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Purpose, audience, format

KS3 > Skills > Writing for audience and purpose > Purpose, audience, format

How it works Different students are given different writing tasks, each with its
purpose, audience and format (e.g. magazine article) explicit.
Pairs complete the task and other pairs have to guess the
original PAF from the writing: a sort of ‘back-planning’ exercise.

Try this! This is a tremendously engaging lesson with a breath-taking

finale (the Cavalero spoof ad) but in fact the lesson’s potential is
more fully achieved if it extended to two lessons.

Lesson one has each pair planning the language and content of
their text, not writing it. This forces them to plan rather than just
gate-crashing the task. Other pairs deduce the PAF from the
planning. The writing tasks in Resource 3 could usefully be
supplemented or replaced by writing tasks – both long and
short.

Lesson one could simply end with students looking at each

other’s planning and deducing each other’s PAFs. The wicked
Cavalero piece could be held over as a starter for lesson two, as
a direct introduction to the idea of (in) appropriate style.
However, a word of warning: when I did this I unwittingly
triggered a lot of (not very good) satirical writing rather than
appropriate writing. Satire is a good learning medium for very
able students, but a very unreliable one for most!
Lesson two would continue with students using other pairs’
plans as the basis of their own writing. This is an excellent
opportunity for guided writing with one group and I’d
recommend working with about six students who struggle to
vary their vocabulary, syntax and tone to suit their audience –
especially when the audience is nothing like themselves. Re-
cap the point of the exercise; ask them to articulate how they
will choose suitable language; get them to try out little bits – on
mini-wipe-boards or computers if possible. Focus on getting
them to hit the right language register rather than structuring a
whole text. Leave that for another time!

Richard Durant

© 2006 www.teachit.co.uk 1196 - 6107

 Purpose, audience, format

Starter
 Give pairs the Matching sentence styles sheet to complete (resource 1). Briefly model
the process for them before they start. You could use the instruction booklet example.
We know because … it uses imperative (command) verbs (dial and wait); it tells us
what to do.

Main
 Establish what we learnt from the starter
 Think about PAF and what kind of language would be used for different scenarios.
Discuss what sort of language and style you are going to use for writing the opening
of this text : a leaflet giving advice to teenagers about doing homework.
 Now model writing the opening of the text, see guide (resource 2)
 Get the class to make suggestions about how the text could continue. Filter these
suggestions and use them to continue the text
 Return to the objective for review

Development

 Give pairs a PAF card each and ask them – on a mini-wipeboard – to write the first few
lines of their given text, but to hide their card from those near them (resource 3)

Plenary
 Put pairs into groups of six (i.e. three pairs). Each pair takes their turn to read their
work to the other four, who have to work out the PAF the reading pair were working
from
 Get some pairs to read theirs out, challenging the rest of the class to work out the
original PAF and comment on the aptness of the pairs’ language
 Show the Cavalero brochure (resource 4) extract. What is the PAF? Why is the
language inappropriate?
 Ask class to read out to their parents the next official school letter they take home, but
translating it into in appropriate language, but keeping the same content

© 2003 www.teachit.co.uk 1196.doc

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 Purpose, audience, format
Resource 1

Matching sentence styles to text formats and purposes

Text Sentence How do I know?

With one of the most
spectacular coastlines in
France encompassing granite
Geography text
cliffs, rocky inlets, sandy bays
book
and colourful fishing harbours,
Brittany boasts a proud sea-
faring tradition.

Tickets can be bought from

Instruction
many shops throughout the
booklet
region.

Newspaper One morning, at school, he got

report every single sum wrong.

Brittany is a peninsula and

Magazine because it is almost surrounded
advert by water, its weather often
changes.

Story Get into the action.

A Majorca school was closed

Information yesterday when it was
leaflet discovered that its main hall
was infested with lizards.

Holiday Dial your phone number and

brochure wait.

© 2003 www.teachit.co.uk 1196.doc

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 Purpose, audience, format
Resource 2
A leaflet giving advice to teenagers about doing their homework

Opens with an exclamation and a rhetorical question to grab attention

The rhetorical question is
then answered.
Use of ‘you’ is personal
Repeated ‘better’ sets up a
rhythm that makes the point
more memorable
Homework! Who
needs it? Well lots
of people do Informal tones
[YOU] do actually.
Studies show that
people who
complete [do] their ‘studies show’ sounds full of
homework do authority but the following
verbs, ‘do’, ‘get’, stop the
better at school, text sounding too stuffy and
get better ‘grown-up’
qualifications, and
get better jobs.
However, [On the
other hand], you
don’t want
homework to take
over your life, so
…

Write the crossed out bits first, then change your mind and explain why you
are substituting the bits in square brackets.

© 2003 www.teachit.co.uk 1196.doc

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 Purpose, audience, format
Resource 3

PAF
Instructions on the label of a coffee jar for a 10 year-old on
how to make a cup of coffee

PAF
Formal letter from a headteacher to parents informing them
that their son or daughter has been excluded for ten days

PAF
A description of a holiday resort in a brochure aimed at the
over-50s

PAF
An article in a teenage magazine giving advice on health
and exercise

PAF
A letter to the government to persuade them to make the
school holidays longer

PAF
The opening paragraph of horror story designed to entertain
teenagers
© 2003 www.teachit.co.uk 1196.doc
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 Purpose, audience, format

Resource 6

Cavalero –
a paradise for the
over fifties

Cavalero is set amid stunning scenery

overlooking the blue-green water of the peaceful
St Julian's Bay in Malta. We know that our more
mature travellers will find this the ideal holiday
destination.

The town is a really groovy little place that’s just

jumping with life, know what I mean? It’s like
dead warm and full of fit firm bodies. Not a
minger in sight. You can drink ’til you drop,
munch on the move. You can really go large. In
short, it’s a full-on 24/7 fab, happening place.

We know that you will find rest and relaxation in

this beautiful location.

© 2003 www.teachit.co.uk 1196.doc

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