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When Martin Luther King Jr. took the stage at the Lincoln Memorial in August of 1963 he created magic. The text read as a simple ideological proclamation, but was transformed into a passionate awakening for America channeled through King’s voice. However, what many people do not know is that King’s bold “Dream” was not part of his prepared dialogue [1]. Prompted by a friend, he pushed his scripts aside and began a prophetic rhetoric that would become the most iconic speech of 20th century American history [2].
King’s skills as an orator were certainly notable, but by 1963 he had nearly a decade of practice honing his skills through his sermons as a Baptist minister, so it is hardly surprising that he was able to ad lib such an eloquent dénouement. Practice makes perfect, they say. Unfortunately for the majority of people, glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking, is more powerful than the fear of death itself [3]. As a result, we avoid public speaking whenever possible, and we get nervous or flustered and experience social anxiety when required to speak in front of an audience. And though “social” media and technology have made communication easier than ever, there is a growing trend among young people to avoid speaking not only in front of audiences, but on the phone as well [4].
Despite our reservations as a society to partake in any form of public oratory, it is still a skill expected of elementary level students in Ontario. The oral communication strand of the Grade 1-8 Language curriculum stipulates that students will learn skills such as demonstrating an understanding of appropriate speaking behaviour in most situations [5].Unfortunately for our students, appropriate speaking behaviour in most situations does not involve remaining mute or opting to text instead. We must therefore find a way in which to engage students in exploring the intricacies of oral texts despite the fact they may be hesitant to do so.
The first problem we may encounter in our goal to teach oral communication to students is that many of us have reservations about public speaking ourselves. How then might we model appropriate and effective speaking strategies when we may have a limited mastery of such skills? One possible method is through the use of podcasts---short audio segments that typically feature an oral text on a very specific topic for a target audience. While podcasts have existed for over a decade, exposure of the medium has been relatively limited, with only half of Americans claiming to know what podcasting was in 2015 despite consistent growth in listeners year after year [6]. Podcasts remain a niche market, however they have great potential for use in education.
First and foremost podcasts are a wealth of oral texts that are often freely available and can be accessed from a computer or handheld device, with the option of saving the files for use offline. With over 250,000 unique podcasts in over 100 languages, there are over a billion podcast subscriptions through iTunes alone [7]. This vast resource could be leveraged to differentiate to any student interest in order to assess listening skills, and could even be used as a cross-curricular learning activity. Podcasts would also be particularly useful for auditory learners and might be a means of including English language learners by having them practice listening skills in native languages and reflecting on them in English.
Listening to podcasts would help students reflect on effective speaking strategies, which they could then employ in making their own podcasts. Audio recording software and apps are easily accessible and straightforward to use, and would allow students to explore speaking to a variety of purposes without the social pressures of performing in front of their peers. Recordings would also allow an opportunity for self reflection, as students would be able to listen to their own work in order to adjust their speaking strategies.
While podcasts remain a niche market to the average American, there is an extraordinary amount of potential for their use in today’s classroom. Oral communication is an endangered part of our society that could be directly addressed in an accessible, inclusive, and engaging way through podcasts. Let’s stop being afraid of one of the most human traits and give our children the chance they deserve to become effective speakers.
King’s skills as an orator were certainly notable, but by 1963 he had nearly a decade of practice honing his skills through his sermons as a Baptist minister, so it is hardly surprising that he was able to ad lib such an eloquent dénouement. Practice makes perfect, they say. Unfortunately for the majority of people, glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking, is more powerful than the fear of death itself [3]. As a result, we avoid public speaking whenever possible, and we get nervous or flustered and experience social anxiety when required to speak in front of an audience. And though “social” media and technology have made communication easier than ever, there is a growing trend among young people to avoid speaking not only in front of audiences, but on the phone as well [4].
Despite our reservations as a society to partake in any form of public oratory, it is still a skill expected of elementary level students in Ontario. The oral communication strand of the Grade 1-8 Language curriculum stipulates that students will learn skills such as demonstrating an understanding of appropriate speaking behaviour in most situations [5].Unfortunately for our students, appropriate speaking behaviour in most situations does not involve remaining mute or opting to text instead. We must therefore find a way in which to engage students in exploring the intricacies of oral texts despite the fact they may be hesitant to do so.
The first problem we may encounter in our goal to teach oral communication to students is that many of us have reservations about public speaking ourselves. How then might we model appropriate and effective speaking strategies when we may have a limited mastery of such skills? One possible method is through the use of podcasts---short audio segments that typically feature an oral text on a very specific topic for a target audience. While podcasts have existed for over a decade, exposure of the medium has been relatively limited, with only half of Americans claiming to know what podcasting was in 2015 despite consistent growth in listeners year after year [6]. Podcasts remain a niche market, however they have great potential for use in education.
First and foremost podcasts are a wealth of oral texts that are often freely available and can be accessed from a computer or handheld device, with the option of saving the files for use offline. With over 250,000 unique podcasts in over 100 languages, there are over a billion podcast subscriptions through iTunes alone [7]. This vast resource could be leveraged to differentiate to any student interest in order to assess listening skills, and could even be used as a cross-curricular learning activity. Podcasts would also be particularly useful for auditory learners and might be a means of including English language learners by having them practice listening skills in native languages and reflecting on them in English.
Listening to podcasts would help students reflect on effective speaking strategies, which they could then employ in making their own podcasts. Audio recording software and apps are easily accessible and straightforward to use, and would allow students to explore speaking to a variety of purposes without the social pressures of performing in front of their peers. Recordings would also allow an opportunity for self reflection, as students would be able to listen to their own work in order to adjust their speaking strategies.
While podcasts remain a niche market to the average American, there is an extraordinary amount of potential for their use in today’s classroom. Oral communication is an endangered part of our society that could be directly addressed in an accessible, inclusive, and engaging way through podcasts. Let’s stop being afraid of one of the most human traits and give our children the chance they deserve to become effective speakers.
[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2013/08/27/public-speaking-how-mlk-improvised-second-half-of-dream-speech/
[2] http://news.wisc.edu/releases/3504.html
[3] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-real-story-risk/201211/the-thing-we-fear-more-death
[4] http://www.businessinsider.com/conquer-your-fear-of-the-phone-2015-5
[5] https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf
[6] http://pewrsr.ch/1zbGpBG
[7] http://www.macworld.com/article/2044958/apple-one-billion-itunes-podcast-subscriptions-and-counting.html
