Page 1
1.
When asking a question of an audience in North America, holding one’s arms out and
turning the palms upward is a gesture that invites
A)
silence.
B)
participation.
C)
a challenge.
D)
applause.
2.
What refers to the way a person’s voice sounds, often in respect to a particular
community or geographic region?
A)
dialect
B)
tonework
C)
accent
D)
pitch
3.
Gabby, who has a New England accent, is giving a speech in central Texas. Given the
difference between her accent and her audience’s, she should
A)
speak more slowly and articulate more clearly than she normally would.
B)
make an effort to suppress or minimize her accent.
C)
adopt the accent or dialect of the audience.
D)
apologize for her accent or dialect at the beginning of the speech.
4.
Craig is giving his first speech at a town hall meeting. This is the first time he will be
using a microphone. He asks a friend for tips. The best piece of advice his friend gives
him?
A)
“Be sure to speak loudly into the microphone; otherwise, the sound will be
muffled.”
B)
“Pay attention to the audience reaction when you start speaking so you can
determine whether to adjust the volume.”
C)
“Be aware that any noise from your throat will be mechanically enhanced by the
microphone.”
D)
“It is important not to move too much while speaking because that can cause
feedback.”
5.
Kaitlyn is encouraged to follow the one-step-up rule when delivering her speech. What
is she being encouraged to do?
A)
Take one step forward when introducing a key point.
B)
Talk one level louder when making a call to action.
C)
Speak at a pace one level up from average or typical.
D)
Dress one level up from the dress of her audience.
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6.
Which statement about high-context cultures is true?
A)
They place more value on nonverbal communication.
B)
They focus on the individual instead of the group.
C)
They are found primarily in North America and western Europe.
D)
They find tonework challenging.
7.
Which term refers to the way in which speakers increase their vocal volume and adopt a
confident tone to command attention?
A)
pronunciation
B)
modulation
C)
articulation
D)
projection
8.
The most important vocalic element is
A)
pitch.
B)
rate.
C)
articulation.
D)
volume.
9.
Tyler is giving a speech to a large audience. Although he is using a microphone, he is
concerned that those in the back of the room may not be able to hear him. What is the
best course of action in this scenario?
A)
Increase the volume on the microphone.
B)
Increase his speaking volume.
C)
Ask everyone in the audience to move forward.
D)
Ask audience members if they can hear him.
10.
Low-context cultures are
A)
more focused on the group than the individual.
B)
more focused on what is said than how it is said.
C)
associated with parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
D)
strongly attuned to body language.
11.
Which statement about a speaker’s appearance is true?
A)
Audiences care only about what you say, not how you look.
B)
You should be careful not to dress more nicely than your audience.
C)
Audience members judge speakers based on their attire, but they rarely notice or
care about footwear.
D)
You should avoid standing out from the crowd.
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12.
Which is a true statement about a speaker’s footwear?
A)
Footwear is the first thing that gets noticed about a speaker’s appearance.
B)
The one-step-up rule does not apply to footwear.
C)
Audience members make judgments about you as a speaker based on your
footwear.
D)
No one has researched the way footwear affects people’s assumptions about others.
13.
At a formal speaking event, Mason gave a speech in which he used the phrases “You
know?” and “Right?” frequently. How did this most likely affect the audience?
A)
The audience was distracted from the message Mason was trying to convey.
B)
The audience viewed Mason as “more relatable” and felt a greater connection to
him.
C)
The audience began to question Mason’s credibility and expertise.
D)
The audience was able to use the pauses to reflect on Mason’s message.
14.
Which statement best reflects what elocutionists like Thomas Sheridan believed?
A)
Bodily expressions have little effect on how a speaker’s message is received.
B)
The primary focus of all speakers should be on articulation.
C)
Delivery of the message is secondary in importance to the content of a message.
D)
A speaker’s tone is related to strong, instinctual emotions.
15.
A speaker who refers to an audience as “y’all” is using
A)
an accent.
B)
slang.
C)
dialect.
D)
jargon.
16.
The _____ movement was an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century movement concerned
primarily with delivery.
A)
emotive
B)
haptic
C)
elocutionary
D)
rhetorical
17.
_____ refers to the movement of the head, hands, or arms to communicate an idea or a
feeling.
A)
Choreography
B)
Blocking
C)
Gesticulation
D)
Gesture
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18.
The study of how close we stand to one another is called
A)
proxemics.
B)
haptics.
C)
gesture.
D)
vocalics.
19.
Which statement about gestures is true?
A)
The elocutionists focused on how gestures carry symbolic meaning.
B)
Jürgen Streeck believes gestures are second in significance only to speech in their
ability to communicate who we are.
C)
Gestures include not only movement of the hands but also movement of the head,
face, and arms to communicate an idea or a feeling.
D)
Gestures are viewed by most experts as unnecessary accompaniments to speech.
20.
_____ is the study of how humans use touch.
A)
Kinetics
B)
Empathy
C)
Haptics
D)
Vocalics
21.
Which statement about eye contact is true?
A)
In Western culture, eye contact can be read as failure to recognize power.
B)
The larger the audience, the easier eye contact is.
C)
In general, eye contact is an intimate gesture of sincerity, trust, and caring.
D)
You cannot give the illusion of eye contact; there is no way around making it
directly.
22.
What is the study of the way people use their voices, including volume, pitch,
articulation, pronunciation, rate, and modulation?
A)
haptics
B)
vocalics
C)
intonation
D)
kinesics
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23.
More serious and somber speaking situations generally require _____ in the voice than
less serious, celebratory situations.
A)
a faster pace
B)
more volume
C)
less modulation
D)
a higher pitch
24.
If meeting the eyes of a listener in your audience makes you nervous, you can give the
illusion of eye contact by
A)
looking at the tops of people’s heads.
B)
practicing a technique called scanning.
C)
looking over audience members’ heads at the wall behind them.
D)
looking at a point immediately in front of you.
25.
Which cultures are more community oriented and place more value on bodily
expression?
A)
ancient
B)
high-context
C)
low-context
D)
close-knit
26.
Daryl is giving a speech from a large stage. He is unsure whether he should move
around or not while on stage. The best advice for Daryl is that he should
A)
divide his time evenly among the left side, center, and right side of the stage.
B)
remain standing behind the podium, especially if using a microphone.
C)
slowly and deliberately walk back and forth across the stage during his speech.
D)
walk toward the audience and move around on stage somewhat, without pacing.
27.
Which statement about articulation is true?
A)
Articulation concerns how you move your lips and tongue when speaking.
B)
Articulation is the correct or accepted way that a word sounds.
C)
One of the best ways to practice articulation is to try to read something with
marshmallows in your mouth.
D)
Articulation is the attempt to vary the volume, pitch, rate, and general character of
one’s voice.
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28.
What does international gesture expert Jürgen Streeck say about gestures?
A)
Gestures are just as significant to our social world as speech.
B)
Gestures are more important than speech.
C)
Our hands simply convey a symbolic meaning.
D)
The important thing is for gestures to correspond to what is being said.
29.
In a large room, you will not be able to make eye contact with everyone, so you should
practice _____, as if your eyes were a searchlight moving back and forth across the
audience.
A)
sweeping
B)
oscillating
C)
slating
D)
scanning
30.
_____ in speaking can give both you and your audience some time to think.
A)
A verbal filler
B)
An anecdote
C)
A pause
D)
A vocalized pause
31.
Which statement about speaking rate is true?
A)
Speaking quickly communicates a serious or thoughtful mood.
B)
Speaking slowly conveys excitement and interest.
C)
Pauses are part of speaking rate.
D)
Speakers should aim to keep the rate of their speaking steady.
32.
_____ refers to the labor of the speaker to craft, control, or change the expression of
feeling in public speaking.
A)
Preparation
B)
Rhetoric
C)
Persuasion
D)
Tonework
33.
The way we use language and the words we choose are parts of _____ because they help
create the emotional character of our speech.
A)
tone
B)
delivery
C)
persuasion
D)
dialogue
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34.
Which statement about tone is true?
A)
Tone is a concept that applies only to public speaking and interpersonal
communication.
B)
The elocutionists believed that tones could bypass language and communicate
through feelings.
C)
Presidential speeches are often light and joyful in tone.
D)
The nonverbal aspects of tone are one of two categories — vocalics and body
movements.
35.
In the early nineteenth century, the study of elocution consisted of
A)
small, private classes, attended primarily by women.
B)
classroom instruction in colleges.
C)
private study in people’s homes, with a tutor.
D)
large seminars led by Thomas Sheridan and Gilbert Austin.
36.
Speakers who do not modulate their voices are described as
A)
unclear.
B)
calm.
C)
professionals.
D)
monotone.
37.
Which gesture is most commonly associated with communicating interest, intrigue, or
excitement?
A)
smiling
B)
furrowing your brow
C)
raising your eyebrows
D)
frowning
38.
Planning your speech delivery entails working toward adjusting the emotional character
of your nonverbal communication in a process we call
A)
accommodation.
B)
tonework.
C)
reasoning.
D)
mindfulness.
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39.
What is the best way to become more aware of what your body is doing when you speak
and make sure your expressions and gestures match up?
A)
Ask your audience for feedback.
B)
Ask a friend to watch you rehearse.
C)
Rehearse in front of a mirror.
D)
Watch a video recording of yourself speaking.
40.
Which is a pronunciation error?
A)
rolling your r‘s in Spanish words as a Spanish speaker does when you are not a
native Spanish speaker
B)
saying “farty–far” instead of “forty–four”
C)
saying the word knead with a silent k
D)
saying the word tomato as “to-mah-to” instead of “to-may-to”
41.
_____ refer(s) to the emotional quality or character of human expression.
A)
Attitude
B)
Values
C)
Sentiment
D)
Tone
42.
One unexpected place you can add a little signature of individuality in your appearance
is with your
A)
jewelry.
B)
hair style.
C)
shoes.
D)
tattoos.
43.
What is the difference between an accent and a dialect?
A)
Accents relate to different languages spoken, whereas dialects exist within one
language.
B)
Accents are regional, whereas dialects are not.
C)
Accents relate to vocalics, whereas dialects relate to haptics.
D)
Accents refer to how one speaks or pronounces words and is one component of
dialects.
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44.
Which gesture is most commonly associated with communicating interest, sincerity, or
intensity?
A)
laughing
B)
raising your eyebrows
C)
smiling
D)
making eye contact
45.
Which statement about smiling is true?
A)
Smiling is universally considered to be a friendly and welcome gesture in all
cultures.
B)
Smiling more frequently can improve one’s mood.
C)
Smiling while speaking publicly may indicate you are not taking the situation
seriously.
D)
Audiences are likely to see a smiling speaker as being manipulative.
46.
What should you keep in mind when listening to a speaker who has an accent or dialect?
A)
An accent can affect the speaker’s credibility because it may indicate that the
person is uneducated.
B)
Accents and dialects are different, not wrong.
C)
Speakers with accents or dialects should not have to adapt their speech for an
unfamiliar audience.
D)
Speakers with dialects should pronounce things the way the audience would.
47.
Why is volume called the most important vocalic element?
A)
Volume is the first thing people notice about your voice.
B)
If the audience can’t hear you, then most of your speech’s meaning will be lost.
C)
Speaking too loudly or softly is the most annoying vocal habit.
D)
People will stop trying to listen if the speaker has an accent.
48.
What refers to the unpleasant sound created when an audio input is too close to a
loudspeaker?
A)
white noise
B)
feedback
C)
static
D)
fuzz
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49.
Tonework is the work that
A)
was done by Thomas Sheridan and Gilbert Austin in the elocution movement.
B)
tries controlling the language we use, not our nonverbal communication.
C)
the speaker undertakes to craft, control, or change the expression of feeling in
public speaking.
D)
attempts to control what we are doing with our voice.
50.
What did researchers at the University of Kansas find out when they studied people’s
ability to make accurate assumptions about others based on their footwear?
A)
People can and do make accurate assumptions based on footwear.
B)
People did not have the ability to make accurate assumptions based on footwear.
C)
There is no relationship between footwear and other traits.
D)
There was nearly 100 percent accuracy in making assumptions about others based
on their footwear.
51.
The elocutionary movement was obsessed with the pronunciation of words and their
appropriate corresponding
A)
volume.
B)
evidence.
C)
tone.
D)
body gestures.
52.
Speakers who consciously modulate their voices are considered
A)
erratic.
B)
dynamic.
C)
unprepared.
D)
experts.
53.
In public speaking, terms such as um, ah, you know, and like are called
A)
space fillers.
B)
verbal litter.
C)
vocal fillers.
D)
time fillers.
54.
_____ refers to forms of language — pronunciation, idioms, slang, and so forth —
particular to a geographic region.
A)
An accent
B)
A custom
C)
A vocal range
D)
A dialect
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55.
Which statement about speaking pitch is true?
A)
A sustained pitch conveys interest and excitement.
B)
Varying your pitch can seem monotonous.
C)
Volume is used to indicate emphasis; pitch is not.
D)
The rising and falling of pitch in speech is called intonation.
56.
Pauses are most closely related to
A)
tone.
B)
rate.
C)
volume.
D)
pitch.
57.
The elocutionary movement
A)
was primarily concerned with delivery.
B)
took place in the early twentieth century.
C)
was formed by two Englishmen, Thomas Sheridan and Gilbert Austin.
D)
stressed the need to control and constrain emotions.
58.
Which is one reason that an audience would likely view a speaker’s appearance
unfavorably?
A)
The speaker followed the one-step-up rule.
B)
The speaker dressed similarly to the audience members.
C)
The speaker wore new footwear.
D)
The speaker appeared unkempt and slovenly.
59.
Which statement about facial expressions is true?
A)
No single facial expression is more universal than a smile.
B)
Mirror neurons can cause babies to cry when we smile at them.
C)
Facial expressions reflect, but do not affect, our moods.
D)
If held too long, eye contact communicates hostility.
60.
_____ communication encompasses all the ways in which we communicate in addition
to, in opposition to, and independent of the spoken word.
A)
Verbal
B)
Nonverbal
C)
Written
D)
Face-to-face
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61.
Appearing unkempt may cause the audience to think you do not care about
A)
fashion.
B)
how you are perceived.
C)
your message.
D)
the speaking engagement.
62.
Moving too much can make the audience seasick and detract from your message.
A)
True
B)
False
63.
Speech is the meeting of the body and language, typically understood as meaningful
vocal expression.
A)
True
B)
False
64.
Pronunciation is another word for articulation.
A)
True
B)
False
65.
Tone is the emotional quality or character of human expression.
A)
True
B)
False
66.
The best way to decide what to wear at a speaking engagement is by using contextual
reasoning.
A)
True
B)
False
67.
It is important to make eye contact with the audience when speaking because it
enhances your credibility.
A)
True
B)
False
68.
Gesturing should be limited during speeches because it can be distracting to the
audience.
A)
True
B)
False
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69.
When addressing large audiences, it is recommended that speakers adopt a flashier dress
style.
A)
True
B)
False
70.
Tonework is more challenging in high-context cultures.
A)
True
B)
False
71.
Research by communication scholars has repeatedly shown that speakers who review
recordings of themselves speaking have decreased anxiety and more readily develop
effective speaking skills.
A)
True
B)
False
72.
Nonverbal communication focuses on the unconscious messages that speakers convey
when moving.
A)
True
B)
False
73.
If your audience is larger than a small group, you can improve your eye contact by using
the scanning technique.
A)
True
B)
False
74.
A head nod is considered a gesture.
A)
True
B)
False
75.
A sound check is necessary only if you use a fixed microphone.
A)
True
B)
False
76.
This statement contains a verbal filler: “Talking with my dad is like pulling teeth.”
A)
True
B)
False
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77.
Haptics is a vocalic element.
A)
True
B)
False
78.
Eye contact is universally considered to be polite across cultures.
A)
True
B)
False
79.
Tonework is strictly nonverbal.
A)
True
B)
False
80.
Pronunciation has to do with the correct or accepted way that a word sounds.
A)
True
B)
False
81.
Pronunciation is an element of nonverbal communication.
A)
True
B)
False
82.
A speaker should dress in a way that allows the audience to focus on the message, not
the speaker’s appearance.
A)
True
B)
False
83.
In Western culture, making eye contact signifies a human connection and interest.
A)
True
B)
False
84.
Tone includes what we wear when we speak.
A)
True
B)
False
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