Teaching Culture in Public Speaking

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Individuals’ public speaking skills constantly evolve as they go through different life stages and face a variety of professional and educational situations speaking in front of familiar and unknown audiences. The way public speaking is conceptualized and taught in context of US higher education has not changed dramatically for almost two centuries. Based on the key values and principles of Western societies, public speaking courses have taught students to express their opinion, demonstrate their individuality, and be active participants in a democratic society.
However, as our communities become more diverse and globalized, public speakers and the faculty teaching public speaking face more challenges than ever before. The issues or identity of the speaker and the audience, the ethical dimensions or the speech, audience analysis, building credibility, organizing a speech, developing an argument, expressing an opinion – all these can take on various inflections depending on the cultural context of the speech and the cultural background of the participants. Due to an increase in the number of online classes, public speaking students often face audiences that are not immediately accessible (present?). New pedagogical tools are needed to equip students not only with the knowledge of different ways of public speaking in different cultures, but also with the skills to understand that public speaking is a form of communication that has different meanings in different cultural contexts.
The panel takes a broad look at teaching public speaking in academic settings and presents a variety of contexts, such as US graduate students immersed in diversity issues at a seminar, college students in a classroom in Turkey, or Russian and US American undergraduates debating each other via the Internet. The panel is structured to showcase four independent studies that seek to explore connections between culture and public speaking. Panelists address public speaking as a form of cultural expression in the US American speech community (Boromisza-Habashi); analyze interaction in a a graduate course that equips future educators with intercultural skills to discuss diversity (Jeffries); answer the question of how to optimize credibility of public speakers depending on their cultural background (Bilge); and investigate on-line college debate sessions as a form of cultural communication (Lakin & Nuciforo). Panel participants teach at three different US universities. The cultural approach taken by the panel promotes a richer learning environment that should prepare students to succeed not only in their academic careers but also in the increasingly globalized world.

Sub Unit

• Instructional & Developmental Communication

Chair

• Elena Nuciforo, Florida International University

Individual Presentations

• Age or Education? Sage or Expert? Teaching Credibility as a Culture Specific Public Speaking Component - Nurhayat Bilge, Florida International U

• Making the Case for Studying “Public Speaking” as a Culturally Situated Ideal for Public Expression - David Boromisza-Habashi, U of Colorado - Boulder

• Critical Pedagogy, Cultural Diversity, and Collaboration in the Graduate Classroom - Tammy Jeffries, Western Kentucky U

• Debating Cultures: Teaching Debate in an International Context - Elena Nuciforo, Florida International University; Travis Lakin, Florida International U