The art of Speaking Skill

Control Your Internal Monologue

You can learn to control Internal Monologue by a process called cognitive modification in which you identify negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. Think positively in three areas: about the message, about the audience, and about yourself:

• To think positively about the message, select a topic that interests you and is beneficial to your audience. Give yourself enough time for research and organization. Be sure of your pronunciation; check the dictionary to make sure you know how to say unfamiliar words.
• To promote positive thoughts about the audience, remember that other students are probably just as nervous when they speak, and they are not experts in your subject Assume that they want you to succeed, and focus  on the purpose of your speech. (If your first language is not English, think of how your audience would feel if they had to give a speech in your native language.)
• Maintain a positive self-image by focusing oil the things you x111 well Remind yourself that your worth as a person is unrelated to your skill as a novice public speaker and that competence develops will) experience.

Avoid Prejudging the Speaker

We have all heard that you can’t judge a book by its cover. The same is true of speeches. You can’t judge a speech by the name, race, lifestyle, appearance, or reputation of the speaker.

Jumping to conclusions about a speaker’s ideas before hearing the speech is one of the major barriers to effective listening. But it also has ethical implications. If a speaker has fulfilled her or his responsibility to prepare fully and conscientiously, the audience has an obligation to listen to that speaker before deciding whether to accept or reject what she or he is saying. As the National Communication Association states in its Credo for Ethical Communication, listeners should “strive to understand and respect” speakers “before evaluating and responding to their messages.  This does not mean you must agree with every speaker you hear.

do not want to be a “rubber-stamp” listener any more than you want to be a closed-minded one. Your aim is to listen carefully to the speaker’s ideas, to assess the evidence and reasoning offered in support of those ideas, and to reach an intelligent judgment about the speech.

8 Guidelines for Critical Thinking and Listening

1. Require that statements and claims be supported with facts and figures, testimony, examples, or narratives; insist that these be relevant, representative, recent, and reliable.

2. Do not accept what anyone says at face value. Examine the credentials of sources, particularly in terms of their competence and trustworthiness.

3. Differentiate among facts, inferences, and opinions.

4. Be wary of language that seems purposely vague or incomprehensible.

5. Be on guard against claims that promise too much.

6. Look for plausible reasoning, especially when messages arouse emotion.

7. Be receptive to new ideas and new perspectives, but scrutinize them carefully.

8. Ask questions, Responsible advocates welcome serious questions; unethical speakers fear them and usually become defensive.