12 CHaPTER 1 StudY guIde
Study guide: review and apply
Meet Your Objectives
1.1 Compare and contrast public speaking and conversation.
Public speaking—presenting a message to an audience—is similar to conversa-
tion in that it requires focus, expression, and adapting to an audience. However,
public speaking is more planned, more formal, and has more defined roles for
speakers than conversation.
key term
Public speaking1.2 Explain why it is important to study public speaking.
Since you are highly likely to be called on to speak in public, skill in public
speaking can empower you. It can also help you secure employment or advance
your career.
key terms
Empowerment
Critical thinking1.3 Sketch and explain a model that illustrates the components and the
process of communication.
Like other forms of communication, public speaking is a process. Different theo-
rists have explained the communication process as (1) action, by which a source
transmits a message through a channel to a receiver; (2) an interaction, in which
the receiver’s feedback and the context of the communication add to the action;
and (3) a transaction in which source and receiver simultaneously send mes-
sages and build a shared meaning.
key terms
Source
Encode
Code
MessageDecode
Channels
Receiver
External noiseInternal noise
Feedback
Context1.4 discuss in brief the history of public speaking.
As you develop your own public-speaking skills, your study will be guided
by experience and knowledge gained over centuries of making and studying
speeches, since the golden age of ancient Greece to today, when you are likely to
watch video of speeches rather than hear them in person.
key terms
Rhetoric
Declamation
Elocution