Audience Analysis

Learning Objective

  • Recognize rhetorical approaches to building common ground

Watch the following video (or read the transcript) to begin thinking about intended and unintended audiences. It’s easier to think about audiences for a public speech than it is for an essay, but the same rhetorical principles of audience analysis apply.


Download the Transcript

establishing context

Clementa Carlos Pinckney was a Democratic senator in the South Carolina legislature. He represented Clementa Carlos Pinckneythe 45th District from 2000 until his death. From 1997 through 2000, he was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.

While President Obama’s immediate audience consists of mourners gathered in Charleston, South Carolina, to honor Reverend Pinckney, he is clearly aware of and speaking to a national audience.

Think about the video or the transcript as you answer the practice questions below.

practice