Response to Ede and Lunsford

The whole sum of this article is Ede and Lunsford believe that teachers fall into one of two extremes: the instructor who concentrates far too much on the audience and the instructor who ignores the audience component completely. I believe that to make such an argument may be too rash. Seldom have I seen instructors who ignore completely the aspect of audience. Much of the emphasis on writing is in at least producing a product that is capable of relaying the message the author intends. Without audience, who is to provide that feedback?

Ede and Lunsford are correct in saying that in most cases, the audience for student writing is the instructor. The instructor could therefore be termed "audience addressed," which according to the authors are the people who actually read the writing of the author. "Audience imagined" refers to those the author believes himself to be writing to. He imagines that these are the people who will read his writing.

The concept of audience is not the most important aspect of writing, but it is not one that should be ignored. Message and content are perhaps the most important. The audience plays a role in shaping that message. Whom should the author write to? In what manner should he convey his message so that it has the most impact? While the audience may not provided purpose (as suggested by other authors we have read so far this semester), the audience does influence composition and the language of a piece---its "tone" so to speak.