CP 2e CH16 Outline - This was used as study guide and chapter summary by Mrs. Wendi Lawlor PDF

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This was used as study guide and chapter summary by Mrs. Wendi Lawlor...

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Chapter 16: Informative Speaking I. II.

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Informative speaking is meant only to convey information, not persuade an audience. Informative speeches are meant to teach the audience something and so have two main purposes: A. Inform: make the audience aware of a phenomenon. B. Explain: deepen the audience’s understanding of that phenomenon. Types of information we explain: Knowing the type of information you are explaining will help you later choose a method for arranging your points. A. Objects: A speech about an object is a speech about a tangible item. Objects might include artifacts, mementos, souvenirs, buildings, places, or even people. B. Processes: A speech about a process is a speech that explains the steps needed to accomplish something, and these presentations are usually arranged chronologically. Speeches about processes usually how things happen in science or medicine. C. Events: A speech about an event is a speech that focuses on something that happened, is happening, or might happen at some point in the future. D. Concepts: A speech about a concept explains an abstract idea instead of a concrete object. Speeches about concepts could be about religion, theories, or political ideologies. Patterns of organization for informative speeches: the goal is to present your information in the best way possible to foster understanding. A. Spatial Order: used to describe an object by explaining how parts physically relate to one another in a defined space. Example: if your topic was a piece of artwork, you may start at the top of the art piece and move down to the bottom. B. Chronological Pattern: used to describe events or processes in the order that they occur in time, from earlier events to later events. Used for historical events or processes with multiple steps (like building a car engine). C. Cause-Effect: a variation on the chronological pattern of organization used to discuss the causes that led to a specific event or effect. This variation requires you to decide whether to focus your thesis on the causes or the effects so that your speech does not become tangential. D. Problem-Solution: in an informative speech, used to organize a speech by first explaining a problem and then teaching the audience about the solution. It can be a problem that occurred and how it was solved, or a current problem and a proposed solution. You must be careful with this type of organization that it does not become persuasive. You are informing the audience of a good solution, not pushing them to adopt that solution. E. Topical Order: used to divide your speech into categories or subtopics. Explaining difficult concepts: When explaining difficult concepts in your informative speech, you should first identify why the concept is difficult to understand, and then choose the explanatory strategy that best helps audiences overcome that particular

challenge. There are three reasons it is hard for nonexpert audiences to understand a complex idea: A. Difficult language: this occurs when the vocabulary is unfamiliar to the audience i. Elucidating explanations can be used to help your audience understand the definition of a term and should include four parts: 1. a common exemplar, or ideal example, of the concept. 2. a definition that explains the essential characteristics of the concept. 3. several examples of the concept, along with some nonexamples that might commonly be mistaken as examples of the concept. 4. opportunities for your audience to practice identifying examples and nonexamples of the concept. B. Difficult to picture: Concepts or processes might be challenging to imagine because they are abstract ideas, or because the process or object is microscopic and cannot easily be seen. i. There are two ways that something can be difficult to picture: 1. It might be difficult to get an overall impression of the thing being explained. 2. It might be difficult to see the parts, processes, and interrelations of the phenomenon. ii. Quasi-scientific explanation: an explanation that helps the audience get an overall picture of a phenomenon and see relationships among the parts. This can be achieved by including two key parts: 1. Show the concept as a whole using a graphic feature; this allows the audience to see the overall big picture of the phenomenon (could be a model, diagram, or drawing). 2. Use verbal organizational cues that indicate the relationship among parts or subprocesses of the phenomenon. C. Difficult to believe: Sometimes concepts use simple language and can be imagined easily but are difficult to believe because they are counterintuitive i. Transformative explanations: explanations that help audience members transform their everyday ideas about how something works into a more scientifically accurate understanding of the phenomenon. These types of explanations have four parts: 1. Acknowledge people’s everyday or “lay” theory about the concept, perhaps by asking the audience to describe the concept. 2. Acknowledge why the audience members’ understanding seems plausible on the surface. 3. Explain why their impression is incorrect and show examples that. demonstrate why it is not adequate for explaining the phenomenon. 4. Explain the theory and illustrate why it is effective.

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Strategies to help your audience understand: you can employ six different methods to help your audience understand your topic and remember the key points of your presentation: A. Use repetition: express the same idea multiple times, in multiple ways; use many different examples to explain the same concept. B. Frame your message as a reward: your audience will listen better if they perceive they will be rewarded. This can be implicit, like the benefit they will receive from learning new information. C. Show and tell: use both verbal and visual organization cues. Verbal cues include signposts, reviews, and previews that help draw the audience to key points. Visual cues can be keywords on a slide or showing an image about a concept while you are talking about it. D. Expand on what your audience knows: connect new information to something the audience already knows – this puts it in terms they can understand and therefore will be more likely to remember. E. Use humor: just because a speech delivers information, doesn’t mean it has to be boring. You can appropriately incorporate humor in your speech to keep the audience’s attention. F. Check for understanding: Ask your audience questions throughout to check that they are understanding and if they are not, be prepared to adapt your explanations or examples. Delivering information dialogically A. Provide multiple examples: the more options your audience has, the more likely they will be to understand. B. Notice audience’s nonverbal cues: This is why it is important to practice your speech – if you really know your material, you can direct some of your attention on reading audience feedback like whether people have confused facial expressions or are making eye contact. Noticing and interpreting nonverbal cues from the audience can help you gage their understanding. C. Achieve understanding not agreement: Remember that the goal of your speech is not to change people’s minds but to get them to understand your point of view. D. Ask clarifying questions: Ask an audience member to rephrase a definition you shared to check for understanding. Approach this not as a test for the audience member but as a test to the clarity of the examples you have provided. E. Maintain interest throughout your speech: express enthusiasm and excitement not only for your topic but also your audience. Convey to them that it is important to you that they understand. F. Provide clear points and references: you owe it to your audience to let them know where you gathered your information from; Citing your sources is ethical, honest, and creates an atmosphere where an audience is open to what you have to say....