Oprah and Communication

In today's article "Be a Better Storyteller - Watch Oprah's Golden Globes Speech," Bill McGowan, CEO, Clarity Media Group Inc., says, "Among the clients that come to us for speech coaching, two questions are asked more than any others. One is, "how do I become a better storyteller?" The other? Whom should I be watching who you think is an outstanding public speaker?The article comments in detail on how Oprah's speech was delivered and what best practices were used to engage the audience. Regardless of your views related to Oprah's message, it is hard to argue with her expert delivery of hers.

We consistently discuss the development of communication skills among adult students; however, we don't often discuss the importance of developing speaking skills, which could really serve students well as the prepare presentations, develop legal arguments, practice job interviewing, and more. Should we address speaking more as we discuss other forms of literacy? Should we do more talking as we emphasize the other aspects of HSET and college prep?

 

Comments

Thanks Leecy for this article.

I wonder if any adult basic skills (including ESOL/ESL) programs ask their students whether or not they are interested in learning public speaking skills, including telling their own stories in public. If so, what do they say?

There is a national and international nonformal blended learning model called "learning circles" offered by public libraries and adult ESOL/ESL programs in the U.S. It is a combination of a free online course and weekly (or more frequent) face-to-face meetings led by a trained (usually volunteer) facilitator. The most popular course requested by community members for learning circles is public speaking. This is true not only in the U.S. but for some of the International learning circles offered by public libraries.

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

David, I do know that public speaking instills at least as much fear in adults as writing and math performance on tests! The fear of the pack is alive and well, apparently. I've read about learning circles from you and others here and love the idea. I didn't know that public speaking featured so prominently as a need in those. Interesting and worthy of being examined further in our discussions.

So how about using self-talk as a step toward talking in public? I love the findings reported in the Harvard Business Review, May 5, 2017 by Ulrich Boser, "Talking to Yourself (Out Loud) Can Help You Learn." At a time when it might be tempting to think that there is nothing new under the sun relating to how to accelerate learning among our adult populations, here's a new learning approach, at least for me. Yet, I practice the strategy myself all of the time, mostly in private, of course, not recognizing it as a strategy for learning that I could share with other learners!

In describing the experiences and findings of Brian Ross, a University of Illinois psychologist, the author says, "Ross is a learning researcher, and he's familiar with the effective, but often underestimated, learning strategy known as self-explaining. The approach revolves around asking oneself explanatory questions like, 'What does this mean? Why does it matter?' It really helps to ask them aloud. One study shows that people who explain ideas to themselves learn almost three times more than those who don't."

The article continues to explain how to employ self-explaining effectively. Is this approach worthy of being shared more with our students or ourselves as lifelong learners? Leecy