Discussion Questions & Activities

These chapter-specific questions and activities will help launch discussion by prompting students to engage with the material and by reinforcing important content.

› Discussion Questions & Activities

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Chapter 1: Public speaking and You: Building Confidence

  1. How much public speaking anxiety do you possess?  Using the following linkhttp://www.jamescmccroskey.com/measures/prpsa.htm  complete the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA). Once you have answered all of the questions tally your results.   Were you surprised by your score?  How have you managed your public speaking anxiety in the past?
     
  2. What role will formal presentations serve in your future career? Describe how this course will prepare you for your future career.
     
  3. Give the students approximately five minutes to prepare a brief one minute speech about their greatest fear of public speaking.  After all impromptu speeches have been completed, ask students to reflect upon their speaking experiences and describe elements of the situation that contribute to higher levels of anxiety. For example, you may ask the students about whether speaking in front of a small versus large audiences produces the most anxiety. (Note: This activity could serve as an introduction to a lecture on communication anxiety.)
     
  4. This question can be used in both on-ground and on-line classrooms.  Ask the students to generate a list identifying the challenges of speaking to a virtual audience  and a list that identifies the challenges of speaking to a live audience, face-to-face. 
     
  5. Describe the relationship between culture, channel, and public speaking.
     
  6. Compare and contrast public speaking to interviewing as a form of interpersonal communication.
     
  7. Compare and contrast public speaking to writing a formal essay.

Chapter 2: Your First Speech

  1. Describe the relationship between the specific purpose and thesis statement.
     
  2. Describe how you typically prepare for upcoming presentations. Do you practice beforehand?  If so, what does your practice entail?  Compare and contrast practicing for an upcoming speech before a live (face-to-face) audience and  one before a virtual audience.
     
  3. What would be helpful to know about your audience in preparation for your first speech?
     
  4. Evaluate the importance of delivery, content, and organization when preparing for the first speech. Is one stage in the process more significant than the rest? Explain.
     
  5. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a speaker? How can you utilize this information to help you better prepare for your first speech?

Chapter 3: Ethics and Public Speaking in a Global World

  1. Ask students to locate a news story involving plagiarism by a professional.  Students should be ready to discuss the situation, what exactly occurred, and other professionals’ responses to the action.
     
  2. Compare and contrast the ethical expectations or standards for a public speaker in a college classroom to one that gives a speech at work.
     
  3. What are ethical guidelines to follow when speaking before a multi-ethnic or multi-racial audience?
     
  4. Describe the relationship between humor and ethics in public speaking.
     
  5. Ask students to generate a list of responses for the following questions.   Summarize the responses and post them so that the entire class can view and discuss them.
     
    1. What are the standards for ethical content in a public speech?
    2. What are the standards for ethical delivery in a public speech?
    3. What are the standards for ethical participation by an audience during a public speech?
    4. How can a speaker handle a “Question & Answer” session ethically?

Chapter 4: Listening Critically

  1. Ask students to complete the following assessmenthttp://www.jamescmccroskey.com/measures/wtlisten.htm.  Students should reflect upon their results by describing situations that challenge their ability to listen.
     
  2. Ask students to locate cultural proverbs that are related to listening.  Students should share the proverb and interpret the meaning. Which cultures are more similar in their approach to listening? Which are the least similar?
  1. How can an audience avoid biased listening? How can an audience avoid passive listening?
  1. Ask the students to view Reagan’s Challenger Speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEjXjfxoNXMusing empathic listening. What is the emotional tone of the speech? Does the emotional tone change over the course of the speech?   Ask the students to view the same speech using comprehensive listening. What is the purpose of the  message? Ask students to compare the results from both forms of listening?  How well does Reagan convey the purpose of the speech using the appropriate tone?
  1. Identify two weaknesses associated with your listening habits. Identify a plan to address or overcome these weaknesses for the next student presentations.

Chapter 5: Analyzing and Adapting to the Audience

  1. How does the size of an audience influence a speaker’s choice of visual aid?
  1. Give an example of the group memberships of the target audience may serve as obstacles for a potential speaker.
  1. Conduct a psychographic analysis for your next speech.
  1. Which demographic trait do you think will be the most significant factor in terms of how the audience will respond to your next presentation?
  1. Identify the pros and cons associated with speaking to a homogenous audience. What are the pros and cons associated with speaking to a heterogeneous audience?

Chapter 6: Select Topic and Purpose

  1. Select a speech of your choice; identify the speaker’s thesis statement. Using the criteria outlined in the chapter, evaluate the effectiveness of the thesis statement.
     
  2. What are some topics that would be unsuitable to discuss in a college classroom in the United States? Explain.
  3. Should speakers be wary of topics that are controversial explain?
     
  4. Describe an instance where the behavioral objectives for an audience might be unrealistic or overly ambitious.
     
  5. Identify your specific purpose and general purpose statements for an upcoming speech. Evaluate their overall effectiveness using the criteria outlined in the chapter. 

Chapter 7: Finding and Evaluating Research

  1. For your next speech, conduct an interview with an expert on the subject.  Describe how you might utilize this information in the speech.
     
  2. Review three different food blogs. Which blogs do you find to be most credible and why?
     
  3. Choose a topic for your next speech, identify three primary sources. Evaluate the credibility of each source.
     
  4. Review a speech on YouTube that addresses a major social issue, e.g. poverty. What types of supporting evidence were used? Using the guidelines in the chapter, evaluate the oveall quality of the oral citations within the speech?
     
  5. What advice would you offer a speaker who is concerned about how much supporting evidence (primary and/or secondary) to include in a five minute speech?  How can this speaker avoid incorporating too much or too little?

Chapter 8: Integrating Support

  1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using examples?
     
  2. Select a speech from YouTube to evaluate.  What are the types of supporting evidence used? Which type was most effective or convincing for you as the audience?
     
  3. Describe how credibility is influenced by a speaker’s choice of supporting evidence?
     
  4. Select an article from a magazine that uses statistical data. Evaluate the statistics that are present using the guidelines provided in the textbook.
     
  5. Consider your next speech topic, identify the supporting evidence that would be the most effective. What do you think will be least effective and why.

Chapter 9: Organizing Your Speech

  1. Choose two of the following topics: poverty, health care, gun laws, and student debt. Which organizational pattern would be most useful for each topic if you were asked to present two informative speeches (one for each topic)? Explain.
     
  2. Name or describe a mnemonic device that you can use in your next speech.
     
  3. Analyze a recent (last 20 years) presidential speech. What mnemonic devices were used by the speaker? What is your reaction to the presence of those devices?
     
  4. What are the key differences between speaker-responsible and listener-responsible cultures? Explain how potential misunderstandings or miscommunication can occur between these two cultures in the public speaking context.
     
  5. Identify all of the similarities between the speechmaking process and writing an essay.  Identify all of the differences between the speechmaking process and writing an essay
     
  6. What is the principle of redundancy? What role does it serve in speaker-responsible cultures? What role does it serve in listener-responsible cultures?

Chapter 10: Outlining Your Speech

  1. Create a five-minute speech of introduction to a person that you admire.  Create a full sentence outline and a key word outline.
     
  2. Why is it important to include internal summaries and previews in addition to basic transitions in a speech?
     
  3. What are the disadvantages of using a full sentence outline when delivering a speech?
     
  4. How is a full sentence outline different from a full speech manuscript?
     
  5. How does the working outline compare to an extemporaneous outline?
     
  6. Respond to the following statement: “A full sentence outline is unnecessary in the speechmaking process.” An extemporaneous outline can be created without the presence of a full sentence outline.
     
  7. Can an extemporaneous outline contain information that  full sentence outline doesn’t contain?  Explain.

Chapter 11: Introducing Your Speech

  1. Why is it advised to create the introduction after the conclusion has been crafted?
     
  2. Evaluate the overall quality of the introduction for the first speech that you presented in this course.
     
  3. Select a speech that you believe successfully achieved the speaker’s goals. What did the speaker do effectively in the introduction to establish rapport with the audience?
     
  4. What advice would you offer a speaker who is seeking ways to successfully introduce a controversial topic to a hostile or neutral audience?
     
  5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using quotations and stories to capture the audience’s attention in the introduction?
     
  6. How will you attempt to demonstrate your credibility in the introduction of your next speech?
     
  7. How can a speaker utilize physical appearance to capture the audience’s attention and establish his or her credibility?

Chapter 12: Concluding Your Speech

  1. Why is it important to let the audience know that the speech is coming to an end?
     
  2. What are the dangers of introducing new topics during the conclusion?
     
  3. How are devices used to provide closure comparable to the devices or strategies used to obtain the audience’s attention in the introduction?
     
  4. What advice would you offer a speaker who has begun closing the speech but has realized that he or she forgot to include some content that is a part of the body of the speech?
     
  5. Why might it be potentially dangerous for a speaker to incorporate information that is irrelevant to the topic in the conclusion?
     
  6. Is it possible for a speaker to lose credibility while concluding a speech? Explain.

Chapter 13: Wording the Speech

  1. What is the relationship between language and culture? Why does the speaker need to know something about the cultural background of the target audience?
     
  2. How might you utilize some of the figurative devices to obtain the audience’s attention in your next speech?
     
  3. Describe the relationship between language, meaning, and thought using Ogden and Richards’ Triangle of Meaning.
     
  4. Select a news or magazine article and identify any examples of racist, sexist, or ageist language that is present.
     
  5. How might a speaker utilize connotative meanings to his or her advantage in a speech?
     
  6. What does it mean when we say that oral style is more adaptive than written style?

Chapter 14: Styles of Delivery

  1. Which aspect of delivery do you think is most important? Explain.
     
  2. How is delivery influenced by culture?
     
  3. Generate a 3 minute impromptu speech that addresses your greatest fear.
     
  4. If you were given permission, would you create a full manuscript for your next speech in this course? Explain.
     
  5. Why do you think that impromptu speeches are viewed as easy to complete?
     
  6. In which situations would using an impromptu delivery style be viewed as inappropriate?
     
  7. What are the potential dangers of using a memorized or impromptu form of delivery when the president delivers an inaugural address?

Chapter 15: The Speaker’s Voice: The Sound Of The Speech

  1. Describe a situation in which a speaker didn’t utilize his or her voice effectively. Explain what occurred and how you felt about the speech.
     
  2. What strategies should a speaker employ who has difficulty varying pitch?
     
  3. Is it possible for speakers to communicate too much enthusiasm or inappropriate enthusiasm though voice?
     
  4. Explain how a persuasive speaker can utilize rate and volume to emphasis important points when speaking before a hostile audience?
     
  5. Explain how pronunciation, articulation, and rate can affect a speaker’s credibility.
     
  6. How does culture influence how an audience may respond to the vocal cues utilized by a particular speaker?

Chapter 16: Physical Aspects of Delivery

  1. What advice would you give a speaker about appearance who has to speak before the following audiences:  high school students, an adult audience struggling with substance abuse, an audience of financial analysts,  and a law professor giving a lecture to law students?
     
  2. How can a speaker who has to speak in a large lecture communicate immediacy to an audience?
     
  3. How does culture influence the audience’s perceptions of a speaker’s eye contact and facial expressions? 
     
  4. How does culture influence the use of gestures in a speech?
     
  5. How do body language and eye contact communicate speaker’s level confidence?

Chapter 17: Using Presentation Aids

  1. How  might culture influence a speaker’s choice of presentational aids?
     
  2. What are the pros and cons of the speaking serving as a visual aid during a presentation?
     
  3. What are the challenges of using slide presentation software such as Powerpoint during a presentation?
     
  4. How does the size of the audience influence the types of presentational aids that can be used in a speech?
     
  5. What is role does ethics serve when selecting a visual aid?

Chapter 18: Speaking to Inform

  1. What role does persuasion play in the process of creating an informative speech?
     
  2. Compare and contrast persuasive and informative speeches.
     
  3. How can a speaker establish credibility when presenting an informative speech?
     
  4. What types of visual aids should be utilized in a speech about a process?
     
  5. How can a speaker bring “life” to a speech about a person or event with visual aids?
     
  6. Why is it important to sufficiently narrow a topic for an informative speech?

Chapter 19: Preparing to Persuade

  1. How do questions of fact and questions of value relate to questions of policy?
     
  2. What is your specific purpose for your upcoming persuasive speech?  Evaluate the practicality of this goal given your target audience? How might you revise your goal so that it is more aligned with the audience’s attitudes, beliefs, and values?
     
  3. How might a speaker violate ethical expectations if she or he knows something about the audience’s attitudes, beliefs, and values of the actual audience?
     
  4. According to this chapter, how can a speaker motivate a hostile or disinterested audience?
     
  5. What is the difference between persuasion and propaganda?  Is propaganda ethical? Explain.

Chapter 20: Methods of Persuasion

  1. How have you attempted to establish credibility with your actual audience in previous speeches? 
     
  2. What are the strategies that you will utilize to establish credibility with your actual audience for your persuasive speech?
     
  3. Using Toulmin’s Reasonable Argument Model, create an argument in support of increasing the number of general education requirements at your school.
     
  4. How might a persuasive argument given to tweens about the pros of joining a gang differ from the same argument given to adults?  Use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to support your response.
     
  5. Review a letter to the editor argument or an opinion piece in a local newspaper or magazine. Identify any common logical fallacies that are present.
     
  6. Create an inductive and a deductive argument using the topic that you have selected for an upcoming persuasive speech.

Chapter 21: Planning and Presenting In Groups

  1. Observe a town hall meeting or other forum that is open to the public. Which type of format is utilized? How much interaction does the audience have with the presenters?
     
  2. In what ways might technology be utilized during the brainstorming process?
     
  3. In small groups, utilize Dewey’s Reflective Thinking Framework to address a social or political problem on your campus. Describe how your solution was the best possible one given this problem.
     
  4. How do you feel about working in groups for required course projects or assignments? What are some advantages and disadvantages that are outlined in the chapter that resonates with your past or present experiences working in small groups?
     
  5. Describe the relationship between leadership, group efficiency, and group satisfaction. 
     
  6. Using the chart that is identified in the text, what roles do you typically occupy when working in small groups. To what extent are those roles help or hinder a group’s ability to achieve its goals?

Chapter 22: Special Occasion Speeches

  1. What is the relationship between the context and special occasion speeches?
     
  2. What purpose does decorum serve in the process of preparing a special occasion speech?
     
  3. How is a commencement address organized? How does this compare to the organizational structure of a speech of tribute?
     
  4. What are the boundaries for a special occasion speaker? Are there any topics that are “off limit” or taboo? Explain.
     
  5. If you were asked to create a speech of introduction for your best friend to an unfamiliar audience, what would your speech entail?
     
  6. Should speakers refrain from expressing emotions when giving a special speech?  How might the outward expression of emotion affect the speaker’s credibility?

Chapter 23: Business and Professional Speaking

  1. Identify your long-term professional goals, generate a list of questions that you will ask a person who currently works in that field (or position).
     
  2. Create a list of questions that you might ask during an interview to a potential employer. Evaluate the overall quality of those questions using the tips that are identified in your text.
     
  3. Locate a sales pitch on YouTube or in a movie. Evaluate and discuss the required or key elements that are present.
     
  4. Prepare a 2-3 minute sales pitch that endorses a service or topic that would be of interest to your colleagues.
     
  5. What are some characteristics of effective and ineffective training sessions?

Chapter 24: Leadership and Storytelling

  1. Review a speech of your choice; describe how the speaker utilized narratives within the presentation.
     
  2. Develop a story that could be utilized in your next speech.
     
  3. Examine  the speech. “If today were the last day of my life” by Steve Jobshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvA_4YkGNXc. Describe how Jobs used narratives within this speech.
     
  4. Compare and contrast one debate from a recent political campaign, how were narratives used to support the speakers’ goals?
     
  5. Is it possible to use too many narratives or stories in a presentation? Explain. 

Chapter 25: Speaking in College Courses

  1. What are the challenges that you face when preparing for in-class presentation?
     
  2. Identify the characteristics of the “classroom” audience that make it different from audiences outside of the classroom environment?
     
  3. Consider a controversial topic. Assume that you were required to participate in a debate on that topic. What evidence would you use to support your position?
     
  4. How can student speakers transform their classroom performances into a more “authentic” speaking experience?
     
  5. What strategies can a student employ when speaking to an diverse audience that includes students in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities?

Chapter 26: Presenting Online

  1. Consider the possible situations which may require you to complete an online presentation. Describe what you think might be the most challenging aspect of completing this task.
     
  2. Name three visual aids that would be suitable to use in an online presentation. What are the advantages of each?
     
  3. How does lighting, camera angle, and background affect the audience’s response to an online presentation?
     
  4. Do you think that online presentations garner less anxiety when compared to their face-to-face counterparts?
     
  5. What factors should a presenter consider when selecting a forum to complete an online presentation?

Chapter 27: Answering Questions

  1. Evaluate a presidential speech. How did the president manage the questions that were asked?  How did the speaker handle the difficult questions?
     
  2. In preparation for your next speech in the course, what questions might your target audience ask?
     
  3. Interview an “expert” related to your topic. Generate a list of questions that you will ask.
     
  4. Evaluate a journalistic interview on t.v. How effective or detailed were the responses that were provided?
     
  5. Describe how a person might communicate in a respectful manner when asked a hurtful or hostile question.