{"id":8915,"date":"2021-05-15T11:30:39","date_gmt":"2021-05-15T15:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techrhet.com\/3213\/?page_id=8915"},"modified":"2021-08-06T11:00:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T15:00:30","slug":"readers-language","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"#","title":{"rendered":"Readers’ Language
READER-CENTERED WRITING <\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Contents & Navigation<\/div>\n
overview<\/a><\/div>\n
quick-example<\/a><\/div>\n
situation & considerations<\/a><\/div>\n
directions example<\/a><\/div>\n
measurement example<\/a><\/div>\n
audience prompts<\/a><\/div>\n
social distance example<\/a><\/div>\n
all reader-centered-writing \u3009<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/span>\u2305<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

Use the Reader’s Language & Concepts<\/h3>\n

When you want someone to do something, you should make it as easy as possible for them to understand and comply. This means figuring out what “language” the audience understands and what concepts are familiar and easy for them to use.<\/p>\n

Using the audience\u2019s language & concepts means communicating in a \u201clanguage\u201d the audience understands and using concepts that are meaningful and familiar to them.\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/span>\u2305<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

Quick Example<\/h4>\n
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images via Fifth in the Middle<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Depending on where you grew up and how your earliest teachers explained things to do, there’s a good chance that holding or folding a sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ standard sized paper hamburger style or hotdog style<\/a> means something to you.<\/p>\n

Dammit. While I was trying to come up with real-world examples to help explain this concept, I thought thinking through audience + language using “hamburger and hotdog style” folding was really brilliant… or at least original. Apparently, it is not. See this short post “Know Your Audience”<\/a> from Parthenon Publishing.<\/p>\n

Anyway… why hamburger<\/em> and hotdog<\/em> instead of vertical<\/em> and horizontal<\/em>? Because very young children don’t know the words “vertical” and “horizontal”; or perhaps they know the words and what they mean, but can’t quickly recall which is which; or perhaps they know the terms but have trouble applying them to material reality (the paper on the desk in front of them).<\/p>\n

For young children, hamburger and hotdog are easy to conceptualize or imagine. Vertical and horizontal are not. So, if you really want a bunch of five year olds to fold a sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ paper in a particular way, then you need to use the language\/concepts they understand\u2014hamburger and hotdog.<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u2305<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

Rhetorical Situation & Broad Considerations<\/h4>\n

To figure out the audience’s preferred language and concepts most familiar to them, you should revisit your consideration of audience in the rhetorical situation. While any and\/or all of the “audience” prompts (included below) may be relevant, pay special attention to<\/p>\n

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the audience\u2019s background and knowledge<\/h5>\n