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Chapter 10: Topic Selection and Audience Analysis
Chapter Objectives and Integrator Guide
After reading and thinking about this chapter, students should be able to meet the
following objectives.
Objectives
1. Select a topic appropriate for you and your audience.
Key terms: brainstorming, commitment
2. Practice narrowing a topic to save yourself time and energy and increase its relevance to
the audience.
3. Analyze your audience through observation, inference, research, and questionnaires.
Key terms: audience analysis, inference, indirect inference, direct inference,
questionnaire, demographic analysis, attitude, belief, value
4. Adapt your topic, yourself, your language, and your purpose for an audience.
Key terms: immediate purpose, long-range goal
Activities
Activity 10.1 You as a Public Speaker
Objectives
Procedure
Ask students to list the instances in the last six weeks when they spoke to more than one
other person. Then have them list future occasions when they see themselves speaking to
more than one other person. Have the students read their lists aloud.
IM – 10 | 2
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forms of communication (for example, dyadic, small group, and public).
Applications
Try to reduce student anxiety about public speaking by showing its relationship to
conversation and discussion. Relate public speaking in the classroom to the kinds of speaking
students already do in front of others. Make students aware of how common public speaking
is, even in their own lives.
Activity 10.2 Personal Topics
Objective
Students should be able to determine a speech topic based on an examination of
personal tastes.
Procedure
Provide the students with the “Personal Tastes Assessment” that follows. Instruct them to
complete the items and ascertain at least three informative speech topics based on the
information they have provided. This inventory should be kept for future reference.
Class Discussion
This activity is a natural extension of the chapter on self-awareness and the remaining
chapters on public speaking. Topic selections are often a difficult undertaking. In this
activity, students are afforded an opportunity to reflect on themselves in order to generate
topics for future speechmaking.
Personal Tastes Assessment
1. States I have visited include:
2. Hobbies I have include:
3. Famous people I have met include:
4. Foods I like/dislike include:
5. Special talents I possess include:
6. Extracurricular activities that I participate in include:
7. Organizations I belong to include:
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8. The qualities I look for in a relationship include:
9. The emotion that I usually avoid is:
10. The books/movies I rank as the best include:
11. The time of the day I prefer to study is:
12. My favorite saying is:
13. The topic of the best class I have taken is:
14. The most exciting event in recent world news is:
15. The most tense time for me has been:
16. I feel most comfortable when:
17. The adjective that best describes my relationships is:
18. The job in which I felt I learned the most about myself is/was:
19. I believe that all parents should:
20. I think that I am at my best when:
Activity 10.3 Selecting a Topic
Objectives
Students should be able to discover several possible topics for speeches; to identify the
factors that influence the choice and limitation of topics; and to limit topics in accordance
with suggestions about manageable subjects for classroom speeches.
Procedure
During the preceding class meeting, distribute the “Topic Interest Survey” that follows to
each student. Each student should make a list of possible topics in each area and then select
the most interesting topics in each list.
Topic Interest Survey
Without consulting another person, list topics that interest you in each of the categories that
follow. You should make a list of possible topics in each area and then select the most interesting
topics in each list.
1. Concepts whose reality is controversial—for example, God, justice, extraterrestrial,
or magic
2. Realities that may be desirable or undesirable—for example, grading, teenage marriage, or
labor unions
3. Possibilities—for example, interplanetary travel, a cure for cancer, or a woman president of
the United States
4. Topics that involve our capacity to change—for example, driving smaller cars, consuming
fewer calories, or spending less money
5. Topics related to degree or extent—for example, how much nuclear power is needed for a
strong defense posture, or how much marijuana should be legally possessed
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Copyright © 2017 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
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Students should limit their lists to include only one topic that seems most interesting from
each of the five categories. Working in groups of five or six, the students should narrow each
person’s list to three topics that are most interesting to the group. Each student now has a list
of three topics that interest both speaker and classmates. The scope of each topic should then
be narrowed for use in a speech to the class, and statements of purpose may be prepared.
Class Discussion
The discussion should focus on the degree of interest generated by the topics. The topics
should also be limited sufficiently to be used in a classroom speech. If students select the
same topics, show that one topic can be treated in many ways.
Applications
This activity provides the students with an opportunity for brainstorming. It also generates a
list of topics that can be used for a classroom speech. The discussion enables students to
analyze the audience’s interest in the topic before preparation and presentation of the speech,
and the information acquired is useful later during refinement of the topic and preparation of
the statement of purpose for classroom presentation.
Activity 10.4 Observation
Objectives
Students should be able to apply the concepts and skills of observation to the speech class as
an audience; to discuss the weaknesses and strengths of observation; and to differentiate
1. How old are the members of the audience?
2. What is the economic background of the class?
3. What style of clothes do the students wear?
4. Describe the objectives of the class—for example, hairstyle, hair length, and jewelry.
5. How much do class members interact before and after class?
6. Do the students read the school newspaper or other newspapers or magazines?
7. What interests and hobbies do the students talk about?
8. Describe other behavior, both verbal and nonverbal, of the class members.
When the group members have completed their observations, they should draw as many
inferences about the audience’s attitudes, prejudices, stereotypes, knowledge, and interests as
they can. Each inference should be directly supported by one or more observations. When
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everyone is finished, have each group share its list of observations and inferences with the
rest of the class.
Class Discussion
The students should identify the similarities and differences in the lists contributed by the
groups. The reasons for the inferences should be discussed, and their accuracy should be
ascertained by questioning the class. For example, if a group inferred that class members like
movies, the students should be asked how many movies they have seen in the last two weeks.
The students should learn to differentiate between observation and inference by discussing
provides information that will be useful to the students when they make classroom speeches.
The concepts of perception and nonverbal communication are important in observation.
Activity 10.5 Audience Analysis Form
Objectives
Students should be able to describe the characteristics and attitudes of the classroom
processed by the test-evaluation service at your institution.
Have the answers to the questionnaire analyzed, and distribute copies of the summary data
to the class. The students should use the information to draw inferences about the class’s
acceptance of and interest in different topics. They should draw as many inferences as they
can from the analysis and support their conclusions with data from the statistical summary of
correlations between answers. For example, the data may indicate that students respond
favorably to the concept of gender equality and yet respond unfavorably to transgender
rights. The students should use as many different items as possible in drawing inferences
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about the class’s attitudes and beliefs. They should realize that an audience—especially a
captive audience, such as the speech class—is heterogeneous and thus difficult to analyze on
the basis of one or two observations or bits of data. They also should recognize the necessity
of performing a detailed and thorough analysis before making a speech to any audience. An
audience’s response is determined by the synthesis of many attitudes, not by a single
response to a question about a single attitude. The synthesis of the audience’s characteristics
and values is the goal of audience analysis.
Applications
This activity gives students insight into the mechanics and uses of questionnaires and
provides experience in both demographic and attitudinal analysis of a specific audience. The
students should use the statistical information derived from this activity when preparing an
informative or persuasive speech for presentation to the class in the next chapters, and to
check the validity of the observations they made in activity 10.4 (Observation).
Audience Analysis Form
Indicate your major and your gender at the top of the answer sheet. The questions that follow
should be answered on the numbered part of your answer sheet.
Demographic Information
1. I am a
(a) freshman.
2. I am
(a) 17 years old or younger.
3. I am
4. I have
5. My spouse (answer only if
6. I am
(a) Protestant.
7. I am living
(a) in a dormitory.
8. I belong to a fraternity or sorority.
(a) true
(a) strong.
(b) average.
(a) my parents.
(b) part-time employment.
11. My cumulative grade point average
(c) 2.5–2.99.
(d) 2.0–2.49.
(e) below 2.0.
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13. My parental annual income is
probably
(a) less than $20,000.
(b) between $20,000 and $25,000.
(c) between $25,000 and $35,000.
(d) between $35,000 and $50,000.
(e) over $50,000.
14. I have served in the military.
(a) true
(b) false
15. I am active in a campus organization.
(a) true
(b) false
Word Concepts
Indicate next to each word your initial attitude about it, according to the following scale:
(a) Strongly favor or very important
(b) Mildly favor or fairly important
(c) Neutral
(d) Mildly disfavor or fairly unimportant
(e) Strongly disfavor or very unimportant
Record your first reaction. Do not go back and change your answers.
16. Law enforcement
17. Politics
18. Facts
19. Moral majority
20. America
21. Welfare
22. Christianity
23. Parents
24. Corporations
25. Democrats
26. Technology
27. Republicans
28. Pornography
29. LGBTQ rights
30. Capitalism
31. Gun control
32. Communism
33. Transgender rights
34. Financial aid
35. Smoking
36. Marriage
37. Sexual freedom
38. Alcohol
39. Labor unions
40. Social welfare
41. College education
42. Divorce
43. Immigration
44. Social media
45. Military
46. Marijuana
47. Abortion
48. College sports
49. Religious freedom
50. Women’s rights
Activity 10.6 Audience Response
Objective
Students should be able to discern the varying attitudes of class members on a variety of
topic areas that will aid in determining audience analysis.
Procedure
Distribute the “Classroom-Audience Analysis” form on the next page to students. Instruct
them to complete the form; then collect the forms. Collate responses to assess the general
composition of the communication class and provide students with a synopsis of student
responses.
Of course, the items on the form are only suggestions and can be altered for the particular
class.
aspects? The students should be encouraged to appreciate and respond to the individual
nuances of the audience.
Applications
This activity illustrates the fact that effective public speaking includes analyzing the
audience to whom an individual speaks. The classroom analysis can serve as a beginning
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Classroom-Audience Analysis Form
Number of siblings:
Hometown:
Political affiliation (if any):
Religious affiliation (if any):
Viewpoint on abortion:
The percent of college education I am personally financing:
The priorities of our country should be:
Most exotic pet I would love to own:
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Activity 10.7 Adapting to Your Audience
Objectives
Students should be able to describe methods of adapting the verbal content of a speech on the
basis of audience analysis; to discuss differences between audiences that may require
different approaches to the same topic; and to name various topics that require different
approaches to the same audience.
Procedure
Divide the students into groups of four or five. Each group should receive the following
descriptions of two audiences and two topics:
religion.
B. The members of this audience are college freshmen in a liberal arts college. They
come from middle- or high-income families. None work; they are either supported by
their parents or have scholarships. They vary widely in their religious beliefs. About
half are liberals, and about half are conservatives.
slogan of your candidate, Marvin Fitzpatrick, is “Stop crime in the streets.” Marvin
is Catholic but does not attend church regularly. He believes in birth control but not
abortion. You want to encourage your audience to vote and to support your candidate.
After the groups have read the descriptions of the audiences and the topics, have each group
decide how it would adapt each topic to each audience. The students should assume that the
1. What inferences can you draw about each audience’s interest in the topics?
2. What do you expect will be each audience’s initial reaction to the topics?
3. What issues would you tend to emphasize in the speeches?
4. What arguments do you think would best persuade each audience?
5. What differences do you perceive in the makeup of each audience that would be of
primary importance in the design of your speeches?
Copyright © 2017 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.