What is public speaking?
The process of delivering a message to an audience, large or small
2 reasons for empowerment after studying public speaking
Competence
Confidence
Why study public speaking?
Empowerment
Employment (interviews, employment, promotion, supervision, performance review, exit interview)
3 reasons public speaking is different than conversation
More prepared
More formal
More clearly defined roles
Action Model of Communication
S→R
Interaction Model of Communication
Speaker sends to receiver, receiver then transmits back to speaker (Feedback and Context)
Transaction Model of Communication
S↔R (nonverbal communication never stops)
Source
Originator of message
Message
Idea being conveyed
Channel
Vehicle upon which message travels (auditory and visual)
Receiver
Person for which message is intended
Noise
Interference (Internal/Psychological; External)
Feedback
Verbal/nonverbal queues from receiver to source message was received
Context
Situation, environment, occasion where it occurs
Intentionality
Audience gets message the way we intended, framing our message
Which century can public speaking be traced back to?
4th Century BCE
9 steps of Audience Centered speaking
Consider the audience
Select and narrow your topic
Determine your purpose (general and specific)
Develop your central idea (thesis)
Generate your main ideas
Gather my supporting materials and evidence
Organize your main ideas
Rehearse/Practice your speech
Deliver the speech
Definition of Communication
Transactive use of symbols, influenced, guided, and understood in the context of relationships
Key feature of Transactive Model of Communication
Shared meaning
What is shared meaning?
2 separate individuals share meaning and are able to understand one another (getting message with intentionality)
Define symbols
Arbitrary representations of something else that holds meaning in a society; Has no meaning
3 characteristics of Symbols
Arbitrary (Random)
Abstract=Idea
Ambiguous= Assign multiple meanings
Define Meaning
The importance or value that you assign to a symbol
Social Construction Theory
Idea that symbols take on meaning as they are used in a society over time
Signs
A consequence or an indicator of something, is not randomly occurring in a society (not arbitrary)
Frames
Basic building blocks of knowledge that provide a definition of a scenario based on taken-for-granted assumptions and contextual clues
Communication Frames
Use of verbal or nonverbal cues designed to pull the audience away from things and towards others
3 aspects of context
Physical-actual location
Relational- Relationship between conversationists
Situational- What is transpiring at the time
2 types of Communication Use
Representational
Presentational
Representational Communication Use
Conveying facts and information only
Presentational Communication Use
Your particular version of the info (your “take”)
Constitutive Approach to Communication
Communication can create or bring into existence something that has not been there before; such as an agreement, contract, relationship, meeting, love, etc
Communication Apprehension
The stress or anxiety we experience or associate with the act of public speaking (NOT fear)
Common Types of CA
Average
Insensitive
Inflexible
Confrontational
Average CA
Positive outlook of public speaking, you view your performance above others (lowest HR)
Insensitive CA
Some experience, generally positive; not looking for opportunities but able to perform well
Inflexible CA
Highest HR (consistently high), stress or anxiety used as motivation
Confrontational CA
HR starts off high, tapers to average level (not happy about it, but will do it)
Histiography
Studies persuasive effect of writing history in very particular ways
What was the earliest existing book?
Precepts, 2675 BCE
3 Emergent Areas of Study
Rhetoric and rhetorical criticism
Interpersonal communication
Mass Communication/Media Studies
3 Methods of Studying Communication
Social Scientific
Interpretivist
Critical
Social Scientific Method
Views world as objective, causal, and predictable (assumes that a single truth exists)
Interpretivist Approach
Seeks to understand and describe communication experience (rejects idea that a “single” reality exists and causal connections can be discovered, instead communication viewed as creative, uncertain, unpredictable)
Grounded Theory
Works from the ground-up, and focuses on observations grounded in data and developed systematically
Critical Approach
Seeks to identify hidden symbolic structures that create or uphold disadvantages, inequity, or oppression of some groups in favor of others (assumes world is subjective with imbalance of power, power in societal groups, society gives advantage to one set of people over another)
Intracultural Communication
Within a single culture
Intercultural Communication
Members of different cultural groups interact
Cross-cultural communication
Compares communication of different groups
Critical Cultural Communication
Examines issues of power, promotes social justice
Fallacy
An argument that appears legitimate, but is based in invalid reasoning
Free Speech
Legally protected speech or speech acts
Ethics
The beliefs, values, and moral principles by which we determine what is right and wrong
Relationship between speech, ethics, and speaker credibility
Just because I can say something doesn’t mean that I should
1986
“Speech Acts” or nonverbal expressions of communication, are protected under first amendment (burning US flag)
5 Criteria for Speaking Ethically
Have a clear responsible goal
Use sound evidence and reasoning
Be sensitive to and appreciate differences
Be honest
Don’t plagiarize
How to be an ethically responsible speaker
Offer listeners choices and alternatives
Speaker Credibility
An audience’s perception of a speaker as competent, knowledgeable, dynamic, and trustworthy
Encoding
Applying meaning to symbols and preparing a message in such a way that an audience can understand it (Intentionality)
Decoding
Deriving meaning from and interpreting the message of a speaker
Intentionality
Audience gets message the way we intended, framing our message