GST 122: COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH II

BY DR UBAIDALLAH MUHAMMAD BELLO

› 2. Objective or Purpose
› PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES OF PUBLIC SPEECH
› This kind of objective/purpose is simply the effect the speaker
› INTRODUCTION
expects the speech to have on the audience. It could also mean the
core reason behind the delivery of the speech which could be for
› To most people, writing a speech is easy but the most difficult part transmission of information, entertainment or persuasion. A
is how to deliver it before people called the audience. However, the speaker’s context/situation presupposes their objective or purpose
most important step to delivering a good speech is the of the speech.
development of a mesmerizing theme i.e the topical issue or
subject matter. Therefore, the speaker needs to focus on the
› 3. Audience
message they intend to convey before the audience.
› This means the receivers of the speech. The situation of the speech
› Note: that a Speech is both an Art and an Act.
determines the audience a speaker meets. They could be a mixed
one in terms of age, status, interdisciplinary, cutting across various
› THE CONCEPT OF SPEECH interest groups. Besides, the audience could be one of the following
types or their mixture: passers-bye or drifters, captive or hostage (i.e
› A speech connotes oral communication, which has to do with those who must be there with or without a choice) and volunteer. A
presenting a view, issue or information in form of a talk before an speaker is in better position to plan their speech when they know the
audience. In other words, it is a talk given (or a remark made) to make-up of their audience.
an audience i.e a group of listeners. It can be called an address,
oration, sermon, lecture etc. 4. Time
›
› PUBLIC SPEECH PREPARATION GUIDELINES It is to be believed that a speaker does not have 24hrs to deliver a
›
public speech in a day. They may not be given a specific time to
› 1. Context or Situation deliver but where they are given, they should plan and deliver well
within the time in order to avoid making it boring to the audience.
› Every speech must have a context which simply means the Nonetheless, if it does, it would make the speech meaningless,
occasion that calls for the speech. It could be religious, political or unachievable and unsatisfying.
social occasion. Having the context at heart would help the
speaker plan the speech well. NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, NIGERIA
› 5. Content
› 2. Voice Modulation: This is can be used by a speaker to
› Being conscious of the time factor determines the scope of the attract attention of the audience, via setting and
content area a speaker hopes to cover. The topic (content) should
sufficiently be limited to accommodate adequate and appropriate regulating their tone in the course of the speech delivery.
details that will achieve a speaker’s purpose because they are seen
as experts/specialists in the area from which they are chosen to The mastery and command of the language, authoritative
deliver. Therefore, the speaker has to be ponderous in order not to
overstuff the speech time with everything they know about the voice and assuring composure add colourful ingredients
topic.
to make an impressive presentation.
› 6. Medium of Communication

› By medium of communication, we mean the channel used between › 3. Definition of Terms: This also helps speakers in their
the speaker and their audience. It is of utmost importance for a
speaker to examine their audience before choosing the appropriate introductory remark. For clarity sake, they define and
medium to deliver the speech. For instance, a speaker who knows
that their audience is entirely a group of market men and women or explain terms they think are unfamiliar to the majority of
rural people, the speech would prove abortive if they choose
Standard British or American English. For this group of people, the audience, and give background information where
code switching or code mixing can play a role in the speech
delivery. In the same vein, it would be wrong if the speaker chooses necessary.
informal or substandard English, knowing that their audience is a
group of educated and learned people respectively. Nonetheless,
the aforementioned factors (1-5) determine what a speaker’s › 4. Use of Anecdote: This is a personal life
medium of communication would be.
experience/story that may have happened to the speaker,
› TECHNIQUES OF PUBLIC SPEECH someone or about something the speaker read, which
› Several techniques could be used to achieve a public they use to impress or clarify point or an issue in the
speech some of which could be:
course of the peech.
› 1. Greeting the Audience: Speakers use salutation or
greeting as part of their introduction, aiming at seizing
› Use of Illustrations and Examples: in a public speech,
the attention of their audience.
speakers use thus: like, for example, to illustrate etc. to
make
NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, the NIGERIA
KEFFI, speech flow to the tune of the listeners.

› 6. Use of Titles, Headings and Subheadings: The use of
mesmerizing or striking title for a speech, headings and
subheadings prove a good technique as they make the
speaker to transmit their messages in meaningful chunks.
› 7. Use of Summary Words/Phrases: To avoid the
audience being left awaited for something else to be said,
the use of summary words or phrases like: to sum up, to
conclude, etc would be important to end the speech.
› CHARACTERISTICS OF SPEECH OR ORAL
COMMUNICATION
› 1.Paralinguistic devices or non-verbal communication
signals like facial expressions and other body language
or movements.
› 2. Simple diction (choice of words)
› 3. Shorter sentences
› 7. Word, phrase and even sentence repetition
› 8. Use of concrete rather than abstract terms
› 9. More interjections
› 10. More exclamatory and imperative sentences
› REFERENCES
› Alagbe, Adewole Adigun and Zoyal, Terfa Mischach. A
Course Text in General English. Wukari: Siloam
› Publications, 2016.
› Aworo-Okoroh, Joy. Principles of Reading and Writing. Jos:
Eiwa Press ltd, 2012.
› J. D. Murthy. Contemporary English Grammar. Lagos:
Book Master, 2011.
› Stephen O. David and Daniel P. Moles. English and
Communication Skills for Tertiary Institutions
› (Revised Edition). Enugu: Rossen Publications Ltd, 2011.

› 4. Direct and rhetorical questions (questions that do not

require an answer)

› 5. More personal pronouns like I, we etc

› 6. Use of contracted forms e.g shan’t, I’ll, mustn’t, aren’t

etc
NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, NIGERIA