Writing for a Broad Audience

When writing on behalf of Texas A&M, it’s important to remember that we have a broad audience.

Depending on the website, our audience might be:

• Current and prospective students
• Current and prospective faculty
• Staff
• Parents
• Donors
• Community members
• Government officials

Low English Literacy Skills

While it can be easy to think that anyone interested in reading information about or by an American university would have high English literacy skills, it’s important to remember that there are lots of reasons why someone might have trouble reading.

Reasons may stem from a permanent disability or condition, or from a temporary situation. Here are a few examples:

• People with dyslexia
• People with ADHD
• People with poor vision
• English as a second language (ESL) speakers
• People in certain situations (i.e., riding a noisy bus)

Looking at the general population, 28% of U.S. adults have low English literacy skills as defined by the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (2023). Some of these individuals may be parents of prospective students or have another relationship with the university.

Beyond the U.S., we also have students applying from around the globe for whom English may be their second language.

Even people who have high English proficiency may have difficulty reading in certain situations. Because reading online can happen anytime and anywhere, you never know what environmental factors may be distracting a reader.

Low-Literacy Behaviors

• “Satisfice” — read a little, guess the rest
• Read word for word (can’t skim)
• Skip chunks completely
• Miss sidebars
• Hard to scroll
• Spell searches incorrectly