This article describes an audience analysis exercise that offers a striking series of examples of how one business communication textbook has been adapted over the years by its authors to accommodate these authors' changing perceptions of their audience. The exercise also attempts to make students aware of their own involvement in various discourse communities by means of a letter-writing activity and subsequent classroom discussion. Additionally, this article argues for the need to help students become aware of how the values and presuppositions of discourse communities affect communications within those communities.
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