Chapter 1
- Why are communication skills important to your career?
Communication skills for one on one communication help one in taking a job interview. It enables you to be brief and interesting, but yet convincing increasing the chances of securing a job. Oral communication skills are very important in the job market as being a good communicator enhances the way you communicate with your co workers as well as the public.
It helps one to learn how to speak to his audience such as in court, at work, in school among others.
It equips the leaner with communication skills that are useful in a one on one communication such as during a job interview.
The leaner develops oral communication skills that help a person speak to her co workers and the public in the job market.
The leaner is provided with an ideal environment that equips her with speaking experience and development of self confidence during public speaking.
- What are the seven elements of speech communication process?
Speaker; the speaker is the origin of a message that is passed on to the listener.
Listener; this is the recipient of the message set or conveyed by the speaker.
Message; this is the content of whatever the speaker communicates to her audience.
Channel; this is the medium through which message is transmitted from the speaker to the listener.
Feedback; this is the response that the listener gives the speaker after receiving the message.
Interference; this is the any form of barrier that blocks the communication of the correct message.
Situation; this is the circumstances under which communication takes place.
- Why is speaking not necessarily the same thing as communicating?
Communicating entails sending a message that is to be understood by the listener. Speaking and communicating sometimes may not be the same thing since you can speak to the listener, but if the listener fails to understand the message sent then you have not communicated.
- If there is a contradiction between the verbal and non verbal components of a speaker’s message, which component is the listener is likely accept as the true message?
The listener will be likely to accept the non verbal component as the true message. This is because non verbal communication include; tone, facial expressions, and gestures among others which are actions as compared to verbal communication which contains words that are chosen, and hence can be wrongly chosen.
- If communication fails, who is to blame – the speaker or the listener?
Either or both the speaker and the listener can be blamed for failed communication. However, the speaker takes the larger share of the blame as she has a greater responsibility for communication. The listener can be blamed for not paying attention to the speaker if communication fails.
- What two channels are the most frequently used for class – room speeches?
The most frequently used channels in classroom speeches are the real human issues and the real human beings who give the issues.
- What are the types of interference?
External interference; is the hindrance of accurate communication that comes from the outside the listener such as someone taking loudly in the hall where the speech is being delivered.
Internal interference; is the interference that originates from within the listeners.
Speaker generated interference; is the interference that comes from the speaker, for instance, distracting her listeners with confusing concepts.
- What are stereotypes? Give some examples.
A stereotype is an exaggerated or over simplified image that people create in their minds concerning certain groups of people. Stereotypes should be avioided.
Examples include; a stereotype displaying lawyers as dishonest, but not all the lawyers are dishonesty. A serotype depicting people living in the rural setting as illiterate, but not all the rural dwellers are illiterate.
- According to a survey, what is the number one mistake made by public speakers?
Public speakers fail to modify their speeches to the needs and interests of the audience. A good speaker should inquire about her audience prior to public speaking so as to give them what they desire.
Chapter 2
- What are the five common reasons for speaker’s nervousness?
The fear of being stared at by the audience; it can be real nervous having all eyes in your focused on you.
The fear of failure or rejection in delivering a speech; most people fear being displayed as looking displayed in front of an audience, and this can cause nervousness.
The fear of the unknown; cases such as a job interview where one cannot tell the outcome can cause nervousness.
A traumatic experience in the past; nervousness can be caused by having memories of humiliation in the past.
Social anxiety; one can feel uneasy out of her genetic makeup since she can feel obliged to certain people, or fear being judged.
- Why are fear nervousness beneficial to the public speaker?
When fear is accepted and managed; it energizes the speaker, it makes her to think fast leading to an effective speech, and it fills the speaker is with vitality as well as enthusiasm.
- Why is delivering a speech from memory a bad method?
This method may get the speaker derailed and consequently become blank leading to failure to deliver a full speech. A memorized speech can also sound mechanical minimizing the impact it will create to the audience; it will not feel the message coming from your heart, but rather from memory.
- Is shyness a liability for a speaker? Explain your answer.
Shyness is not a barrier to a speaker delivering a speech. Many people have erroneously thought that shyness will block them from effective speech. However a number of shy speakers have effectively and successfully delivered their speech in different situations.
- How can a speaker reduce excessive tension before a speech?
Physical actions reduce excessive tension by the action of adrenaline providing the speaker with helpful energy. The speaker should engage in physical activities before the speech to initiate the action of adrenaline. The physical activities include taking deep breath and tightening as well as relaxing the leg muscles among others.
- Does an audience detect most of the speaker’s nervousness symptoms? Explain your answer.
The audience does not notice most of the speaker’s nervousness. During public speaking the listeners focus on the ideas the speaker is delivering. The listeners therefore fail to notice the speaker’s discomfort. Many times listeners have been pleased by a speech which at the end of it the speakers feels embarrassed by her body distress.
- Why should you never call attention to your nervousness?
If you paid attention to your nervousness you are likely to get yourself more rattled than before, and this will prevent further effective speaking. Paying attention to nervousness will also make the audience aware of it while they initially never noticed, and this will distract them from focusing on your speech.
- Explain the idea “Think of communication, not performance.”
A performance is subject to evaluation by the audience and hence a performer has to be worried about her performance. On the contrary, in communication the audience is only interested on what the speaker has to say. The speaker should therefore not be worried about how effective the performance was. It is only the case I a performance.
- Why should speakers not be upset when they see the unsmiling faces of their listeners?
Unsmiling and blank faces in a speech is a common occurrence unlike in a conversation where people have to nod, smile and make all those non verbal communication to register their attention. A speaker should therefore not be upset by such faces as they are a sign that the audience is listening.
- Why should a speaker act as if he or she is confident?
Acting confident will play a role of self assured. This will transform the speaker into a speaker who is genuinely confident as well as poised. A pretense becomes a reality during public speaking.
