Understanding Your Audience

Overview

Unit: Communications in Action (Lesson 2 of 6)
Duration: 45 minutes
Class size: 6 students
Year: 6th Year (age approx. 17-18)
Context: ASD-specific secondary school, mixed ability students in LCA and L2 programmes
Curriculum: Curriculum Framework for Ireland (IE Curriculum) – focusing on communication competencies and language adaptation skills essential for personal, social, and vocational contexts.

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• LO1: Identify different audiences in a variety of communication scenarios (CFIE Standard: C1 Communicates effectively for social and vocational purposes).
• LO2: Adapt tone, language, and style of messages based on the audience’s needs, age, and context (CFIE Competency: C2 Tailors communication to suit audience).
• LO3: Demonstrate awareness of why understanding the audience influences communication effectiveness (CFIE Competency: C3 Understands purpose and impact in communication).

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Success Criteria

Students will know they are successful when they:

• Correctly identify at least 3 different audiences from given scenarios.
• Provide examples of how they would change language or tone for each audience.
• Explain the reason for adjusting communication style clearly and simply.
• Engage in role-play or discussion demonstrating audience awareness.

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Resources

• Dyslexia-friendly printed worksheets with clear headings, bullet points, and sans-serif fonts (e.g., Arial 14pt).
• Visual prompt cards illustrating different communication settings/audiences (e.g., workplace, friend, teacher, customer).
• Whiteboard and coloured markers.
• Simple tablets or laptops for digital role-play exercises (optional, for advanced learners).
• Timer to manage activities smoothly.

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Lesson Structure

1. Introduction (7 minutes)

• Warm-up activity: Quick whole-class brainstorm: “Who do we talk to every day?” Write answers on the whiteboard.
• Highlight different types of audiences: peers, teachers, customers, family, employers. Use visual prompt cards to reinforce understanding.
• Briefly explain why we change how we speak depending on the person we are talking to (tone, language, purpose). Link to real-life examples (e.g., texting a friend vs. writing an email to a teacher).

2. Guided Practice – Audience Identification (10 minutes)

• Hand out a dyslexia-friendly worksheet with 5 short communication snippets/scenarios (e.g., a job application, a casual chat, a phone call to customer service).
• As a group, read each scenario aloud (teacher to read clearly and slowly, students follow).
• Discuss and identify who the intended audience is in each case. Use coloured markers to underline key clues in the text that reveal the audience.
• Teacher models language/tone differences for one example, verbally explaining choices.

3. Group Activity – Tailoring the Message (15 minutes)

• Divide the 6 students into pairs or small groups depending on social comfort and abilities.
• Each pair/group selects 2 scenarios from the worksheet.
• Task: Rewrite or verbally create a message appropriate to two different audiences for each scenario. For example, how to tell a friend vs. how to tell a teacher about missing a deadline.
• Encourage students to consider tone (formal/informal), vocabulary (simple/complex), and politeness levels.
• Circulate to support and scaffold, offering sentence starters when needed (e.g., "I would say…", "To be polite, I could use…").

4. Role-play and Feedback (10 minutes)

• Each pair/group performs one of their adapted messages for the class (or teacher if student prefers).
• After each performance, classmates and teacher provide positive, specific feedback based on success criteria (e.g., “I liked how you made your message polite when speaking to the teacher”).
• Teacher highlights effective tone/language changes and explains why it works.

5. Conclusion and Reflection (3 minutes)

• Summarise key learning points verbally and on board with icons or simple bullet points: Identify Audience → Adapt Message → Check Effectiveness.
• Quick “thumbs up/down/middle” self-assessment on how well students feel they understood adapting messages for different audiences.
• Homework: Think about 1 person in your life and how you talk to them differently than others. Write or draw this difference and bring it to the next lesson.

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Differentiation & Inclusion Strategies

• For students with ASD and social communication difficulties:
  • Use clear, concrete examples and consistent routines.
  • Provide visual supports and prompts (cards, sentence starters).
  • Allow processing time after questions.
  • Use positive reinforcement and keep feedback straightforward and kind.
• For learners with dyslexia or literacy challenges:
  • Provide dyslexia-friendly texts with no clutter, high contrast, and large print.
  • Use audio support where possible (teacher reads aloud, student recordings).
  • Encourage verbal responses or drawings instead of writing as needed.
• For advanced learners:
  • Invite to create their own communication scenarios and role-plays with nuanced audience adaptations (e.g., persuasive vs. informative tones).
  • Use digital tools for recording and playback to self-assess tone and clarity.
  • Challenge to identify subtle cultural or emotional cues in audience needs.

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Assessment

• Formative: Observations during pair work and role-play; use a checklist aligned with success criteria.
• Summative: Worksheet completion and reflection homework used to assess understanding of audience identification and message adaptation.
• Self-assessment: Students use thumbs-up/down and verbal reflection to evaluate grasp of concepts.

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Teacher Reflection Notes (Post-lesson)

• Which scenarios engaged students most and why?
• Were students able to shift tone/language effectively?
• Did visual supports and differentiation meet individual needs?
• Note any strategies to improve accessibility or engagement for upcoming lessons in unit.

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This lesson plan combines curriculum alignment, sensory-friendly strategies, inclusive pedagogy, and hands-on practice in communication skill development tailored for learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Ireland’s 6th year classrooms. It balances structured guidance with creativity, empowering all learners to recognise and respond to diverse audiences confidently.