Midterm Flashcards
stage fright
Anxiety over the prospect of giving a speech in front of an audience.
Adrenaline
A hormone released into the bloodstream in response to physical or mental stress.
positive nervousness
Controlled nervousness that helps energize a speaker for her or his presentation.
visualization
Mental imaging in which speakers vividly picture themselves giving a successful presentation.
critical thinking
Focused, organized thinking about such things as the logical relationships among ideas, the soundness of evidence, and the differences between fact and opinion.
speaker
The person who is presenting an oral message to a listener.
message
Whatever a speaker communicates to someone else.
channel
The means by which a message is communicated.
listener
The person who receives the speaker’s message.
frame of reference
The sum of a person’s knowledge, experience, goals, values, and attitudes. No two people can have exactly the same frame of reference.
feedback
The messages, usually nonverbal, sent from a listener to a speaker.
interference
Anything that impedes the communication of a message. Interference can be external or internal to listeners.
situation
The time and place in which speech communication occurs.
ethnocentrism
The belief that one’s own group or culture is superior to all other groups or cultures.
ice breaker speech
A speech early in the term designed to get students speaking in front of the class as soon as possible.
chronological order
A method of speech organization in which the main points follow a time pattern.
topical order
A method of speech organization in which the main points divide the topic into logical and consistent subtopics.
transition
A word or phrase that indicates when a speaker has finished one thought and is moving on to another.
main points
The major points developed in the body of a speech.
extemporaneous speech
A carefully prepared and rehearsed speech that is presented from a brief set of notes.
demographic audience analysis
Audience analysis that focuses on demographic factors such as age; religion; racial, ethnic, and cultural background; gender and sexual orientation; group membership; and the like.
situational audience analysis
Audience analysis that focuses on situational factors such as the size of the audience, the physical setting for the speech, and the disposition of the audience toward the topic, the speaker, and the occasion.
attitude
A frame of mind in favor of or opposed to a person, policy, belief, institution, etc.
fixed-alternative questions
Questions that offer a fixed choice between two or more alternatives.
scale questions
Questions that require responses at fixed intervals along a scale of answers.
open-ended questions
Questions that allow respondents to answer however they want.