About the Project
Target Group
The project targeted sixth-grade students at three schools in Eastern Norway, who participated in two intensive weeks of instruction.
Background
We wanted to pilot one of the modules from the Writing Voice intervention and selected the module that focuses specifically on audience awareness. The main aim of this module is to help students become more aware of who they are writing for and how language, style, and argumentation should be adapted to different audiences.
The students worked with a series of dilemmas in which the main character faced a difficult choice. Through a variety of writing tasks and collaborative activities, they practiced viewing issues from different perspectives, considering how situations might be experienced by others, and expressing their ideas clearly and with well-reasoned arguments. In this way, they were encouraged to develop thoughtful positions and communicate them in ways that were appropriate for both the intended audience and the context.
Research shows that audience awareness and perspective-taking are central to the development of students’ writing skills. The ability to understand an issue from multiple viewpoints strengthens both critical thinking and the capacity to justify one’s own position in a nuanced and well-supported manner.
