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Chapter 14
Language
What you’ll know:
• How oral style differs from written style
• What verbal immediacy is and how to convey it in public speeches
• Language choice strategies that will help your audience pay attention to, understand and
remember your ideas
What you’ll be able to do:
• Present speeches using an appropriate oral style
• Incorporate verbal immediacy strategies
• Use speech wording that is appropriate, clear and vivid
Chapter Outline
I. Oral Style
A. Oral style: the manner in which one conveys messages through the spoken word
1. An effective oral style tends toward short sentences and familiar language.
2. An effective oral style features plural personal pronouns.
3. An effective oral style features descriptive words and phrases that appeal to the ear in
ways that sustain listener interest and promote retention.
4. An effective oral style incorporates clear structural elements (e.g., main point preview,
section transitions and signposts as discussed in Chapter 12).
II. Speaking Appropriately
D. Speaker credibility
1. Credibility: the confidence an audience places in the truthfulness of what a speaker says
E. Linguistic sensitivity
1. Generic language: words used that apply to one co-culture group as though they
represent everyone
2. Nonparallel language: words that are changed because of the sex, race, or other group
characteristics of the individual
a. Marking: the addition of sex, race, age, or other group designations to a description
b. Irrelevant association: when one emphasizes one person’s relationship to another
when doing so is not necessary to make the point
3. Offensive humor
4. Profanity and vulgarity
F. Cultural diversity
IV. Speaking Vividly
Discussion and Assignment Ideas
I. Identify stereotypes associated with specific accents. Brainstorm examples of speakers who
contradict these stereotypes. Ask yourself, for whom do I have an accent? What is a possible
stereotype associated with my accent?
II. Quotes: These can be used to introduce topics, question perspectives, or gain individual opinion.
Providing students with a quote and prompting them to write or reflect on their personal feelings
about the quote can help to spark discussion and interest. Suggested prompts may include “Define this
concept in your own words”; “Do you agree with this statement? Explain”; “What text material can be
used to support or refute this idea?”
If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have
it at the beginning.
—Mahatma Gandhi
The only difference between novices and pros is that pros have taught their butterflies to fly in
formation.
—Edward R. Murrow
Proper prior planning prevents poor performance.
—unknown
III. Describe a time when nervousness energized your performance (e.g., on a test, at a sporting
event, in a relationship). Describe a time when nervousness hindered your performance. How did
you feel afterward? How did it affect your language or the words you chose to use?
IV. When have you used visualization to accomplish a task or athletic activity in the past? How can
you use visualization to help you present your speech? What other techniques have you used in
the past to address nervousness? How could you apply these techniques to help with your speech
delivery?
Movies
Elizabeth (1998)
Rated: R (Violence, sex, nudity)
Synopsis: The year is 1554, and Queen Mary, a Catholic, is the reigning monarch. She is afraid that her
younger sister, Elizabeth, has plans to overthrow her and take over the crown, and so has
Elizabeth jailed in the Tower of London. However, Mary dies soon after, and Elizabeth becomes queen. In
the first several months of her reign, she faces incredible difficulties—enemies who want her dead, a lack
of funds in the country’s treasury, and a weak military.
Questions for discussion
Executive Edge: Presentation Skills (1998)
Questions for discussion
Other Media Resources
Skills and Competency
Please refer to cengagebrain.com for a prompt to Web Link 14.1: Applying What You’ve learned. The
following visualization exercise can also be found in the Communicate! online textbook resources.
Chapter Activities
14.1: Vocal Conditioning
Purpose: To bring to a conscious level the various voice factors affect meaning
Time: 15 minutes
Process: Divide class into small groups. Each group should take turns reciting the following
exercises. As you make your way around the room throughout these practice sessions,
you can critique the student deliveries somewhat, but also be alert for especially good
performances. You can pull aside these students and have them recite their pieces for the
rest of the class. Tape recording could be used as a feedback device.
Variation
Ask students to exaggerate their performances to emphasize a wide range of different
possible delivery options. Then ask them to go back and attempt a more appropriate
interpretation.
14.2: Articulation
Purpose: To practice articulating more clearly
Time: 10 minutes
Process: Have students pick a page from their textbook or from another text of their choice.
They will be reading and performing the following drills simultaneously as a group. It may
get loud as everyone performs the drills, but that is fine, as it serves the purpose to
decrease student inhibitions. Each drill should last one minute.
• Enunciation drill: Tell students to read a passage from the page they selected very
slowly, hitting all of the hard consonants (g, t, k, d, p, b, r, y, and so on) and
over-enunciating every syllable. Then have them slowly increase their speed. Then
ask them to read the same passage normally and ask them if they notice any
difference in delivery
• Pencil drill: Tell the students to hold a pencil in their teeth and read from their
text. This naturally forces the mouth to over-compensate and increase enunciation
• Tongue twister drill: Hand out a few tongue twisters and have students read them
at high speed. Many are freely available online at
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm.
• Open mouth drill: Have students open their mouths to a very exaggerated degree
while they read. (Let them know that this will look and feel silly.) Now have them
repeat the passage speaking normally.
Journal Assignments
A. Practicing Your Speech
Follow the steps in your textbook on how to rehearse your speech (pp. 397-400). After you are done with
your first practice session, reflect on your experience. Was your speech a lot longer or shorter than you
expected it to be? Now listen to or watch your tape while you look through your complete outline. Did you
leave out any important points? Did you talk too long on any one point? Were your note cards helpful?
What do you notice about your delivery, pitch, rate of speech, and so on, that you would like to keep?
What would you like to improve?
B. Accents
What stereotypes are associated with various accents within the United States? Why? How could an
accent affect speech presentation? Have you ever been judged because of your accent? Is there a
“standard” speaking style that would appeal to all U.S. English speakers? Why or why not?
