Describes a career awareness program run by secondary students and business volunteers to provide speakers for a career exploration class. Notes that the responsibility that students take in this program helps them prepare for careers. (CH)

Describes how one elementary educator teaches her social studies students to express ideas with clarity and speak persuasively by completing a critical thinking and speaking activity that requires them to draw on the knowledge they just acquired and resolve an issue. Activities include simulating a Senate hearing and creating a talk show. (SM)

This article explains four teacher-developed mnemonic learning strategies--one for learning the steps of long division, one to teach decision making, one for developing homework skills, and one for preparing and giving a speech. (DB)

To help sell a school bond issue in Akron, Ohio, the district recruited speakers that the voters could identify with: coaches, school board members, ministers, parents, senior citizens, and key school staff members. Speakers were brought together for a training session to go over presentation skills and the key selling points identified by the…

States that Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address is a recognized rhetorical masterpiece. Accounts for this recognition by examining the text microscopically. Uses the method of close textual analysis that explores the inner workings of the text to discover the complexity of Lincoln's masterwork. (PRA)

Examines a 1994 General Accounting Office (GAO) report on sexual harassment at U.S. service academies to determine how power structures affected the report writers' rhetorical choices. Identifies what is valued and devalued in the report's contents. Describes Congress's reaction to the report and speculates on the report's impact on public…

The articles in this section discuss aspects of assessment: (1) "Assessment: What Is It? Why Do We Need It? How Do We Use It?" (Roy Berko and Linda Webster); (2) "Public Speaking Assessment for College Students" (William W. Neher and Deborah Grew); and (3) "Student Progress? Prove It!" (Donna Surges Tatum). (SLD)

Describes a public speaking course taught at Beijing Second Foreign Language Institute. The first session is a "theory time" when skills in the course book are discussed, using sample speeches and presentations. The second is "do-it-yourself time" when students view videotaped homework speeches made by peers and then comment on…

Compares traditional and online formats in a public speaking course. Gives a description of the online format and notes factors related to selection format. Considers students' global evaluations of format and students' reports of their speaking apprehension. Concludes with an evaluation of public speaking skills. (SG)

In the present study, it was hypothesized that (1) changes in (1) state anxiety from rest to the beginning of a speech (sensitization), in (2) changes in state anxiety during the first minute of the speech presentation (habituation 1), and in (3) state anxiety during the last minute of the speech presentation (habituation 2) are all significant…

Recent biological theories of state anxiety have focused on temperament and neurophysiology as factors that predispose some people to be particularly at risk of debilitating levels of performance anxiety. The present study extends Gray's (1982; Gray & McNaughton, 2000) reinforcement sensitivity theory by proposing a linkage between sensitivity to…

This chapter describes successful assignments that made creative use of laptops in writing, literature, and public speaking courses. Some activities moved the session out of the classroom to outdoor locations.

An important learning opportunity occurs during the question and answer (Q & A) session following student speeches. Not only do students benefit from the information conveyed in these speeches, but students also benefit from the cognitive stimulation the opportunity affords. Often, however, it seems that the Q & A session falls short of these…

As Jesse H. Newlon prepared to speak at Teachers College on July 10, 1940, he apparently did not appreciate the impact his words would make. He had not prepared a complete text of his remarks, as was his habit for important speeches, speaking instead from a three-page outline. His ultimate title, "The Teaching Profession and the World Crisis," was…

One of the key means by which knowledge is disseminated in the academic discourse community is the spoken presentation of papers at an academic conference. In contrast to the written research article, the spoken presentation remains relatively under-researched from a linguistic perspective, limiting the knowledge available for explicating this…