The Use of Audio and Visual Cues of Audience and Their Effects on Persuasive Writing

Abstract

The researcher in this study attempted to discover whether the inclusion of audio and visual cues of the audience in the writing context will lead to an increase in the quality of persuasive essays among English 2 students of Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City, Philippines. Specifically, the study focused on finding the mean difference between the pretest and the posttest results of the respondents’ quality of persuasive writing under three conditions, namely: unspecified audience, the specified audience without audio and visual cues, and specified audience with audio and visual cues. To measure the quality of student’s writing, a holistic score was obtained using a Focused Holistic Scoring Guide. The score reflected the quality of the test in terms of communication effectiveness and persuasiveness. The findings of the study revealed that the quality of the students’ persuasive essays has significantly improved when the writing task was presented with visual and audio cues of the audience. The results manifested some positive effects of visual and audio cues when used as instructional aids or meditative tools in writing classes.