UNIT 5

Speaking Skills

5.1       Extempore / Public Speaking

Extempore

Extempore is a type of impromptu speech given without any prior preparation. It is a format of public speaking where the speaker is given a topic and he/she has to speak on that topic there and then with no pre-meditation whatsoever.

In some cases, the speaker is given a few minutes to organize his thoughts before speaking but in most cases the speaker has to speak on the topic as soon as it is allotted to him.

Extempore tests the knowledge of the speaker as well as their ability to express themselves articulately in a limited amount of time.

Extempore tests the following abilities of a speaker:

1. How quickly one can think of relevant information.
2. How one analyses the topic and identifies the issue that is to be addressed.
3. How prudent one is in generating ideas.
4. Logical Thinking – organizing and prioritizing ideas sequentially.
5. Ability to connect with the audience.
6. Speaking communication skills such as choice of words, tone and vocal stops.
7. Presentation skills such as body language, composure, posture, confidence etc.

To be an articulate speaker, one must practice their vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar as much as he can.

Public Speaking

Public speaking can be defined as a presentation which is given in front of a live audience. It is a performance based art. The goal of public speaking may be to educate, influence or entertain the audience.

Public speakers often implement visual aids such as power-point presentations; relevant objects etc. to get their content across more easily.

Public speaking is different to an online presentation is the sense that an online presentation is made as per the viewer’s discretion whereas public speaking is performed at a specific time and place.

Public speaking consists of five main elements:

1. The source of the message – The speaker
2. The content or information to be delivered – The message
3. To whom the message is addressed – The audience
4. The medium of the message – Speaking
5. The reaction of the audience – The Effect

It is significant to note that one of the most important rules of public speaking is to know one’s audience. In other words, the speaker must know how to talk to and influence his audience, to know which words will carry more effect, how his audience will react to a certain idea, what is the knowledge base or background of his audience etc.

Below are some reasons why the skill of public speaking is important and should be incorporated in one’s skillset:

1. It is a self-confidence booster. By speaking publicly one can overcome their fear of inferiority.
2. Public speaking improves speaking skills in general allowing one to be comfortable around others.
3. It can help one make an impression and win over crowds in both formal and informal settings.
4. Influential public speaking can motivate others to change or grow.
5. Didactic public speaking can help inform people about various topics and ideas they were previously unfamiliar with.
6. It is one of the most effective ways to get one’s message across large audiences.
7. One is required to speak publicly at some point in their lives. Therefore it is advisable to hone one’s skill beforehand.
8. It allows one to demonstrate their knowledge and introduce radical ideas.
9. Public speaking helps one garner people’s admiration which can be helpful in one’s career and social life as well.
10. Public speaking can help advance one’s career and social life.

5.2            Differences Between Extempore and Public Speaking

Following are some major differences between extempore and public speaking:

1. In public speaking the speaker has prior knowledge of the topic on which he is going to speak, but in extempore speeches the speaker has no idea of the topic he is going to be given.
2. An extempore is a type of speech given without any prior preparation. On the other hand, a public speech can be prepared long before it needs to be presented.
3. Public speakers often write their content and practice is thoroughly in order to prepare for their presentation. However, since there is no prior knowledge of the topic which one might get for extempore, it is impossible to practice what one is going to say.
4. Extempore is usually more difficult than public speaking as the speaker has to organize and think of new ideas on the spot and present them logically. Public speaking can be an easy task since the speaker can already prepare for the topic.
5. In extempore the speaker must possess a deep knowledge of a very a large number of topics in order to be efficient, whereas, in general public speaking one needs to be acquainted only with the specific topic he has to speak on.
6. Extempore speech is mostly performed in formal settings while public speaking can be both formal and informal.
7. Public speakers often employ various audio-visual aids such as electronic presentations in order to get their ideas across the audience, however, in extempore speeches, since the speaker has no clue about the topic beforehand he cannot prepare any presentations and therefore has to rely on his words alone.
8. Public speaking rarely test the logical thinking skills of the speaker except for improvisations. On the other hand, during extempore speeches, the speaker has to think and sequentially organise ideas very quickly thus testing his logical thinking ability.

5.3            Guidelines for Practicing Extempore/Public Speaking

Guidelines of practicing extempore speech:

1. Logical Thinking: Organizing and Forming Ideas

Extempore speeches give little to no time to the speaker to prepare, therefore one needs to be fast in forming ideas and thoughts around a given topic. To be good at logical thinking, one should practice writing down about various topics with perfect speed and accuracy.

2.     Keeping The Audience in Mind:

It is necessary to know one’s audience while delivering an extempore speech. The speaker should formulate his thoughts in such a way that his audience understands each and every idea and can relate to them. The language, background, type of setting (formal or informal) all should be kept in mind while speaking.

3.     Being Truthful With The Audience:

If one is asked to give an impromptu speech, he can acknowledge that he has not prepared a speech in advance. This will help relieve tension between the speaker and the audience and create a friendly environment. It should be done in a professional manner not to garner sympathy but to put the audience and oneself at ease.

4.     Practicing for a Minute:

The speaker usually gets a few minutes before presenting which should always be used to practice. When one has finished organising his thoughts, he should practice speaking in a low voice for a minute or two. This will help build confidence and get a grasp on the subject matter.

5.     Hijacking the Topic:

Since the conversation is one-sided during an extempore speech, the speaker is in complete control. It depends on the speaker what path the flow of the speech will take. Keeping this in mind the speaker can relax and speak with confidence.

6.     Introduction, The Main Subject and The Conclusion:

The speech should consist of an introductory sentence which will let the audience know how the rest of the speech will follow. The middle should consist of the main theme of the topic with as many relevant points as possible. The conclusion should summarize all that was spoken before it in a clear and concise manner.

7.     Keeping it Short and Sweet:

Extempore speeches are not expected to be long. The speaker should use this to his advantage and keep the speech short and sweet and to the point. No extraneous digressions must be entertained.

8.     Being Aware of Oneself:

While speaking, one should always be aware of one’s tone, diction and body language. He should also be aware of how the audience is reacting to his speech. One should not say anything that might hurt the audience’s sentiments or make them lose interest.

Guidelines for practicing public speaking:

1. Staying True to Oneself:

Watching other efficient public speakers is a good way to learn and practice but everybody is different. That means that there aren't any rules for what makes an efficient orator. Part of being an authentic orator is knowing the way to be yourself when underneath the spotlight. Acting like yourself instead of trying to imitate somebody else allows you to behave more organically, which may be a boon when attempting to connect with an audience.

2.     Knowing the Purpose of the Speech:

One should always know whether they want to influence, educate or inspire the audience and depending upon that one should decide how to formulate their speech.

3.     Expanding Knowledge Base, Presentation tools and Vocabulary:

Reading about various topics is a great way to expand one’s horizons. ‘Always keep learning’ should be the motto of every public speaker. The speaker should be updated with current affairs and should have a vast vocabulary to incorporate within his speeches. One should also learn how to use electronic slideshows and other presentation tools as they provide an edge to the speech.

4.     Playing to One’s Strengths:

Some people are good at storytelling others are good at using information to influence people. One should find out his strengths and practice them time and time again. The most efficient speakers are ready to effectively identify their strengths and use those strengths as tools to make a presence that's authentic and relatable.

5.     Improvisation:

While speaking it is rare that things go exactly as planned. Therefore one should practice how to improvise when he fumbles or goes blank. Sometimes the presentation tool may malfunction, a listener may ask a question that the speaker is not prepared to answer or the speaker may simply forget one of their points, in situations like these, improvisation helps to get back on track and prevents the audience from losing interest.

6.     Audience is the Center

The speaker is not the focus of the event, the audience is. All good orates cares more about the audience than themselves. This can be difficult if one has speech anxiety, which tends to fill them with bursts of anxiety and self-consciousness. However, focusing fully on the audience lifts a tremendous burden from your shoulders in terms of worrying about your performance.

One should practice taking the audience’s reactions into notice.

7.     Using Body Language and Gestures:

Body language and gestures say as much as the words themselves. One should practice employing gestures as much as possible while speaking. Smiling and being active in general is useful for keeping the attention of the audience on the speaker.

8.     Recording and Reviewing:

One of the most effective public speaking practice techniques is to record oneself while speaking, preferably video recording. Although few people like their own voice, the audience’s viewpoint is more important. Are you gesturing with your hands too much? Is the intro too long? Should you include a story in the middle, so you hold the audience’s attention? All of these questions are important to answer, and it can be easiest to do so by seeing yourself.

9.     Practicing in front of Friends and Family:

Asking family or friends to be practice audience members is a good way to know where one is going right or going wrong. In most cases, these two groups of people know you better than anyone else in your life. That means that, although you may not want to hear it, they know your bad habits better than anyone.

In addition to your bad habits, your family and friends will also be able to tell you if you don’t quite sound like yourself.

5.4       Mother tongue Influence (MTI) – South Indian Speakers

Mother tongue influence refers to the impact the first language has while learning or speaking a second language. For non-native English speakers, the influence of their first language can be a very big problem when it comes to pronunciation.

Whenever we hear a person speaking English with a heavy Gujrati, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil or Malayalam accent, it would be prudent to assume that that person has a MTI problem.

How Does MTI Happen?

If up to later age, the sole language we speak is our mother tongue, tons of the speech patterns get set in the human brain. Each language has peculiar sounds and combinations of consonants and vowels. If we start speaking multiple languages from infancy, we easily retain the pliability of uttering sounds from different language systems. Our brains can be easily trained for various sounds from different languages. But if we don't receive that training in our childhood, our brains get familiar with the sounds on just one language and at a later stage it becomes very difficult to coach the brain for a completely different audio system needed for the second language.

Essentially, bilingual kids face don't face the MTI problem generally because their brains are trained within the flexibility of two or more language systems and therefore they are ready to easily speak two or more  languages without errors.

Effects of MTI on South Indian Speakers:

All south Indian languages  Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada are completely different from the English language and do not contain any rules of pronunciation and intonation that may be similar to English.

This is why if a South Indian speaker is not made familiar with the English language from a very early age, it is easy to spot the mother tongue influence in their pronunciation of English words. For example, If a south Indian is talking about making things “simple‟, you might hear it as either “simbl” or “simpal”. Some other mispronunciations also include, “konstrukson” (construction), “bhaat” (what), “aadio” (audio), brekphast (breakfast).

South Indians like native Telugu speakers speak with a rhotic accent, but the //ə// becomes an /a/, and an alveolar tap is used, resulting in water and never as /wɔːtar/ and /nevar/ respectively. They also tend to curl the tongue (retroflex accentuation) more while uttering consonants like /l/ and /n/. This is because South Indian languages have true retroflex plosives, where the articulation is done with the tongue curved upwards and backwards at the roof of the mouth.

5.5       Various Techniques for the Neutralisation of the Mother Tongue  Influence

Although it might be an arduous process, it is not entirely impossible to neutralisation of the influence of one’s mother tongue in one’s pronunciation. MTI is basically a practice issue, meaning the brain and the various vocal organs of the speaker are so familiarized with the mother tongue that it becomes difficult for them to become accustomed to a completely new set of words and sounds.

The speech habits developed over the years take deep roots in the speakers brain and therefore sustained effort is required to get rid of these habits.

Below are some techniques which might be useful for neutralising the mother tongue influence:

1. Practicing tongue-twisters can also help in improving the pronunciation especially of homophonic words, and to learn differentiate between the sound of consonants like, ‘s-sound’, ‘f-sound’, etc.
2. Read text aloud and note down the words that you pronounce incorrectly to practice later.
3. Watching the news and listening to podcasts  to observe and understand the correct sound of each syllable.
4. Watch English movies and listen to English songs to find out how native English speaker speak English.
5. Join Spoken English classes and have your trainer correct you on the spot as you speak.
6. Record yourself speaking English to find out which words you pronounce incorrectly.
7. Reading the Oxford dictionary can be very useful as it provides the phonetic pronunciation of each word along with its meaning.
8. One of the ways to quickly decrease the influence of mother tongue is to fully immerse yourself into the linguistic and cultural environment of the English language.
9. One of the methods of establishing right pronunciation right off the bat involves the use of a mute period – i.e., a period during which one is exposed to huge amounts of auditory materials in the English without trying to repeat what one hears.
10. Practicing talking to speakers with authentic pronunciation is an effective way to catch on to their accents and neutralise the effect of the mother tongue. This is one of the main reasons why one learns accents and pronunciation easily while living in a foreign country.

5.6       Listening Comprehension:

Listening comprehension comprises of the multiple processes involved in hearing, understanding and making sense of the spoken language. This includes grasping various speech sounds and understanding the syntax of sentences. Listening comprehension can also include the process of understanding how the presentation of sentences changes meaning.

It is often contested that speaking as a skill is more important than listening which is a common misconception. Listening is as important a skill as speaking if not more, as it is only by listening one can learn proper pronunciation and intonation of words which allows him to speak fluently.

Oral language skills including listening comprehension also are important for writing development. Although oral language skills aren't explicitly laid out in the developmental models of writing, they are essential component skills as writing requires generation of ideas, which then need to be translated into oral language.

There are two ways in which a person can listen to something being said to them – active and passive. Passive listening is listening without giving the speaker your full attention. Passive listening is like not listening at all therefore one must always give the speaker their full attention and practice active listening in order to fully grasp the meaning of what the speaker wants to say.

Below are some ways in which one can improve their listening skills:

1. One can start listening to podcasts or audio books with comprehensible difficulty level, meaning the ones which one can already understand 60-8-%. This is necessary as listening to material far above one’s skill level will only leave them dazed and confused.
2. Listening to what one enjoys is also important. It would build up motivation to continue exercising their listening skills.
3. One should start watching English content beginning with short clips and move on to full movies and shows in English along with subtitles. This will help them get familiar with native pronunciation and syntax of different kinds of sentences. While watching with subtitles one should always avoid reading the subtitles beforehand and should read them as the words are being spoken.
4. Native English is fast spoken. Therefore it is necessary to acquaint oneself with different speeds in spoken English. To do this, one should listen and re-listen the same material at different speeds while trying to focus on the different sounds, words and their meanings.
5. When listening to an audio, it is often helpful to take notes.

While practicing listening, the following steps will help to understand the content more clearly:

Step 1: Write down the topic of the audio

Step 2: If there are multiple speakers, their names are to be written down (e.g. Speaker 1, Speaker 2)

Step 3: Write down the crux of what each speaker is trying to convey.It is even better to use points for their central ideas.

Step 4: If you frequently hear a word you do not understand, try to write it down so you can look it up later

Step 5: If there's a word or sentence you find interesting, write it down so that you can practice using it in your own conversations.

5.7       Information Transfer – Oral Presentation.

An oral presentation is a formal talk given on a specific set of topics to inform and educate. They may be short or long, include slides or other visual aids, and be done individually or in a group.

Planning and structuring an oral presentation is similar to the process of writing an essay, except the speaker needs to be conscious of a live audience and use spoken language instead of written.

To create a successful oral presentation, four basic steps must be followed:

Step 1: Planning:

While planning an oral presentation, the following questions should be kept in mind:

1. What is the aim of your research?
2. Why are you presenting it in oral form?
3. What is important about your findings?
4. What is the key focus of your presentation?
5. To whom are you presenting your findings?
6. Are they more or less knowledgeable on the topic than you?
7. What does your audience expect to gain from listening to you?

The presentation must be planned in such a way that it answers all these questions first before moving on to the structuring stage.

Step 2: Structuring the Presentation:

Like an essay, an oral presentation needs an introduction, body and a conclusion. The introduction may consist of an anecdote or provocative question to engage the audience right from the start. A question that includes your audience will make them want to follow through with you to find out the implications as they relate to them directly. The body will contain the main theme of the presentation where the ideas introduced earlier are explored thoroughly. The concluding statement should be a clear summary of what has been said in the main part of the presentation. It should also point toward further research or conclusive results if possible.

There are a lot of differences in speech and writing, and they must be kept in mind while preparing an oral presentation.

One of the most obvious ways in which to achieve natural speech is to speak sometimes in the first person - you can refer to yourself in an oral presentation, for example, "I'd like to start by..." or "Let me give you an example...", whereas in written projects it is best to keep the use of the first person to a minimum.

While preparing for an oral presentation, visual aids such as PowerPoint presentations could be very useful to illustrate one’s ideas more clearly. It can be very purposeful to employ such visual aids while discussing the central themes of the topic.

Step 3: Preparation:

Preparedness helps in easing nerves nous and boosts confidence. The following considerations should be kept in mind while preparing for oral presentations.

Time limits:

The presentation must be practiced a number of times to get the pacing right and to ensure the information can be contained in the time provided. Finishing too early might make the audience think that you lack proper material or understanding of the topic whereas finishing too late might make them feel boredom.

Speak from notes:

It's preferable to reduce the original paper to bullet points while presenting so as to not lose eye contact, intonation and good posture.

Body language:

Use of gestures and good posture combined with a smile keeps the audience engaged and interested.

Voice:

Loudness should be ample so that the audience can hear you clearly and the pace should be perfect so they can follow your arguments. Use silence and pauses effectively when making particular points, also speaking in monotone should be avoided.

Step 4: Presentation:

If all of the previous steps are followed carefully, one should be able to present easily and effectively. Questions should be welcomed and special attention should be given to the audience’s reactions and one’s own body language.

It should always be kept in mind what the purpose of the presentation is and all improvisations should be done in accordance to that purpose. The presentation should be ended with a polite “thank you” and all questions from the audience should be answered as clearly as possible.

5.8       Common Errors in Pronunciation

There is a great difference in how the words are spelled and the way they are pronounced in the English language. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain the correct pronunciation of a word by just looking at it the way it is spelled. This often results in mispronunciation. Only by hearing the correct pronunciation from a native speaker one can truly understand how words are supposed to be articulated.

For example, consider the following words – through, cough, though, rough, bough. In these words the pronunciation of the letters –ough varies with each word.

Similarly read, need, believe, machine, receive, we, people, key, quay contain nine different spellings for the same vowel sound in the word “need”.

Below are some commonly made errors with respect to pronunciation and how to avoid them -

THE -ED SUFFIX ON REGULAR VERBS

The past tense of various verbs are formed by adding the suffix “-ed” to the base form of the verb. But Even though all  regular verbs are formed the same way, they might be pronounced quite differently. Depending on the preceding syllable, the -ed suffix can be pronounced in three different ways: /id/, /d/, or /t/.

/ID/

This pronunciation is used when “-ed” is preceded by a “d” or a “t”.

Examples

need   → needed

end      → ended

start     → started

want     → wanted

/T/

Regular verbs that end in a voiceless consonant sound have the /T/ pronunciation. Some common voiceless consonants include: /f/ /k/ /p/ /s/ /t/ /sh/ y /ch/.

Examples

/f/ laugh       → laughed

/p/ stop      → stopped

/sh/ wash       →washed

/k/ like       → liked

/s/ miss    → missed

/D/

Regular verbs having a voiced consonant sound have this pronunciation. Some common voiced consonants are: /b/ /g/ /v/ /z/ /m/ /n/ /l/ /th/ /r/.

Examples:

/b/ grab      → grabbed

/g/ beg      → begged

/n/ listen → listened

/l/ kill → killed

SILENT LETTERS

Silent letters are consonants that appear in a word but are not pronounced. It can be difficult for a non-native speaker to grasp which letters are silent in a word, therefore resulting in errors in pronunciation. For example, There are many English words where the “h” is not pronounced. The same applies to many other consonants. Let’s look at some examples.

Silent H

Although it should be kept in mind that the aspirated “h” in English is always pronounced. Here is a list of words that begin with a silent “h”.

hour

honour

honest

heir

herbs

These words containing the silent 'h' usually have a vowel right after 'h' and the actual pronunciation begins from the said vowel.

Silent P

There are a number of words where the first 'p' is not pronounced leading to mispronunciation by non native speakers. Here are those words:

Psychology

Psychiatrist

Pseudo

Pneumonia

Pneumatics

Psalms

Another commonly mispronounced word 'receipt', where the “p” is not at the beginning of the word, is followed by a consonant, but is not pronounced.

There are many other silent letters in English and the only way to recognize them is by practicing their usage. By a general rule, they are consonants followed by other consonants. For example: doubt , subtle , assign , design , knife , knight .

THE STRESS ON DERIVED WORDS

Sometimes the stress passes from a later syllable to the first syllable in some derived forms of verbs. Their visual similarity can be misleading and therefore should be paid close attention to.

Examples

Implant (v) implant (n)

Project (v) project (n)

Upgrade (v) upgrade (n)

References:

• Communication Skills by Sanjay Kumar and Pushp Lata, Oxford University Press - 2018. Refer it's workbook for activities and exercises.
• “Communication Skills – I (A Workbook)” published by Oxford University Press – 2018.
• English Language Communication Skills (Lab Manual cum Workbook), Cengage learning India Pvt Limited [Latest Revised Edition] –2018