THE SPEAKING PROCESS

The Speaking Process

As students actively engage in the speaking process, their perceptions can change from moment to moment and from week to week. As individuals acquire new information, the language they use to make meaning changes. As they reflect upon information shared or received, they revise their understanding, further developing their schemas about language and the world.

The speaking process includes activities that occur prior to, during, and after the actual speaking event. For example, before speaking, the speaker might determine the actual content of the message, how it should be presented, and what kind of audience will be hearing the message. While speaking, the speaker must attend to such things as presenting a clear message, tone of voice, suitable vocabulary, possible responses, the environment, and nonverbal gestures. Following speaking, the speaker might accept comments, answer questions, explain concepts not understood, and/or assess the process.

Pre-speaking: Planning and Organizing

Just as pre-writing precedes drafting, pre-speaking begins before students actually speak. Students' experiences, observations, and interactions inside and outside of the classroom have an impact upon what they say and how they say it. Pre-speaking activities involve thought and reflection, and provide opportunities for students to plan and organize for speaking. Some purposes for pre-speaking are listed below.

To choose a speaking topic:

Students generate and explore ideas for speaking topics through a variety of pre-speaking activities such as the following:

- constructing thought webs and graphic organizers
- reading and researching
- listening to music
- viewing a video
- listening to a speaker
- jotting down ideas
- reflecting upon personal experience.

To determine purpose:

Speakers talk to express ideas, emotions, and opinions, and to share information. Students must ask themselves "What is my purpose for speaking?"

To determine audience:

Speakers must ask themselves "Who is my intended audience?" Some possible audiences are:

- familiar, known audiences (self, friends, peers, family, teachers)
- extended, known audiences (community, student body)
- extended, unknown audiences (local media).

To determine format:

Speakers must consider how their ideas and information can be presented most effectively. Some possible formats include the following:

- conversation
- discussion
- formal speech
- dramatic presentation
- monologue
- Readers Theatre.

See the Writing section for a variety of pre-writing suggestions which also can be useful as pre-speaking scaffolds.

Speaking: Going Public

Speaking actively engages students in interactions with peers and other audiences. Students who have been provided with supportive, collaborative environments and opportunities to prepare for their informal and formal speaking experiences are more likely to have the confidence needed to "go public" with their ideas and information.

In order to communicate and interact with others, students need to engage in a variety of formal and informal speaking situations, depending upon their purpose for speaking. Some purposes for speaking include the following:

- to express personal feelings, ideas, or viewpoints
- to tell a story
- to entertain or amuse
- to describe
- to inform or explain
- to request
- to inquire or question
- to clarify thinking
- to explore and experiment with a variety of ideas and formats
- to converse and discuss.

Some scaffolds to support speaking include the following:

- Discussing or developing with students criteria for a variety of formal and informal speaking formats (e.g., conversation, group discussion, role play), and posting these on a bulletin board or having students record them in their notebooks for reference.

- Modelling a variety of formal and informal speaking formats for students.

- If possible, making available to students audio and video equipment so that they can practise prior to formal speaking situations.

Post-speaking: A Time for Reflection and Setting Goals

Following speaking experiences, both formal and informal, it is important to have students reflect upon their performance. Their reflection, whether it is oral or written, should include the teacher, who can help them set personal goals for improving their speaking abilities. This type of reflective assessment and goal setting encourages critical thought. Some purposes for post-speaking activities are listed below.

To reflect upon performance:

Students who have opportunities to reflect upon their speaking experiences, in light of pre-determined criteria, grow in their abilities to speak effectively.

To set goals for improvement:

When students reflect upon their performance, they begin to recognize what they have done well and where they require improvement.

Some post-speaking scaffolds include:

- Discussing or developing criteria for assessing a variety of speaking experiences.
- Providing opportunities for students to talk, write, or represent in various ways their personal speaking strengths and needs (e.g., learning logs, teacher/peer conferences).

When students have reflected upon their own speaking performance, peers may be invited to comment. Peers may comment through a structure similar to a writing conference and may give oral feedback, written feedback, or a combination of the two. Conferences may be guided by specific questions determined by the teacher or may take the form of conversation between peers.


Teaching the Normal Speaking Process

It is important that clients understand the normal process of speaking. Clinicians should devote about 15 minutes explaining the process and identifying significant features of the physical act of speaking. This will form a basis for understanding and continued communication about speaking.

Respiration. We speak on the air we exhale. When we exhale for speaking, we breathe air out at a measured rate that is slower than for respiration alone. We inhale rather rapidly and then begin to exhale slowly. Have your client place one hand on their chest and one hand on their belly to feel the movement during their respiration; have them note the difference between breathing and saying the sound "ah" for an extended period.

Phonation. Our voice is created as the vocal folds come together and narrow the opening through which air can flow between them. This restriction causes the vocal folds to vibrate and make noise that is our voice. Have the client feel the vibrations of the vocal folds by placing their fingers on the angle of the cricoid while phonating. Show them the some phonemes are voiced while others are voiceless. Demonstrate what happens when the vocal folds are brought together with too much effort.... Have the client hold onto the sides of their chair and pull up while saying 'ah'. Draw their attention to the effort and the similarity to the type of stuttering known as laryngeal blocking. Note that with excessive tension, there is less control and range in using the voice. Gradually release the tension allowing the voice and air flow to begin again.

Articulation. Discuss the process of making sounds by moving and contacting the lips, tongue, teeth and palate. Show some examples of how different types of sounds are articulated (the manner and place of articulation). Describe speaking as movement from one place of contact to another.

Speaking then is the process in inhaling, then bringing the vocal cords together while air is being exhaled to produce sounds that are modified by movement of the articulators. Speaking fluently is a smooth, effortless, forward-moving process. Breathing is relaxed and regular; the vocal folds are slightly tensed, and them muscles of articulation are relaxed enough to move freely from one contact to another.


The Audience-Centered Speaking Process

As every successful speech writer knows, the only reason to give a speech is to change the world! Otherwise, why bother?

Having established that, how can you ensure that your speech can accomplish such a lofty goal, especially when the opportunities for failure are many, and for success correspondingly few?

Recent studies suggest that most executives would rather die than deliver a public speech. Perhaps this explains why most executives often put off the task of preparing speeches to the last minute, or hand the task off to someone else.

Before you do this, you should know that public speaking can be a powerful tool for communicating your most important messages. And, when it happens, it’s powerful. When it’s missing, everyone feels it, including the ill-fated speaker.

Can you find that connection with your audience that truly creates sparks? And, once you make the leap and deliver a successful speech, could it be that it is something you actually enjoy?

Yes, and yes!

The place to start is with the content of your speech or presentation, for that will make or break you with your audience.

Structure Your Content Like a Conversation

Your content should be structured and delivered in a way that recognizes the audience’s need to absorb information through an aural genre with limited opportunities for feedback of the kind conversation provides. This is not to say that there is no feedback in public speaking; there’s actually plenty. But because most public speaking is more or less scripted, the speaker is limited in the amount of attention he can give to feedback, and limited in the ways in which he or she can respond.

Perhaps it is best to think of your presentation as a journey. Once on the journey, you may not get to stop often, for you will miss something. Considering this, your content needs to proceed logically, in complete thoughts, with stops along the way for the audience to check its comprehension.

You will need to remember that active listening is exhausting work and people don’t retain much of what they hear. So, with this in mind, make sure you structure your content so that it is organized and delivered the way the audience needs to hear it.Second, it’s a matter of unabashed focus. Think in terms of getting your messages and your ideas across to your audience. For instance, if you get only a single message across to your audience, what will it be? When structuring your speech’s content, pit your focus here.Third, consider your emotional content. You want to give as much thought to preparing an emotional story line as an intellectual one.

Take Your Audience on the Journey With You

Your audience will start the journey wanting a few key questions answered: “Why am I here,” “Why is this topic important to me,” and “Why should I pay attention to this speaker for the next hour or so?”Herein lies the difference between conversation and public speaking. People engage in conversation for mutual pleasure, to exchange information, or perhaps storytelling, or even a mix of the three.Public speaking differs greatly from conversation in that you need to orient the audience and prepare the way, or the journey, for where you will take them. To accomplish this, you must set them at ease early on and establish right off the bat what the context of your presentation is and why it is important and worth their time (and yours). Once you’ve answered the “why?”, the real journey begins. Now your goal is to move your audience from “why?” to “how?”.

Don't Tell All You Know

Your audience already assumes you are an authority on the subject discussed. By being there, they are bestowing a mantle of trust and credibility upon you at the beginning of the speech. It’s up to you to wear it successfully. To do this, stick to the point and make it possible (and enjoyable) for the audience to follow you by delivering strong, focused, clear and concise messages.

Connect with Your Audience with Stories

Studies show that we make sense of the world by piecing together stories. Take advantage of this to ensure your audience gets your message. Think of the journey you are taking your audience on as a kind of story. Your audience will understand it better if it has all the parts, or the various makings, of a good story – a strong protagonist, a clear dilemma for him or her to work on, and a happy ending.