This study deals with public speaking among teenagers. It is the sincere hope of the writer that this thesis may challenge young people and help motivate them to become better speakers. If it does this then it is partly successful. It may point out some weaknesses and habits in their own style of speaking that are handicaps rather than assets. It may also show some of the strong points of teenage public speaking in general, the writer hopes it will help young speakers want to overcome the trifles of poor speech habits to make their speaking nearer perfection.

Argumentativeness, or the predisposition “to advocate positions on controversial issues and to attack verbally the positions which other people take on these issues” (Infante & Rancer, 1982, p.72), has been associated with a number of positive outcomes. Research among student populations indicates that compared to people who are low in argumentativeness, people high in argumentativeness display higher ability to learn, higher self esteem, greater ability to creatively manage conflict, and higher ability to see both sides of a situation (Barden & Petty, 2008; McPherson Frantz & Seburn, 2003; Rancer, Whitecap, Kosberg, & Avtgis, 1997). Promoting argumentativeness among college students should prepare students to effectively handle conflict and enhance their overall communicative competence, thus setting students up for increased success in life (Rancer et al., 1997). Although much research exists on increasing argumentativeness, none could be found that specifically looked at content in the college level public speaking course in relation to increasing argumentativeness. Specifically, this researcher sought to determine whether instruction in Elaboration Likelihood Model as part of the persuasion unit in a college public speaking course increases student argumentativeness more than instruction in Toulmin’s model of reasoning/argument. Students in seven public speaking courses at a large Southeastern college were asked to complete the Argumentativeness Survey by Infante and Rancer (1982) after receiving instruction in either Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion or Toulmin’s model iii of reasoning/argument. Overall results did not indicate any difference between scores for students that received instruction in the two different content areas

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Lucretia Coffin Mott, in an era filled with events the significance of which reverberates today, spoke publicly about issues of societal and ethical concern. This study focuses on her work as a nineteenth-century female Quaker minister who through public speaking educated adults about the following: abolition of slavery, rights of women, and peaceful ways to address injustice. Separate chapters explore each of these three vital issues. Lucretia Mott ranks as a pioneer female public speaker. At a time that barred women's speaking in public, she spoke about significant issues. Her speaking admitted her to the company of American women who pioneered in speaking publicly. These endeavors to speak to "promiscuous" audiences, those comprised of adult males and females, also admitted her to the company of women who endured criticism, insults, and peril. Through a process of education, these women changed history and shaped culture. Lucretia Mott's Quaker perspective, her way with spoken words, and her womanhood distinguished her work as an educator in public forums and settings that ranged from religious meetings to the lyceum and conventions called to consider issues of national import. What could have prepared this Quaker minister--active in public domains for more than fifty years--for a place among the pioneers who advocated and practiced the right of women to speak purposefully in public forums? Lucretia Mott's commitment to the Society of Friends enabled her to be a pathfinder both in education and on important issues. Therefore, Chapter Two presents an exploration of Quaker history, spirituality, and practices to inform for purposes of historic educational analysis and interpretation. References in historical works to noteworthy innovations that originated from efforts by Quakers in American society and to successes in business sparked this inquiry. This study examined her speeches to see how they reflected Quaker principles and practices and her work as a pioneer public speaker who educated about societal and ethical issues. The study concludes that her work was energized because she knew her history, she questioned her world and she lived her faith. / Ph. D.

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Scholarly analysis of rhetorical speeches over the last century has been concentrated on the “traditional” ways of approaching this kind of texts, without paying much attention to their theatrical nature. The old critical analysis paid attention primarily (if not exclusively) to textual issues such as the recognition of grammatical points and the use of such texts as sources of information about historical and legal issues. The interest of scholars focuses, recently, on the study of rhetorical speeches as performances. Although some critical approaches of Demosthenes’ On the Crown appeared over the last few years, there is no systematic argument about the theatrical features of this masterpiece. By reading On the Crown, I emphasize the connection between law and theater and I suggest that rhetoric has its own “performativity”. The speech is a judicial performance: the speaker is like an actor, the court rostrum is like a theatrical scene and the audience that will vote for Demosthenes consists of the same people who take part in a theatrical performance, praising or booing the actors. The comic and tragic language and imagery, the use of emotional appeals (pathos) that is associated with the construction of characters (ēthopoiia), and finally, delivery (hypocrisis) are important theatrical devices, which Demosthenes uses in the speech. This report has a twofold structure: first, it offers a brief theoretical survey of the above-mentioned theatrical devices. Second, it provides a text-based analysis of the theatrical features of On the Crown, discussing how Demosthenes by using theatrical techniques in his speech succeeds in persuading the audience of the Crown trial and gaining an overwhelming victory over Aeschines. / text

This study examined the role service learning might play in increasing students’ public speaking self-efficacy in a required public speaking course. By increasing students’ public speaking mastery experiences with real world audiences and by providing them with additional feedback from community professionals in the audience, a service learning approach might potentially raise students’ perceptions of public speaking selfefficacy beyond what is gained from a public speaking course taught in a traditional way. A repeated measures, quasi-experimental study design with a comparison group was utilized in this study. Participants included 274 students enrolled in service learning public speaking courses and 328 students enrolled in traditionally taught public speaking courses at the University of Kentucky during the fall 2010 semester. Students enrolled in the service learning sections participated in at least 10 hours of service at a local nonprofit agency in lieu of classroom “seat time” over the course of the semester and developed their speech assignments around the experiences they had at the agency. First, this study attempted to provide support for a new measure of public speaking selfefficacy. In addition, it examined the relationship between students’ public speaking selfefficacy and their public speaking skill, as well as whether students enrolled in the service learning sections experienced different levels of public speaking self-efficacy than their non-service learning counterparts. This study also aimed to discover which sources of self-efficacy are most influential for students in developing their public speaking self-efficacy. Finally, this study compared speech performance ratings (including overall speech performance generally and delivery, structure, and content specifically) of students enrolled in service learning sections and students enrolled in traditional sections. Overall, results provided support for a new public speaking selfefficacy scale. In addition, public speaking self-efficacy and skill were weakly correlated. Next, service-learning and non-service learning students did not differ significantly on measures of public speaking self-efficacy or skill. Finally, mastery experiences seemed to have a larger impact on public speaking self-efficacy for servicelearning students than for non-service learning students.

This study explored the relationship between the personality construct of hardiness and public speaking anxiety. Although hardiness has been widely explored in a variety of anxiety-arousing life events, its relationship with communication anxiety had not been previously studied. Therefore, hardiness, public speaking trait anxiety, and public speaking state anxiety were measured in a course requiring an oral presentation assignment. One hundred fifty students enrolled in a basic speech communication course participated in the study. A statistically significant correlation was revealed between hardiness and trait communication anxiety. Students higher in hardiness reported lower trait communication apprehension in three contexts: 1) meeting, 2) interpersonal, and 3) group. Overall, students did not differ on measures of hardiness and a fourth communication context: public speaking anxiety. Likewise, on measures of hardiness and state public speaking anxiety, students did not differ.