Ten Timeless Lessons from the Ancient World

Figure 1.1

ethnocentrism The tendency of any

nation, race, religion, or group to believe

that its way of looking at and doing

things is right and that other perspectives

have less value.

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

12 Part One The Foundations of Public Speaking

seeing and doing things is essentially correct and is the standard against which other

cultural worldviews and behaviors are to be judged. There is nothing inherently

wrong, of course, with being a proud American, a proud Mexican American, or even

a proud Southerner. But when we allow these feelings of pride to manifest themselves

as cultural arrogance that belittles outsiders, they block communication in a

multicultural society.

Had you attended college just a few decades ago, you likely would have encountered

the unquestioned assumption that this country is a melting pot that has

fused the cultures of various minority and native groups into a superior alloy called

the American character. Still encountered in some quarters, the melting pot may

seem harmless enough in providing the image of the ideal American. The problem,

of course, is the way this metaphor projects ethnocentrism. Its ideal American has

too often been painted with a white male face. At least historically, women and

minority groups have not been admitted as equal participants to public discussions,

and their distinct identities and contributions are depreciated by the presumption

that there is a single dominant American character. No less important to our purposes,

the melting pot metaphor simply fails to adequately characterize the diversity

of audiences you will encounter both in school and in later life. Elizabeth Lozano

summarizes the shortcomings of the melting pot and proposes an alternative view

of American culture:

The melting pot is not an adequate metaphor for a country which is

comprised of a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds.... [W]e might better

think of the United States in terms of a cultural bouillabaisse in which all

ingredients conserve their unique flavor, while also transforming and being

transformed by the adjacent textures and scents.12

A public speaking class is an ideal place to savor this rich broth of cultures. As we

hear others speak, we often discover the many flavors of the American experience.

And as you examine your own identity and that of the people around you, you may

well discover that most of us in this country are indeed multicultural. In either case,

if you want to speak effectively and ethically before American audiences, then a sensitivity

toward and appreciation for cultural diversity is increasingly necessary.

A second barrier rises in the form of stereotypes, generalized assumptions that

supposedly represent the essential character of races, genders, religious affiliations,

sexual orientations, and so on. Before we get to know the individual members of our

audience, we may invoke stereotypes to anticipate how they will react to our words.

Even seemingly positive stereotypes Asian Americans are good at math, Mexican

Americans have a strong devotion to family can be hurtful if they block us from

experiencing the unique humanity of someone who just happens to be an Asian or

Mexican American. As a general rule, nobody likes to feel that he or she is being

addressed as an other by another other. So pack your stereotypes away as you

enter the public speaking class. You may discover that they are not that useful after all.

One of our favorite metaphors for the complex culture of the United States was

introduced in the conclusion of Abraham Lincoln s first inaugural address, as

Lincoln sought to hold the nation together on the eve of the Civil War:

The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot

grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet

swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by

the better angels of our nature.13

stereotypes Generalized pictures of a

race, gender, or group that supposedly

represent its essential characteristics.

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 1 Public Speaking and You 13

Have students identify film or

television characters that stereotype

race, ethnicity, or gender.

What is accurate and inaccurate

in these stereotypes? Might they

be damaging if applied to individuals?

Ask ESL students how

Americans are stereotyped in

their cultures.

Lincoln s image of America as a harmonious chorus implied that the individual

voices of Americans will not only survive but will create a music more beautiful than

that of any one voice alone. Lincoln s vision holds forth a continuing dream of a

society in which individualism and the common good can not only survive but can

also enhance each other.

In your class and within these pages, you will hear many voices: Native

Americans and new Americans, women and men, conservatives and liberals,

Americans of all different colors and lifestyles. Despite their many differences, all of

them are a part of the vital chorus of our nation. Public speaking gives you the

opportunity to hear these voices and add yours to the chorus.

Powerful Knowledge

In addition to significant practical and personal growth benefits, your public speaking

class offers you the opportunity to develop knowledge of communication as an

interactive and dynamic force in shaping our lives. Knowledge of the public speaking

process arises from the rich rhetorical tradition we have sketched, going back to the

time of Aristotle and Plato. But it also arises from more recent quests for knowledge.

Public Speaking as an Interactive Process. At times, beginning speakers

think of a speech as though it were a product or object that one produces on occasion

to receive the admiration of onlookers. Just a little reflection, however,

convinces us that this is the wrong approach. Instead, a speech is an interactive process

that attempts to do some work on a specific occasion: to introduce the speaker to listeners, to

share knowledge with them, to convince them of the rightness or wrongness of certain attitudes

and actions, or to celebrate with them some special moments. The speech is not so

much a product as it is an act performed with and for the sake of listeners. The speech

realizes its purpose when the audience responds in accordance with its message.

The interactive nature of speaking becomes clear when we realize that there can

be no speech without a speaker, a listener, an occasion that calls it forth, and a situation

in which it is presented. A speech is a dynamic interplay of all these factors

and others. To help us grasp this complexity of interacting factors, we turn to some

groundbreaking work performed by scientists at the Bell Telephone Laboratory

around the middle of the twentieth century. As this work has been applied and

adapted by scholars of communication, it identifies the following factors:14

I Source (or speaker): the originator of the message. The importance of establishing

yourself as a credible person is discussed in Chapter 3.

I Encoder (or transmitter): the speaker s voice. We deal with developing the

speaker s voice as an instrument of communication in Chapter 13.

I Message (or speech): the words, nonverbal cues, and presentation aids that

convey the speaker s ideas, motives, and feelings toward a subject. We discuss

message factors throughout this book.

I Channel (or medium): air or medium through which the message flows;

becomes important only when there is a problem (bad acoustics in room, microphone

not working, etc.). We consider such problems in Chapters 5 and 13.

I Receiver (or audience): listeners who receive the message those for whom

the message is intended and in anticipation of whom the message is shaped.

We develop advice for analyzing your audience in Chapter 5.

To help students appreciate the

uniqueness of their personal heritage,

ask them to develop a selfintroductory

speech (see Chapter

3) on how their gender, race, or

ethnicity has helped shape their

identity.

source The originator of a message.

encoder The speaker s voice.

message The words, nonverbal cues, and

presentation aids that convey the

speaker s ideas, motives, and feelings

toward a subject.

channel Air or medium through which

the message flows.

receiver The audience; those for whom

the message is intended and in anticipation

of whom the message is shaped.

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

14 Part One The Foundations of Public Speaking

decoder Process by which the listener

determines the meaning of the speaker s

message.

I Decoder: works when listeners can hear and understand the speaker s words.

We talk about problems of translating technical language in Chapter 13.

I Noise (or interference): can indicate a range of problems from physical

noise, such as distracting sounds in the room, to psychological noise (stereotypes,

distractions, cultural barriers, etc.) in listeners that interferes with and

possibly distorts the reception of the message. We cover coping with interference

problems in Chapters 4 and 13.

I Feedback (or response): how audience members react to the speaker s message

both during and after its presentation. The nods, frowns, and puzzled

looks that audience members sometimes provide during a presentation allow

speakers to make on-the-spot adjustments and give their messages a better

chance to receive a favorable hearing. Speeches sometimes conclude with a

question-and-answer session that gives audience members a chance to offer

feedback directly. We discuss these issues in Chapter 13.

In addition to these factors, public speaking occurs within a physical and psychological

setting that often affects the way messages are constructed, presented,

and received. The physical setting includes such factors as the actual place where the

speech is to be presented, the time of day the speech is given, and the size and

arrangement of the audience. Plato s Phaedrus takes place in a woodland setting that

frames and colors its message appropriately. In this lovely pastoral context, Socrates

envisions an ideal communication that promotes the spiritual growth of listeners

and speakers alike.

The psychological setting of a speech includes such factors as the occasion for

speaking, the expectations that audiences members bring to the speaking situation,

and the context of recent events. When audience members expect an informative

presentation on investing in the stock market but are instead subjected to a sales

pitch for mutual funds, they may feel exploited and come away with a negative

impression of both speaker and speech.

Finally, recent events can change the psychological setting of a speech. For

instance, if you have planned a speech attacking oppressive campus security measures,

and right before your speech a frightening

and well-publicized crime is committed on your

campus, the setting for your speech may suddenly

be less receptive.

A typical critique we might write for a student

speech illustrates the interplay of these various factors

and the usefulness of grasping the interactional

nature of the speech process:

You were right to emphasize your personal

experience with this subject at the beginning

of your speech [establishing the validity of the

source]. However, you need to speak louder

so that listeners in the back of the room can

hear clearly [improving the quality of encoding].

Your speech is well organized and makes

effective use of examples [praising the quality

of the message]. You did need to explain more

clearly some of the technical terms you used

[to help listeners decode].

physical noise such as distracting sounds

in the room to psychological noise

(stereotypes, distractions, cultural barriers,

etc.) in listeners that can distort or even

block the reception of the message.

feedback Speaker s perception of how

audience members react to the message

both during and after its presentation.

Have students describe a speaker

they have heard (perhaps another

instructor in a lecture class) who

neglected audience feedback and

did not make needed adjustments.

Discuss how such insensitivity

to feedback can impair

understanding.

setting Physical and psychological

context in which a speech is presented.

Arrange for students to speak in

different settings (such as outdoors

or in a large auditorium)

during the term to foster flexibility

in adapting their messages

and presentation styles.

noise Sometimes called interference,

this can indicate a range of problems from

This charismatic speaker seems dynamic and likeable.

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 1 Public Speaking and You 15

Figure 1.2 offers a visual model of the interactional process.

Public Speaking as a Dynamic Process. Kenneth Burke, one of the

major communication theorists of our time, suggested that speakers are constantly

confronting the problem of listeners who feel divided and weak and who lack effective

definition as groups. The challenge that speakers must meet is to bring these listeners

together into action communities who know what they are and what they

wish to become. In the process, speakers also define themselves.

The first day you enter your public

speaking class, you encounter twentyfive

or so other individuals. Perhaps a

few of them know each other, but most

are strangers. Many are secretly frightened

about the ordeal they believe

they will soon have to endure. So on the

day you first stand to speak, your main

task may be to tear down all those invisible

walls that separate people, to bring

listeners together around your ideas and

personality. You will have begun Burke s

work of identification, creating the feeling

among people that they share the

speaker s experiences, values, fears,

desires, and dreams and that they are, in

effect, bound together in community.15

Public speaking, when it is successful,

changes the relationships among

people the distances that separate

them disappear, the boundaries that

confine them are lifted. This is why public

speaking is a dynamic process: it changes

people and the relationships among them.

Figure 1.3 offers a picture of this

process when it works successfully. In

Source Encoder

Channel

Message

Communication Setting

Feedback

Decoder

Noise Noise

Receiver

Figure 1.2

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