Dr. Franca Ferrari, Professor Barbara Lynch and Professor Rosanne Vogel _ Speech and Theatre
Middle States Speaking 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 the
public speaking
skills necessary to
effectively present
informative and
persuasive
speeches
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 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.
Students’ verbal and non-verbal communication skills will be tested twice during the semester in concomitance with
students’ informative and students’ persuasive speeches. The first speech is usually delivered between the 5 th and the 7th
week of the semester while the second speech is delivered towards the end of the semester between the 12 and the 14 th
week. The instructor will use the rubric attached below to grade students’ verbal and non-verbal performance during the
two speeches. At the end of the speech assessment the instructor will assign a grade. The grade will determine whether
and how the student has met the course and the Gen Ed objectives tested for this assignment. The objectives that need
to be met with this assignment are listed below in bold. Final grade for this assessment needs to be converted by the
instructor into 1-5 Assessment Measuring Scale (AMS) that will be used by the department to track student progress.
Objective of the Course:
1) To give the student, as part of a liberal education, a greater understanding and appreciation of speech
communication and its functions in contemporary society.
2) To develop students as more effective listeners and evaluators of communication, in order to make them, in turn,
more capable learners and intelligent decision-makers.
3) To develop the student as a speaker, in interpersonal communications, problem-solving group discussion, and
as a “public” speaker.
General Education Objectives addressed by the course:
1. communicate effectively through reading, writing, listening and speaking
4. use information management and technology skills effectively for academic research and lifelong learning
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Legend to convert letter or percentage point grades into 1-5 Assessment Measuring Scale (AMS)
“1” means that the student did not meet course objective (3) as public speaker and GenEd objective (1) for speaking.
“2” means that the student has a minimal mastery of course objective (3) as public speaker and GenEd objective (1) for
speaking.
“3” means that the student is developing mastery course objective (3) as public speaker and GenEd objective (1) for
speaking.
“4” means that the student has an adequate mastery of course objective (3) as public speaker and GenEd objective (1) for
speaking.
“5” means that the student masters course objective (3) as public speaker and GenEd objective (1) for speaking
Conversion Scale
AMS
Letter
Percentage
“1”
F
59% below
“2”
D
60-69%
“3”
C
70-79%
“4”
B
80-89%
“5”
A
90% above
List the data collection instrument (s) used for assessment.
Students’ verbal and non-verbal skills will be assessed twice in the semester using the following rubric.
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Speaking Assessment Rubric
Speaker: ___________________________________________
Appropriate
language
LANGUAGE
Appropriate
Minors errors
in grammar.
language
Proper grammar.
10/40
College level
vocabulary.
Proper
grammar.
Simple
vocabulary or
jargon.
Several
errors in
grammar or
Poor
grammar and
vocabulary.
Vocabulary.
Uses
figurative
language.
Acceptable
vocabulary.
Poor language/
grammar.
Figurative
language/
Offensive
Language
6 points
10 points
VOCAL
DELIVERY
Fluency
Uses excellent
pronunciation and
diction. Free of
vocal fillers
8 points
4 points
2 points
0 points
Many errors
in
pronunciation
and
diction/vocal
fillers
Not
understandable
1 points
0 points
Adequate
pronunciation
and diction.
Free of vocal
fillers
Few
pronunciation
and diction
errors/vocal
fillers
Several
pronunciation
and diction
errors/vocal
fillers
4 points
3 points
2 points
15/40
5 points
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Volume
Can be heard in all
sections of
audience,
modulates to add
emphasis
Adequately
projects for
audience
understanding
Can be heard
in all sections
of audience
With some
audience
effort can be
heard in all
sections of
audience
Inadequate
projection
Cannot be
heard
anywhere in
the audience
5 points
2 points
4 points
0 points
3 points
1 points
Rate
Can creatively
modulate rate to
add emphasis
Adequately
uses rate
Uses a rate
acceptable to
the audience
for audience
understanding
5 points
4 points
Speaks
slightly too
fast or too
slowly for the
audience
Speaks much
too fast or
too slowly
for the
audience
2 points
1 points
Rate
unacceptable
3 points
0 points
PHYSICAL
DELIVERY
Eye
contact
Speaker uses
excellent eye
contact and scans
entire room
15/40
Speaker uses
good eye
contact and
scans entire
room
Speaker uses
good eye
contact and
scans most of
room
4 points
3 points
Speaker has
intermittent
eye contact
Speaker
exhibits poor
eye contact
Speaker
exhibits no eye
contact
(reading)
1 points
5 points
0 points
2 points
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Gestures
Speaker uses
excellent facial and
body gestures to
reinforce meaning
Speaker uses
good facial
and body
gestures to
reinforce
meaning
Speaker uses
adequate
facial and
body gestures
to reinforce
meaning
4 points
3 points
Facial and
body gestures
are stilted
Speaker has
flat affect
uses few
body gestures
1 points
2 points
5 points
Posture
Speaker uses
excellent body
control: avoids
slouching and
extraneous
movements
0 points
Speaker uses
good body
control
Speaker uses
adequate body
control
Speaker leans
or shuffles,
dances or has
other
extraneous
body
movements
Speaker has
little body
control
2 points
5 points
Speaker does
not use either
facial or body
gestures
4 points
3 points
Speaker has no
body control
0 points
1 points
LEGEND: “0” = no mastery; “1” = minimal mastery; “2” = developing mastery; “3” = adequate mastery; “4”= good mastery
“5”= exceptional mastery.
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Provide an analysis (and summary) of the assessment results that were obtained.
In this pilot study 77 students of 5 SP211 classes were tested on their competence in the following verbal and non-verbal
skills: LANGUAGE, VERBAL SKILLS (FLUENCY, VOLUME, RATE) AND NON VERBAL SKILLS (EYE CONTACT,
GESTURE, POSTURE). Students’ means for each of the tested components show that students achieved improvement in
each of 7 assessment measures. The overall growth rate of around 8 points shows that students are improving their
ability to speak in front of an audience at an acceptable rate as indicated also by the following chart.
Overall speaking skills' means
82.4
84
82
Score 0-100
80
78
74.2
76
74
72
70
Series1
SPEECH1
74.2
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SPEECH2
82.4
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A single factor ANOVA analysis further confirms that students significantly improved their verbal and non-verbal skills in
between the two data sampling during the semester.
SUMMARY
Groups
SPEECH1
SPEECH2
Count
77
77
ANOVA
Source of
Variation
Between Groups
Within Groups
SS
2556.859
25989.45
Total
28546.31
Sum
Average Variance
5715 74.22078 211.7204
6342.5 82.37013 130.2461
df
MS
F
P-value
F crit
1 2556.859 14.95386 0.000163 3.903366
152 170.9832
153
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.
The following chart summarized the mean differences between each speech component during the two data sampling. As
the chart indicates students improved across all the 7 analyzed speech components.
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SPEAKING SKILLS' MEANS
25
20.8
21.8
20
15
9.2
10
10.2
9.3
10.7
8.9
10.1
8.5
9.5
8.4
9.9
9.2
10.2
5
0
1
2
1=language 2=fluency
3
4
5
3=volume 4=rate
SPEECH1
6
7
5=eye contact 6=gesture 7=posture
SPEECH2
As indicated by the chart a further analysis shows that the least amount of improvement seems to have occurred in 4
areas. Two of these areas, LANGUAGE and FLUENCY, might show a large number of non-native English speakers in the
SP 211 classrooms. Things like pronouns and word order often impinge on the discourse of non-native speakers. Accents
often add a nice texture to the spoken word but sometimes they interfere with the ability of the audience to decode a
speaker’s words. Also, students trying to translate while speaking often have fluency problems. Obviously, great
improvement in these areas will take more than 1 semester.
The other areas where improvement occurred but was smaller dealt with the non-verbal aspects of speaking, EYE
CONTACT and POSTURE. Both of these concepts may show how nervous the students still are when asked to perform
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in front of the class. While they have learned to somewhat control nervousness, this skill again may take more than 1
semester to overcome.
The most improvement occurred in 3 areas, VOLUME, RATE and GESTURE. After a semester of many formative
exercises students have learned to use their voices in a more professional manner. They have demonstrated the ability to
adjust their volume to "fill" the discourse space and to speak an acceptable rate for the New York standard audience. The
improvement in gestures also shows their ability to be more expressive which may come from being more comfortable
and engaged with their topics and their audience.
Charts of the students’ raw scores for SPEECH1 and SPEECH2 are given below.
SPEECH_2_STUDENTS'_RAW SCORES
120
120
100
100
80
80
score 0-100
% 0-100
SPEECH_1_STUDENTS'_RAW SCORES
60
40
20
60
40
20
SPEECH2
SPEECH1
0
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Students’ average grades for each of 7 areas in SPEECH 1 and SPEECH 2 are reported in the following table.
Language
Fluency
Volume
Rate
Eye
Contact
Gesture
Posture
Overall
Grade
Average
SPEECH1
8.3/10
3.7/5
3.7/5
3.6/5
3.4/5
Grade
83%= B
74%= C
74%=C
72%=C
68%=D
Average
SPEECH2
8.7/10
4/5
4.3/5
4/5
3.8/5
Grade
87%=B
80%=B
86%=B
80%=B
3.4/5
3.7/5
68%=D
74%=C
4/5
4.1/5
76%=C
80%=B
82% =B
29.8/40
74%=C
32.9/40
82% = B
The grade results show that on an average our students scored 3.5-4.0 (B) and above in each of the 7 verbal and nonverbal skills. Therefore our action recommends (1) continuing with the kinds of activities currently being followed in these
classrooms in addition to (2) creating more exercises aiming to increase diction, eye contact, posture and rate of speech.
As part of your discussion, describe any plans to improve/modify the speech 211 course to address the speaking
skill results obtained through the assessment.
Our action plan for improving SP211 should include the creation by the faculty of a library of exercises directed to improve
students’ verbal and non-verbal skills. Faculty should meet at least once per semester (could be during a scheduled
faculty meeting) to share feedback on said exercises. At this time there could also be some training and role playing
performed to illustrate the use of the exercises. It would be extremely beneficial for both native and non-native speaker
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the creation of a department speech club/lab where students can enjoy a scheduled conversational time (similar to the
‘conversation teas’ sponsored by the foreign language department) to practice and improve their speaking skill.
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