Listening and Speaking WorkshopAnalyzing and Evaluating Speeches

Assignment

Select a Speech

Analyze Content

Analyze Organization

Analyze Delivery

Evaluate a Speech

Practice and Apply

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Assignment: Analyze and evaluate a historically significant speech to uncover its impact on an audience.

Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches

Throughout history, speakers have used the power of speech to convince others to take action. In this workshop you’ll look at a historically significant speech and determine what made it so persuasive.

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First, research some

• historical events that interest you

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesSelect a Speech

• issues that matter to you

Queen Elizabeth I Abraham Lincoln Chief Joseph

Then, look for historically important speeches about those events or issues. Check

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesSelect a Speech

• the library

• your history textbook

• on the Internet

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View or read the speech and pay close attention to the important points.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Content

• What persuasive arguments does the speaker use?

• Is the speaker trying to convince listeners to change their minds or to take action?

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Content

Look for these common types of arguments:

• Causation shows how a cause-effect relationship supports the speaker’s opinion.

• Analogies make comparisons between things that are generally not alike.

• Appeals to authority refer to trustworthy or knowledgeable experts.

Look for these common types of arguments:

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Content

• Emotional appeals use language to stir feelings of happiness, sadness, or anger.

• Logical appeals speak to the listeners’ minds through facts, statistics, and examples.

Good speakers master the use of rhetorical devices—ways of using language to make their message attention-getting and memorable.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Content

Rhetorical Devices

Allusion: an indirect reference to literature or an actual person, event, or place

Metaphor: an imaginative comparison between two unlike things

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Content

Rhetorical Devices

Repetition: repeating the same important words or phrases

Diction: word choice that creates specific reactions from the audience

Parallelism: using the same syntax, or sentence structure, to point out a similarity in ideas

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Speakers organize their messages according to two different approaches:

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Organization

Deductive Approach

thesis stated first

reasons and support

general

specific

Speakers organize their messages according to two different approaches:

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Organization

Inductive Approach

reasons and support

build to thesisstatement

general

specific

The organization of a speaker’s ideas should be clear and coherent.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Organization

Listeners can easily follow the structure of the speaker’s argument.

Listeners can easily understand the connections between ideas.

Clear

Coherent

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A speaker’s language and delivery—voice control and body movements—can set the tone and mood of a speech.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Delivery

angrytone

hostilemood

respectfultone

positivemood

Speakers use verbal and nonverbal delivery techniques to get their points across.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Delivery

Verbal Delivery Techniques

Emphasis is the stress a speaker puts on certain words and phrases.

Speakers emphasize key ideas or points in their speeches by saying those words with a little more volume.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Delivery

Verbal Delivery Techniques

Pauses are small silences in speaking.

A good speaker uses pauses to let his or her ideas soak in. Pauses also tell you that what the speaker has just said or is about to say is important.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Delivery

Verbal Delivery Techniques

Enunciation is the clarity with which speakers pronounce their words.

Good speakers always want their ideas to be clearly understood. Poor enunciation makes listeners strain and gives them the impression that the speaker does not care about them or the topic.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Delivery

Nonverbal Delivery Techniques

Gestures are body movements that emphasize emotions or ideas.

Good speakers use natural gestures, such as nodding their heads, shrugging their shoulders, or pointing to the audience.

Facial expressions clue listeners in to the speaker’s feelings.

For example, a smile can suggest warmth and sincerity, while a frown might show that the speaker is angry and wants you to know why.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesAnalyze Delivery

Nonverbal Delivery Techniques

Posture is how the speaker stands.

A speaker standing straight and alert suggests confidence in his or her topic, while a slouching speaker suggests that he or she is uninterested and does not truly care about the topic.

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Use the following questions to make judgments about the speech.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesEvaluate a Speech

Evaluating Persuasive Speeches

Content and Organization

What arguments and rhetorical devices did the speaker use? Was there a variety of arguments and devices?

What evidence (facts, statistics, or expert testimony) did the speaker provide to support his or her ideas?

Were the speaker’s main points clear and coherent—connected to each other and to the main idea? Describe the organizational pattern.

Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesEvaluate a Speech

Evaluating Persuasive Speeches

Delivery

How did the speaker make good use of emphasis, enunciation, and pauses? Were his or her diction and syntax clear?

Did the speaker use facial expressions, gestures, and posture to express tone and mood? If so, describe them.

Did the speaker’s overall delivery capture your attention and help you understand the speech? Explain.

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Analyzing and Evaluating SpeechesPractice and Apply

Use the information in this workshop to select and analyze a historically significant speech. Then, write a one-paragraph evaluation of the speech’s quality and effectiveness. Depending on your access to audiovisual resources, choose one of two options:

• View or listen to a recorded speech. Analyze the content, organization, and delivery.

• Read the text of a written speech, concentrating on its content and organization.

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