Diversity Across the Curriculum
A Guidefor Faculty in Higher Education
Edited by
Jerome Branche
John W Mullennix
Ellen R. Cohn
University ofPittsburgh
Cultural Diversity and the
Public Speaking Course
john W Gareis, Ellen R. Cohn
O
f all the communication courses that can be tailored to emphasize cultural
diversity, one of the most adaptable but often overlooked is public speaking.
Whether taught as a standalone subject or as part of an introductory hybrid
course including interpersonal and small-group communication, the public
speaking course is typically designed to enhance students' skills in researching,
organizing, and delivering speeches. With a few minor but important changes,
however, this basic skills course can also provide an opportunity for students to
learn to communicate with and speak to a culturally diverse audience.
To make a public speaking course more culturally diverse it is necessary to
incorporate three separate but related ingredients. These elements are syllabus
based, instructor based, and student based.
Syllabus-Based Ingredients _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Because the syllabus serves as both a guide for the course and as a working
contract berween the instructor and students, it must detail both the assignments
and the instructor's expectations for the students. This means , then, that if
cultural diversity is going to be an integral part of the course , it must be
highlighted initially on the syllabus through the statement of purpose, course
goals, and assignments. The following is an example of incorporating a diversity
statement into the course goals of a syllabus.
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Diversity Across the Curriculum
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Course Goals for Public Speaking
There are several major goals for this course. It is our hope that by the end of the
semester you will have increased your competence in each of the following areas:
• Attitude and confidence. You will welcome, rather than avoid, public speaking
opportunities, and you will prepare for and execute them with confidence.
• Self-evaluation skills. You will apply appropriate criteria to assess your public
speaking efforts and recognize that with continued practice these skills can
improve over your lifetime.
• Cultural competency goals and audience analysis/adaptation skills. You will be
able to assess the unique needs of each audience and adapt both the content
and delivery of your speech accordingly. Ethical and effective communication
requires that speakers are able to understand and adapt to the needs of people
of different backgrounds and cultures (including different races; genders; eth­
nicities; religions; economic, social, and family circumstances; geographic re­
gions; languages; ages; health disparities; disabilities, etc.), as well as to the
rhetorical expectations of diverse contexts and occasions. You will think
about complex issues from different cultural perspectives. You will demon­
strate empathy (verbally and non verbally) in your speeches concerning an au­
dience's feelings and circumstances. fu the semester progresses, you will also
demonstrate in your speeches (verbally and nonverbally) increased comfort
talking about cultures or subcultures different from your own and differenti­
ate between personal discomfort and intellectual discomfort in cultural con­
flict situations.
• Organizational skills. You will be able to select among organizational patterns
to present your thoughts in the most logical, efficient, and effective manner.
• Stylistic skills. You will be able to select l~nguage that is vivid, grammatically
correct, precise, succinct, and appropriate for the speaking occasion. The lan­
guage will be compatible with that of your individual communicative style.
You will be able to prepare a cohesive speech with smooth transitions be­
tween ideas.
• Research skills. You will be able to efficiently use the resources of the university
library system to obtain research material for your speeches. In doing so, you
should be able to identify sources of information that are both credible and
appropriate for your selected topic and to seek information that is inclusive of
diverse viewpoints. You will select speech topics that are current and relevant
and strive to educate your audience about issues reflective of a multicultural
society that exists within a larger global community.
Cultural Diversity and the Public Speaking Course
249
• Delivery skills. You will be able to express your ideas by demonstrating compe­
tency in verbal and nonverbal communication skills.
• Critical listening skills. You will be able to engage in active, critical listening
and apply the concepts learned in this course ro analyze both the ideas and
the delivery skills of other speakers.
Notice that to this otherwise standard list of outcomes, the instructor has
added "cultural competency goals." By relating the issue of diversity to audience
analysis, another given in public speaking courses, the instructor has legitimated it
as a standard goal of public speaking.
There is also an addition to the syllabus designated as "research skills." Here
students are informed that they are required to choose topics that are "current and
relevant and to strive to educate [the) audience about issues reflective of a
multicultural society."
Both of these syllabus-based changes are significant because they open the
door for assignments that highlight diversity without making such assignments
seem like add-ons. This is important because both students and instructors seem
to do better with assignments grounded in life than with those that appear to have
no relationship to reality beyond the classroom.
Feedback and assessment are also important elements of the process and are
typically addressed in the course syllabus. An example of a rubric used to assess
students' comfort and skill while speaking about persons from a culture different
from their own is provided in Table 42.1.
Instructor-Based Ingredients _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Once cultural diversity is established as part of the course via the syllabus, it is
time to get things rolling. Here the instructor has to remember that words in a
syllabus alone do not make the course culturally diverse. Instead, the instructor
must become a living example of the behaviors he or she wants the students to
demonstrate. Instructor-based ingredients, then, include modeling the expected
behavior and offering a variety of examples related to the expected outcome.
Modeling Behavior
We have discovered that one of the most important things an instructor can do by
way of modeling behavior related to cultural diversity is to use gender neutral
language. A speaker is not inherently a "he" and audiences are not always men. An
instructor must intentionally expand his or her vocabulary and find new ways to
generalize audiences. He or she must also explain the practice to students and
then, good-naturedly, remind them when they lapse. We always remind our
students that culturally sensitive speech, like grammatical and clear speech, is not
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250
Table 42.1
Rubric for Speaking About Persons of a Different Culture
This rubric assesses students' comfort and skill while speaking about persom from a culture differen t
from their own.
Cultural Diversity and the Public Speaking Course
251
something you turn on only when doing a form al presentation. Unless it is
practiced constantly, it becomes just one more thing to concentrate on when one
is faced with other stressors associated with public speaking. Indeed, this practice
might seem awkward at first , but soon it becomes second nature and nonindusive
speech begins to sound peculiar.
Levels of Achievement
Criteria
High
Medium
Low
Culturally Diverse Examples
Language
Language is inclusive and
sensitive. It demonstrates a
high degree of awareness
and adaptation ro rhe
preferences of members of
the undcrserved group.
Language is awkward
and sometimes not
optimal, bur it is nor
likely to be perceived
as offensive.
Language violates
community standards
and the spirit of
university policy, and it
is offensive to members
of the orher culture.
Source
rderences
References are included that
are authored by individuals
of the group (and/or their
fumilies and advocare:s) or
that are wrirren in authentic
,
('voices.
References are
authored by
individuals who are
outside the culture
but who are directly
familiar with it.
References are authored
by individuals outside
the culture who have
limired or no direct
familiarity with it.
Nonverbal
communication
The speaker appears
confident and/or relaxed,
with an open posture.
The speaker evidences The speaker has a closed
elements of both
posture (crossed arms,
comfort and tension. etc.) and a tense
appearance.
Paralanguage
Vocal quality and relative
fluency suggest high levels
of speaker comfort.
Vocalics and relative
fluency suggest
varying levels of
comfort.
Vocalics and relative
flu ency suggest low
levels of comfort.
What is a public speaking class without examples of good speeches? Likewise,
what is a public speaking course with an emphasis on cultural diversity without
examples of good speeches from diverse voices? In all fairness to public speaking
classes and texts, there have historically been a smattering of diverse voices
represented by way of reprinted speeches like Bette Ann Stead's (1982) "Why
Does the Secretary Hate Me?" and Martin Luther King's incomparable "I Have a
Dream" (1963) . Although these are good examples, we are advocating a more
extensive and inclusive pool of examples. Public speaking instructors should
consider the inclusion of such diverse voices as John Jay Chapman, Cesar Chavez,
Lynne Cheney, Bill Clinton, Louis Farrakhan, Teresa Heinz, Barack Obama,
Ronald Reagan, Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker, and Oprah Winfrey.
The point of this partial list is not to provide speakers or speeches with which
everyone in class will agree but to emphasize the need to give all speakers a fair
hearing and to examine rhe strengths and shortcomings of many different
speeches. Not only do sample speeches provide students an opportunity to learn
by modeling; they also provide insight into opposing opinions in a
nonthreatening way.
Relevance of
topic and
conrent
Speech topic is highly
relevant and significant to
members of rhe culture.
Speech topic has only
fair relevance to
members of the
culture.
Speech topic is
marginally relevant or
nor relevant ar all.
Empathy
Language and content
suggest an !!thou*
relationship to the content
as it applies to a culrure.
Language and
content suggest an
!!you relationship to
the contenr as it
applies to a culture.
Language and content
suggest an !!you
relationship to the
content as it applies to a
culture.
Student rating
(self-perception
of comfort in
speaking about
persons of a
different
culture)
High
Medium
Low
• According to Buber (192311996), communication with others typically occurs in one oftwo ways.
In an I/Thou relatiomhip, [and the Other are seen as a whole persons who have achieved perfect
understanding. In an IIyou relationship, the other is still a whole person, but we have not reached
perfect understanding.
Student-Based Ingredients_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
The final aspect of a diversity-centered public speaking class to consider is student
assignments. Again, it is standard fare to have students write and deliver at least one
informative and one persuasive speech. Either (or both) of these speaking
assignments provides an opportunity for a directed assignment related to culture
and diversity. For example , the informative assignment might include the
traditional introduction speech, in which classmates interview each other and then
introduce the interviewees to the class, with a twist. Instead of asking the typical
demographic questions, have students ask questions related to culture or heritage.
The informative assignment is a great opportunity for students to share
information about their own or a researched culture. Several semesters ago, a
visiting student from Qatar presented an informative speech on the history and
government of his country. It met all the requirements of the informative speech
in that it provided new information to students in a creative manner. Students
seem to enjoy opportunities to talk about something that is important to them.
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Diversity Across the Curriculum
The persuasive assignment, like the informative speech, can be u cd 1
highlight issues related co culture and diversity. The main difference, however, i
that, although the informative speech is designed to instruct or provide
information, the persuasive speaking assignment requires students to adv
ac ceptance of a poli cy or course of action. With such current i ue a
immigration, a required national language, and the debates over gay right , th
possibilities here are endless.
Conclusions
--------------------------------------------------
Although it focuse s prim a rily o n the basic skills as so ciated wi th or I
communication, the public speaking course can be narural context in which 1
emphasize and experience cultural diversity. By attending to some pe ill
syllabus-based, instructor-based, and student-based ingredients, such a cou~ n
help create articulate participants in a culturally diverse society.
References
Buber, M. (1996). I and thou. New York, NY: Touchstone. (Original work published 192 )
King, M. L. , Jr. (1 963, August 28). I haz,e a dream. Speech delivered in Washington, D
Stead, B. A. (1982, March 21). Why does the secretary hate me?Speech delivered to the
Women Engineers, H ouston, TX.