Abstract Contextual factors influence the way we speak and write. An audience is central to the rhetorical context and helps to identify the parameters of a writing task. The purpose of this study was to examine whether and how the specification of an audience influenced the summary writing produced by adult English as a Second Language (ESL) writers in a large-scale writing assessment setting. The performance of 205 test takers who completed two writing tasks was compared with respect to audience awareness measured by three aspects of writing: context statements, content, and source attribution. Both tasks required test takers to summarize source information, but they were contrasted with respect to the specification of audience in our analysis. One task was presented without reference to an audience, whereas the other task explicitly instructed test takers to address a reader who was unfamiliar with the sources they would summarize. Of the three aspects of writing, the effect of audience specifications was observed on source attribution and context statements. This was not the case for content when responses between the two tasks were compared. However, all aspects were shown to vary across writing score levels when compared within the writing condition with audience specification.

中文翻译：

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从源头写作：受众重要吗？

摘要 语境因素影响我们说话和写作的方式。听众是修辞语境的核心，有助于确定写作任务的参数。本研究的目的是在大规模写作评估环境中检查受众的规范是否以及如何影响成人英语作为第二语言 (ESL) 作家的摘要写作。对完成两项写作任务的 205 名考生的表现进行了比较，他们通过写作的三个方面来衡量受众意识：上下文陈述、内容和来源归因。这两项任务都要求应试者总结源信息，但在我们的分析中，它们与受众的规格形成鲜明对比。一项任务是在没有参考观众的情况下提出的，而另一项任务则明确指示应试者向不熟悉他们要总结的来源的读者发表讲话。在写作的三个方面中，观众规范对来源归因和上下文陈述的影响被观察到。当比较两个任务之间的响应时，内容并非如此。然而，当在写作条件与观众规范内进行比较时，所有方面都显示出在写作分数水平上的变化。