Dr. Franca Ferrari, Professor Barbara Lynch and Professor Rosanne Vogel _ Speech and Theatre
Middle States Listening Skills Report for SP 211
List your student learning outcomes as described in your syllabus. Please list ALL of the Student Learning
Outcomes that are listed in your syllabus
Gen Ed. Obj.
1.
Communicate
effectively through
reading, writing,
listening and
speaking
2. use analytical
reasoning to identify
issues or problems
and evaluate
evidence in order to
make informed
decisions
Outcome desired
To develop students
as more effective
listeners and
evaluators of
communication, in
order to make them, in
turn, more capable
learners and
intelligent decisionmakers.
Outcome desired
To develop the public
speaking skills
necessary to
effectively present
informative and
persuasive speeches
Outcome desired
To learn the major
communication
theories in public
speaking,
interpersonal
communication, selfcommunication,
intercultural
communication, and
group communication.
Students will be able
to incorporate these
theories into their own
speaking styles
Outcome desired
To work towards
understanding and
overcoming
communication
apprehension
To develop critical
thinking and problemsolving skills that
enable students to
understand the
intricate link between
audience, speaker,
and occasion
3. reason
quantitatively and
mathematically as
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required in their fields
of interest and in
everyday life
4. use information
management and
technology skills
effectively for
academic research
and lifelong learning
To develop skills in
diverse
communication
contexts including
small groups,
computer-mediated
communities and
professional
communities
5. integrate
knowledge and skills
in their program of
study
To understand the
overwhelming
importance of
effective
communication in all
aspects of academic,
professional, and
everyday life
6. differentiate and
make informed
decisions about
issues based on
multiple value
systems
7. work
collaboratively in
diverse groups
directed at
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accomplishing
learning objectives
8. use historical or
social sciences
perspectives to
examine formation of
ideas, human
behavior, social
institutions, or social
processes
9. employ concepts
and methods of the
natural and physical
sciences to make
informed judgments
10. apply aesthetic
and intellectual
criteria in the
evaluation or creation
of works in the
humanities or the
arts
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Describe the assessment activity and the ( student learning outcome(s) it addresses ) that occurred in your
course.
Assignment: Each student will be listening to an informative and to a persuasive speech of two different class mates
during the semester. Students should use the speech evaluation form here included to rate their peers’ speeches. The
form is intended to facilitate student critical listening.
This assignment is designed primarily with the intention to test student listening skills as far as their ability to identify
relevant speech outline components. Students have been instructed about the speech outline components before their
first listening assessment and have used themselves the speech outline components for the creation of their two
speeches before the administration of the second listening assessment. Students are asked to identify specifically the
presence or absence of the speech components listed in the below table.
INTRODUCTION
PRESENT
[NO]
[YES]
[YES]
Motivate audience to think
about the topic further
Attention getter
[NO]
Reason to listen
[NO]
[YES]
Vivid ending
[NO]
[YES]
Thesis Statement
[NO]
[YES]
Established credibility
[NO]
[YES]
Previewed body of speech
[NO]
[YES]
BODY
Main ideas clear
Main ideas fully supported
[NO]
[NO]
Transitions
CONCLUSION
Review of Main Points
Restate Thesis
[YES]
[YES]
DELIVERY
Began speech without rushing
Maintained strong eye contact
Avoided distracting mannerisms
Articulated words clearly
Used pauses effectively
Used vocal variety to add impact
[NO]
[NO]
[NO]
[NO]
[NO]
[NO]
[YES]
[YES]
[YES]
[YES]
[YES]
[YES]
[NO]
[YES]
Presented visual aids well
[NO]
[YES]
[NO]
[YES]
Communicated enthusiasm for topic [NO]
[YES]
[YES]
[YES]
Departed from lectern without
rushing
[NO]
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After having listened to the speech and filled-out the speech evaluation form, students will be briefly proving constructive
criticisms on the speech they will listen to. Students’ comments are graded by the instructor to see whether the students
have or not understood the main points of the speech they will evaluate.
The rubric at the end of the assignment is for the instructor who will summarize and grade the student’s performance as
far as critically listening. (See appendix)
Because the goal is to track student’s listening, each student should repeat this exercise twice during the semester, once
while listening to class a mate’s informative speech and the second time while listening to a persuasive speech.
The order of the speeches – informative and persuasive or persuasive and informative- is to be decided by the instructor
according to his/her course structure.
List the data collection instrument (s) used for assessment 1.
Speech evaluation form used by students to critically listen and comment to two fellow students’ speeches during the
semester (see form in the appendix). Each student’s will complete two speech evaluation forms: one in connection with
the midterm speech and the second one with the final speech.
Provide an analysis (and summary) of the assessment results that were obtained.
Fifty students’ listening skills were tested twice during the semester. Before the administration of the first assessment test,
students were taught about the different speech components present in a MLA speech format. The results in the form of
the mean of the first assessment are listed under ‘test 1’ and were collected the second week of October 2012; the results
of the second assessment are listed under ‘test2’ and were collected the second week of December 2012.
1
Please use at least one direct assessment measure (selected from the list included with this email message), and any indirect measures you think are
appropriate.
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Std test1 =10.7 Std test2 =9.1
Students were tested on the individuation of main speech components here listed as ‘intro’, ‘body’, ‘conclusion’ and
‘delivery’ of the speech twice. Students’ means for each of the tested components show that students improved overall in
their ability to identify speech components and structure. Mean differences for all tested components were found from the
first to the second administration of the listening skill assessment. Overall students show to have improved in their
listening abilities to correctly identify speech components as indicated in the summary table and chart above. The scatter
plot graphs below indicate the distribution of students’ total means for both tests.
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Describe how the assessment results that were obtained affected (or did not affect) the student learning
outcomes you identified. As part of your discussion, describe any plans you have to address the areas where
students need to improve.
Students’ results show that student learning outcome was met. Students showed to have greatly improved their listening
skills from a C grade level to a B grade level. The range of students’ overall performance for test1 is between 37.5–100
and the range for test2 is between 56.25-100. Students’ ranges also improved between the first and the second
administration of the listening skill assessment tests. Finally the change in the coefficient of determination R2 between the
first and the second administration of the listening assessment reflects the students’ performance improvement over time
as well.
Given the results, we think students overall still need to improve their performances to be able to reach the 90-100%
competence threshold. We noticed a great deal of improvement in the identification of the ‘Conclusion’ speech outline
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components between the first and the second administration of the test. Therefore more attention and time needs to be
devoted in class to the introduction of ‘conclusion’ component before the administration of the first test.
Being the first time this kind of assessment has been used, it will undergo few changes to optimize next semester data
collection. The major weakness of this assessment lies in the fact that each student’s listening skills were tested on
different listening samples, i.e., each student was asked to judge a speech and each speech was different. In other words
students were not tested on the same testing material, which could be a possible source of secondary variance (noise)
within the results.
Next semester students will be asked to evaluate two speeches from Lucas’s speech bank. In this way all students’
listening skills will be tested on the same testing material reducing the amount of secondary variance in the results.
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