3.2 Speech, Communicating, Elocution

Speech, Communicating, Elocution SoT-3-2-Communicating

You are accountable to your students. They need to hear and understand you, or you need to take measures to address any shortcomings.
Have someone sit in your class, at the back of the room, and tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.
Take communication courses, get speech therapy, or take language lessons; whatever it takes. If necessary, prepare thorough lecture notes and share them at the start of the lecture. This might be the best way to mitigate communication issues. You might also have to record all lectures, labs, and tutorials and share them.

Eh? What did they just say?

Speaking, communicating, elocution. These are topics rarely discussed and dived into. These are topics that a native language speaker, someone using a second or third language, or someone with a speech impediment needs to consciously think about and be self-aware about. Namely, everyone! As professional, highly compensated educators, we have a duty and obligation to communicate effectively and efficiently with our students. To do otherwise is a dereliction of duties and is irresponsible.

Certain speech impediments do not go away and we have had to be consciously aware of our own speech issues and ‘bad habits’ throughout our life. We have also given lectures in a second language (or tried to) and we have lived in regions with strong dialects and a localized lexicon. We have had to be accountable to our students; especially if we expect them to listen and 'hear'.'

Are you speaking clearly enough that people can understand what you want them to understand? And at the speed that you are speaking? At the back of the class? On the video? During live streaming?

Reflections…

It is important to face the students when speaking because the face, lips, and mouth help to understand what is being said (i.e., don’t talk to a chalkboard).
It is easy to speak too fast when one is talking about a subject one knows inside/out, and/or has had years of experience with. Pacing is important.
When delivering a lecture or discussing a matter with students, it is easy to forget how you speak and how you sound to a listener. Not all listeners will interact with your communication style in the same way either. To some degree you can’t be perfect in ALL communications with EVERYONE all of the time. But, at least you can, and should try to be understood and deal with any issues.
Not everyone with a speech impediment is aware that they have one. Some are, some are not. There are different forms that a speech impediment can take. While it is not right that someone should holds this against someone, it is also not right if the individual with a speed impediment does nothing to mitigate and address the issue when the speaking is performed in a professional context. Understand what the speech impediment means to the listener and deal with it. Do not ignore what the impediment implies. Detailed notes and recorded sessions are two ways to help. Having TAs attend lectures and pick up on possible topics for later clarification will also help.

Be aware that refresher lessons and practice might be necessary during the career. Rarely is it one and done. Never consider yourself “too old” for a refresher class. We had one in our fifties.
When creating videos, have peers review the material before sharing with the class. You should avoid asking your TAs for honest feedback as they might not feel comfortable presenting ‘bad news’ to their boss. Some will, most will not; even if you think otherwise.
Be aware of the cue words, phrases, and sounds that people often use to “fill” sentences. These are words and sounds you never hear in a movie, such as the ‘ums’, 'ahs', tongue noises, lips, pops, ‘like’, ‘you know’, etc.
Regions can exhibit local dialects, and this can impact what you think you are saying and what students are hearing. They may not recognize the terms you are using, or the way you are using them. What might be acceptable in one region of a country and laughed at, might be considered a supreme insult in another. We learned this firsthand. Enuf said.
There can be various biases in the speech pattern that need to consciously thought about. There might be inappropriate tone or phrasing used that can be interpreted in the wrong way. We do not just mean the simple phrases that can cause people discomfort. We mean the phrases that might be taken in a way that suggest that you might be a racist, biased, prejudice, have a gender phobia, etc.
The social/cultural metaphors and examples used in speech must also be considered. We are aware of ‘old person’ speak and that students forty years our junior might have no clue what we are referring to or what the words mean. Gotta stay relevant with word choice and expressions!
We must also be aware of what the students have learned or not learned before arriving in our class. We should not assume we know the terminology and concepts imbedded in the student brain.
It is useful to have feedback loops so that you can check during a class if there is any potential miscommunication, and if you did communicate effectively. Do these often.
If by chance there are multiple issues such as delivering in a second language, speech impediment, using unique terminology, notations, formulations, etc. it is really important to be aware of the issues. We suggest that in cases with multiple challenges that the TAs sit in during the lecture so that they know first-hand what the students are hearing and seeing, that detailed lecture notes be provided in advance and that the lecture is recorded and shared with the student as soon as possible after the lecture.

Additional challenges...

Speaking in a second language usually creates additional challenges unless you are 100% fluent... and we mean 100% fluent and can essentially pass off as a native. Syllables, vowels and consonants can be slurred, empathized inappropriately, spoken too quickly or too slowly. Nouns and verbs can be misused or the conjugations do not make sense. If you are speaking in a second language,

Ensure that the students have notes before class so that they can fill in the gaps as you speak.
Have someone observe one or more of your lectures and comment honestly on your delivery and improvement over time; ideally this is someone not so familiar with your speech patterns that they are already comfortable and habituated with your patterns. This person should also be a native speaker in the language you need to teach in.
Sometimes it is necessary to have a speech coach, have lessons, or do extreme immersion to improve the second language (e.g., even at home, speak the students’ language six days a week, struggle through it, and speak your own native language on the seventh day).
Avoid using non-standard terminology, notation, or formulations so that the students will have little trouble identifying in the online material or text.

3.2 Speech, Communicating, Elocution

Eh? What did they just say?

Reflections…

Additional challenges...

Further reading