Lecture Notes A Concise Public Speaking Handbook, 6e Instructor’s Manual
CHAPTER 1: SPEAKING IN PUBLIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.1 Explain why it is important to study public speaking.
1.2 Discuss in brief the history of public speaking.
1.3 Sketch and explain a model that illustrates the components and the process of communication.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Why Study Public Speaking?
A. We study public speaking to learn and practice strategies for effective delivery and critical
listening.
B. We study public speaking to discover new applications for skills we already possess, such as
researching and organizing ideas.
C. The study of public speaking provides long-term advantages related to empowerment and
employment.
1. Empowerment gives you an edge over less-skilled communicators.
2. Communication skills are the top factor in helping college graduates obtain employment.
II. The Rich Heritage of Public Speaking
A. Fourth to first centuries BCE: golden age of public speaking in which Aristotle and other orators
refined speaker guidelines still followed today.
B. Nineteenth century: public speakers practiced declamation and elocution.
1. Declamation: speakers delivered already famous speeches.
2. Elocution: speakers practiced the expression of emotion through posture, gestures,
movement, facial expression, and voice.
C. Twentieth and twenty-first centuries: technology expands the parameters of public speaking while
drawing on age-old public-speaking traditions.
III. The Communication Process
A. Communication as Action
1. Speaker: a source of information and ideas for an audience.
2. Speaker’s job: to encode, or translate, ideas into a code, or verbal or nonverbal symbols that
the audience can recognize.
3. Message: the speech itself.
4. Listener’s job: to decode or translate the speaker’s verbal and nonverbal symbols back into a
message.
5. Channels: the message is transmitted from sender to receiver via two channels.
a. Visual: audience members see the speaker and decode the speaker’s nonverbal symbols.
b. Auditory: audience members hear words and vocal cues.
6. Receiver: individual audience member decodes the message.
7. Noise: anything that interferes with the communication of a message.
1
,A Concise Public Speaking Handbook, 6e Instructor’s Manual
a. External noise is physical, such as incessant coughing or a noisy air conditioner.
b. Internal noise may stem from either physiological (a bad cold) or psychological causes
(worry about an upcoming exam) and may directly affect either the source or the receiver.
B. Communication as Interaction
1. Without an audience to hear and provide feedback, public speaking serves little purpose.
2. Context: the environment or situation in which the speech occurs.
a. Physical context includes the temperature or lighting of a room.
b. Cultural context includes the speaker’s and audience’s cultural traditions and expectations,
their identification with social groups, and their level of perceived power, influence, and
social standing.
C. Communication as Transaction
1. The most recent communication models focus on communication as a simultaneous process.
2. Listeners nonverbally express their thoughts and feelings at the same time the speaker is
talking.
D. Public Speaking and Conversation
1. Public speaking requires more preparation than conversation.
2. Public speaking is more formal than conversation.
3. Roles of speakers and audiences are more clearly defined in public speaking than in
conversation.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
As you study public speaking, you will discover new applications for skills you may already have, such
as focusing and organizing ideas and gathering information. You will also gain long-term advantages
related to empowerment and employment.
Public speaking has a long history. The guidelines formulated by Greek philosopher Aristotle in the
fourth century BCE are still followed today. Students of public speaking in the nineteenth century
practiced the arts of declamation and elocution. Contemporary students of public speaking draw on
previous traditions and use digital technology to reach worldwide audiences.
Linear communication models include the source, the message, channels, receivers, and noise.
Interactive models of communication add two dimensions to the communication process: feedback and
context. Feedback refers to the verbal and nonverbal messages provided by the audience. Context
refers to the actual environment in which the speech occurs. Physical context includes the temperature
and lighting of the room. Cultural context includes the audience’s and speaker’s cultural traditions and
expectations. Public speaking is an important skill that is different from everyday conversation because
it is more formal, requires more preparation, and establishes the roles of the speaker and the audience
more clearly.
KEY TERMS
public speaking elocution code
empowerment source message
declamation encode decode
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, A Concise Public Speaking Handbook, 6e Instructor’s Manual
channel external noise feedback
receiver internal noise context
3
, A Concise Public Speaking Handbook, 6e Instructor’s Manual
TEACHING STRATEGIES
1. If you have not already done so, consider building a video collection of your former students
presenting speeches, especially the “Names” first speech. Students feel comfortable seeing others
“just like themselves” demonstrating an assignment. This author remembers that imitation was an
integral part of Roman rhetorical education. This speech is further described in chapter 2 of this
Instructor Resource Manual (IRM). You might also choose to personally model this assignment, as
well as upcoming assignments (this author wrote casually).
2. Ask students to write a one-page essay explaining their goals for the class. What do they believe
they already do well in public speaking? What do they hope to do better by course end? Encourage
them to write about their behavior goals as well as their attitude goals. Ask them to identify both
short-term and long-term goals for their public speaking future. Return essays at the end of the
course so students can evaluate their progress toward their self-stated goals.
3. ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO ANSWER IN CLASS USING FULL SENTENCES. DO NOT
ACCEPT SINGLE-WORD OR FRAGMENT ANSWERS. (This author has found it to be an all-
around good policy. To him, the current decline in students’ critical thinking ability, if justified, could
certainly relate to instructor permissiveness in accepting incomplete oral answers.)
4. Interact with students to the tune of the question “What are models?” Accept a number of answers
and examples. Explain the linear model concept. State the main advantage of linear models
(simplicity of understanding and learning) and the big disadvantage (“static” understanding versus
“process” thinking). Briefly explain the five typical components of linear model communication:
source, message, channels, receiver, and noise. Develop the feedback concept using an analogy
with a furnace and thermostat. The thermostat tells the furnace when to burn or rest, just as
audiences may tell a speaker when to start and stop, when to expand, when to change topics, and
when a speaker is doing well. Use your classroom experiences to illustrate how student (audience)
feedback altered the behavior of the speaker (instructor). Make the context variable meaningful by
contrasting instruction in a middle school classroom with college instruction of the same subject.
Add an example where a speaker argues for a strong Social Security system, first to a group of
teenagers and second to an audience of “Gray Panthers.”
5. Using materials from your graduate school notes or personal classical library, share with students
famous quotations about public speaking from the ancient greats: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle. Add as
declamation these famous sayings from U.S. history:
Benjamin Franklin, commenting on the drafting of the Declaration of Independence—
“Gentlemen, we must all hang together or we shall all hang separately!”
Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union Address—“This union cannot long survive, half-slave,
half-free.”
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address—“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what
you can do for your country.”
4
CHAPTER 1: SPEAKING IN PUBLIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.1 Explain why it is important to study public speaking.
1.2 Discuss in brief the history of public speaking.
1.3 Sketch and explain a model that illustrates the components and the process of communication.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Why Study Public Speaking?
A. We study public speaking to learn and practice strategies for effective delivery and critical
listening.
B. We study public speaking to discover new applications for skills we already possess, such as
researching and organizing ideas.
C. The study of public speaking provides long-term advantages related to empowerment and
employment.
1. Empowerment gives you an edge over less-skilled communicators.
2. Communication skills are the top factor in helping college graduates obtain employment.
II. The Rich Heritage of Public Speaking
A. Fourth to first centuries BCE: golden age of public speaking in which Aristotle and other orators
refined speaker guidelines still followed today.
B. Nineteenth century: public speakers practiced declamation and elocution.
1. Declamation: speakers delivered already famous speeches.
2. Elocution: speakers practiced the expression of emotion through posture, gestures,
movement, facial expression, and voice.
C. Twentieth and twenty-first centuries: technology expands the parameters of public speaking while
drawing on age-old public-speaking traditions.
III. The Communication Process
A. Communication as Action
1. Speaker: a source of information and ideas for an audience.
2. Speaker’s job: to encode, or translate, ideas into a code, or verbal or nonverbal symbols that
the audience can recognize.
3. Message: the speech itself.
4. Listener’s job: to decode or translate the speaker’s verbal and nonverbal symbols back into a
message.
5. Channels: the message is transmitted from sender to receiver via two channels.
a. Visual: audience members see the speaker and decode the speaker’s nonverbal symbols.
b. Auditory: audience members hear words and vocal cues.
6. Receiver: individual audience member decodes the message.
7. Noise: anything that interferes with the communication of a message.
1
,A Concise Public Speaking Handbook, 6e Instructor’s Manual
a. External noise is physical, such as incessant coughing or a noisy air conditioner.
b. Internal noise may stem from either physiological (a bad cold) or psychological causes
(worry about an upcoming exam) and may directly affect either the source or the receiver.
B. Communication as Interaction
1. Without an audience to hear and provide feedback, public speaking serves little purpose.
2. Context: the environment or situation in which the speech occurs.
a. Physical context includes the temperature or lighting of a room.
b. Cultural context includes the speaker’s and audience’s cultural traditions and expectations,
their identification with social groups, and their level of perceived power, influence, and
social standing.
C. Communication as Transaction
1. The most recent communication models focus on communication as a simultaneous process.
2. Listeners nonverbally express their thoughts and feelings at the same time the speaker is
talking.
D. Public Speaking and Conversation
1. Public speaking requires more preparation than conversation.
2. Public speaking is more formal than conversation.
3. Roles of speakers and audiences are more clearly defined in public speaking than in
conversation.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
As you study public speaking, you will discover new applications for skills you may already have, such
as focusing and organizing ideas and gathering information. You will also gain long-term advantages
related to empowerment and employment.
Public speaking has a long history. The guidelines formulated by Greek philosopher Aristotle in the
fourth century BCE are still followed today. Students of public speaking in the nineteenth century
practiced the arts of declamation and elocution. Contemporary students of public speaking draw on
previous traditions and use digital technology to reach worldwide audiences.
Linear communication models include the source, the message, channels, receivers, and noise.
Interactive models of communication add two dimensions to the communication process: feedback and
context. Feedback refers to the verbal and nonverbal messages provided by the audience. Context
refers to the actual environment in which the speech occurs. Physical context includes the temperature
and lighting of the room. Cultural context includes the audience’s and speaker’s cultural traditions and
expectations. Public speaking is an important skill that is different from everyday conversation because
it is more formal, requires more preparation, and establishes the roles of the speaker and the audience
more clearly.
KEY TERMS
public speaking elocution code
empowerment source message
declamation encode decode
2
, A Concise Public Speaking Handbook, 6e Instructor’s Manual
channel external noise feedback
receiver internal noise context
3
, A Concise Public Speaking Handbook, 6e Instructor’s Manual
TEACHING STRATEGIES
1. If you have not already done so, consider building a video collection of your former students
presenting speeches, especially the “Names” first speech. Students feel comfortable seeing others
“just like themselves” demonstrating an assignment. This author remembers that imitation was an
integral part of Roman rhetorical education. This speech is further described in chapter 2 of this
Instructor Resource Manual (IRM). You might also choose to personally model this assignment, as
well as upcoming assignments (this author wrote casually).
2. Ask students to write a one-page essay explaining their goals for the class. What do they believe
they already do well in public speaking? What do they hope to do better by course end? Encourage
them to write about their behavior goals as well as their attitude goals. Ask them to identify both
short-term and long-term goals for their public speaking future. Return essays at the end of the
course so students can evaluate their progress toward their self-stated goals.
3. ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO ANSWER IN CLASS USING FULL SENTENCES. DO NOT
ACCEPT SINGLE-WORD OR FRAGMENT ANSWERS. (This author has found it to be an all-
around good policy. To him, the current decline in students’ critical thinking ability, if justified, could
certainly relate to instructor permissiveness in accepting incomplete oral answers.)
4. Interact with students to the tune of the question “What are models?” Accept a number of answers
and examples. Explain the linear model concept. State the main advantage of linear models
(simplicity of understanding and learning) and the big disadvantage (“static” understanding versus
“process” thinking). Briefly explain the five typical components of linear model communication:
source, message, channels, receiver, and noise. Develop the feedback concept using an analogy
with a furnace and thermostat. The thermostat tells the furnace when to burn or rest, just as
audiences may tell a speaker when to start and stop, when to expand, when to change topics, and
when a speaker is doing well. Use your classroom experiences to illustrate how student (audience)
feedback altered the behavior of the speaker (instructor). Make the context variable meaningful by
contrasting instruction in a middle school classroom with college instruction of the same subject.
Add an example where a speaker argues for a strong Social Security system, first to a group of
teenagers and second to an audience of “Gray Panthers.”
5. Using materials from your graduate school notes or personal classical library, share with students
famous quotations about public speaking from the ancient greats: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle. Add as
declamation these famous sayings from U.S. history:
Benjamin Franklin, commenting on the drafting of the Declaration of Independence—
“Gentlemen, we must all hang together or we shall all hang separately!”
Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union Address—“This union cannot long survive, half-slave,
half-free.”
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address—“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what
you can do for your country.”
4
