How do I work out the text's audience?

The best way to figure out the audience is to consider the PURPOSE. If the purpose is to persuade people to buy a product, then one thing you can know about the audience is that they are people who have money to make purchases and have free will to make buying decisions. If the purpose is to make people laugh then consider what you are laughing about and what demographic (age, gender, profession, education level, social class, etc.) would find that funny and you have your audience.

This a really important element to consider and you should try to build up a picture of the audience...if you don't know who the reader is, you won't know what they find interesting. Remember you are not the intended reader of the texts!

If it is for the reading questions for Language Papers Two, as you are reading the extracts ask yourself the following questions:

• What is this text mainly about?
• Who would be interested in this topic? Who is the author trying to reach?
• Who would open this up and read or listen to it If it was sent to them in a message or email? Who would click and read this if they came across it on social media? Who would send this onto friends or colleagues?
• What would they find interesting?
• What would their view be in relation to the view expressed by the author?
• What are their other views?
• Are their any clues that tell you who the reader could be? E.G. which newspaper is the text from? Who would typically read that paper?

I hope this helps!