Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank for Essentials of Human Communication, Eighth Edition
Unit Planner
CHAPTER 11: PUBLIC SPEAKING PREPARATION (STEPS 1-6)
CONCEPTS OF THIS CHAPTER
· the nature of public speaking
· step 1: select your topic, purposes, and thesis
· step 2: analyze your audience
· step 3: research your topic
· step 4: collect supporting materials
· step 5: develop your main points
· step 6: organize your speech materials
KNOWLEDGE OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, students should be able to:
· understand the nature and importance of public speaking
·
understand the importance of audience analysis, research, and organization
SKILLS OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, students should:
· manage their speaker apprehension
· select and narrow a speech topic and purpose
· analyze an audience and adapt a speech to them
· research a speech topic
· organize a speech
INSTRUCTIONAL OUTLINE
I.
The Nature of Public Speaking
– Public
speaking is a form of communication in which a
speaker addresses a relatively large audience with a relatively continuous discourse, usually in a
face-to-face situation; a major difference between face-to-face public speaking and mediated
public speaking (through television, radio, or posting to news groups on the Internet) is the delay
in
audience feedback in mediated situations.
·
Benefits and Skills of Public Speaking
– public speaking helps to develop and refine
general communication abilities:
•
to present yourself to others with confidence and self-assurance
•
will help develop and refine your communication skills
•
Receive proper training to become an effective public speaker.
·
Communication Apprehension
–
people experience all types of communication
apprehension, but public speaking anxiety is most common and severe. To reduce
apprehension:
•
Gain experience:
try to reduce the newness of public speaking by getting as much
experience as you can; also familiarize yourself with the public speaking context; if
possible, rehearse in the room in which you will be speaking
•
Think positively:
think positive thoughts; be thorough in your preparation; maintain
realistic expectations; don’t compare yourself with others
•
Be realistic
in your expectations
•
See public speaking as conversation:
consider thinking about public speaking as
another type of conversation; if comfortable speaking in small groups, visualize your
audience as an enlarged small group
Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank for Essentials of Human Communication, Eighth Edition
•
Focus on your listeners:
you will be less fixated on yourself and your performance
•
Stress similarity:
build commonalities between yourself and your audience by
emphasizing common beliefs and attitudes
•
Project confidence:
acting confident will most likely make you feel confident
•
Prepare and practice thoroughly:
preparation will lessen the possibility of failure
•
Move about and breathe deeply:
physical activity lessens apprehension by releasing
energy; taking a few deep breaths before you speak helps your body to relax
•
Avoid chemicals as tension relievers:
tranquilizers, marijuana, or artificial stimulants
are more apt to cause problems than lessen them
•
Positively reinforce the speaker:
smiles, nods, and making eye contact with the speaker
will make the speaker feel more at ease.
•
Ask questions in a supportive manner:
ask information-seeking questions rather than
critical challenges
•
Don’t focus on errors:
listen for the content, not the errors.
·
Starting Early: Be aware of the pitfalls of procrastination.
•
Make a commitment to starting early.
•
Don’t lie to yourself about the value of procrastination.
•
Beware of your tendency to seek out distractions.
•
Avoid self-handicapping strategies.
•
Work in small steps.
II. Step 1: Select Your Topic, Purposes, and Thesis
·
Your topic
– Select a topic that is worthwhile and will prove interesting to the audience.
•
Finding Your Topic
– Select a topic that you are interested in, know something about,
and can interest the audience in.
o
Keep yourself in mind.
o
Try brainstorming.
o
Use topic lists.
o
Read surveys to see what your audience finds important.
o
Check news sites.
•
Limiting Your Topic
– Plan to cover a limited topic in depth rather than a broad topic
superficially; repeatedly divide the topic into its significant parts until the topic seems
manageable and can be covered in some depth in the allotted time.
· Your Purposes
•
Your general purpose
: there are two major types for public speeches:
o
Informative speeches create understanding, clarify, enlighten, correct
misunderstandings, demonstrate how something works, explain how something is
structured; in short, their purpose is to inform.
o
Persuasive speeches influence attitudes or behaviors; move the audience to action; in
short, their purpose is to persuade.
•
Your specific purpose
: identifies the information you want to communicate or the
attitude or behavior you want to change; limit the specific purpose so the speech will be
substantive (e.g., “To inform my audience about fishing” vs. “To inform my audience
about how to cast a fly rod”)
·
Your Thesis –
main idea of the speech that will be conveyed to the audience.
•
The thesis is phrased as a complete, declarative sentence.
•
The thesis focuses on the message (whereas the purpose focuses on the audience).
III.
Step 2: Analyze Your Audience –
Your effectiveness as a public speaker requires understanding
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your audience.
·
Audience Sociology
–
Be careful not to assume that people covered by the same label are
necessarily all the same; however, characteristics exist that may be more common among one
group than another. Consider these factors:
– Cultural factors
– Age
– Gender
– Religion and religiousness
– Educational levels
– Occupation and income
– Relational status
– Values
– Special interests
– Political beliefs
– Organizational memberships
·
Audience Psychology
– Focus on three questions:
o
How Willing Is Your Audience?
An audience willing to listen requires less relational
work than an unwilling audience; if you are facing an unwilling audience, consider the
following:
– secure their attention early in the speech
–
relate your topic and supporting material specifically to their needs and wants
–
show the audience why they should listen; connect your topic and purpose to their
motivations
–
involve them directly in your presentation; asks them questions; refer to their
experiences
o
How Knowledgeable Is Your Audience?
If your audience has little knowledge of your
topic, consider the following:
– don’t talk down to them
– don’t confuse a lack of knowledge with a lack of intelligence
– let the audience know your speech will extend their present knowledge
– emphasize your competence in this general subject area
o
How Favorable Is Your Audience?
If you face an audience that has unfavorable
attitudes toward your topic or purpose, consider the following:
– build on commonalities; emphasize similarities
–
build your speech from areas of agreement, through areas of slight disagreement, up
to major differences
– strive for small gains
– ask for a fair hearing
·
Analysis and Adaptation During the Speech
– suggestions for adapting to an audience
during a presentation include:
o
Focus on Listeners as Message Senders
– look at your audience and pay attention
to the messages they are sending you
– if they look bored, increase your volume, move closer to them
– if they express hostility, stress similarities
– if they seem puzzled, pause a moment, rephrase ideas, offer a summary
o
Ask “What If” Questions
– consider possibilities of audience makeup, reaction to
topic, wants and needs; prepare for contingencies
o
Address Audience Responses Directly
– use phrases that show you are paying
attention to their feedback (e.g., “I know it’s been a long day but give me a few more
minutes and you’ll be able to save hours doing this paperwork.”)
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IV.
Step 3: Research Your Topic
– Research is essential for your audience to profit from your
speech.
· Research Principles
•
Begin your search by examining what you already know.
•
Continue your search by getting an authoritative but general overview of the topic (e.g.,
an encyclopedia article, book chapter).
•
Follow up the general overview with increasingly more detailed and specialized sources.
•
Gather a variety of different types of research.
o
News sources
o
Biographical material
o
Academic research articles
•
Distinguish between primary (original) and secondary (discusses primary research)
sources.
· Research Sources
•
Libraries
– libraries are storehouses for both print and computerized databases; start by
becoming familiar with a specific library (e.g., the on campus library); some online
sources that might prove useful include:
o
Library of Congress
o
Virtual Library
o
Internet Public Library
•
Interviews
o
Select the person you wish to interview.
o
Secure an appointment.
o
Create a cheat sheet (a list of what you want to say during the interview).
o
Ask open-ended questions.
o
Ask for permission to tape or print the interview.
o
After the closing, follow up with an expression of appreciation.
·
Research Evaluation –
All research materials must be evaluated (especially true of online
sources).
o
Qualifications – Does the author have the necessary credentials?
o
Currency – When was the information published?
o
Fairness – Does the author present information fairly and objectively?
o
Sufficiency – Is the information enough to establish the claim?
o
Accuracy – Is the information accurate?
·
Research Integration and Citation
– suggestions for integration include:
•
Mention the sources in your speech by citing at least the author and his or her
qualifications and, if helpful, the publication in which the source was found and the date
it was published.
•
It is better to err on the side of too much information about your research rather than not
enough.
•
Avoid useless expressions such as “I have a quote here.”
•
Citing research sources – In addition to the oral citations, you will also need to prepare a
written reference list.
V. Step 4: Collect Supporting Materials
· Support to amplify the concepts in an informative speech include:
•
examples, illustrations, and testimony of authorities
•
definitions to clarify complex terms
•
statistics (summary figures) for explaining trends
•
presentation aids to help clarify vague concepts
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· Support used in a persuasive speech include:
•
logical support: reasoning from specific instances and from general principles, from
analogy, from causes and effects, and from signs
•
motivational support: appeals to emotions and desires of the audience
•
credibility appeals: establishing your reputation, competence, expertise.
VI.
Step 5: Develop Your Major Points
– Use your thesis statement to generate your main ideas:
· Eliminate or Combine Points
· Select Points That Are Most Relevant
· Phrase Propositions in Parallel Style
· Develop Main Points Separately And Distinctly
VII.
Step 6: Organize Your Speech Materials
– Organization is essential to your audience’s
understanding and remembering what you say. Organizational patterns include:
· Time Pattern – based on temporal relationships; past, present, future
·
Spatial Pattern
– based on space, geography
·
Topical Pattern
– based on subtopics, component parts
· Problem-Solution Pattern – works best for persuasive speeches
· Cause-Effect/Effect-Cause Pattern – similar to problem-solution
·
The Motivated Sequence
– arranging information to motivate audience to have a positive
response to your purpose; has five steps:
• Attention: make the audience anxious to hear what you have to say
• Need: create a need in your audience to listen
— state the problem as it exists or will exist
— illustrate the need with specific examples, statistics, testimony
— explain how the problem directly affects the needs of your audience
•
Satisfaction
: present a solution that satisfies the audience’s needs you highlighted in the
previous step
•
Visualization
: intensify the audience’s feelings or beliefs; vividly illustrate the positive
benefits of the solution to your audience or the negative consequences that await them if
they do not adopt your solution
•
Action
: tell audience specifically what they should do to satisfy the need you identified
•
Additional Patterns
o
Structure-Function:
use to show how something is constructed and what it does
o
Comparison and Contrast
: use to analyze differences between things
o
Pro and Con/Advantages and Disadvantages
: use to explain objectively a plan,
method, or product
o
Claim and Proof
: use to prove the truth or usefulness of a proposition
o
Multiple Definition
: use to explain the complex nature of a concept
o
Who, What, Why, Where, When
: journalistic pattern; useful in reporting or
explaining an event
o
Fiction-Fact
: used to clarify certain misconceptions people may have about
something
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Why is it important to learn public speaking skills?
2. What are some ways to reduce public speaking apprehension?
3. What are the two major general purposes of public speeches?
4.
In analyzing the sociology of an audience, what are at least four questions you might ask
yourself?
1) Are the cultural beliefs and values of my audience relevant to my topic and purpose? 2) Could
ages
5.
What are some suggestions for dealing with an audience that may be unwilling to listen?
6.
What are some suggestions for dealing with an audience that may have unfavorable attitudes
toward your topic?
7.
What is the difference between thesis and purpose statements? Give an example of each.
8.
What are six guidelines to consider when formulating a thesis and the major propositions for a
speech?
1) Eliminate points that seem least important; 2) Combine points that have a common focus; 3)
9.
What types of speech topics would lend themselves to the following organizational patterns: (a)
time
pattern, (b) spatial pattern, (c) topical pattern, (d) problem–solution pattern, and (e)
cause
effect/effect-cause pattern?
10.
What are the five steps of the motivated sequence? Explain the purpose of each step.
ACTIVITIES FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT
11.1 Using Cultural Beliefs as Assumptions
Guidelines:
[from Skill Development Experience, text p. 212]
Have students first consider the list
individually and scale each item. Additional assumptions are provided below. This may be assigned as
out–of-class work. After students have had time to record their answers individually, have them compare
their answers in groups of five or six. Have each group report on the major differences and similarities
among their scales of the assumptions. Lead a discussion that focuses on how cultural assumptions can
undermine as well as enhance public speaking effectiveness, how one goes about discerning the cultural
assumptions of one’s audience, and how the exercise will directly affect students’ choices of topics for
classroom speeches.
– God is just and good.
– The welfare of our country must come first, even before your own.
– Sex outside of marriage is wrong and sinful.
– Expression of strong emotions – for example sadness or anger – is perfectly acceptable in
public speeches.
– Intercultural relationships are okay when it comes to business, but they should be
discouraged when it comes to intimate or romantic relationships.
– Spiritual growth is the most important goal in life.
– Personal happiness is the most important goal in life.
– Doing good for others is the most important goal in life.
– Money is good; the quest for financial success is perfectly acceptable.
– Love is a major consideration in forming a romantic relationship; family wishes, financial
considerations, for example, are relatively unimportant when it comes to romance.
11.2 Limiting Topics
Guidelines:
First lead the whole class in limiting one of the topics listed below or another topic. After
this preliminary work, assign one of the topics listed below to each student in the class. Ask them to limit
the topic by any method they see fit and write a thesis and purpose statement for their final, limited topic.
Be sure that at least three students receive the same topic. Give them 5–10 minutes to limit the topic and
write thesis and purpose statements individually. After this individual work, have students who worked
on the same topic compare their methods for limiting the topic, their final topic selection, and their thesis
and purpose statements. Circulate among groups to discuss with each their methods, their final topics,
their thesis and purpose.
General Topics for Limiting Topics Exercise
•
Dangerous sports
•
Health and Fitness
•
Race relationships
•
Urban violence
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Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank for Essentials of Human Communication, Eighth Edition
•
Parole
•
Politics
•
Censorship on the Internet
•
Video games
•
Global Warming
•
Fishing
•
Tornadoes
•
Travel
•
Problems facing college students
•
Water safety
11.3 Preparing a Two-Minute Speech
Guidelines
: Smaller, in-class speeches help students prepare for their larger speeches by gaining
experience, reducing apprehension, and giving the instructor an opportunity to critique the students’
speaking abilities before it is for a larger grade.
The Two-Minute Speech
Prepare and present a two-minute speech in which you explain one of the following topics that are
covered in this chapter. But, do go beyond what is covered in this chapter by consulting some useful print or
online sources.
•
Explain some suggested guidelines for dealing with public speaking apprehension.
•
Explain the nature of procrastination.
•
Explain the process of narrowing a topic.
•
Explain the factors that a speaker should know about his or her audience.
•
Explain the nature of research.
11.4 Let’s Apply the Concepts
Description
: Either alone or in groups, students should consider their responses to one or more of the
following scenarios. Relate their responses to the concepts indicated in the brackets.
This is your first experience with public speaking and you’re very nervous. You’re afraid you’ll forget
your
speech or stumble somehow, so you’re wondering if it would be a good idea to alert your audience
to your
nervousness. What do you say? [Apprehension Management]
·
Stephen, a 20-year old student, gave a speech on flower arranging – a topic so unexpected
that members of the audience giggled and avoided eye contact with him throughout the
speech. You’re called upon to offer a critique of the speech. What do you say? [Topic
Appropriateness]
·
You’ve decided to tackle the hypocrisy you see in your classmates who support the values of
racial equality publicly but privately express racist attitudes. You’re afraid, however, that
your audience will walk out on you as soon as you state your thesis. What do you say?
[Unpopular Thesis]
·
In your speech you say that over 70% of the students favored banning alcohol. Toward the
end of your speech, you realize that you mixed up the figure (only 30% favored banning
alcohol). During the question-and-answer period no one asks about the figures. What do you
say?
[Correcting Errors]
·
You’re preparing a speech on the architectural ideas for rebuilding Ground Zero and you
want to ask some famous architects a few questions so you can integrate their most recent
thoughts (and interject a more personalized tone) into your speech. What do you say?
Through what channel? [Asking a Favor]
11.5 The Current Event Speech
Have students choose a comprehensive news article, from reputable print or online sources. The students
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are to summarize the article in a two-minute speech. Be sure that they include all of the important
material from the news article. Ask the students to speak from some type of notes rather than a written
out
summary. Be sure to have the students include a well-incorporated oral citation of the news source.
This
relative short speech reinforces integrating research and oral citations into a speech.
Variations:
Instead of a news article, have students interview someone from the perspective career field and
create a two-minute speech from the material learned in the interview. Be sure that they still integrate the
material into the speech and offer oral citations to the interviewee.
AVAILABLE ASSETS ON MYCOMMUNICATIONLAB
Pearson’s MyCommunicationLab/Public Speaking Website
“Personal Report of Speaking Anxiety”
“Overcoming Nervousness”
“Martin Cox Discusses Tips on Developing a Topic for a Speech”
“Topic”
“Visual Brainstorming”
MyCommunicationLab’s Topic Selector
“Martin Cox Discusses Tips on Developing the Purpose of a Speech”
“How Are Cultural Beliefs and Theses Related?”
“Audience Analysis”
“Analyzing and Unknown Audience”
“‘Homecoming’ Party”
“Electronic Research”
“Avoiding Plagiarism”
“Testing for Relevance of Supporting Ideas”
“Organization”
“Persuasive Speech: Mandatory Minimums”
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