3. •HOW SPEECH IS LEARNED
You learned how to speak by imitating those around you. When
you say are repeated words correctly, you were reinforced by words of
praise, smile, hugs and other favorable reponses. Your first reinforcers
probably included your parents brothers and sisters if you had any, and
close relatives.
If you are like most people, the most inportant factor in regard to
your ability to communicate is the image or concept you have of
yourself. How you see yourself is directly related to your ability to
communicate. The better yourself concept, the more likely you will be to
communicate positively and confidenly.
4. SELF- CONCEPT
Self- concept refers to the perception you have of
yourself in regard to your physical
appearance, intelligence, personality, strengths, and
weaknesses. You develop an image of yourself not only by
how you view your own behavior, attitudes, values, and
bealiefs but also because of the way’other have reacted to you
both verbally and non verbally.
some responses that were particularly important to you
came from those whom psychologists and sociolgists call’’
significant other’’- peers, teachers, counselors, and so on.
5. SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
Significant others are those people we respect, whose
opinions are particularly important to us. If significant others
see us as being intelligent, competent and caring, chances are
we will see ourself in the same way. How, for example, did you
arrive at the opinion you have of yourself as a student? Did
your teachers praises you because of the quality of your
work, because you answered the questions correctly.
The messages we receive from them help us to perceive
a picture of ourselves in regare to many characteristics both
desirable and undesirable, similiar to or including the ones
listed:
6. Intelligent confident likable
Skillful moral talented
Personable healthy emotional
Accomplished frienndly insightful
Kind objective homorous
A person’s self-concept-the list can be limitless. Self-concept is not
static; it continuously changes. These can often be changed, following
are specific suggestions for improving your self-concept.
7. IMPROVING SELF-CONCEPT
Slf-concept has a great deal to do with your ability to
ceommunicate.Following are specific suggestions for
improving your self-concept.
1. Be willing to change. The fact that you are chrolled in a
course in speech indicates that you intend to improve your
ability to communicate. If you do improve, it will have a
positive effect on your self- concept.
2. Be willing to forgive yourself. To maintain a good self-
concept, you must accept the fact that people make
mistakes and try not to make the same mistake twice.
8. 3. Set realistic goals. Some people are constantly on a downer because
they set goals for themselves that they cannot possibly achieve. You
know what your limitations are.
4. Develop your uniqueness. No matter how long the world continues
there will never be another exactly like you.
5. Stand up for what you believe. Don’t fell you always have to go along
with the crowd. You may fell better about yourself after supporting an
unpopular cause.
6. View yourself in the proper perspective. Include both the real and
ideal self in your self-concept. Although you might have a long way to go
to reach your ultimate goal of what you want to become, if things are
now going according to plan, you have reason to fell good about
yourself.
9. THE IDEAL SELF
The ideal self is the kind of person you would most like
to be. This refers to the kind of qualities or characteristics you
would like to through exercise, dicting, appropriate dress, and
careful grooming, improving your ability to communicate with
others in a more open-minded, positive, and empathic way
will go a long way toward improving your self-image.
possess, qualities that would make you a more substantive
person. Self honestly is realistic and attainable. Improve your
personal appearance
10. THE WAY OTHERS SEE YOU
talented as your sister or as nice as your brother. A teacher might have
implied that either of them was smarter than you. These responses
from others could lead you to form a rather negative concept of
yourself, resulting in low self-esteem.
You perceive how people feel about you by observing Equally
as important as the way you see yourself and the person you’d like to
be is your idea of how others see you. Much of self-perfeption
developed as you were growing up. You parent may have said you
weren’t as their verbal and nonverbal reactions to you, if you
say, ‘’good morning’’ to an interesting reinforced and your self-esteen
remai is intact.
The reaction of others to us can be interpreted differently. The
same reaction might enhance the self-esteem of one peson, yet lower
the self-esteem of another.
11. SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY
When it was over said to a friend, ’’i knew that was going to happen! ‘’ if you
have, it was probably the result of what is called a ‘’self-fulfilling prophecy. ‘’A self-
fulfilling prophecy occurs when a person’s belief about what is going to happen
influences his or her behavior, making the expected outcome more likely.
Example, consider the following situations: you expected to be nervous and do test
and failed it.
Another kind of self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when we are influenced to
believe or act in a certain way because of the opinions of significant others.
The self-fulfilling prophecy can also operate in negative ways. Teachers who
tell their students that they are misfits,or parents who tell their children that they
are dumb, can do immesurable harm to these childrens self-concept, which often
results in the expected behavior.
12. THE COMMUNICATIVE ACT
There are five elements involved in the speech communication
process: a speaker, a message, a channel (through which the message is
sent), an audience, and a response. A simple speech situation can be
summarized as follows:
1. A speaker wishes to communicate an idea.
2. The speaker ancodes the idea in a message.
3. The message is sent through a channel to an audience.
4. The audience receives and decodes the message.
5. The audience responds to the message.
13. Speaker
The process of communication begins with a speaker who wishes to
communicate an idea or some ideas. Perceive a speaker as being a person of
competence, integrity, goodwill are most likely to believe what the speaker says.
Mesagge
The listener attends to the message and understands it, the speaker must
encode it in language that is both interesting and clear. Words that are specific and
familiar help to make a message clear.
Channel
The means through which a message is transmitted. Message can be
transmitted through, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching channels. Can
add nonverbals to the message to make it more meaningful.
14. Audience
Whithout an audience, communication does not take place. This
emphasizes the fact that all communication by a speaker must be
audience centerend.
Response
The success or failure of a communication is determined by
audience response. Successful when communicating, the speaker’s
purpose-to inform, to entertain, or to persuade-must be echieved.
15. COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWNS
Communication breakdowns occur because of
some failure in the communication process. The
message daydreaming you fail to hear your
instruction announce. Speaker has failed to analyze
the audience correctly.
Communication breakdowns can be traced to
one of the five elements in the communcation
process: the speaker, message, channel, audience, or
response.
16. Consider the following situations and determine where the
breakdowns in communication occured.
1. You fail to hear your instructor announce a quiz for the next
class period.
2. You miss much of what your new girlfriend’s father tells you.
3. You can’t decipher a message on your answering machine.
4. You fail to understand a lecture on computer literacy.
5. Your girlfriend starts crying when you ask her if she’s gained
some weight.
17. LISTENING
A frustating while delivering your
speech, chances are that less than 15 percent of
your audience will be actively listening to you.
Difference between hearing and listening.
Hearing is the act of perceiving, sounds, while
listening involves making sense out of what you
have heard.
Listening is an active process involving both
concentration and thinking. Following are eight
barries to concentracion in listening:
18. • External noise
Taking , footsteps, whispering, coughing, and
street noise are some of things that make it
difficult to pay attention to a speaker.
• Internal noise
Personal problems or concern about others
can be so intens that it is extremely difficult
to listen carefully.
• Bias toward speaker
An instructor whose voice is raspy, prefaces
everything with “you know” by concentrating
on the content of the speech rather than the
delivery
19. • Emotional reaction
Word or phrase can cause a negative respons
with a listener ‘s ability to concentrate. Honky
or greaser can trigger emotional respons that
screen out emotional reaction.
• Daydreaming
A pleasant daydream rather than paying
attention? The tendency to daydream is
influenced by two factors. First a listener is
able to think at a much faster rate than a
speaker can speak. Second attention is
intermittent.
20. • Faking attention
Students learn to sit at their desks while
learning forward with hands propped under
their chins and an interested expression on
their face. It can be a difficult habit to break.
• Fatigue
Tired from too much studying or partying the
night before, you will find it difficult to
concentrate.
• Improper note taking
Wind up missing the point the speaker is
trying to make. The way to avoid this problem
is to develop note taking skills.
21. WAYS TO IMPROVE LISTENING
• Prepare to listen
To prepare yourself to listen. This means knowing something
about the subject beforehand. To determine the subject from
the title of the speech or lecture. You can go to the library or
read your textbook to obtain information that will help you
better understand what speaker has to say.
22. • Avoid distractions
Distraction can interfere with concentration
and make it difficult to listen. To limit external
distraction, arrive early enough to get a
centrally located seat close to the speaker.
• Identify the central idea
If the speech you are listening to has been
well prepared, the central idea should become
immediately apperant. Clue as to the centaral
idea from the title or purpose.
• Identify the main points
The listener’s job is to sort out these main
points from the supporting material. This take
thinking and concentration.
23. • Think along with the speaker
Try to reconstruction the organizatol pattern
of the speech. Determine if the speaker is
supporting each new idea with a variety of
supporting mterials.
• Take effective note
learning to take effective notes is an excellent
way to improve your listening skills. It takes
clear thinking and concentration to sort out
main ideas from supporting detail.
24. NOTE-TAKING TIPS
• Write Down Only Important Ideas
A good speech is planned around a central idea and several
main points. Words like specifically, further, and first indicate
that a speaker is moving from one point to another.
• Write Legibly
Sometimes note takers write so hurriedly that when they
finish, they can’t read their own notes.
25. • Keep up
Behind in your note taking, skip a few lines
and begin again.
• Use your own words
Your own vocabulary, they will be easier to
understand and remember.
• Be brief
A common mistake among inexperienced note
takers is the tendency to write down too
much.
• Don’t erase
Wasting time erasing, draw a line through the
mistake and continue.
26. • Don’t worry about spelling
Write it phonetically. Check the spelling later
when you expand your notes.
• Date your notes
Enable you to pinpoint a missed lecture or the
specific date of a speech.
• Expand your notes
Studying for an exam, it is wise to expand
them as soon after a lecture as possible.
