88 5.5 Listening to speeches
addressing the school board, each speaker uses rhetorical strategies to achieve
a goal. The more clearly you can identify and analyze the speaker’s methods,
the more effectively you can assess whether the message and the messenger are
worthy of your support.Giving Feedback to Others
As you enhance your skills of listening to messages and identifying the rhetori-
cal strategies a speaker uses, you may be asked to evaluate the speeches of other
people and provide feedback to them. You can use the speech evaluation criteria
in Figure 5.2 to help you evaluate others’ messages. Your instructor may provide
you with a speech evaluation form that will also help you to focus on and evalu-
ate essential elements of public speechmaking.
When you’re invited to critique your classmates’ speeches, your feedback
will be more effective if you keep some general principles in mind. Because
the word criticism means “to judge or discuss,” to criticize a speech is to dis-
cuss the speech—identifying both its strengths and those aspects that could be
improved. Effective criticism stems from developing a genuine interest in the
speaker rather than from seeking to find fault.- Be descriptive. In a neutral way, describe what you saw the speaker doing.
Act as a mirror for the speaker to help him or her become aware of gestures
and other nonverbal signals of which he or she might not be aware. (If you are
watching a video recording of the speech together, you can help to point out
behaviors.) Avoid providing a list of only your likes and dislikes; describe what
you observe.
Effective: Stan, I noticed that about 50 percent of the time, you had
direct eye contact with your listeners.
Less Effective: Your eye contact was lousy. - Be specific. When you describe what you see a speaker doing, make sure
your descriptions are precise enough to give the speaker a clear image of your
perceptions. Saying that a speaker had “poor delivery” doesn’t give him or her
much information—it’s only a general evaluative comment. Be as specific and
thoughtful as you can.
Effective: Dawn, your use of color on your overhead transparency
helped to keep my attention.
Less Effective: I liked your visuals. - Be positive. Begin and end your feedback with positive comments. Begin-
ning with negative comments immediately puts the speaker on the defensive
and can create so much internal noise that he or she stops listening. Starting and
ending with positive comments will engender less defensiveness. Some teachers
call this approach the feedback sandwich. First, tell the speaker something that
you thought he or she did well. This will let the speaker know that you’re not an
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