Persuasive speeches are a common assignment in numerous public speaking and hybrid communication classes. One theme of persuasion is that the persuasive message should be tailored to the intended receiver. Not only do effective rhetors adapt to the circumstances in which they find themselves, but persuasive efforts are much more likely to be…

There exists a natural connection between civic engagement and the public speaking class. Too often, however, this connection remains indirect at best and lost in a sea of uninspired topic selections and convenient source cites at worst. This assignment offers one way to help public speaking students increase their civic awareness and imagination…

This article presents an activity that makes use of a questionnaire similar to a Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) which elicit students' responses about their previous speaking experiences, their own definitions of anxiety and its causes, and their plans for future careers. This activity is aimed at helping students overcome…

When dealing with First Amendment free speech issues in the context of public libraries, courts have merely cited the supposition that constitutional public forum analysis leads to the conclusion that the public library is a limited public forum for the purposes of First Amendment analysis. By focusing narrowly on the issue of whether Internet…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether instructor perceptions of student responsive behaviors and student socio-communicative style were related to instructors' subjective (speech presentation) and objective (multiple-choice exam) assessments of student work. The results suggest that student nonverbal and verbal responsive behaviors…

This investigation included two studies relating anticipatory public speaking anxiety to the nature of the speech assignment. Based on uncertainty reduction theory, which suggests that communicators are less comfortable in unfamiliar or unpredictable contexts, two hypotheses were advanced on the presumption that various types of assignments in a…

An American, invited to speak on aesthetics and creativity, came away from the academic conference in the city of Perm fascinated by the character of the Russians he met, but depressed at the shabbiness and the creativity-dispelling gracelessness of the proceedings. Lecturers had apparently become accustomed to going through the motions in mumbled…

Public speaking can be very threatening to any native speakers of English, not to mention non-native EFL learners. Impromptu speech, perhaps the most challenging form of public speaking, is however being promoted in every city of the EFL countries. The case in Taiwan is no exceptional. Every year, dozens of impromptu speech contexts are held…

Nourishing the young child can be a challenge. This stage of life is critical to the development of positive attitudes toward maintaining a healthy diet and learning to make reasonable food choices. Educators of young children are often the gatekeepers of child nutrition. This article reports on the current nutrient needs of young children,…

Nausea, sweating, weak knees, and a dry mouth are all symptoms associated with the fear of standing in front of an audience. Considering the anxiety that public speaking produces, students of any age are facing a significant challenge when they speak in front of a group. While speaking is considered to be an integral part of language arts, it…

Research on pre-task planning has shown that planning has beneficial effects on learners' subsequent language output. However, to date most of this research has focused on solitary rather than group planning. Furthermore, very few studies have investigated what actually happens during the planning time. This study, conducted in an EFL class in…

This study examines whether video streaming can reduce trait and state communication apprehension, as well as improve communication competence, in public speaking classes. Video streaming technology has been touted as the next generation of video feedback for public speaking students because it is not limited by time or space and allows Internet…

In this article, the author describes a personal teaching experience that led her to incorporate improvisational drama into her English classroom. The author describes justifications for implementing drama into the classroom as well as the possible benefits gained by teachers and students. Also included are several improvisational dramatic…

As most college-level instructors would agree, teaching aspiring teachers is no easy task. However, an added challenge presents itself when instructors must "enact" that which they are teaching. Each time public speaking and education professors stand before their college students, they are faced with the task of not only "teaching" the required…

Since becoming president of the Alliance for Excellent Education in February 2005, the author has learned a great deal about the vital role that high-quality literacy research plays in improving teaching. Education researchers know how critical it is that they serve the needs of educators. As a former governor of West Virginia and member of the…