Georgia 10.P.ST.2.a
The Standard
Develop and apply knowledge of author, audience, and context to discern and establish the purpose of texts being interpreted or constructed and to evaluate the extent to which those texts achieve those purposes. (I/C)
Georgia's K-12 English Language Arts Standards · Practices (P) · Situating Texts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students determine who created a text, who it targets, what situation shaped it, and what result it seeks. They use those factors to interpret texts, judge effectiveness, and make choices in their own writing.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students use evidence from wording, details, structure, and tone to explain who a text addresses and what it aims to accomplish. They judge its effectiveness and adjust their own choices for a stated audience and situation.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may confuse topic with purpose, label the audience as "everyone," or claim an author’s intent without textual evidence. They may judge a text by whether they agree with it rather than how well its choices serve its purpose. They may treat context as background information instead of using it to explain the text’s choices.
How to Assess It
- Give students a school email asking sophomores to attend a tutoring session. Have them name the audience and purpose, cite two supporting choices, rate its effectiveness, and revise one weak sentence.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have groups sort printed texts, such as ads, emails, speeches, and editorials, by likely audience and purpose, then label the clues.
Ask students to explain how a principal’s message should change when addressed to students, parents, or the school board.
Play Purpose Detective by revealing one text feature at a time while teams infer the audience, situation, and goal using evidence.
Compare two local public service posts about the same issue, then decide which better moves its intended audience to act.
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