Communication skills as generic objects: a relational view

Under the background of constructing the talent training system for English majors with Chinese characteristics, changing the traditional teaching mode is the key to the curriculum reform. Based on the current teaching situation and the necessity of reform of English Public Speaking course, this paper puts forward a blended teaching mode by using the Superstar Teaching Platform. This paper analyzes how to construct the blended teaching mode of English Public Speaking course before, during and after class, how to develop the online learning database, and how to improve the course evaluation system. The practice shows that this mode not only improves the teaching quality of English Public Speaking course, but also reflects the deep integration of talents training and modern information technology in colleges and universities in the new era.

This best-practices article endorses incorporating service-learning into the foundational public speaking course. The article explains connections between service-learning and the rhetorical tradition, highlights pedagogical approaches that would benefit from a service-learning component, and discusses the benefits of service-learning for community partners and students. The remainder of the article focuses on how to implement servicelearning in a public speaking course, including reflection and assessment recommendations.

Given the diversified background of students in the United States, the demand for cultural responsiveness in education has increased. Previous research has explored how teachers apply culturally responsive teaching and assessment (CRTA) to reach marginalised students in kindergarten -12th grade classrooms. Higher education has received less attention. This study initiates a promising step for investigating cultural responsiveness through the lens of college students, an area that has not been fully explored in the prior research. Specifically, our research team conducted semi-structured interview with 38 undergraduate students to examine the presence and potential of CRTA in a predominantly white public speaking course. Students spoke positively about how their course instructors created a respectful, welcoming environment and demonstrated care for students’ academic success. However, richer aspects of cultural responsiveness were minimal. Similarly, students’ perceptions of the potential for CRTA in the course were mixed and largely superficial. These findings can contribute to faculty development and course design across many colleges and universities.

This study presents the results of two studies using a virtual reality (VR) public-speaking training simulation as an instructional aid in a basic communication course. Results from the first study suggest that VR practice was associated with higher subsequent speech delivery grades in the course compared to no practice. However, VR practice did not reduce public speaking anxiety (PSA). In a follow-up study, VR practice was compared with other forms of lab-based practice including in front of a mirror and a recorded video session. All forms of lab practice (VR, mirror, or video) were associated with higher speech grades than no practice, but there were no differences between lab-practice conditions in terms of outcomes. Results are discussed in terms of adopting and using virtual public-speaking simulations in large undergraduate public-speaking courses.

In Bangladesh, English is taught as a foreign language. The English Language Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP) introduced commutative textbooks in between 1992 to 2001 from class three to the higher secondary level. The main aim of ELTIP is to facilitate the teaching and learning of English with a methodology that will encourage students to acquire communicative competence in English through regular practice of these skills. Each of the books contains many tasks on speaking, but unfortunately in reality there is no practice and reflection of this skill. The speaking skill is never examined in S.S.C. and H.S.C. exam though in the English medium schools the scenario is totally opposite. Now the students who get admitted in the private universities having a very poor competency in speaking face great problems from the very beginning because English is the medium of instruction in these universities and general English courses are compulsory for all students. Very few students are capable of understanding lectures given in English. So conducting the class in English becomes a great challenge for all teachers. In my paper, I intend to analyse some factors that are closely related with teaching speaking. Then I will try to evaluate how Public Speaking course at Stamford University Bangladesh plays a vital role in teaching speaking, and our teachers’ and learners’ opinions regarding this course. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/sje.v7i0.14473 Stamford Journal of English; Volume 7; Page 183-203

This study explores the effectiveness of mobile-assisted language learning applications in enhancing the speaking skills of university students enrolled in a public speaking course. Two applications were employed to target fluency and pronunciation. Peer evaluation assessed fluency using one application, while informal teacher evaluation focused on pronunciation with another. Students provided feedback on the functionality of both applications. Results indicated that participants found the applications helpful, expressing a positive reception to incorporating such technology to supplement their course learning.

Various emerging technologies have transformed education in the past decades. Blended-learning combining the strengths of both traditional face-to-face teaching approaches and online learning activities enhances the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Taking English Public Speaking Course as a case in point, the paper introduces the design of a blended-learning model which adopts Rain Classroom, a smart teaching tool to facilitate effective teaching and learning. A blended learning model as such demonstrates a new approach to training public speaking skills by improving students’ learning autonomy, enhancing interactions and fostering a learning community.

This study investigates how the Initiation Response Feedback (IRF) pattern, integrated with an AI-based feedback tool, supports public speaking instruction in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. It examines (1) how IRF patterns emerge in classroom interaction, (2) how IRF contributes to feedback effectiveness and students’ public speaking performance, and (3) how an AI tool, AI Feedback Presentation, a Gradio application deployed on Hugging Face Spaces is positioned within the feedback ecosystem and students’ academic literacy. The research adopts a qualitative classroom discourse analysis design. Participants were 19 third semester students enrolled in a Public Speaking course in an English Literature program at a private university in Makassar, Indonesia. Data were collected through participant observation, audio video recordings, verbatim transcripts of four key meetings, and pilot logs from the AI Feedback Presentation application. The four meetings focused on polite (dis)agreement, formal presentation structure and peer feedback, discussions on empathy, plastic use, AI and academic honesty, and modeling of expert speeches. Data were analyzed by segmenting IRF sequences, coding feedback types, and developing themes related to public speaking skills and AI use. Findings show that IRF is consistently employed to scaffold students’ spoken production from short responses to structured, polite opinions and formal presentations. The combination of IRF with recasts, metalinguistic explanations, elaborative feedback, and affective support enhances students’ awareness of politeness, speech organization, and delivery (eye contact, intonation, body language). The AI Feedback Presentation tool provides automatic transcription and simple performance metrics, which function as triggers for reflection rather than grading mechanisms. Students perceive AI as a useful assistant for grammar and idea generation, while also recognizing risks to academic honesty. The study proposes an IRF AI framework in which human and AI feedback are complementary in public speaking instruction.

This research shows that in this digital era, education is required to switch from traditional methods to more innovative ways in improving students' abilities such as digital storytelling in learning public speaking at MTs Al Amiriyyah Banyuwangi is effective in improving speaking skills and understanding English texts. This study uses a qualitative approach with a case study design, involving 2 public speaking skills teachers and 45 students from two classes at MTs Al Amiriyyah Banyuwangi. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, classroom observations. Data analysis was carried out thematically to identify themes such as student confidence and creativity. The validity of the data is maintained through triangulation, which involves the use of several data collection techniques, including in-depth interviews, observations, and documentation. By combining these methods, this study is able to cross-check and validate findings, ensuring a more comprehensive and reliable understanding of the implementation of digital storytelling in public speaking training at MTs Al Amiriyyah Banyuwangi. The results of the study show that the application of digital storytelling has a significant effect in improving students' public speaking skills. This helps students understand the structure of the story, so that the speech becomes more organized and engaging. In addition, digital storytelling boosts students' confidence through visual and narrative elements, which makes them more comfortable speaking in front of an audience. This method contributes to the mastery of technological skills, such as video editing and presentation creation, that are relevant to the needs of the digital age.

Many public speaking students experience some level of public speaking anxiety, a subtype form of generalized social anxiety/communication apprehension that is tied to a specific speech event. Public speaking instructors traditionally draw on an array of pedagogical strategies to help students mediate public speaking anxiety (systematic desensitization, cognitive modification, skills training, etc.). This study explores the use of semester-long small groups organized by public speaking anxiety level that utilizes a social activity to mediate public speaking anxiety and promote a positive classroom climate by surveying 171 student-participants at three points during the semester and interviewing participating instructors at the conclusion of the semester. While change in public speaking anxiety levels was not associated with positive evaluations of the small groups, both students and instructors evaluated the pedagogical tool favorably.

This study aims to investigate whether students with introverted and extroverted personalities have significantly different levels of anxiety or not. This study involved 59 students of the English Education Study Program at one of the state universities in North Sumatra. Samples were taken randomly from five classes of sixth semester students who took the Public Speaking course. Semi-structured technique was used in data collection. The data was processed by using two methods; statistical calculations for quantitative data related to the results of filling out questionnaires regarding their level of anxiety when doing public speaking which consists of 17 questions, as well as substantive analysis for qualitative data related to the results of comparison of responses from respondents. The results shows that that 31.03% of introvert students having high anxiety, followed by 68.97% students possessing moderate level of public speaking anxiety. In contrary, 13.33% of extrovert students having high anxiety, followed by 86.67% of them having moderate level of anxiety. The biggest anxiety of respondents is in context “my heart pounds when I give a speech”, where introvert students averagely in 4.03 and extrovert students in 3.03. There are numerous suggestion that students and educators can use to overcome the issues.

The communication apprehension (CA) construct is based on the assumption that information about a person's tendency to experience anxiety in communication situations provides unique information, beyond that provided by assessing that person's predisposition to experience anxiety in general, in predicting anxiety when forced to communicate. However, the validity of this assumption is uncertain. In the present study, the predictive power of the PRCA‐24 and a general anxiety measure was examined at three separate intervals during a semester long public speaking course. Results indicated that, at the outset, the PRCA‐24 and the general anxiety measure predicted anxiety experienced during public speaking with equal power. By the end of the semester, the PRCA‐24 was clearly superior to the general measure in predicting self‐reported performance anxiety.

Play On? Comparing Active Learning Techniques for Information Literacy Instruction in the Public Speaking Course

Video recording is used in Public Speaking class to cope with the new circumstances and condition of online learning during the spread of Covid-19 disease. This study was conducted to find out students' perceptions towards video recording in the public speaking class. Descriptive qualitative approach was chosen as the research design. There were two kinds of techniques of data collection: questionnaire and interview. The research involved 30 students of class 2021 who have taken the Public Speaking class in their second semester at Pattimura University. Students’perception will be analyzed through three aspects: Psyhological aspects, Academic aspects and Technical aspects. The result of this study showed that most of the students had positive perception on the use of video recording. Students admitted that video recording facilitate a better speaking practice which in turn help them to improve their speaking and they feel that they can achieve the learning competencies (Academic aspects). The students also considered the process of making video recording as fun, and exciting (Psychological Aspect). Students also felt there is no significances difficulty in the process of making the video (Technical aspect). In light of the findings, video recording is considered a favorable and effective media for students in Public Speaking course.

This study investigated 113 community college students enrolled in face-to-face and online speech communication courses and their perceptions of instructor speech assessments. Each course completed a self-inventory questionnaire using Google Forms at the completion of the semester. Descriptive statistics and an independent samples t-test analyzed responses. Students enrolled in a face-to-face public speaking course reported statistically significant higher levels of satisfaction with instructor assessment as opposed to those enrolled online. In addition, the results suggest students in a traditional environment believed instructor assessment played a role in increased credibility related to public speaking. These findings enhance the literature through the discovery of significant differences between groups in multiple areas related to instructor feedback. Findings may help design more valuable assessments for online students to more effectively achieve course outcomes and improve performance.