Page 51 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

18 Part 1 Foundations

Native speakers of English, for instance, both use and understand what we call
idioms, expressions unique to our culture or sometimes to the circle of friends
with whom we most identify. Although you may have no trouble making sense
of an expression such as “Dude’s ride is sweet,” imagine how much trouble an
international student recently arrived on campus would have in “getting” what
the words used in the expression actually mean.
As you prepare for your fi rst speeches, think about the degree to which you
and your audience share meaning for symbols you commonly use to express
yourself. This means, at a minimum, checking out the degree to which you and
your audience share a common language, come from a similar culture, and share
a similar socioeconomic background.

Preview

The preceding discussion is a framework for the entire book. In the chapters to
follow we fl esh out this framework. The concepts just introduced will be refi ned
and expanded to fi t the primary topic of a specifi c chapter.
Because public speaking classes typically are taught in a limited period of
time, you can expect to be up on your feet and speaking long before you have
learned everything you need to know about the subject. We wrote Chapter 2—
which provides an overview of the process of developing, organizing, and deliv-
ering your fi rst speech—with this fact clearly in mind.
If you are the least bit anxious about your fi rst speech, then you can look for-
ward to reading Chapter 3. This chapter clears up confusion about the common
fear of speaking in public, explains the origins and consequences of this fear
on speech performance, and provides you with easily understood and practiced
skills to help you manage your fear. What’s more, you will learn from reading
Chapter 3 that these same skills can help to improve your performance even if
you are completely confi dent about your speaking ability.
Chapter 4 zeroes in on a topic of real signifi cance to today’s world: ethics.
You will learn about varying ethical perspectives and their relationship to the
speech transaction. You also will be called on to make a commitment to the
ethical practices described there in your own speeches.
To repeat, a major reason for learning about public speaking is the develop-
ment of listening skills. Much as we need to listen, most of us are not as skilled at
it as we need to be. Research shows that most of us would benefi t from listening
training. Chapter 5 discusses the relationship between good listening habits and
effective public speaking. In the process, it details for you the types of listening
involved and suggests practices for improving each of these types.
The best prepared and delivered speeches are those that are developed with
the audience in mind. Competent public speakers try to learn as much about
their audience and the speaking situation as they possibly can. What they learn
assists them in predicting what kind of speech will succeed with their audience.
Chapter 6 details the process of analyzing your audience and speaking situation,
and the necessity of adapting your speech to both.
One of the toughest tasks for many beginning students is getting started. Ar-
istotle called this process of getting started invention. In Chapters 7 and 8 you