Part I General Approach to Teaching The Speaker’s Compact Handbook
Introduction
All instructors wear a variety of hats in a given class, but those hats include more than the
customary one designating only a dispenser of information. Those instructors who choose to
teach public speaking wear an exceptional number of hats. You are often a coach, a judge, a
consultant, an emcee, a confidant, and sometimes even an amateur therapist. Perhaps the most
important hat is the one of manager. As a public speaking instructor, you manage a very complex
This manual is divided into three parts. Part I discusses the general approach to teaching public
speaking, including the following:
This part offers you a sampling of course materials that have worked well for many public
speaking instructors. The syllabi, assignments, and critique forms serve to illustrate a sampling
of the ways that you can adapt materials of your choice to make the most of the handbook
format.
Part II contains relevant classroom activities, demonstrations, and discussion themes for each
chapter as well as a number of multiple choice and true/false evaluations. The chapter-by-chapter
breakdown contains the following:
Part III contains a list of additional resources that you may find useful in your course structure.
Most likely you will draw on examples that are dear to your heart and that make the point for
you better than what is suggested here. Fortunately, through the vast and readily available
resources of video and film material, you have a wide database from which to draw relevant
examples. I find that some of the best examples come from my students.
Acknowledgments
Just as The Speaker’s Handbook is a distillation and refiguring of content and ideas from The
Speaker’s Compact Handbook, so too is this instructor’s resource manual a distillation of the
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Issues in Teaching Public Speaking
As you begin to design a class, you must recognize the outside forces that limit your options.
Public speaking classes are often service courses that are required by programs and departments.
Your course objectives must be tailored to the needs of your consumers. A career-oriented public
Goals, Roles, and Norms
Before a teacher can set objectives for student learning or select specific speech assignments, it is
essential to think about the purposes of the course. One of your authors has delineated four main
thrusts of communication instruction: transmitting cultural knowledge, developing students’
intellectual skills, providing students with career skills, and reshaping the values of society
Cultural and Gender Issues
The Speaker’s Compact Handbook stresses the relationship between speech and social identity.
The implication of this for teachers of public speaking is that recommendations about how a
person should speak are, in a very real sense, recommendations about who a person should be.
As a discipline we are experiencing a heightened awareness of the ways that our taken-for-
What Cultural Factors Influence Our Understanding of Effective Public Speaking?
The models of public communication taught in the traditional public speaking class, and
generally those emphasized in The Speaker’s Compact Handbook, emphasize clarity and
directness. In many cultures this “plain speaking” would not be considered eloquent. In fact the
directness and explicitness of messages may appear rude or unpolished to some students. What
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We are not suggesting that you abandon the prescriptions from the book that we have written
and you have selected. Obviously, these ways of speaking are serviceable in contemporary US
culture. But we believe it is important that teachers recognize there are alternative forms of
eloquence and that they open dialogues with their students about the entire range of human
symbolic behavior.
What About Accents?
An accent is a habit pattern from one language that is carried over into a second or third
language. There are two problems with accents. First, speech that is too heavily accented may be
incomprehensible and thus the entire point of speaking is lost. Second, accents may be judged on
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an Australian or British speaker, but frequently commit the faux pas of treating a Kenyan or a
Malaysian as a second language speaker.
The public speaking class can be a place to look for a common language rather than to
enforce a standard language. This seems to us to be a particularly important distinction to make
at this moment in history.
Grading
Problems of grading and evaluation plague all teachers. Public speaking classes are particularly
What Aspects of the Course Will Be Graded and in What Relative Proportions?
A grading system cannot be selected until you have clearly delineated the course objectives and
settled on a basic set of assignments. Then you should consider the relative weighting of the
various components of the course. First, consider the ratio of speech performance to cognitive
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What General System or Grading Structure Will Be Used?
There are a number of ways to design an evaluation system, each with its advantages and
Letter grades on each assignment. These grades are transformed into numerical values (usually
A = 4, B = 3, etc.) and then weighted according to a pre-announced system (for example, Speech
Point systems. The teacher determines a potential number of points for each assignment by
assessing its difficulty and its value as a learning assignment. Students receive a point score for
Contract systems. Students can contract for the grade they wish to receive and often can select
from among several options to achieve the grade. Explicit criteria are established to define the
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Will the Grading System Be Norm-Referenced or Criterion-Referenced?
Each teacher must decide whether student performance will be evaluated by comparing it to pre-
established criteria, or by comparing it to the performance of other students in the class. A now-
classic article by Smythe, Kibler and Hutchings (1973) provides an excellent comparison of the
Should Grades Reflect Such Factors as Effort, Improvement, Attendance, and Attitude?
The basis of all grading systems should be the student’s actual performancewritten or oralas
measured against relevant and public pre-established criteria. When a teacher assigns a final
grade, she or he in effect certifies that a student has a certain skill level. If the grades reflect the
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Who Should Grade?
Some classes include peer grading or self-grading as part of the course. While peer feedback and
Providing Feedback
While students may gain marginally from the mere experience of giving speeches, the real
Who Should Give the Feedback?
Presumably you, the instructor, are the most qualified to evaluate the speeches and certainly it is
a major part of your responsibility to respond in detail to each performance. There can be no
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process and the variety of audience reactions becomes clear when an introductory joke is
classified as “a wonderful attention getter,” “tacky and tasteless,” and “a boring waste of time.”
The speaker comes to see that audience analysis is indeed an art rather than a science.
Train students as critics. Talk to them about the criteria by which speeches are judged and
about the techniques of phrasing comments constructively (2d).
Structure the peer criticism. Provide checklists or critique forms that focus on important
Limit peer criticism so that the speaker still experiences a relatively spontaneous audience
response. Try not to have the entire class serving as critics to all aspects of every speech. There
are several ways to preserve a natural speech environment. For instance, allow no writing during
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Should Feedback Be Written or Oral?
Technically, the main differences between written and oral feedback are that written feedback
takes longer to encode and that it provides the student with a record of comments to which to
refer. The controversy over whether teachers should rely on written comments or on oral
As a general rule, we believe that feedback to individual students should be private, usually
through written comments and checklists. You can save writing time and deal with some of the
subtle or complex points by delivering some of your criticism in private or semi-private
conferences. Some instructors try to dismiss class a few minutes early and speak individually to
the day’s speakers, or to meet with them the next class period when returning written critiques.
These conferences may be very brief but still add a personal touch to the written critiques, and
allow the students to ask questions and clarify points.
When Should Feedback Be Given?
Learning theory tells us that in order for feedback to be effective, it should occur as close as
possible to the behavior that one wants to reinforce or discourage. Yet communication theory
tells us that communication channels are often overloaded with psychological noise at moments
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If you grade speech content and organization before or after the performance, primarily on
the basis of outlines, then you can jot comments on delivery, audience adaptation and the like
during the speech. Developing checklists and critique forms streamlines the process and saves
you from writing the same comments again and again. Be sure, though, that student critiques,
whether written or oral, never seem to be mass-produced or mechanical. The speaking student
has shared some personal ideas in a risky public forum and deserves some individual
confirmation and recognition. By this same token, if you do withhold your official comments and
grades until a later class period, give each student some immediate and positive reinforcement on
What Should You Say in Your Criticism of Speeches?
Even after the who, how, and when of classroom critique is determined, the teacher is left with
the biggest question of what to say that will be most helpful. This is a rhetorical task of selection.
It is not possible or desirable to communicate all your judgments on every speech. Students will
become depressed and discouraged if you overload them with comments, just as they do when
they receive a paper so covered with red ink that their own ideas are totally obscured. Yet, they
do want to receive a substantial amount of information about your reaction to the speech, and
Classroom Logistics
An effective public speaking teacher needs management skill as well as instructional skill.
Beginning speech teachers can be overwhelmed with the demands of scheduling, coordinating,
timing speech performances, lectures, exams, critique sessions, and make-up work. Once you
have made decisions about the content and evaluation of your course, here are some of the
problems you will have to face.
Scheduling of Speeches
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Make-Up Speeches
By the same token, students should understand the seriousness of their commitment and be
No penalty for the first miss, regardless of the reason. There would be increasing grade
Students who miss speeches must be ready to speak every class period thereafter until a
space becomes available. The instructor allocates this available time by drawing lots or by
Out of class make-up sessions at the teacher’s convenience. Students doing this sort of make-
A system of standby speakers. A student assigned to speak at a future meeting would volunteer
Student groups are allocated “slots” to fill over the entire course. They have about ten
Have students make up speeches on videotape or in your office during office hours.
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Timing of Speeches
Time limits must be adhered to for a class to stay on schedule. It is a good idea to time question-
Audience Demeanor
It may be advisable to discuss your standards for audience behavior. Try to approach this as a
Level of Formality
Once it was customary to require student speakers to wear business attire when speaking, and in
general, to simulate a formal speech situation. Today the classroom laboratory generally has a
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Protocol for Speech Days
Speakers
1. Get to class on time. Preferably a few minutes early.
Audience
1. Be there on time. If you are unavoidably late, wait outside the door and enter between
speeches.
Timekeeper
1. Sit near the center of the room and hold the cards so they are visible.
Video Operator
1. Arrive a few minutes early and review the working of the equipment.
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Fear of Speaking
At least one study has shown that fear of public speaking is the most widely held fear,
overshadowing even the fear of death. This complicates speech instruction, as you must deal
series of articles in Communication Education (1997), volume 46(2).
Once you understand the scope and nature of the problem, you can consider ways to structure
your classroom experience to minimize the effects of fear of speaking. Some teachers argue that
we should not “pamper” students by creating an environment more supportive than they will
Address the Topic Directly
Assign Chapter 4 in The Speaker’s Compact Handbook early in the class. Engage students in a
Create a Positive Classroom Atmosphere
Spend some time during the first few class periods doing some get-acquainted and ice-breaking
exercises. Help the students feel comfortable with each other and with you. When they stand up
Develop Support Groups among Students
Some instructors assign students to permanent groups that meet in workshop sessions throughout
Play Down Evaluation, Especially on the Early Presentations
Whenever possible try to ease the student into public speaking by making the early assignments
fun, manageable, brief, and informal. Several suggestions are given in the next chapter of this
Make Your Expectations Clear
Ambiguity and uncertainty increase fear of speaking. The prescriptive Compact Handbook
approach and the use of detailed assignment sheets recommended in the next section let the
students know what is expected of them. They can put their energy into meeting the requirements
Video Recording Speeches
Video recorders offer an opportunity for speech students to view and evaluate their own
performances. Teachers can use the video record to confirm aspects of their feedback that
students may not have understood. Most students enjoy the chance to see themselves on a
Here are a few suggestions for the teacher who is just starting to make use of video.
1. Create a Nonthreatening Climate for Recording.
Be sure the students understand the purpose of the recording. Most people feign reluctance to
be recorded but are actually fascinated with their own image. Consider recording a few
practice exercises before the first video recorded speech so that students can get used to
2. Make Sure that You Are Well Prepared for a Video Recording Session.
You should have access to equipment of good quality and have it placed inconspicuously in
the room, with correct lighting and easily adjustable sound. It must be feasible to get the
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3. Structure the Playback Sessions to Ensure a Positive Learning Experience.
Since most teachers can barely schedule the required speeches into a term, it is not feasible to
use class time to play back and discuss video recordings. Certainly, student learning would
Ideally, view the recordings with the student yourself. Point out the strengths and
weaknesses of several aspects of the speech.
Have the students view the recordings with a trained assistant. This could be a teaching
Speaking Ethics
It is always difficult to introduce beginning speakers to the complex problems of ethics. This
problem could be compounded by the handbook approach of this text. We feel strongly about the