IBDP | ENGLISH B

MARTIN LUTHER
KING JR. SPEECH
ANALYSIS
prepared by
Erkan Selim Koç - Adviye Selin Kaşeler - Nahal Soltanpour
TOPICS THAT WILL BE TOUCHED UPON / QUESTIONS THAT WILL BE ASKED

QUESTIONS:

1. What is the topic of the speech?

2. What techniques did Martin Luther King Jr. use in his speech to
communicate his message effectively?
3. What emotions we might have felt if we had been in the crowd
when the speech was made.
4. Why we think Martin Luther King was able to change history
after having read the text.
 QUESTION 1 - TOPIC OF SPEECH

What is the topic of the speech?

Martin Luther King's iconic speech is a call for freedom and

equality. His dream of an America without segregation,
discrimination and racism. His dream about a world where people of
color and white people will finally be treated
equally and a world where people of color and
white people will be able to sit together and live
a life in peace, equality and brotherhood.
 QUESTION 2 - SPEECH TECHNIQUES

What techniques did Martin Luther King Jr. use in his speech to communicate his
message effectively?

The speaker directly adresses the issue of inequality

at the start of his speech by directly
greeting/signing off and with his usage of pronouns
such as “we” to he makes the listener feel as if they
were a part of we speech or problem mentioned, this
makes the listener feel included. His toning and
expressions are on point, this allows the listener to
understand which part of the speech is most important
or crucial to him.
 QUESTION 3 - FEELINGS

What emotions would you have felt if you had been in the crowd
when the speech was made?
The feeling of belongingness would be all over us. Seeing the crowd
together and one would make us feel powerful
against conservative, ignorant minds.
Togetherness and a feeling that pushes one to
seek equality, the feeling of justice would
give us all the power we need. “Hey, we are
here and we are together” calls would be
sensed by everyone.

 QUESTION 4 - CHANGING HISTORY

On the evidence of the text, why do you think Martin Luther King
was able to change the course of history?

Martin Luther King was able to change history by gaining the attention
of people and speaking up and spreading awareness
on racism, and how disgustingly discriminating
the segregation laws were. He spoke up about
important issues and led many non-violent
protests. These led to many changes in history
and created the future that we live in.
 THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

Thank you all for your time and attention, we would now like to take
some time for questions.

Before we end this presentation we’d like to finish with this powerful
quote from none other than Martin Luther King Jr. himself,
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the
silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.