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SPC 2608: Introduction to Public Speaking
Introduction to Public Speaking
The primary purpose of assignments, readings, and activities in Introduction to Public Speaking is to help students develop basic skills and confidence in the art of public speaking. Those skills, and that confidence, rest on understanding communication contexts, audiences, arguments, language, and social influence, as both a speaker and a listener, an understanding that can only be achieved through creative inquiry and issues and critical thinking about communication pragmatics. Beyond preparing you to speak and listen effectively, course assignments, exemplars and discussions help students become aware of the role of speech in our individual and public lives and develop information and data literacy as well as critical appreciation for the practices of public speaking in our social institutions.
Course textbook:
- Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as AdvocacySpeak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy is a contemporary, interdisciplinary public speaking textbook that fuses rhetoric, critical/cultural studies, and performance to offer an up-to-date resource for students. With a focus on advocacy, this textbook invites students to consider public speaking as a political, purposeful form of information-sharing.
Suggested Introductory Texts
Understanding Public Speaking by ISBN: 9780429274176Publication Date: 2019-04-26Public speaking is a much coveted yet difficult art. This book illustrates the use of various linguistic devices and persuasive strategies with examples from the speeches of powerful orators in history. It systematically draws on the various approaches to public speaking and persuasive discourse to present new insights and techniques. The volume: Critically examines strategies of persuasive oratory. Draws on extensive investigation of a corpus of famous public speeches in history. Focuses on the needs of those who want to brush up their public speaking skills. The volume will be a key reference for aspiring civil servants, lawyers, business and corporate professionals, and politicians. It will be of great interest to scholars of linguistics, and political and business communication.
Speaking with a Purpose by ISBN: 9781032512945Publication Date: 2023-09-01Now in its 11th edition, Speaking with a Purpose is designed to help speakers develop the skills they need to prepare and deliver effective speeches. Using a traditional step-by-step approach combined with up-to-date communication theory, this no-frills textbook allows students to prepare, practice, and present speeches. This new edition places greater emphasis on the skills needed to communicate effectively both online and offline. It analyses the similarities and differences between in-person speaking and online video conferencing and explores technical online attributes such as best Zoom protocols. This new edition also provides a deeper focus on the ethics and ethical implications associated with communicating in public and assesses issues such as trustworthiness, integrity, and respect for others. A valuable resource in the traditional, online, or hybrid classroom, this is an essential textbook for general courses in public speaking and speech communication and composition. Online resources for instructors include a fully updated test bank and an Instructor's Manual containing learning objectives and discussion questions. They are available online at https: //www.routledge.com/9781032502700.
Encyclopedia of Rhetoric by ISBN: 9780195125955Publication Date: 2001-08-02The Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is a comprehensive survey of the latest research--as well as the foundational teachings--in this broad field. Featuring 150 original, signed articles by leading scholars from many different fields of study it brings together knowledge from classics, philosophy,literature, literary theory, cultural studies, speech and communications.The Encyclopedia surveys basic concepts (speaker, style and audience); elements; genres; terms (fallacies, figures of speech); and the rhetoric of non-Western cultures and cultural movements. It covers rhetoric as the art of proof and persuasion; as the language of public speech andcommunication; and as a theoretical approach and critical tool used in the study of literature, art, and culture at large, including new forms of communication such as the internet.The Encyclopedia is the most wide ranging reference work of its kind, combining theory, history, and practice, with a special emphasis on public speaking, performance and communication. Cross-references, bibliographies after each article, and synoptic and topical indexes further enhance the work.Written for students, teachers, scholars and writers the Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is the definitive reference work on this powerful discipline.
