PART TWO
Chapter-by-Chapter
Exam Questions
for
The Art of Public
Speaking
Speaking in Public
1
True-False Questions
1. T F Communication skills, including public speaking, are often more important to
2. T F In specialized fields, technical knowledge is more important to employers than
3. T F As your textbook states, texting, tweeting, and other forms of electronic
4. T F As your textbook states, public speaking is a form of empowerment because it gives
5. T F The teaching and study of public speaking began more than 4,000 years ago.
6. T F Both public speaking and conversation involve adapting to listener feedback.
7. T F Public speaking requires the same method of delivery as ordinary conversation.
8. T F Public speaking usually requires more formal language than everyday conversation.
9. T F Public speaking is more highly structured than everyday conversation.
10. T F When you adjust to the situation of a public speech, you are doing on a larger scale
11. T F As a speaker, you can usually assume that an audience will be interested in what you
12. T F Fortunately, stage fright only affects inexperienced speakers.
13. T F Most successful speakers are nervous before taking the floor.
14. T F Some nervousness before you speak is usually beneficial.
15. T F Many of the symptoms of stage fright are due to adrenaline, a hormone released into
16. T F Thinking of stage fright as “stage excitement” or “stage enthusiasm” can help you get
17. T F For most beginning speakers, the biggest part of stage fright is fear of the unknown.
18. T F It has been estimated that being fully prepared for a speech can reduce stage fright by
up to 75 percent.
19. T F Thinking positively about your ability to give a speech is one way to control your
20. T F Research has shown that for most speakers, anxiety decreases significantly after the
21. T F Using the power of visualization to control stage fright means that you should
approach your speech as a performance in which the audience is looking for
22. T F As your textbook explains, visualization involves creating a mental picture of yourself
23. T F Speakers who think positively about themselves and the speech experience are more
24. T F Researchers suggest that you counter every negative thought you have about your
25. T F Listeners usually realize how tense a speaker is.
26. T F Most of the nervousness public speakers feel internally is not visible to their listeners.
27. T F As your textbook explains, the best way to approach public speaking is to view it as
28. T F Audiences are usually critical of speakers for making minor mistakes.
29. T F You will do the best in your speeches if you expect perfection every time.
30. T F It is usually a bad idea to make eye contact with individual members of your audience.
31. T F In many aspects of public speaking, you will employ the skills of critical thinking.
32. T F Organizing ideas for presentation in a speech is an important aspect of critical thinking.
33. T F Critical thinking is a way of thinking negatively about everything you hear in a speech.
34. T F Practicing speech delivery is one of the most important ways in which public speaking
35. T F Your goal in public speaking is to have your intended message be the message that is
36. T F As your textbook explains, the speaker’s message consists only of what the speaker
says with language.
37. T F The channel is the room in which speech communication takes place.
38. T F The channel is the means by which a message is communicated.
39. T F A speaker’s frame of reference and a listener’s frame of reference will never be
40. T F Most of the time, the listener’s frame of reference is identical to the speaker’s frame
41. T F Because most people share the same frame of reference, the meaning of a message is
42. T F Most public speaking situations involve two-way communication.
43. T F When you give a speech to your classmates, you are engaged in one-way
44. T F The nonverbal messages that listeners send back to speakers are called feedback.
45. T F Interference is anything that impedes the communication of a message.
46. T F Interference can come from either inside or outside your audience.
47. T F Speechmaking becomes more complex as cultural diversity increases.
48. T F Although language changes from culture to culture, the meaning of nonverbal signals
49. T F Ethnocentrism is an advantage to speakers who seek to understand the values, beliefs,
50. T F Ethnocentrism often leads to prejudice and hostility toward people of different racial,
51. T F Public speakers who seek to avoid being ethnocentric need to show respect for the
52. T F Avoiding ethnocentrism means that you must agree with the values and practices of
53. T F Ethnocentrism needs to be avoided when you are in the role of listener as well as
54. T F Ethnocentrism is unique to Western cultures such as those in the United States and
Europe.
55. T F Ethnocentrism is a part of every culture.
56. T F Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group or culture is superior to all other
groups or cultures.
1. When your textbook describes public speaking as a form of empowerment, it means that public
speaking is
2. To say that public speaking is a way to make a difference about something we care about is to
recognize that public speaking is
3. As your textbook explains, many of the skills used in public speaking are the same as those used
in everyday conversation. These skills include
4. How much time does the average adult spend in conversation?
5. Many of the skills used in public speaking are the same as those used in everyday conversation.
These skills include
6. When you experience stage fright, your body is producing extra __________, a hormone that is
released into the bloodstream in response to physical or mental stress.
7. According to your textbook, rather than trying to eliminate every trace of stage fright, you
should aim at transforming it into
8. Which of the following does your textbook recommend as a way to deal with stage fright?
9. Which of the following does your textbook recommend as a way to deal with nervousness in
your speeches?
10. Which of the following does your textbook recommend as a way to deal with nervousness in
your speeches?
b. Concentrate on communicating with the audience rather than on your nerves.
c. As you rehearse, visualize yourself giving a successful speech.
d. all of the above
e. b and c only
11. Which of the following does your textbook recommend as a way to deal with nervousness in
your speeches?
12. Which of the following does your textbook recommend as a way to deal with nervousness in
your speeches?
13. Which of the following does your textbook recommend as a way to deal with nervousness in
your speeches?
14. One way to build confidence as a speaker is to create a vivid mental blueprint in which you see
yourself succeeding in your speech. According to your textbook, this process is called
15. According to your textbook, when you employ the power of visualization as a method of
controlling stage fright, you should
d. all of the above.
e. a and b only.
16. Research has shown that the anxiety level of most speakers drops off significantly
17. Which of the following strategies is least likely to help you deal with nervousness in your
speeches?
18. All of the following are recommended by your textbook to help you deal with nervousness except:
19. According to the advice given in your textbook, if you make a mistake when you are giving a
speech, the best thing to do is
20. Asad was giving an interesting speech about the earliest astronomical observatories—a subject
he was very excited about—when he misidentified the founder of the Istanbul observatory.
When he realized his mistake, he corrected it, but then he felt flustered and wasn’t as confident
for the rest of his speech. What advice from your textbook should Asad keep in mind?
21. Heather was in the midst of an excellent speech on campus history when she made a minor
mistake by giving the wrong date for the opening of a campus building. She suddenly stopped
speaking and said, “Oh, I messed up.” Then she provided the correct date. The rest of her speech
went well, but all she could think about afterward was her mistake. What is the major piece of
advice from your textbook that Heather needs to be reminded about?
22. Dealing with such matters as the logical relationships among ideas, the soundness of evidence,
and the differences between fact and opinion are all part of what your textbook calls
23. Which of the following aspects of public speaking is least likely to help strengthen your skills as
a critical thinker?
24. Whatever a speaker communicates to someone else is termed the
25. As your textbook explains, the means by which a message is communicated is termed the
26. As defined in your textbook, channel in the speech communication process refers to
27. Jamal attended the campus president’s speech about tuition increases, while Mary listened to a
podcast of the speech in her car. Later, Mary said she thought the president’s words stated clearly
that he opposed an increase in tuition. But Jamal said that the way the president avoided looking
at students when he talked about tuition made it seem like the president actually supported an
increase in tuition. The difference in the messages Mary and Jamal received most likely resulted
from the fact that
28. Everything a speaker says is filtered through a listener’s
29. According to your textbook, the knowledge, experience, goals, values, and attitudes through
which each listener filters a message is called the listener’s
30. Because every person has a unique __________ based on his or her own knowledge, experience,
and values, the meaning of a message can never be exactly the same to a listener as to a speaker.
31. As you listen to a speech about campus crime, you relate the speaker’s ideas to your own
knowledge, goals, and experience. According to your textbook, you are filtering the speech
through your own
32. __________ lets you know how your message is being received.
33. As you present your speech, you notice that many of your listeners have interested looks on their
faces and are nodding their heads in agreement with your ideas. According to your textbook,
these reactions by your listeners are called
34. In the midst of a speech about tsunamis, a speaker notices quizzical expressions on the faces of
her listeners. In response, she says, “Let me explain that point again to make sure it’s clear.”
When this happens, the speaker is
35. As Christopher delivered his speech, he noticed that some members of his audience looked
confused as he explained one of his main points. As a result, he slowed down and explained the
point again. In this case, Christopher was
36. What, according to your textbook, is the term for anything that impedes the communication of a
message?
37. Concern by a listener about an upcoming job interview, the lack of air conditioning, or the pain
from a toothache are all examples of __________ in the speech communication process.
38. According to your textbook, a listener anxious about an upcoming exam, worried about a recent
argument with a friend, or distracted by cold air in the classroom would be experiencing
39. A ringing cell phone or an audience member browsing the Web on her laptop during a speech
are examples of which element in the speech communication process?
40. Someone coughing in the audience or walking in late during a presentation are examples of what
element in the speech communication process?
41. As Benita approached the podium, loud voices from the hallway filled the room. Before
beginning her speech, she asked someone in the back of the room to close the door. In this case,
Benita was dealing with
42. Recognizing that the audience for his graduation speech would be packed into a non-air–
conditioned gymnasium during the hottest week of the year, Kane decided to keep his speech at
the low end of his 10- to 15-minute time limit. In making this decision, Kane was adapting to
which element of the speech communication process?
43. Public speakers who seek to communicate with listeners from cultures other than their own need
to take special care to avoid __________ in their speeches.
44. The tendency to see the beliefs, values, and customs of one’s own culture or group as “right” or
“natural” is called
45. According to your textbook, the belief that one’s own group or culture is superior to all other
groups or cultures is termed
46. As your textbook explains, ethnocentrism means
47. Sosuke is from Japan and has decided to give his informative speech on Japanese marriage
customs. Because he will be getting married back home the next summer, he is very excited
about the topic. He is concerned, however, that his classmates, all of whom are from the United
States, may think he is saying that marriage traditions in Japan are better than those in the United
States. Sosuke’s concern indicates that he is sensitive to the problem of
1. As discussed in your textbook, conversation and public speaking share at least four similarities,
including:
2. What are the three primary differences discussed in your textbook between public speaking and
conversation?
Public speaking is more highly structured.
Public speaking requires more formal language.
Public speaking requires a different manner of delivery.
3. When you experience stage fright, your body is producing extra _______________ , a hormone
that is released into the bloodstream in response to physical or mental stress.
4. Mental imaging in which a speaker vividly pictures himself or herself giving a successful
presentation is called _______________ .
5. List five measures you can take to help control your nervousness when giving a speech.
6. The _______________ is the means by which a message is communicated.
channel
7. Because a listener’s _______________ can never be exactly the same as a speaker’s, the
meaning of a message will never be exactly the same to a listener as to a speaker.
8. The messages sent by listeners to a speaker are called _______________ .
9. _______________ lets you know how your message is being received by your audience.
10. Concern by a listener about lawn mower noise outside the room, an upcoming test, or a sick
relative are all examples of _______________ .
11. The _______________ is the time and place in which speech communication takes place.
12. The belief that one’s own group or culture is superior to all other groups or cultures is termed
_______________ .
1. Explain two ways in which public speaking and conversation differ, and two ways in which they
2. Briefly explain the four skills you use in everyday conversation that are also among the skills
3. In a brief essay, identify and discuss six methods a public speaker can use to help control stage
4. Explain the following statement: “Because a listener’s frame of reference can never be the same
as a speaker’s, the meaning of a message will never be exactly the same to a listener as to a
5. Explain the difference between one-way communication and two-way communication.
6. Identify and briefly explain the seven elements of the speech communication process. Include in
your answer a sketch of the complete speech communication model presented in the textbook.
7. Briefly discuss the impact of cultural diversity on the speechmaking process.
8. What is ethnocentrism? Why does it often pose a barrier to speakers who are addressing
audiences of different racial, cultural, or ethnic background from the speaker? Identify two steps