Analyzing Audience (College Board AP® English Language & Composition): Revision Note

This study guide introduces you to audience analysis in AP Lang. It explains how writers make choices based on what an audience believes, values, needs, feels and already understands. It also shows how the audience affects a writer’s rhetorical choices, including tone, evidence, examples, word choice, structure, appeals and credibility. 

In AP Lang, identifying the audience is only the first step. Strong analysis explains how a writer demonstrates an understanding of that audience and adapts the argument in response. Most arguments are written for a specific person or group, and their effectiveness depends greatly on how well the writer’s strategies, content, tone and language meet the expectations of that audience.

What is audience in AP Lang?

Audience is the person or group a writer addresses or attempts to influence. 

In AP Lang, audience means more than the person reading the text or listening to the speech. To analyze audience well, you must think about what the audience likely believes, values, feels and already knows. A writer’s choices are shaped by the audience the writer hopes to reach.

For example, a writer may ask:

• What does this audience already know about the subject?

• How does this audience likely feel about the issue?

• What values or beliefs does this audience hold?

• What additional information does this audience need?

• What is the writer’s relationship to the audience?

• What does the audience already know about the writer?

Consider the following audience statements:

This audience statement is weak because it is too vague.

This audience statement is much stronger because it does more than name the group: it identifies what the audience likely wants, values and needs.

Why understanding audience matters for rhetoric

Understanding audience matters because rhetorical choices are not random. Writers choose their evidence, tone, examples, appeals, word choice and structure based on what they believe will persuade or connect with a particular audience. 

For example, imagine that you want your parent or guardian to extend your curfew after prom. You have a goal to get permission to stay out later. Your choices will depend on your audience: 

• If your parent values responsibility, you might remind them that you have followed curfew in the past 

• If your parent worries about safety, you might explain where you will be, who will be driving and when you will check in

• If your parent values fairness, you might explain that other students are attending the same supervised event 

This everyday situation shows how audience affects rhetoric. The same request may require different evidence, tone and appeals depending on who is being addressed. 

The four dimensions of audience

Beliefs: what an audience thinks is true

An audience may have beliefs about a person, issue, tradition, policy, group or problem. A writer may agree with those beliefs, challenge them or use them as a starting point. 

To identify beliefs, ask:

• What does this audience likely believe about the subject?

• Does the writer reinforce or challenge those beliefs?

• Does the writer assume the audience already agrees with part of the argument?

• Does the writer need to correct a mistaken or incomplete belief?

For example, if an audience believes that success depends only on individual work, a writer discussing poverty may need to challenge that belief by showing how education, housing, employment or discrimination can also affect opportunity. 

Values: the principles, ideals or priorities an audience considers important

An audience may value freedom, fairness, safety, family, faith, patriotism, individual choice, community responsibility, honesty, progress, tradition or justice. 

Writers often appeal to audience values because people are more likely to listen when an argument connects to something they already care about. 

To identify values, ask:

• What does this audience care about? 

• What moral, cultural or social values does the writer appeal to?

• Does the writer use shared values to build common ground?

• Does the writer show that the audience is failing to live up to its own values?

For example, if an audience values patriotism, a writer might argue that protecting civil rights is not anti-American, but rather deeply American, because it fulfills the nation’s stated ideals. 

Needs: what the audience requires in order to understand, accept or respond to the argument

An audience may need background information, definitions, credible evidence, emotional connection, reassurance, urgency, a reason to care, a clear action step or a challenge to its assumptions. 

To identify needs, ask:

• What does the audience need in order to understand the issue?

• Does the audience need proof?

• Does the audience need to trust the writer?

• Does the audience need to feel emotionally connected?

• Does the audience need to be moved toward action?

For example, if a writer addresses an audience unfamiliar with artificial intelligence, the audience may need definitions and examples before the writer can make a complex argument about AI ethics. 

Background: the audience’s prior knowledge, experience, culture, social position or relationship to the issue

Background affects how an audience receives an argument. For example, a speech about sacrifice is likely to affect soldiers differently than students. An argument about school policy may affect parents, teachers, administrators and students differently because each group brings different experiences and concerns. 

To identify background, ask:

• What does the audience already know?  

• What experiences shape the audience’s response?

• What cultural or historical context matters?

• What assumptions might the audience bring?

• What relationship does the audience have to the writer or subject? 

For example, a writer addressing medical professionals may use technical terms and research-based evidence. A writer addressing the general public on the same issue may need simpler language, familiar examples and clear explanations. 

How audience shapes a writer's rhetorical choices

Audience affects nearly every major rhetorical choice a writer makes. 

Appeals

Writers choose appeals based on their audience:

• Ethos builds credibility

• Logos appeals to the audience’s reasoning

• Pathos appeals to the audience’s emotions and values

A writer may build the following by:

For more on appeals, see Unit 2: Rhetorical Appeals.

Evidence

Writers choose evidence based on what the audience will find convincing.

For more on evidence, see Unit 1: Choosing Effective Evidence.

Pronouns

Pronouns can reveal the relationship between writer and audience.

Structure

Audience can shape the structure of the argument.

Tone 

Tone is the writer’s attitude toward the subject or audience. The tone should fit the audience and purpose.

Word choice

Word choice affects how an audience understands and feels about an issue.

How to analyze audience in an AP Lang passage: step-by-step

1. Identify the immediate audience

2. Identify the broader audience

3. Determine what the audience likely believes

4. Determine what the audience values

5. Determine what the audience needs

6. Consider the audience’s background

7. Connect the audience to rhetorical choices

8. Explain the effect

Worked example: audience analysis

Context:

Frederick Douglass was a formerly enslaved American writer, speaker and abolitionist. In 1852, he was invited to speak at an event connected to Independence Day, the American holiday celebrating freedom from British rule. In his speech, Douglass challenged the audience to consider the contradiction between America’s celebration of liberty and the continued existence of slavery.

Directions:

• Read the following excerpt from Douglass’ speech

• Analyze the audience (for rhetorical situation analysis, see Unit 1: Introduction to the Rhetorical Situation, and for rhetorical choices analysis, see Unit 1: Introduction to Rhetorical Choices)

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?  I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. . . . I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism a sham, your humanity a base pretense, and your Christianity a lie. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a bye-word to a mocking earth. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. Oh!  Be warned!  Be warned!  A horrible reptile is coiled up in your nation’s bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever!

Common mistakes when analyzing audience

Try to avoid the following when analyzing audience:

• Identifying the audience too broadly

• Confusing audience with subject

• Assuming the audience agrees with the writer

• Ignoring audience values

• Treating the audience as completely unified

• Listing audience traits without connecting them to choices

• Overusing the word “relatable,” which is too vague

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between audience and reader?

The reader is anyone who reads the text. The audience is the person or group the writer intends to address or influence. 

For example, a modern student may read Frederick Douglass’ speech, but the original audience included people gathered for an Independence Day-related event and a wider American audience living in a nation where slavery existed. 

Can a text have multiple audiences?

Yes. Many texts have an immediate audience and a broader audience. A speech may be delivered to people in a room, but it may also be published, circulated or remembered by a wider public audience. Writers often make choices that speak to both groups.  

How is audience tested on the AP Lang exam?

Audience can be tested in multiple choice questions, synthesis essays, rhetorical analysis essays and argument essays. In reading tasks, you may need to explain how a writer’s choices demonstrate an understanding of the audience’s beliefs, values, needs or background. In writing tasks, you will need to make your own choices based on the audience you are trying to persuade. 

How is analyzing audience different from adapting to an audience?

Analyzing audience means studying how another writer responds to an audience. Adapting to an audience means making your own choices as a writer based on what your audience believes, values, needs or understands. 

Key terms and glossary

• Audience: the person or group a writer addresses or seeks to influence

• Audience analysis: the process of identifying what an audience believes, values, needs, feels and understands in order to explain a writer’s rhetorical choices

• Background: the experiences, knowledge, culture, history or social position an audience brings to a text

• Beliefs: what an audience thinks is true about a subject or issue

• Broader audience: the larger group a writer may hope to reach beyond the immediate audience

• Credibility: the trust or authority a writer establishes with an audience

• Ethos: an appeal to credibility

• Immediate audience: the person or group directly addressed by the writer or speaker

• Intended audience: the specific audience a writer appears to target

• Logos: an appeal to evidence, logic and reason

• Multiple audiences: two or more groups a writer addresses, either directly or indirectly

• Needs: what an audience requires in order to understand, accept or respond to an argument

• Pathos: an appeal to emotion or shared feeling

• Reader: anyone who reads a text, whether or not that person was the writer’s intended audience

• Rhetorical choice: a decision a writer makes to influence an audience and achieve a purpose

• Shared values: principles or ideals that the writer and audience may both recognize or claim to respect

• Skeptical audience: an audience that may doubt, resist or question the writer’s argument

• Tone: the writer’s attitude toward the subject or audience

• Values: the principles, ideals or priorities an audience considers important