at getting a reaction from the learner.
Empathy is sometimes called a 21st century skill, and considered a highly transferable skill – in what other areas of life can the ability to empathise help a learner?
The world would be a less shouty place if people could empathise more.
Broadly speaking, the ability to empathise is a key skill to establishing, building and maintaining successful relationships, both within a professional and personal context. In fact, it's quite difficult to think of a communication context where the ability to empathise would not be of benefit to the individual.
What do you do in class to help your learners with ‘knowing the reader’?
- Make sure they understand why it’s important - not box-ticking - really matters. Look at both good and bad examples. What happens if you come across as really angry when you complain. Is it better to still be polite and respectful?
- Genre checklist - show them an example then get them to create their own. Could be a group/poster task.
- Text transformations – read and identify genre of a text, and the key features of this genre. Then identify the genre of a new text type and write it with the information/content adapted from the previous one.
- Analyse the question -first few minutes v important. Identify key information needed, your relationship with the reader and the stylistic implications of this.
- See lots of real-life examples - use tasks which encourage the learners to notice features of the genre
- Peer correction activities that focus on the effect of the text on the reader.
- A marking code which include a symbol for genre.
What are the challenges for a teacher?
With some exam preparation courses, it can be tricky to cram in all the different task types into an intensive course.
Not all genres are used a lot in day-to-day life (informal letters replaced by social media surely?).
It can be hard to move learner’s focus away from grammar and vocabulary. They sometimes don’t see the importance of relating to the reader.
Is it a good idea to use models of writing? How?
Yes but with caution – too good a model can be demotivating. Also, learners might think they just need to copy the model and memorise what’s in it. Use good and bad models. If creating the model, try to make something learners could manage to produce. Make sure they process the model for general meaning before analysing the language/genre etc. Try to create engaging, relevant models to your learner group. If it’s in-house training at a corporation, they might want examples from their field. Teenagers might prefer something more creative.
What are the writing models teachers use and what are the potential pitfalls with these models?
Too prescriptive and learners are tempted to memorise and engage on a lower cognitive level – not really engaging and processing with the rationale behind the models.
How can we help younger learners who don’t necessarily have experience writing certain genres outside of the classroom?
Guided writing is a good approach, going through the process of writing and review iterations of a written piece, working towards the finished text, here, the focus is on the process and not the product. It's always advisable to use real-life examples that might interest the learners (An article about a YouTube vlogger; An email to a friend planning a sleepover/slumber party; A formal letter to complain about something they’re really passionate about (animal rights, the price of a ticket to a football match); A review of their favourite singer/band’s most recent concert/posters, etc. Competitions where they try and hide a genre slip in their writing (and find in each other’s)).
Topic for the next webinar
We look forward to welcoming you to our fifteenth webinar on Wednesday 12 September at 13:00 UK time, when Academic consultant, Tom Garside, will be talking to Sally O'Keefe from the Spanish academic support team about ‘Organising content in writing'.
Click on the 'Join Webinar' link below at the appointed time for the next webinar.
