ORAL COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXT

SECOND QUARTER: WEEK 5

PRINCIPLES OF SPEECH DELIVERY
Name of Learner: _____________________________________________________
Section: ____________________________________________ Date: __________

Background Information:

As you proceed to higher learning and even in the world of employment, there will be
a variety of real-world situations in which you will find yourself constantly communicating
with at least a small group of people. Maybe you will have to do a report in a college class,
to present a proposal in your workplace, or probably your organization will organize an
event and you will be asked to speak in the said event. Whichever the case, there are
several opportunities for you to use your voice and accomplish many things just like John F.
Kennedy and other famous speakers.
For example, you can raise your voice to emphasize a point or to produce a strong
emotion as when a speaker shows anger at what is perceived to be unjust or wrong,
especially when matched with a very low pitch. You can also soften your voice to show
intimacy or to solicit sympathy from your audience. A rising or shrill tone, on the other hand,
can be skillfully used to express sarcasm. You can also change your voice to produce a
comical effect if that is needed in your speech delivery.

Modulation
To use your voice effectively, you need to know in which part of your speech you will
use a specific form for your voice. Also, you must take care not to use the same form
repeatedly. You must also know the cultural preferences of your audience. For example, an
audience may find it irritating to hear a woman speaking in a shrill tone or for a man to
sound like a woman when speaking. This skill is known as modulation. Modulation refers to
how the speaker controls his/her voice and the rhythm employed in uttering the words of the
speech.

Articulation
In addition to modulation, a speaker must practice proper articulation. This refers to
properly and appropriately pronouncing the words, phrases, and sentences in a speech. For
example, a Filipino speaker who tries very hard to sound like a native speaker of the
English language may distract or irritate his/her audience. On the other hand, a Filipino
speaker who emphasizes his/her accent may also be distracting to the audience.
In pronouncing words, a speaker must be knowledgeable of the critical sounds of a
language. In English, for example, interchanging a short e with a long e in a word (e.g. led
vs. lead; sell vs. seal) may produce confusion on the part of listeners. Although the context
can possibly make up for the speaker's inadequacy, pronouncing the critical sounds can be
a very good way of preventing a possible breakdown in communication.
 Improper articulation can also produce a comical effect which can be very distracting
especially when the speech or utterance is supposed to be done seriously. For example, an
actor in a staging of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet mistakenly mispronounced
the p as f in the word “parting”, changing the sentence from parting to “farting” which is such
a sweet sorrow to the dismay and laughter of the audience.

The reason behind the phenomenon of varying articulation is the existence of a

regional accent. This is also known as a regiolect or topolect, a distinct form of a language
spoken in a geographical area. If the form of speech transmitted from a parent to a child is a
distinct regional dialect, that dialect is said to be the child's vernacular.

As opposed to a national dialect, a regional dialect is spoken in one area of a

country; hence, the tendencies for a student with a regional accent to unintentionally
mispronounce a word during his/her speech. A fix to these mispronounced sounds or words
is the student’s constant exposure and use of the second language being learned. On the
other hand, the listeners of this student should offer a polite way of assisting the student in
being more familiar with the secondary language.

In addition, good articulation requires trained vocal cords. Voice training and doing vocal
warm-ups will help you:

• Articulate. Clear articulation requires such deliberate actions as pausing slightly

before you utter hard consonants, such as /t/ or /b/. Enunciation exercises help you
differentiate your vowel sounds and make the beginning and end of each word
distinct and crisp.

• Train your mouth. The simplest thing to improve the clarity of your speech is to
make sure your mouth is open wide enough for the sound to come out clearly. It
might feel awkward at first, but exercises will help you train your mouth to open
wider when speaking.

• Speak up. Increasing the volume of your speech not only ensures that the audience
will hear you, but it also naturally slows your speech and improves your articulation.
Vocal exercises train your vocal cords to speak louder for longer periods.

• Inflect your speech. Exercising your vocal cords will help you avoid speaking in a
monotone. Infuse your utterances with the natural rising and falling pitch of
sentences: up at the end of a question, down at the end of a statement.

• Breathe from your diaphragm. Exercises help improve your breathing capacity
and control, provide support for your voice, and enable you to speak more clearly
over a broad vocal range.
 Before you begin working on articulation exercises, give yourself a five-minute facial
massage to loosen up the new muscles that you will be using.
• Focus specifically on massaging the hinge of your jaw, as that’s generally a very
tense place.
• Massage your lips as well, and do some tongue circles, both inside your mouth and
around the outside.

Articulation also begins with proper breath control. Keep your posture in mind before
starting the warm-up exercises. Stand up straight: this positively impacts your ability to
sustain longer vocal expressions.

Follow these two exercises to warm up for articulation:

1. The “Hum.” Inhale. Begin to hum while slowly exhaling all of your air. Do this five
times.
2. The “Ha.” Stand and place your hands on your abdomen. Breathe in by expanding
your stomach outward; you are now breathing from your diaphragm.
Repeat “ha” with each exhale, pushing in your abdomen with every syllable. Repeat.

Proper articulation is indeed a crucial element in the use of one's voice. Since it is
the physical act of clear vocal expression, you articulate sounds with your lips, teeth,
tongue, jaw, and palate and use your mouth to vary those sounds in tone, volume, pitch,
and quality. Used properly and appropriately, your voice can be a powerful tool in delivering
your speech.

Stage Presence

How you present yourself in front of your audience is an important part of delivering
your speech. This includes wearing the appropriate clothing for your message, audience,
occasion, and other contextual elements.
Stage presence refers to the ability of the speaker to acquire and keep the
audience’s attention through his or her presentation style. When in front of an audience, the
speaker’s poise, posture, gestures, and movements can significantly add to or take away
from the presentation. The goal is to control these aspects of delivery, so they reinforce the
message rather than distract the audience.
In general, it is better to be overdressed than underdressed. Wearing the
appropriate clothing can complement your message. Formal settings require formal attire
while informal settings call for informal clothing. In addition, wearing formal clothing sends
the message of being serious, while wearing informal clothing connotes intimacy and
closeness.
In addition, care must be taken that the correct cultural pieces of clothing must be
worn. For example, a speaker doing a speech by the Jewish Merchant of Venice must not
wear Arab or Islamic clothing. Such mistakes send the message of being ignorant of the
cultures serving as the basis of one's speech.
 Presenting yourself in front of your audience properly also requires that you be
aware of your movements and location. For example, standing behind a large podium
connotes being detached and distant from your audience, while moving away from the
podium toward the audience produces a sense of closeness and intimacy. A formal setting
requires less movement from one place to another.
In contrast, an informal and casual setting may allow for more variety of movement
and other positions even such as sitting cross-legged before an audience, jumping up and
down, and waving one's arms wildly in the air. Which among these stage movements and
locations you will employ will be largely dictated by the formality of the situation and the
relation you want to have with your audience.

Learning Competency with code:

Use principles of effective speech delivery focusing on articulation, modulation, and stage
presence (First Semester/ Quarter 2/ Week 4/ EN11/12OC-IIcj-26.1 to 26.3)

Exercise 1
Directions: Find a listening partner. He/she can be any available family member in your
home or a neighbor nearby who is proficient with the English language. Add the sounds of
“la,” “ha,” and “oh” to convey meaning to the statements below.

If you cannot relay the meaning with just one sound, try the same sound the second
time with gestures and facial expressions until the listener understands. Then say the lines
with the expressive inflections (the modulation of intonation or pitch in the voice) you have
developed using only the sounds. Next, try adding the other two sounds provided and see if
there is a difference in the meaning conveyed in the revised statement. Make sure to
include two revised statements and provide the meaning conveyed for each.

Example: I got a crush on you.

Revised Statement: La! I got a crush on you.

Possible Meaning: The person seems to be singing how he/she admires someone.

Revised Statement: Ha! I got a crush on you.

Possible Meaning: The person sarcastically or unexpectedly declares
his/her admiration to someone.

Let’s begin.
1) It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen!
Revised Statement #1:
Meaning:
 Revised Statement #2:
Meaning:

2) I’ve fallen and can’t get up!

Revised Statement #1:
Meaning:

Revised Statement #2:

Meaning:

3) I’ve got a crush on him/her.

Revised Statement #1:
Meaning:

Revised Statement #2:

Meaning:

4) That soup is disgusting and spoiled.

Revised Statement #1:
Meaning:

Revised Statement #2:

Meaning:
 5) I got an “A” in my Oral Communication speech this 2nd quarter!
Revised Statement #1:
Meaning:

Revised Statement #2:

Meaning:

Exercise 2
Directions: If you have a tight, constricted throat with rigid walls, your voice may be
strident, jarring, and rasping. The openness of the throat and relaxation of the walls and
surfaces will promote a mellow, velvety, and molasses — rich quality. To ensure that such
rich quality will be produced, please do the following:
a) Read the listed tongue twisters to practice a good articulation.
b) Repeat them for at least three times, then start memorizing them.

Let’s begin.
1. High roller, low roller, lower roller.

2. Friday's Five Fresh Fish Specials.

3. Twixt this and six thick thistle sticks.

4. Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better

5. If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?

6. Ten tame tadpoles tucked tightly in a thin tall tin.

Ten tame tadpoles tucked tightly in a thin tall tin ...

7. Red lorry, yellow lorry

Truly rural
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream
Rolling red wagons
Red blood, bad blood
 8. Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew.
While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew.
Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze.
Freezy trees made these trees' cheese freeze.
That's what made these three free fleas sneeze.

9. Chester chooses chestnuts, cheddar cheese with chewy chives.

He chews them and he chooses them. He chooses them and he chews them;
those chestnuts, cheddar cheese with chewy chives in cheery, charming
chunks.

10. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood
As a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood

Rubric for scoring

Since you have the entire week to go through the tongue twisters above, the teacher
shall then hear how well you’ve rehearsed and memorized these. You will be asked to draw
lots and perform one of the tongue twisters listed above during an online session.

If you opted for modular distance learning, the teacher will provide the tongue twister
that you will memorize. That way, you can record using your phone or tape recorder the
tongue twister you have memorized with the guidance of your parent/guardian. The said
recording may be submitted in a rewriteable CD or a flash drive that the teacher can retrieve
during the LAS retrieval.

During your performance, the rubrics below will be used by your teacher:
CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
Volume Volume is loud Volume is loud Volume is loud Volume often
enough to be enough to be enough to be too soft to be
heard by all heard by all heard by all heard by all
audience audience audience audience
members or the members or the members or the members or the
teacher-rater teacher-rater at teacher-rater at teacher-rater.
throughout the least 90% of the least 80% of the
presentation. time. time.
 Clarity Speaks clearly Speaks clearly Speaks clearly Often mumbles
and distinctly all and distinctly all and distinctly or cannot be
(100-95%) the (100-95%) the most (94-85%) understood OR
time, and time, but of the time. mispronounces
mispronounces mispronounces Mispronounces more than one
no word one word no more than word
one word

Expression Expression was Expression was Expression was Expression was

Vocal Variety often used, and often used, but rarely used OR not used to
it conveyed the emotion it the emotion it convey emotion.
emotions conveyed conveyed often
appropriately. sometimes did did not fit the
not fit the content.
content.

Rate The rate was The rate was not The rate was The rate was too
appropriate, so completely somewhat too fast and caused
all words were maintained fast or too slow too many errors.
clearly throughout the for effective
understood entire piece. meaning.

Preparedness Student is Student seems Student is Student does

completely prepared but somewhat not seem at all
prepared and might have prepared, but prepared to
has obviously needed a rehearsal was present.
rehearsed. lacking.
Stage presence couple more Stage presence Stage presence
and/or rehearsals. and/or and/or
expressive Stage presence expressive vocal expressive vocal
vocal inflection and/or inflection was inflection was
was evident and expressive vocal slightly seen; poor. A retake
flawless. inflection was however, there on the
evident, yet are movements performance
there are should be done.
that require
minimal
some
exaggerated
improvement.
movements
done by the
student.

Scoring Rubrics Retrieved from

http://www.ontarioteacher.org/reading7/oral%20presentations/Tongue%20Twister%20Rubric
.pdf
Reflection

Directions: Answer the following statements below. Write your answer on the lines provided for
each item.

1. What were your thoughts or ideas on speech delivery before the discussion of
the lesson? After the discussion, how do you think these ideas can possibly
influence the reaction of an audience to a speaker?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
__________________.

2. How did the lesson confirm or disprove your thoughts or ideas about the first
three principles of speech delivery? In addition, which principle of speech
delivery do you think you need to work on primarily?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
__________________.

3. What can you say about how you used your voice in your previous experiences
in speaking before an audience? How did the lesson affect the way you will
communicate with others? Cite concrete instances (i.e. in public speaking, in
daily encounters with peers, etc.).
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
__________________.
Rubric for Reflection:

Areas of Proficient Meets Below Needs

Assessment Expectations Expectations Improvement

All ideas Most ideas Some ideas Ideas

expressed wereexpressed are require clarity. expressed
Organization clear.
clear. were unclear.
of Ideas

All sentences Most sentences Some Sentences

are arranged are arranged sentences are poorly
logically to form logically to form require a more arranged.
a coherent a coherent logical Most ideas
paragraph. paragraph. arrangement to expressed do
Sentence
ensure not contribute
Structure
coherence in to the
the paragraph. formation of a
coherent
paragraph.

No error was Minimal errors Some errors Several errors

spotted in the were spotted in were spotted in were spotted
Mechanics paragraph. the paragraph. the paragraph. in the
paragraph.

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/essay-rubric-2081367

References for Learners:

Beebe, S. A., & Beebe, S. J. 2006. Public speaking: An audience#centered approach (6th
ed.). New York: Pearson. Fraleigh, D. M., & Tuman, J. S. (2009). Speak up An
illustrated guide to public speaking. New York: Bedford/St. Martins. Koch, A. (2004).
Speaking with a purpose (6th ed.). New York: Pearson.

Beebe, Steven A.1980.Effects of eye contact, posture, and vocal inflection upon speaker
credibility and listener comprehension. Australian Scan: Journal of Human
Communication, 7, 57.

Beguš, Gašper. 2017. Effects of ejective stops on preceding vowel duration. The Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America 142:4, 2168-2184.

Cohen, Melvin S., and Hanson, Marvin L.1975. Intersensory Processing Efficiency of Fluent
Speakers and Stutterers. British Journal of Disorders of Communication 10:2, pages
111-122.
Davitz, J. R. 1964. The communication of emotional meaning. New York: McGraw-Hill

Densmore, G. E.1946. The teaching of speech delivery, Quarterly Journal of Speech,

32:1, 67-71, DOI: 10.1080/00335634609381164

Fairbanks, Grant and Pronovost, W.1939. An experimental study of the pitch characteristics of
the voice during the expression of emotion. Speech Monographs, 6, 87-104.

Gundersen, D. F. and Hopper, Robert. 1976. Relationships between speech delivery and speech
effectiveness, Speech Monographs, 43, 158-65.

Gundersen, D. F. & Hopper, Robert. 1976. Relationships between speech delivery and
speech effectiveness, Communication Monographs, 43:2, 158-165, DOI:
10.1080/03637757609375927

Heinberg, Paul. 1963. Relationship of content and delivery to general effectiveness. Speech
Monographs, 30, 105-107.

Kluender, Keith R., Diehl, Randy L., and Wright, Beverly A..1988. Vowel-length differences
before voiced and voiceless consonants: an auditory explanation. Journal of
Phonetics 16:2, 153-169.

McCain, John McCain. 2007. "Speech at Des Moines Rotary Lunch", in Representative
American Speeches 2006-2007, ed. Jennifer Curry, Paul McCaffrey, and Lynn
Messina (New York: H.W. Wilson, 2007), 47.

Answer Key

Answers in Exercises 1 and 2 may vary.

Prepared by:

FLORENCE C. DE VEYRA
SST-lll, English
Oral Communication Teacher
Angeles City Science High School - SHS