Oral Communication
Formal and academic writing involves writing clear, structured, and evidence-based writing for reader understanding. Academic writing aims at conveying knowledge and a better understanding of the topic objectively and persuasively. Each topic subject requires formal language tone and specific writing style with different sentences and vocabulary for different types of audience (Suzuki et al., 2016). Audiences to these types of writing include experts, laypeople, managers, technicians, and the hybrids and have different expectations on the choice of the topic presented before them.
Expert and Laypeople
Expert audience is an audience with vast knowledge on the writing subject and has read widely and in depth of the subject matter. The group does not need basic background history on the topic but rather direct information on what is required on the writing. They also easily understand different aspects of the topic and raise specific questions on parts of the writing to seek further clarity (Aull et al., 2017). Laypeople audience, on the other hand, are groups that virtually have little knowledge on the topic being discussed. They require basic details of the subject and definitions of any technical terms used (Salita et al., 2015). Moreover, they also require simple language and simple terms to understand everything being presented before them.
Manager, Technician, and Hybrid Audience.
Managers entail audience with the decision making powers. When presenting to this audience, a writer should give informed professional knowledge and expertise on the subject of discussion. Additionally, there is great importance on the language tone and choice of words used for manager audience (Wischgoll et al., 2016). Technicians involve interested party with technical details on a step by step procedure on how to perform tasks. The language used for technicians must make sense to avoid twist and turns on the content to ensure better results and understanding (Druschke et al., 2016).
Moreover, hybrid audience involves a combination of experts and managers with a deep understanding of the content of subject matter. The language used should focus on facts and opinions that can be proved (Barton et al., 2018). Writing for a hybrid audience can be a complex, challenging, and methodological task as the audience has high power levels of decision making.
References
Aull, L. L., Bandarage, D., & Miller, M. R. (2017). Generality in student and expert epistemic stance: A corpus analysis of first-year, upper-level, and published academic writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 26, 29-41.purposes. Routledge.
Barton, D., & McCulloch, S. (2018). Negotiating tensions around new forms of academic writing. Discourse, Context & Media, 24, 8-15.
Druschke, C. G., Reynolds, N., Morton-Aiken, J., Lofgren, I. E., Karraker, N. E., & McWilliams, S. R. (2018). Better science through rhetoric: A new model and pilot program for training graduate student science writers. Technical Communication Quarterly, 27(2), 175-190.
Salita, J. T. (2015). Writing for lay audiences: A challenge for scientists. Medical Writing, 24(4), 183-189.
Suzuki, S. T. (2016). Formal Academic Writing Instruction to Advanced English Learner Groups in Science and Engineering. OnCue Journal, 8(2), 189-197.
Wischgoll, A. (2016). Combined training of one cognitive and one metacognitive strategy improves academic writing skills. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 187.