strategies to enhance audience Understanding 15.3 325
Use Principles and Techniques of Adult Learning
Most public-speaking audiences you face will consist of adults. Perhaps you’ve
heard of pedagogy, the art and science of teaching children. The word pedagogy
is based on the Greek words paid, which means “child,” and agogos, which means
“guide.” Thus, pedagogy is the art and science of teaching children.
Adult learning is called andragogy.^4 Andr is the Greek word that means
“adult.” andragogy is the art and science of teaching adults. Researchers and
scholars have found andragogical approaches that are best for adult learning. (If
you’re a college student over the age of 18, you are an adult learner.) What are
andragogical, or adult-learning, principles? Here are some of the most impor-
tant ones.^5
• Provide information that is applicable to audience members’ needs and interests.
Most people who work in business have an in-basket on their desk to
receive letters that must be read and work that must be done. Each of us
also has a kind of mental in-basket, an agenda for what we want or need
to accomplish. If you present adult listeners with information that they can
apply immediately to their “in-baskets,” they are more likely to focus on
and understand your message.
• Actively involve listeners in the learning process. Rather than having your lis-
teners sit passively as you speak, consider asking them questions to think
about or, in some cases, to respond to on the spot.
• Connect listeners’ life experiences with the new information they learn. Adult lis-
teners are more likely to understand your message if you help them connect
new information with their past experiences. The primary way to do this is
to know the kinds of experiences that your listeners have had and then refer
to those experiences as you present your ideas.
• Make new information relevant to listeners’ needs and their busy lives. Most
adults are busy—probably, if pressed, most will say they are too busy forEnhance Message Clarity
Communication research Joseph Chesebro has collected the following suggestions:
• Preview your main ideas in your introduction.
• Tell your listeners how what you present relates to a previous point.
• Frequently summarize key ideas.
• Provide a visual outline to help listeners follow your ideas.
• Provide a handout prior to your talk with the major points outlined. Leave space on your outline
so that listeners can jot down key ideas.
• Once you have announced your topic and outline, stay on message.HOW TO