Are public speaking techniques useful in the classroom?

Part One of this article will attempt to persuade the reader that the answer is a resounding "yes," and Part Two (appearing in the next issue of Stone Soup) will offer specific techniques that instructors can use to strengthen their own and their students' effectiveness with oral presentations. Focusing on the latter for now, let's consider the question: Why not just lecture; why get students talking in class?

As long ago as the late 1500's, in an essay entitled "Of Studies," Francis Bacon wrote the following (this period pre-dated gender-inclusive language, of course): "Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man."

We ask our students to read to broaden and enrich their knowledge base, we ask students to write to specify and clarify their thoughts and opinions, and we ask students to speak to make them, using Bacon's word, "ready." Synonyms for "ready" are: prepared, equipped, organized, quick, apt, and capable. These are certainly attributes we want to see in our students, attributes that would lead to success in their studies. And if we think long-term, these attributes would also help them to succeed in many of the situations in which they will find themselves throughout their lives.

Among our long-term goals for our students are that they leave school being able to articulate their thoughts and advocate for themselves and their families. Developing the assertiveness needed to speak publicly and the resulting boost in self-confidence support these goals.

At the 4C's Conference, Conference on College Composition and Communication, that was held in San Antonio last March, I attended a presentation about speaking-intensive courses. Most of us are accustomed to the idea of writing-intensive courses as requirements, but a number of colleges across the nation are now requiring speaking-intensive courses. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro requires two speaking-intensive courses, one of them in the student's major. And they have expanded their facilities to include not only a writing center but also a speaking center. The goal is to learn in the subject area through active engagement in oral communication, with speaking as a mode of learning, mirroring our current view of writing as a mode of learning.

With writing, students make meaning in a private space, whether that space is at a keyboard at home writing a paper or in a classroom taking a quiz or test; either is essentially a private act that later becomes selectively public when shared with a reader or readers. When speaking, however, students make meaning in a public space with immediate witnesses, a significantly different experience.

Speaking publicly takes most of us well beyond our comfort zones. What purpose could there possibly be in our enduring that kind of stretch?

Last summer, at Camp Chingachgook in Lake George, New York, I experienced the pain (and I don't use the term lightly) of stretching way beyond my comfort zone. I was there with a group that differed widely in age and physical ability, and I was not one of the youngest or most athletic of the group. We were scheduled for two days of exercises that focused on team-building and personal growth, and I was an enthusiastic participant. However, when they spoke about the high ropes course, I smiled benignly, sure that no one would expect that sort of thing from me. When they passed around the safety harnesses, I took one just to avoid discussion, but I had no intention of having a need for it. Then I noticed a woman who was five years older and at least fifty pounds heavier than I putting on her safety harness. I knew I would have to try or I wouldn't be able to live with myself (or the harassment I would surely take for giving up without having tried). I was scared and unsure of whether I could manage the physical demands. But I did; I survived; every muscle in my body ached for days, but I did it. And I didn't only survive; I expanded the sense I have of my own strength and capacity to handle tough situations. I see myself differently as a result of facing those fears. Asking our students to face their fears and move beyond the boundaries of their comfort zones can do the same thing for them. We each have only to think of our own stretching experiences and what we've gained to realize how our students can benefit from having the opportunity to speak to an audience of their classmates and instructor.

Let's put formal presentations aside for a minute. Many of us have a more basic struggle: how to get students to participate in class. We ask a question or throw out a provocative statement, and there is silence or, at best, the same few students volunteering. What I've found is that some of our students have things to say but aren't able to think quickly on their feet. They participate in discussion only rarely or not at all, while on papers and tests they may be articulate. I've discovered that if I first give students time to write in response to a discussion question, they have a chance to clarify and organize their thoughts. Then participation increases dramatically, both in the number of students speaking and the quality of their contributions. If I have given them time to write, I don't feel the need to wait for volunteers, and I call on students. In that situation, they rarely decline to comment, and their faces make clear that they sometimes surprise themselves with how much they have to say. The students formulate their thoughts in writing and then are asked to speak, the first time sometimes being tough but each subsequent time getting easier. Once this pattern has been practiced, the writing time can be decreased or eliminated altogether, and students still speak, even seem to look forward to speaking in class.

Another reason to encourage our students to talk was expressed by a professor friend of mine who tells her students that a year after the class is over, they may remember little of what she has said, but they will remember what they have said. While I like to think I can remember a fair amount of what my professors have said to me, I do have very clear memories of statements I've made and positions I've taken in various classes. I'm guessing that readers can easily call to mind their own experiences along these lines.

All of this sounds good, but public speaking is more nerve-wracking than most things. In fact, surveys list it as people's number one fear, death being number seven.So, specifically, what do we fear? We fear failure and looking stupid; we fear rejection; we fear the unknown. A theory that I find particularly interesting about why public speaking is so terrifying is that we fear being stared at. In the animal world, a stare is a hostile act, so we may be reacting on an instinctual level as well as an intellectual and emotional one. Even those of us who get up in front of a classroom regularly can feel nervous when we're in a new situation: a different location, a large auditorium filled with people, or an audience of our peers. If we keep our own nervousness in mind, we can better understand our students' experience in the classroom and offer them our support as they stretch and grow from speaking publicly.

Watch for Part Two of this article in the next issue of Stone Soup.