Using Reflections to Gauge Audience Awareness in Business and Professional Communication Courses

Abstract

This study describes how reflections allowed students to express their audience awareness as they wrote a multiaudience messages packet. We present an analysis of 27 reflections in which students described their experience when responding to the various audiences. Students’ reflective depth varied, though deeper reflections demonstrate sophistication in considering audience constraints and values. Students reported difficulty with negative and persuasive messages and indicated concern about their credibility. Reflections can help instructors understand how students are considering audiences for business documents, which instructors can use to improve their instruction and assess how well students consider business audiences.

Exemplary and Unacceptable Workplace Communication Skills

“…Audience awareness/analysis is a longstanding core emphasis in public speaking, composition, and rhetoric classes, among others (e.g., Behan, 1964;Forsberg, 1987;Schieber & Robles, 2019). The related skill, listening, ranks above conversing and presenting among managers (Brink & Costigan, 2015).…”

Back to the Basics: Uncovering the Rhetoric Student Learning Outcome

“…For example, in the last few years in this journal, research was published that examined two group presentations (Baker & Baker, 2023) and 77 final case study critiques (McDonough et al., 2021). Even when using the same artifact as the sample, there can be a wide range in the number used in analysis; for example, when looking at student reflections, Sharma (2021) examined 117, while Schieber and Robles (2019) analyzed 27. This range of student documents helped us to consider our own sampling plan in relation to our research questions.…”

Self-Regulated Learning in Online Graduate Business Communication Courses: A Qualitative Inquiry

“…SRL involves metacognition (awareness of how one thinks), strategic action (planning, monitoring, and evaluating), and individual motivation. Students benefit from thinking about how they think (Schieber & Robles, 2019). An understanding of the learning process and their own relationship to that process improves students' ability to successfully plan and execute tasks.…”