Chapter 10: The 4 A's of Language

Chapter ten discusses that language is arbitrary; it is ambiguous, abstract and active. I looked at it as the four A’s of language. By stating that language is arbitrary it means that we associate certain words with certain objects. Language is abstract therefore certain words can hold more than one meaning. A word can have a denotative meaning or a connotative meaning. The denotative meaning refers to in short, the definition of the word literally. The connotative meaning is a meaning given to a word based on one’s own experiences. Language is also abstract, meaning that words are. Words have various levels of abstractedness based on how specific they are. Lastly language is active. Language is not a sent concept, there are many different words being developed daily. Apart from the new words being developed, new meanings for already existing words are also being associated to those words. Goals can be accomplished through the use of words, as well.     

Informative Speech: Self-Evaluation

My purpose to give this speech was to express the importance of eating eggs, whole eggs including the yolks. I believe I did a thorough job of getting my purpose across to the audience because of the facts and percentages I presented about the nutritional content of eggs. Presenting the speech is always a challenge for me, my anxiety levels increase and I feel shaky. I did not feel very comfortable during my speech due to anxiety, but I did feel somewhat confident presenting it through practice and understanding the material I was presenting. I would incorporate some changes into my speech if I had to do it over again. I would improve my introduction and explain why I chose the topic of eggs, which is because I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian and incorporate eggs in my diet for protein. While giving my speech I would orally cite my sources. My goal for improving the content in my next speech is to provide more details, and for my persuasive speech provide more research as well. There are many things that I would like to do to improve the delivery of my speech. I would like to practice even more before the presentation perhaps it will help me lower my anxiety. While delivering my next speech I definitely want to have a stronger introduction. I want to gain the audience’s attention with an attention getter. I would also like to make my introduction stronger by clearly stating my purpose and thesis. I feel that I also use fillers in my presentations because of anxiety, so I would like to change that while presenting as well as not fidgeting or crossing my legs. Things that I specifically did different from my previous speech that were good were that I feel that with each speech my anxiety levels decrease, therefore I wasn’t as anxious when presenting this speech versus the previous one. I felt that I may not have practiced as thoroughly for this presentation as the previous one partially because I thought I could go off of the PowerPoint if I got lost. I realized that I should not use the PowerPoint as a reference but more of an enhancer for my speech.  Like I said before I feel that I fidget, cross my legs, and use fillers while presenting, this may be distracting for the audience. I also feel that my voice is often shaky while presenting which is something I would like improve. I am not sure if I improved these distractions since my last speech but I am more cautious of any distractions. I feel that one of my best qualities while giving speeches is making eye contact, but on this speech I would rate my eye contact at 6-7 because I felt that I used up some of my presentation time making eye contact with my PowerPoint then with the audience. I would give myself a B on this speech because I felt that I did many things well such as using factual content, making an easily presentable PowerPoint, giving the audience my purpose. I feel that I did not deserve an A partially because of presenting mistakes such as not being completely comfortable presenting which caused me to feel shaky, use fillers, and cross my legs; I also did not orally cite. I did not mention any source citations during my speech, although I had them listed under each PowerPoint. I felt that my speech had some positives and negatives, which I either did well or not in my previous speech. I did different things well in both speeches, but I also did not present as well as I could have in both for different reasons. 

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 focuses on the integration of presentation media into our speeches. It gives a set of guidelines that one must follow for visual design which can be used as tips by all of us for how we should use the presentation media in our speeches. The guideline states: keep it simple, emphasize of key ideas, show what you can’t say, use close-up photographs and other images, keep the number of images you present manageable, combine variety with coherence, and use large lettering. All of these tips are helpful and not only make the speech easier for the speaker to present but also for the audience to understand. One that stood out to me the most would be “Show what you can’t say” this can be taken in two ways, one I have seen presentational media being used in the form of a PowerPoint where the presenter is simply reading off the slide, this not only takes away the speakers attention from the audience but also because there is not any visual aid besides the exact words the speaker is repeating the audience loses attention too. By showing what you can’t say, it means that sometimes things are too complicated to explain verbally such as a photograph or graph, these are the cases that you want to use something visual.

Presentational Media in a Speech

                 The use of presentational media is very common in public speaking and I have seen it being used on a variety of occasions. Frequently used media usually comes in many forms through photographs, audio and video. There are many things that I have seen that a speaker does to make their presentational media more effective. I have seen that speakers incorporate the media into their speech, meaning that they have allotted enough time to not only display the media but recognize the time it takes to set something up or introduce the media as well. The presentation media helped with the speech because it gave us the audience some visual aid along with the speaker’s speech. The media brought the content to life, which sounds exaggerated but it can make a huge difference. Having visual aid attached to the message the speaker was trying to convey helped the audience grasp the concept better. I think the only thing that could have happened that would have let the media detract from the speech would have been if the speaker had not included all the time he would’ve needed to present the media, which he did a great job at.

Ethical Responsibility

A speaker should follow his/her ethical responsibilities when developing presentation media for a speech. Since technology has gotten so advanced in this society, many times original credit is taken from the content often belong to. Sometimes a piece of media is transferred so many times through the internet. As a speaker whenever any type of media is used whether it is a video, audio, photographs or a conversation, credit along with a citation of the source should be provided. To do this in presentational media I think it could be done in two ways when something is displayed an individual can orally cite the source of the media or who it belongs to. Let’s say a speaker is presenting a photograph taken by someone on a visual presentation such as a PowerPoint, when the picture is displayed the speaker can say, “This picture taken by so and so…”. An easier way to do this if the speaker does not want to orally cite would be to mention credits on the PowerPoint underneath the piece of media they’re referring to.

Your Introduction and Conclusion

There are many factors to consider developing an introduction for your speech. The number one thing to want to include in your speech is something that will get your audience’s attention. An attention getter is an awesome way to get your audience’s attention but this shouldn’t be the main focus of your introduction. “Your attention getter shouldn’t last long. It should draw attention to the topic but not cut into the time you need for the body of the speech,” (Coopman 174). Another important thing that should be included in your introduction is stating your purpose and thesis which will tell the audience what your speech is based on and what message you are trying to convey. Don’t forget to appear credible either because this will let your audience develop credibility.

In the conclusion of your speech you want to review all the main points you discussed in the body of your speech.  Also restate what your purpose was in giving the speech. The speech should be closed with something impressive not just simply as that is it for my speech. Some methods that the book discussed for the closure of a conclusion and speech were making a dramatic statement, thanking the audience, ending with a quotation, and reinforcing the speaker-audience connection.