Audience Representation

Overview

In this lesson, students evaluate how language and visual choices shape the representation of multicultural youth for different audiences and purposes. They compare representations across two short text types, then justify how audience affects what is highlighted, omitted, and how it is phrased.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• evaluate target audiences for texts that represent multicultural youth
• analyse how language features and multimodal choices shape meaning for a specific audience and purpose
• compare representations across different text types (e.g. news-style extract vs social media-style post)
• use evidence from the text to substantiate their evaluations

Success criteria

Students can:

• identify likely target audiences and explain why, using details from the text
• describe specific language or visual choices and what they communicate to the audience
• compare how one idea about multicultural youth changes across two text types
• support their claims with quoted or referenced evidence from the passages

Curriculum links

• AC9E7LY03: analyse ways language features shape meaning and vary according to audience and purpose
• AC9E7LA02: recognise language used to evaluate texts (including visual/multimodal) and substantiate evaluations by reference to the text and other sources
• AC9E7LY05: use comprehension strategies (monitoring, questioning, inferring, summarising) to analyse and summarise information
• AC9E7LE01: explore ideas and points of view in literary and cultural representations, including contexts relevant to First Nations and wider Australian cultures

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Launch (Hook). Teacher displays two sentence starters on the board: “This is written to…” and “They want the reader to feel…”; students do a quick think about what audiences these might target, then share one idea.

2. 5–15 min · Vocabulary + reading setup. Teacher pre-teaches 6–8 words on a class word bank (e.g. audience, purpose, represent/representation, perspective, stereotype, inclusive language, persuasive, credibility) and models how to use them in sentences. Students then read Passage A and Passage B at their assigned complexity level (teacher groups by support needs). Dyslexia-friendly option: teacher provides a shorter, chunked version with larger spacing and audio support (teacher reads aloud or plays a recording).

3. 15–25 min · Comprehension monitoring. Teacher prompts: “Stop, notice, and ask: What is confusing? What word clues show the audience?” Students complete a 3-step strategy card using AC9E7LY05 moves:

• Question: one question they have
• Infer: one inference about audience
• Summarise: one sentence summary of each passage

4. 25–40 min · Evaluate target audience (Text 1 focus). In pairs, students complete an “Audience + Representation” table for Passage A:

• Likely audience (who, and why)
• Purpose (inform, persuade, entertain, advocate?)
• Representation choices (what is emphasised about multicultural youth; tone and wording) Teacher circulates, checking that students link choices to audience and purpose.

5. 40–50 min · Compare across text types (Text 2 focus). Students repeat the table for Passage B, then answer a compare prompt:

• “How does the representation change and how do we know?” Students must identify at least two changes (e.g. different adjectives, different examples, different framing, different visual cues). If Passage B is multimodal, students comment on one visual feature (colour/imagery/font style or layout cues) and how it guides interpretation.

6. 50–58 min · Whole-class evidence sharing (Evaluative talk). Selected pairs share using a sentence frame aligned to AC9E7LA02:

• “The text evaluates/portrays multicultural youth as… because…”
• “This would appeal to … since…” Teacher draws out how evaluations can be substantiated by reference to the text (and, where relevant, another reliable source students have been taught to consult previously).

7. 58–60 min · Exit ticket. Students complete a one-paragraph response:

• “For Passage A/B, the target audience is likely _. This affects representation because the text uses _. Evidence: ‘’.”

Resources

• Printed Passage A and Passage B in 3 complexity levels (L1 support, L2 standard, L3 extension)
• Sentence starters and compare prompt sheet
• Audience + Representation table (one per student)
• Vocabulary word bank cards (audience, purpose, representation, perspective, stereotype, inclusive language, credibility)
• Visual prompts if multimodal (printed screenshots or slides)
• Audio option (teacher device/recording) for dyslexia-friendly reading
• Highlighters (2 colours) for evidence marking

Assessment

• Formative: teacher checks strategy cards for questioning, inference, and summary accuracy (during 15–25 min)
• Formative: table completion for audience justification and evidence use (25–50 min)
• Summative snapshot: exit ticket paragraph with audience claim + evidence + explanation (58–60 min)

Differentiation

• Support: provide L1 text chunks with sentence starters and underlined sections for evidence; allow teacher read-aloud; offer a reduced word bank list with only the most essential words
• Targeted scaffolds: “Because the text says/shows…” frames; colour-coding for evidence (highlight language choices in one colour, visual cues in another)
• Extension: L3 students add an extra layer—identify perspective and possible omission/bias, and propose an alternative version for a different audience
• EAL: allow bilingual glossary support (teacher-provided), reduce cognitive load by narrowing tasks to one key comparison first, then second comparison after confidence builds

WALT and lesson focus (teacher-facing)

WALT evaluate how multicultural youth are represented for different audiences, and compare representation choices across different text types and purposes.