Chapter 2: Public Speaking: Audience-Centered Speechmaking, Listening, and Ethics

Key vocabulary terms and definitions from Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of the Public Speaking Handbook.

Audience-Centered Speechmaking Process

A speechmaking model centered around considering the audience at every step: selecting and narrowing a topic, determining purpose, developing a central idea, generating main ideas, gathering supporting material, organizing the speech, rehearsing the speech, and delivering the speech.

General Purpose

The overarching goal of a speech, which can be to inform, to persuade, or to entertain.

Specific Purpose

A concise, audience-focused goal statement starting with 'By the end of my speech the audience will…' followed by the speaker's objective.

Central Idea

A one-sentence summary of the core message or thesis of a speech.

Disposition

The process of organizing a speech into an orderly sequence comprising an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Narrative Paradigm

A theory proposing that humans are naturally inclined to tell and be told stories, and that we are likely to influence others through storytelling.

Homonarrans

A concept describing human beings as storyliving beings rather than just storytellers.

Interdependence

The idea of mutual reliance in communication where speaker and audience roles coexist with each other.

Hearing

The physiological, involuntary process of perceiving sound.

Listening

The multidimensional process of recognizing, understanding, accurately interpreting, and responding effectively to received messages.

Defensive Listening

An unethical style of listening characterized by arguing, sometimes aggressively, with the speaker without fully listening.

Biased Listening

An unethical form of listening that involves selecting which messages to attend to while disregarding others.

Pseudolistening

An unethical listening behavior involving pretending to listen by nodding or saying 'uh-huh'.

Active Listening

The act of listening in which one provides the speaker with verbal and nonverbal feedback through readiness to listen, following skills, and comprehending skills.

Empathy

The ability to feel with or for another person, identified as the most vital communication skill.

Ethics

Beliefs and standards regarding appropriate ways of communicating and how we should or should not respond to others.

Patchwriting

A form of plagiarism that involves using someone else's phrases in a speech without acknowledging the source.

Credibility

The image of a source in the mind of a receiver, based on competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill.