Speaking Skills
Table of Content:
Speaking Skills
“Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as life the town crier spoke my lines” – Shakespeare, Hamlet.
It is a truth that man is essential a social being. No man can live in isolation. S/he intact with those around her/him constantly be it phatic communion with one`s neighbour, or a formal basis with one`s colleague or informally with one`s friends. Speech serves not only as a primary tool to maintain one`s relationship with others but also to effectively communicate in different settings with different types of people at different times on various topics. So, speech in communication is very essential a part of human interaction. But speech is not only of one kind. Rather speech has various patterns and tonalities as mentioned below.
- Monologue
- Dialogue
- Group Discussion
- Effective Communication/ Mis-Communication
- Interview
- Public Speech
1. Monologue:
Monologue comes from the Greek words ‘monos’, which means “alone,” and logos, which means “speech.” It is a literary device that is the speech or verbal presentation given by a single character in order to express his or her collection of thoughts and ideas aloud. Often such a character speaks directly to audience, or to another character. Monologues are found in dramatic medium like films and plays, and also in non-dramatic medium like poetry.
There are two types of monologue:
a. Dramatic Monologue
A speech is that which is given directly to the audience or another character. It can be formal or informal, funny or serious; but it is almost always significant in both length and purpose. For example, a scene that captures a president’s speech to a crowd exhibits a dramatic monologue that is both lengthy and important to the story’s plotline. In fact, in TV, theatre, and film, all speeches given by a single character—to an audience, the audience, or even just one character—are dramatic monologues.
b. Internal Monologue
The expression of a character’s thoughts that the audience can witness (or read, in literature) what is going on inside that character’s mind. It is sometimes (depending on the style in) referred to as “stream-of-consciousness.” In a piece of writing, internal monologues can often be easily identified by italicized blocks of text that express a character’s inner thoughts. On TV and in films, internal monologues are usually spoken in the character’s voice, but without seeing him actually speak; thus giving the feeling of being able to hear his thoughts.
2. Dialogue
The word derives from the Greek dialogos, which means through (dia) the word (logos), or through the meaning of the word. Literally, then, dialogue is any communication that uses words to convey meaning. However, in our terms, dialogue means a specific kind of participatory process which is particularly well suited to addressing the societal needs.
Dialogue is a process of genuine interaction through which human beings listen to each other deeply enough to be changed by what they learn. Each makes a serious effort to take others’ concerns into her or his own picture, even when disagreement persists. No participant gives up her or his identity, but each recognizes enough of the other’s valid human claims that he or she will act differently toward the other.
Dialogue is an open and inclusive process where communication is based on mutual respect and which main objectives are: to encourage listening, learning and problem solving.
3. Group Discussion
Group" is a collection of individuals who have regular contact and frequent interaction and who work together to achieve a common set of goals. "Discussion" is the process whereby two or more people exchange information or ideas in a face-to-face situation to achieve a goal. The goal, or end product, maybe increased knowledge, agreement leading to action,
disagreement leading to competition or resolution or perhaps only a clearing of the air or a continuation of the status-quo."
"Group Discussion", popularly labelled as GD, is a methodology used by an organization (company, institute, business school, etc.) to gauge whether the candidate has certain personality traits. GDs form an important part of the short-listing process for recruitment or admission in a company or institution. In this methodology, the group of candidates is given a topic or a situation, typically given some time to think about the same, and then asked to discuss it among themselves for a specific duration.
So, a group discussion refers to a communicative situation that allows its participants to share their views and opinions with other participants. It is a systematic exchange of information, views and opinions about a topic, problem, issue or situation among the members of a group who share some common objectives.
4. Effective Communication/ Mis-Communication
Communication is defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs." So, communication is the process of sharing information, thoughts and feelings between people through speaking, writing or body language. Effective communication takes place when the message received is the same as the message intended. To put it simply, effective communication between us happens when I say something to and you understand what I am trying to say and you "get it".
It turns out that miscommunication is actually far more common than effective communication.
5. Interview
An interview is a conversation where questions are asked and answers are given.[1] In common parlance, the word "interview" refers to a one-on-one conversation with one person acting in the role of the interviewer and the other in the role of the interviewee. The interviewer asks questions, the interviewee responds, with participants taking turns talking. Interviews
usually involve a transfer of information from interviewee to interviewer, which is usually the primary purpose of the interview, although information transfers can happen in both directions simultaneously. One can contrast an interview which involves bi- directional communication with a one-way flow of information, such as a speech or oration.
Interviews usually take place face to face and in person, although modern communications technologies such as the Internet have enabled conversations to happen in which parties are separated geographically, such as with videoconferencing software, and interviews can happen without visual contact.
Face to face interviewing makes it easier for people to interact and form a connection, and it helps both the potential employer and potential hire who they might be interacting with. Further, face to face interview sessions can be more enjoyable.
6. Public Speech
Public speaking (also called oratory or oration) is the process or act of performing a speech to a live audience. This type of speech is deliberately structured with three general purposes: to inform, to persuade and to entertain. Public speaking is commonly understood as formal, face-to-face speaking of a single person to a group of listeners.[1] Public speaking can be governed by different rules and structures.
There are five basic elements of public speaking that are described in Lasswell's model of communication: the communicator, message, medium, audience and effect. In short, the speaker should be answering the question "who says what in which channel to whom with what effect?"
Public speaking can serve the purpose of transmitting information, telling a story, motivating people to act or some combination of those. Public speaking can also take the form of a discourse community, in which the audience and speaker use discourse to achieve a common goal.