Public Speaking Unit 1 Practice Milestone, Exams of Communication

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QUESTION 1

Which of the following historical figures believed that locating truth was instrumental for the performance of communication?

A. Aristotle B. Cicero C. St. Augustine D. Francis Bacon

QUESTION 2

Although Maurice was initially nervous about delivering a speech in front of coworkers at his new job, he prepared effectively, and his speech was a success. Afterward, several of Maurice’s coworkers introduced themselves and offered to meet with him later to further discuss his ideas.

By taking advantage of a public-speaking opportunity, Maurice managed to improve his.

A. critical thinking B. self-esteem C. professional network

QUESTION 3

Christopher works in Boston, and his boss works at the law firm’s New York office. Christopher’s boss runs weekly staff meetings for the human resources department in Boston through online video-conferencing software. Christopher and his colleagues can see his boss in his New York office, and he can see them in the conference room. His boss begins each meeting with a presentation of indicators related to recruitment, employee retention, and wellness across the four different branches of the firm.

Which of the following represents the channel that Christopher and his colleagues use to communicate in the situation described above?

A. The conference room where everyone is gathered B. The online video-conferencing software C. The presentation of recruitment-related indicators D. The law firm that has multiple offices

QUESTION 4

Which of the following descriptions represents an example of environmental context creating a communication barrier during a speech?

A. A political candidate fails to keep his tone solemn during a speech after learning that he has won an election. B. The lack of air conditioning in an auditorium forces a speaker to speed up his speech and rush past a few key points. C. An unexpectedly large number of women in the conference room distracts a man making a budget proposal. D. A new school principal struggles to keep students interested, as he is used to tailoring speeches to older audiences.

QUESTION 5

Nikki is a financial advisor who routinely speaks to large groups about the importance of saving, investing, and financial planning. Her speeches are targeted at college savings, retirement plans, and tax relief for families with school-aged children. Today she is speaking at an inner-city union meeting.

Which of the following descriptions represents a cultural barrier of communication for Nikki's speech?

A. Nikki used language implying audience members brought in low incomes, leaving many of them irritated. B. Nikki kept her voice relatively low despite speaking in a large auditorium with noisy air conditioning. C. Nikki made exaggerated hand gestures and took long pauses throughout her speech. D. Nikki planned to use visual aids but experienced problems with the equipment.

QUESTION 6

Match each example of a speech in the second column to the purpose the speech serves in the first column.

1. persuasive
2. informative
3. special occasion

A. An elementary-school teacher gives a lecture about how the digestive system works. B. A politician explains to his constituents why raising taxes could lead to infrastructure improvements. C. A pastor tells his congregation about the life of the grandmother who has just passed away.

QUESTION 7

Determine whether each speech topic is best suited for an informative, a persuasive, or a special- occasion speech.

informative persuasive special occasion A politician describes the effects of recent budget cuts to his constituents. A filmmaker explains to an audience why he needs funding to finish his documentary. A store manager talks to her staff about the new schedule they will institute the next week. A man describes his parents' relationship during a celebration for their wedding anniversary.

QUESTION 8

Sophie was shopping when she spotted a crowd in the park across the street. She crossed over and saw a semicircle of people gathered around a young man. He was passionately talking about his experience at the community health clinic. He explained that the city was threatening to pull the budget from the clinic but if enough residents protested, the city would reconsider. At the end of the speech, most of the audience, many of whom had been to the clinic before, signed his petition.

Sophie was surprised by how effectively the street speech called attention to the issue. Select the statement below that best explains why the young man’s speech was so effective.

A. The speaker clearly rehearsed his speech several times beforehand. B. The crowd appreciated that the speaker made consistent eye contact. C. The speaker targeted the right audience with a clear and focused message. D. The speaker's vocal delivery made it easy for his audience to follow his argument.

QUESTION 9

Which of the following scenarios does not represent an example of someone using an effective practice of public speaking?

A. A father delivering a toast at a wedding uses exaggerated gestures and a variety of comical accents. B. A union leader preparing a speech researches how many audience members are nearing retirement age. C. A councilwoman raises her voice after noticing people in the back of the room moving closer to hear her. D. A grad student delivering a presentation removes several minor points from her speech after thinking about time constraints.

QUESTION 10

Which of the following scenarios represents an example of a speaker behaving unethically?

A. A man at a tech conference admits that he has been paid a small sum to speak there. B. A woman preparing for a speech at a school researches the economic background of the students’ families. C. A woman leading a drug-therapy group describes her past experiences with addiction. D. During a speech at a political rally, a politician invents an anecdote about meeting supporters who claimed to benefit from his policies.

QUESTION 11

Match each behavior to the rule of active listening it breaks.

1. Be courteous
2. Be attentive
3. Be open-minded

A. Scott wants an “A” on the exam, so he sits up front and takes notes on his laptop. He repeatedly interrupts the lecturer to ask whether he has taken the correct notes and stands up to look for a power outlet at the end of his lecture row. B. Lisa is distracted during one of the teacher's lectures on history. When the teacher asks her to summarize some of the points he just made, Lisa is unable to remember more than a few key names and dates. C. Erica diligently takes notes during her teacher's lecture, but when she examines the notes after class, she realizes that she should have asked the teacher for clarification on a few points to gain an even deeper understanding of the material. D. Aaron listens to a classmate's presentation on immigration reform. Aaron has long-held strong beliefs about immigration laws and realizes that his classmate would disagree with him. He tunes out most of the presentation after dismissing it as ill-informed.

QUESTION 12

Which of the following scenarios does not describe a person engaged in a degree of active listening?

A. A man repeats his doctor's advice word for word when telling his family about his new diet. B. A student struggles to remember a teacher's description of photosynthesis when taking a science test. C. A pastor tells his congregation a parable another pastor once told him, but changes some of the details to make it more relevant. D. A businessman gives a speech promoting corporate synergy, using arguments akin to those his boss once used in a speech.

QUESTION 13

A speaker at Tom’s church is making a presentation on his past mission to Africa and his work with a large charity organization. He relates stories about and displays pictures of his trip through various African nations. He is trying to raise $300,000 for his next trip back, and the amount catches Tom’s attention. He becomes skeptical that such a large amount would be needed and starts listening for more details about the proposed trip.

Order the following stages of Tom's reaction to the speaker according to their order within the listening process.

1. The speaker's description of the diseases she saw and how the money she raises goes to help eliminate these issues sticks with Tom. He even brings it up later that week when his boss at work mentions a recent news story on the process of sending medicines to third world countries.
2. Tom understands that mission trips are expensive, but the description of what the speaker says she will do in Africa, doesn't seem to necessitate spending that much money.
3. Tom raises his hand and asks the speaker to describe the problems he encountered while touring some of the poorer areas of Africa.

QUESTION 14

Select the following scenarios that best represent culture acting as a barrier to communication.

A. Ryan found it strange that a there were no athletes presenting at a conference for sports memorabilia collectors. B. Rosa struggled to understand the video-conferencing software she was expected to use for an upcoming business presentation. C. Allan felt that the visiting professor's unusual speech pattern and use of basic vocabulary made his speech sound condescending. D. Harriet noticed a number of eye rolls from the male members of the audience when she reached the point in her speech concerning inappropriate office behavior. E. Paul assumed that the scientist speaking at a symposium was an atheist, and became distracted when he made an offhand comment about his religion.

QUESTION 15

Scott is attending a conference focusing on the intersection of architecture and technology. A famous architect is giving a presentation at the conference, and Scott is eager to hear it. During the presentation, a number of crowd members seated near Scott cheer and clap loudly every time the architect makes a point. He finds their behavior annoying and begins to focus on their reactions to see if they will calm down. After the presentation, Scott cannot remember much of what the architect said.

Scott suffered from , which negatively affected his ability to listen to the architect's speech.

A. low concentration B. confirmation bias C. lack of prioritization

QUESTION 16

Match each example of listening to the stage of the listening process it represents.

1. remembering
2. receiving
3. understanding

A. An office worker determines that an argument between her coworkers is about overtime pay. B. A college student turns down the volume on his radio in order to hear his roommate's question about course selection. C. A psychologist points out that a patient's story about her parents is similar to one she had shared weeks ago.

QUESTION 17

Which of the following statements is an example of constructive criticism?

A. "The speaker has a droning voice, and any speech he gives will be a complete bore.” B. "I don't agree that budget cuts are necessary, so he should drop that argument if he gives the speech again." C. "The speaker was dull. She should try to be more lively and energetic." D. "The speaker should make eye contact with the crowd whenever he arrives at one of his main points."

QUESTION 18

Determine whether each of the following statements is an example of effective or ineffective criticism.

effective ineffective "The concepts you discussed seem to be too complicated for you. I think you're out of your depth." "You used a lot of hand gestures, and I feel that they may have distracted the audience at times." "Try to narrow your focus a bit, as the second half of your speech had too many tangential points." "You must improve your vocal delivery if you hope to get people to follow your argument."

QUESTION 19

Which of the following concepts from a speech about infrastructure spending best represents the thesis of the speech?

A. Unmaintained bridges make people walking across them feel unsafe. B. A lack of infrastructure spending results in increased risk for motorists and pedestrians. C. The only solution is to increase infrastructure spending in our small towns. D. In the last two years, the number of potholes on main roads has increased by 30%.

QUESTION 20

Pamela is required to deliver a presentation in front of her philosophy class, but she is having trouble choosing a topic. Because her class has covered a lot of material and there are so many possible options, Pamela is intimidated by the thought of having to pick one. She remembers that brainstorming helped her determine the focus of a project for another class.

Which of the following examples demonstrates Pamela’s brainstorming to determine a topic for her presentation?

A. Pamela writes down as many topic ideas as she can think of on a sheet of paper. B. Pamela looks over her class notes to see which topic she is most familiar with. C. Pamela debates which topic in philosophy she would most like to learn more about. D. Pamela thinks about the time limit for presentation and looks for a topic with a narrow focus.

QUESTION 21

Match each description of a public speaker's goal to the intended purpose of the speech.

1. inform
2. persuade
3. entertain

A. The new head of a town council wants the citizens gathered at an assembly to invest more money in the area's public schools. B. The emcee at a fundraiser wants to take up time between presenters. C. A guest lecturer at a university wants students to understand the sequence of events that led up to a foreign war. D. A man preparing to speak at his brother's wedding tries to recall anecdotes in which his brother acted foolishly at a young age.

QUESTION 22

Julie is a member of the sales team for a software company. As part of her job, Julie travels to promotional events sponsored by the company in order to make presentations centered around a new tablet computer. These events attract a wide variety of people, and Julie often finds herself changing her prepared speech based on the audience she expects to encounter. Julie emphasizes different features of the tablet based on the audience she encounters.

Which of the following actions demonstrates Julie’s taking an audience's age into account when making her presentation?

A. Julie reveals that the tablet comes with apps dedicated to fantasy sports and athlete profiles. B. Julie lists the ways in which families can use the tablet in order to plan events and excursions. C. Julie demonstrates how the tablet's text size and icons can be made larger for those who do not see well. D. Julie shows off the advanced language features of the tablet, which allow help messages to be displayed in dozens of languages.

QUESTION 23

Which of the following scenarios represents effective planning for the context of a speech?

A. A woman decides not to mention the historical significance of the location in which she delivers a speech. B. A man about to give a speech on trade laws assumes that his audience will have the same level of knowledge about them as he does. C. A man uses rapid gestures while conducting a video conference to make up for any signal latency his audience might be experiencing. D. A woman adds a number of pro-police statements when giving a political speech in a town in the midst of a crime wave.

QUESTION 24

Keira is scheduled to deliver a speech at a university. She is going to speak in a large lecture hall about the subject of adjusting to post-college life. Keira has delivered this speech at several universities before, but she knows that a greater percentage of students at this school have a large amount of student debt. She decides to expand the sections of her speech that focus on finding a job and planning a smart budget.

Keira is strongly considering when she adds information about jobs and budgets to her speech.

A. physical context B. audience psychology C. audience knowledge

QUESTION 25

Order the steps of audience analysis that a mayor takes when planning for a speech that advocates for the construction of a new sports stadium.

A. The mayor sends out questionnaires to measure people's enthusiasm for a new stadium and to understand why they would or would not support it. B. The mayor expands on the idea that the stadium will be good for the economy after he notices looks of skepticism in the audience. C. The mayor tries to find common ground with people opposing the new stadium by writing a speech that stresses how much detractors have in common with supporters.

ANSWER KEY IS ON THE NEXT PAGE

ANSWER KEY

Question #: Correct Answer Rationale

1 D Francis Bacon believed that truth was paramount to the study and performance of communication. Concept: History of Public Speaking

2 professional network Maurice was able to meet new people in a business context. These people became part of his professional network. Concept: Career Benefits: Advancement

3 B The channel is the method a sender uses to send a message to a receiver. In this case, the channel is the video-conferencing software. Concept: Channel

4 B The lack of air conditioning is the only answer related to the physical location in which the speech is taking place. All of the other descriptions are related to situational context or cultural and gender biases. Concept: Situational and Environmental Context

5 A Nikki's implication about audience income represents culture acting as a barrier, as it features a speaker making assumptions about the lifestyle of a group of people. The other descriptions represent examples of technology and environmental barriers, as well as a problem with the speaker's delivery. Concept: Context of Culture and Gender

6 1 – B 2 – A 3 – C

Example A is informative because it aims to give students information about the digestive system. Example B is persuasive because it aims to encourage the audience to support a tax raise. Example C is for a special occasion because it is given to a particular audience at a specific time. Concept: Informative S`peeches, Persuasive Speeches, Scoping your Topic

7 1 – informative 2 – persuasive 3 – informative 4 – special occasion

The first and third examples are informative, as they feature speakers transferring knowledge about a subject to an audience. The second example is persuasive, as it features a man trying to convince an audience to donate money. The fourth is a speech for a special occasion, as it is being made because of a wedding anniversary. Concept: Persuasive Speeches, Informative Speeches, Speeches for Special Occasions

8 C "The speaker targeted the right audience with a clear and focused message" is correct because the speaker targeted a sympathetic audience with a clear purpose. Nothing in the story suggests that the speaker rehearsed or had a particularly effective deliver. Concept: Rules to Follow When Speaking, Best Practices in Public Speaking

9 A The scenario with the union leader demonstrates a speaker analyzing the audience. The scenario with the councilwoman demonstrates a speaker responding to feedback. The scenario with the grad student demonstrates a speaker focusing a topic. Only the scenario with the father is not necessarily an effective practice of public speaking, as gestures and accents sometimes can prove to be distracting. Concept: Rules to Follow When Speaking, Best Practices in Public Speaking

10 D The scenario about the politician features a man intentionally deceiving his audience by creating a false story. The other scenarios represent ethical behavior because they feature speakers simply doing research or disclosing relevant information to the audience. Concept: The Importance of Studying Ethics, Rules to Follow When Speaking

11 1 – A

2 – B 3 – D

Scott is not courteous because his actions are rude and disruptive. Lisa is not attentive because she is not able to summarize the teacher’s lecture after hearing it. Aaron is not open-minded because he is not receptive to new ideas. The third scenario does not break one of the listed rules of active listening. Concept: Rules to Follow When Listening

12 B The man parroting his doctor's advice is repeating speaking points while the pastor is reflecting on them and the businessman is paraphrasing them. These are the three degrees of active listening. The student is not engaged in active listening. Concept: Listening and Critical Thinking

13 2, 3, 1 When Tom researches the speaker and assesses information, he engages in the evaluation stage. The responding stage follows, as Tom provides a reaction to what he is hearing by asking a question. Finally, in the remembering stage, Tom puts new information in the context of what he has seen before, in this case a documentary. Concept: The Remembering Stage, The Responding Stage, The Evaluating Stage

14 C, E The scenarios with Allan and Paul represent culture acting as a barrier because they feature assumptions regarding the speakers’ beliefs and vocabularies. The scenarios with Ryan and Harriet depict gender as a barrier, while the scenario with Rosa depicts technology as a barrier. Concept: Causes of Poor Listening, Be an Open-Minded Listener, Culture

15 low concentration Scott suffered from low concentration because the noisy crowd members created an auditory distraction that prevented him from paying close attention to the speaker. Concept: Be a Serious Listener, Causes of Poor Listening

16 1 – C

2 – B 3 – A

The office worker is putting the information presented to her into context, which depicts the understanding stage. The college student is attempting to accurately identify what his roommate is telling him, which depicts the receiving stage. The psychologist is putting new information in the context of old information, which depicts the remembering stage. Concept: The Remembering Stage, The Understanding Stage, The Receiving Stage

17 D The statement about the "droning voice" includes insulting language. The statement about "budget cuts" is too subjective. The statement about the "dull" speaker is too general. Only the statement recommending eye contact is objective, specific, and constructive. Concept: Giving Effective Criticism

18 1 – ineffective

2 – effective 3 – effective 4 – ineffective

The first statement is too insulting to be constructive, and the fourth statement is not specific enough. The second and third statements are objective, specific, and constructive. Concept: Giving Effective Criticism

19 B The example focused on increased risks is correct, as it presents a summary of the main point of the speech. "The dangers of unmaintained bridges and roads" is the topic, "Advocating for increased infrastructure spending in a small town" is the purpose, and "The number of potholes on main roads has increased over the last two years" is an argument. Concept: The Importance of Choosing a Good Topic, General Purpose, Defining the Thesis

20 A The example of Pamela writing down possible topics is correct, as it features Pamela’s spontaneous generation of a large number of ideas. The other examples depict Pamela’s choosing topics based on interest and expertise as well as scoping the speech topic. Concept: Brainstorming

21 1 – C

2 – A

3 – D

The goal of the speaker in the first example is to persuade because the speaker is trying to change people's beliefs about the importance of public education. The goal of the third speaker is to inform, as the speaker is communicating knowledge about a foreign war. The goal of the fourth speaker is to entertain, as he hopes to amuse people at a wedding. The speaker in the second example has none of these goals and is simply trying to take up time. Concept: General Purpose

22 C In the example where Julie contemplates text and icon size, Julie is considering her audience's age by remembering that older people may be more likely to have trouble seeing small icons and text. The other examples are appeals to interests, group identity, and culture. Concept: Gender (communication), Defining the Thesis, Group Membership

23 D The scenario where the woman is adding "pro-police statements" shows a speaker planning for the values and beliefs of her audience. The other scenarios feature speakers failing to plan for physical context or failing to plan for the knowledge levels of the audience. Concept: Group Membership

24 audience psychology Keira considers the psychology of her audience members because she focuses on their values and needs by stressing financial information in her speech. Concept: Group Membership

25 A, C, B The mayor first sends out questionnaires to gather basic information, and then uses that information to try to determine what common ground he has with the audience. He then makes adjustments during the speech by paying attention to the audience's reaction. Concept: Solicit Information