Preparation Meeting Opportunity:How Do College Students Preparefor Public Speeches?Judy C. Pearson, Jeffrey T. Child, & David H. Kahl, Jr.

Nearly half a million students prepare classroom speeches each year, but little is known

about overall preparation time and the relative proportions of time used for each speech

preparation activity. Further, we do not know the specific speech preparation activities

that result in higher speech grades. Public speaking students completed journal entries

over the course of a semester detailing their speech preparation process. Multiple

regression revealed the relationship of time spent in five writing activities and overall

speech grade averages. Overall preparation time correlated significantly with higher

speech grades; in addition, students who spent more time in delivery and practice earned

higher speech grades.

Keywords: Public Speaking; Speech Grades; Speech Preparation

Each year, approximately 450,000 college students enroll in public speaking courses

in the United States. The public speaking course is the ‘‘bread and butter’’ of most

communication departments (Morreale, Hanna, Berko, & Gibson, 1999). Because

of the large number of these courses, a variety of pedagogical materials have been

developed. Basic course directors guide the instruction by providing orientation,

Judy C. Pearson (PhD, Indiana University, 1975) is a professor and associate dean in the College of Arts,

Humanities, and Social Sciences at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5075, USA. Jeffrey T. Child

(BS, Wayne State College, 2002) and David H. Kahl, Jr. (BA, Concordia College, 2002) are PhD students and

teaching associates in the Department of Communication at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-

5075, USA. The authors wish to thank Dr. Michelle Shumate and Dr. Paul E. Nelson for their advice and

feedback on a previous version of this manuscript. Additionally, the authors would like to acknowledge Kristen

A. Nanaziashvili and Min Liu (both from North Dakota State University) for assistance with data coding and

feedback on a previous version of the manuscript. This paper was presented at the Eastern Communication

Association Conference in 2005. Correspondence: Judy C. Pearson, North Dakota State University, College of

Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Dean’s Office, P.O. Box 5075, North Dakota State University, Fargo,

ND 58105-5075. E-mail: Judy.Pearson@ndsu.edu

Communication Quarterly

Vol. 54, No. 3, August 2006, pp. 351–366

ISSN 0146-3373 print/1746-4102 online # 2006 Eastern Communication Association

DOI: 10.1080/01463370600878321

workshops, and courses to instruct new teachers on how to teach public speaking.

Textbook authors assist the college speaker in becoming more proficient at public

communication. Virtually all of these voices suggest that students must spend time

in preparation to deliver high-quality speeches.

Nonetheless, little is known about how students prepare for classroom speeches.

Anecdotal bromides suggest that students prepare the evening before the assignment.

Students appear to have differential abilities in public speaking: Some students report

spending considerable time engaged in preparation without achieving high grades,

while others breeze through the public speaking course with apparent ease and high

grades.

Communication competence should increase after instruction and practice in

communication. One’s willingness to communicate, as well as one’s ability to

communicate, should be improved with instruction and practice (McCroskey, 2000;

Pearson & Daniels, 1988). A student’s prior experience with public speaking and for-

ensic activities, for example, probably portends higher grades in public speaking.

Students appear to become better communicators through instruction and prac-

tice. Rubin, Graham, and Mignerey (1990) conducted a longitudinal study of college

students over four years. In general, students became increasingly more communica-

tively competent with progression through college. An exception occurred in the

second year of college, when competence seemed to decrease: the authors named this

phenomenon the ‘‘sophomore slump,’’ which they suggest may occur as a result of

change and uncertainty experienced by many college students during their second year

of school. Students who were engaged in extracurricular communication experiences

were also more competent on a number of measures (Rubin et al., 1990). Because of

this evidence, we might posit that preparation leads to better grades. However, in

order to successfully prove this claim, related literature must first be examined.

Literature Review

Preparation Time

Communication teachers and coaches encourage students to prepare thoroughly and

practice speech presentations. Burkel-Rothfuss, Gray, and Yerby (1993) suggest that

practice must be accompanied by instruction. Consequently, they have their students

practice speeches with teaching assistant-led study groups.

A number of variables may influence the amount of practice a student needs. For

example, the student’s knowledge of the subject, the length of the speech, the stu-

dent’s previous experience with giving speeches, and the student’s communication

apprehension may all affect how much preparation time is desirable. Public speaking

textbooks encourage students that preparation is a means of gaining confidence in

public speaking (Lucas, 2004).

Public speaking preparation has been studied deductively and in quasi-experimental

settings (Daly, Vangelisti, & Weber, 1995; Menzel & Carrell, 1994). Menzel

and Carrell (1994) videotaped public speaking students giving a speech in an

352 J. C. Pearson et al.

experimental setting and asked them about their preparation time, past experience

with speaking, personal anxiety levels experienced with the speech, general anxiety

about communication, and grade point average. Grade point average, total prep-

aration time, number of rehearsals for an audience, and state anxiety predicted

the quality of a speech performance (Menzel & Carrell, 1994).

Daly et al. (1995) created an experimental situation in which students prepared a

speech while ‘‘talking aloud’’ about the process. Students were given 20 minutes to

prepare. The study divided the preparation activities into preparation and delivery.

While preparation and the quality of a speech performance are related, when speech

anxiety is statistically removed, the relationship between preparation and quality is

much smaller.

The Daly et al. (1995) study contributes to our knowledge about student speech

preparation, but the study is highly limited by the protocol. The artificial situation

in which people have only 20 minutes to prepare and must speak out loud about

what they are doing may not generalize to actual classroom students preparing

speeches over one to two weeks. In the artificial speaking situation, students could

not access reference materials, use audio-visual materials, practice their speech in

the classroom, spend time between actual work on the speech to think about the

topic, or talk with others about the speech.

While knowledge has been generated through artificial exploration, additional

methodology must be utilized. The only means to gain a precise understanding of

student preparation is through a naturalistic protocol in which students report their

behaviors near the time of completion. Only in such a setting are restrictions

removed and the actual student speech preparation process is more accurately

approached and understood.

Communication Apprehension

One of the principal means recommended for reducing anxiety in the past was speech

preparation (Robinson, 1956). Even today, textbook authors like Lucas (2004) and

Nelson and Pearson (2005) suggest that practice and preparation will lead to greater

confidence and less speech apprehension. McCroskey’s seminal work in this area

includes: measurements, causes, correlates, and methods of treatments (e.g., Daly &

McCroskey, 1975; McCroskey, 1970, 1976). In the last four decades, McCroskey

remains the leading scholar in this area of study and continues to add an in-depth

understanding of the communication apprehension construct (e.g., Beatty, McCroskey,

& Heisel, 1998; Burroughs, Marie, & McCroskey, 2003; Cole & McCroskey, 2003;

McCroskey, Richmond, & McCroskey, 2002; Neulip, Chadouir, & McCroskey, 2003).

Weissberg and Lamb (1977) tested three methods of reducing speech anxiety and found

that cognitive modification, or helping students rebuild negative thought processes

about public speaking, and speech preparation were most effective in reducing speech

anxiety.

Speech preparation time varies as a result of communication apprehension.

People high in communication apprehension spend more preparation time on

Communication Quarterly 353

non-communicative activities, while individuals low in communication apprehen-

sion spend more preparation time on communicative activities (Andersen, 1988;

Daly, Vangelisti, Neel, & Cavanaugh, 1989). For example, people with high com-

munication apprehension spend more time preparing speaking notes, but less time

on audience analysis and rehearsal. In addition, communication apprehension has

an impact on the speech preparation process as well as the process of delivery (Daly,

Vangelisti, & Weber, 1995). Although high apprehensives reported more overall

preparation time than low apprehensives, high apprehensives received lower grades

on their speeches (Ayres, 1996). This result may be explained by the meta-analytic

work of Bourhis and Allen (1992). Analysis of 23 studies involving communication

apprehension and cognitive performance found a negative correlation between the

two variables. In addition, it has been determined that students with high levels of

communication apprehension spend more time developing speeches but receive

lower grades than students who spend less time (Ayres, 1996). Ayres (1996) determ-

ined that students with high levels of communication apprehension spend more time

writing instead of spending time on other elements of the speech, such as practicing

delivery, in order to avoid communicating.

If speech preparation in laboratory situations leads to higher grades, then the same

phenomenon may be true in the classroom setting. Similarly, if practice and prep-

aration leads to lower levels of speech anxiety, students should similarly receive

higher classroom public speaking grades with more practice and preparation.

Purpose

How can researchers better understand how students prepare for public speeches?

One methodological approach is to seek information from the students after they

have given a speech. Several studies take this approach (for example, Ayres, 1996;

Menzel & Carrell, 1994). Another approach is to collect data by observing people

during speech preparation and to have them ‘‘talk out loud’’ about what they are

doing (Daly et al., 1995).

When students have been asked to describe their public speaking preparation, they

have generally recounted the process, long after the speech has occurred (Ayres, 1996;

Menzel & Carrell, 1994). Students estimate how much time they have spent in

preparation overall, in pre-rehearsal, and in oral and silent rehearsal. While this

methodology may serve as a building block, it may not give a completely accurate

picture of the students’ speech preparation process. For this reason, a naturalistic

study of the entire speech development process is necessary to discover more precise

information. No research to date has followed the naturalistic activities of students

enrolled in public speaking classes. Will a less intrusive and restrictive protocol dem-

onstrate that students’ preparation time is positively related to the grades earned on

speeches?

The purpose of this study is to determine the amount of time that college students

use to prepare their classroom speeches and to determine which activities of speech

preparation led to higher grades. No study has examined the self-reported behavior

354 J. C. Pearson et al.

of college students in public speaking courses over an entire semester, nor has pre-

vious research explored the relationships between preparation time (and individual

activities within preparation) and public speaking grades. Further scholarship may

have a direct impact on speech preparation instruction in basic courses. At this point,

instructors have general knowledge about beneficial behaviors but lack specific details

on the developmental process. Therefore, specific activities need to be discovered. To

achieve this purpose, three research questions are offered.

RQ1: How much time do college students use to prepare their classroom speeches?RQ2: What relative proportions of time do college students use to prepare the various

activities involved in public speaking?RQ3: What activities in the speech preparation process result in higher overall speech

grade averages?

Method

Participants

Participants for this study consisted of 95 undergraduate students enrolled in five sec-

tions of the fundamentals of public speaking course at a medium-sized Midwestern

university. Data collection among the participants occurred during the Spring 2004

semester. The sample included 48 male respondents (50.5%) and 47 female respon-

dents (49.5%). First-year students made up the largest portion of the sample at 69

students (72.6%). Nineteen sophomores (20%), three juniors (3.2%), and four seniors

(4.2%) made up the rest of the sample.

Students revealed their prior public speaking experience at the start of the funda-

mentals of public speaking course. The public speaking course is required of all stu-

dents as a general education course. From the sample, 15 students (15.8%) indicated

having no previous public speaking experience, 51 students (55.4%) indicated having

very little or one main prior public speaking experience, and 26 students (28.3%)

indicated having more than one or considerable public speaking experience.

Sample participants indicated having 31 different majors, spanning all areas of

study on the campus. The university had eight colleges with various majors. Phar-

macy students were the largest college sampled at 21 participants (22.1%). Seventeen

students (17.9%) came from Engineering and Architecture, 15 students (15.8%) were

from University Studies, 11 students (11.6%) identified Science and Mathematics as

their college, ten students (10.5%) were from Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences,

ten students (10.5%) came from Human Development and Education, six students

(6.3%) were from Business Administration, and five students (5.3%) were in the

Agriculture College.

Procedure

Data collection and coding process

The primary researcher identified and solicited the two instructors participating in

the data collection before the start of the semester based on section and time

Communication Quarterly 355

convenience. The two instructors had students in five sections, which comprised the

final student sample. The instructors told the students that the completed journal

entries were part of a research study and that their responses would never be seen

by their own instructor. (The anonymity encouraged honesty among the students.)

Students completed journal entries at the beginning of each class session using

open-ended responses. Each student wrote her or his own unique numerical identi-

fier at the top of each journal entry instead of their name to ensure student privacy

and confidentiality. Students gained limited participation points for just completing

the journal entries as a part of the course requirements.

The instructors provided students the first few minutes of class to write down a

description of what they had done since the last class to prepare for the next speech

assignment. Instructors asked students to state the amount of time they spent to

complete each preparation activity. After completing each speech assignment,

journaling did not resume until the next speech assignment. Once students com-

pleted journal entries they placed their response in a large envelope. When all

students finished writing, the envelope of responses was sealed, dated, identified by

section, and taken to a central office for distribution to the researchers.

Each student in the two Tuesday and Thursday class sections completed a total of

22 journal entries, and each student in the three Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

class sections completed a total of 29 journal entries, both over fourteen weeks

(excluding spring break). Five independent coders coded approximately 2,471

open-ended responses.

Before conducting any analysis on the data, chi-square tests determined any sig-

nificant differences among sections by college, student classification, or sex. This

was done to address any differences among sections and instructors in the variable

measures. The tests allow for each individual public speaking student to be examined

as a unit of analysis. No significant differences occurred in student classifications by

section, v2(12, N ¼ 95) ¼ 12.80, p ¼ .384. College classification was not significantly

different by section, v2(28, N ¼ 95) ¼ 36.34, p ¼ .134. The sex of the student was

significantly different by section, v2(4, N ¼ 95) ¼ 9.67, p ¼ .046. However, the

difference was not significant when collapsed to the level of course instructor,

v2(1, N ¼ 95) ¼ 1.30, p ¼ .254.

The co-authors, including an established researcher in the communication field

and a small group of graduate students, jointly coded 40 journal entries to train

coders. First, the co-authors received an example of how to code the journal data

in the training session. To code a journal entry, coders examined responses, and each

sentence was the unit of measurement to extract the participant’s own descriptive

references for every preparation activity. The coders then wrote each descriptive ref-

erence at the bottom of the journal entry and noted the number of minutes spent

completing each specific activity. To employ a derived etic approach, the researchers

used no pre-determined categories. This approach revealed ‘‘what units make sense

within the world of the messages’’ instead of using prescribed categories that may

not encompass the range of actual student preparation experiences (Neuendorf,

2002, p. 72).

356 J. C. Pearson et al.

Next, each co-author coded sample journal entries individually and read her or his

coded journal entry aloud. All of the co-authors wrote down how they would have

coded the same journal entry, and the coding for that sample journal entry was then

revealed. Co-authors discussed differences and repeated the process until complete

agreement was reached. Finally, the co-authors coded using the derived etic approach

in order to determine the range of activities that emerged from the data.

The co-authors met again to reorganize the range of activities into mutually

exclusive categories for the final coding scheme. The entire list of activities the

research team identified was typed onto a sheet of paper and jointly examined by

the co-authors. Several ideas were discussed for potential categories for the responses.

The final five categories that the co-authors agreed upon coincided with the five rhe-

torical canons. The five coders independently coded an entire class session with the

final categories and corresponding time increments for determining intercoder

reliability before recoding all of the data.

Speech activity categories and reliability

The first category included generating ideas for speeches, researching speech topics,

and gathering or researching resources for presentational aids use. Students wrote

about this theme with comments such as

‘‘I spent about 15 minutes trying to come up with a topic during my lunch break at

work today. I’m having some difficulty coming up with something of personal

significance relating to a social issue’’ (523, 2-4-04) and

‘‘I spent 20 minutes researching social issues on the internet on the computer in my

dorm room’’ (114, 2-3-04).

(Note that each students was separated into sections and given an individual ref-

erence number within the section. The first number corresponds to the section and

unit number of the participant, and the second number refers to the date of the spe-

cific journal entry.) Commenting on the same theme, another individual indicated:

I spent about 20 minutes thinking about my speech. I was relaxing in my dormroom trying to think of a topic. I think I have my topic now but I don’t havemy thesis statement that I was supposed to have ready. (507, 2-4-04)

The second category included organizing the speech ideas or topics and completing

an informal outline for the speech. Reflecting on this theme, one student indicated:

I spent about 45 minutes writing my prep outline last evening—it still needs someembellishing. Some main points are a little thin yet. The intro and conclusion arebasically done though. (523, 2-6-04)

while another student said,

Since last class period I have worked on my prep outline. I have completed this taskbut still need more research. I have probably put about 1 hour of work into thisspeech. (508, 2-6-04)

The third category consisted of writing the formal speech outline. Students com-

menting on writing their formal outline said things like ‘‘On Sunday I worked until

Communication Quarterly 357

10:00 p.m. So, about 5 hours [was spent] on my formal outline’’ (520, 2-9-04) and ‘‘I

have now spent a significant amount of time preparing my formal outline. I probably

spent about 2–3 hours on it when I was preparing the outline. I was on my computer

in my room’’ (115, 2-5-04). Another student, while discussing formal outline writing,

said ‘‘I spent 30 minutes preparing my formal outline at the library. I think it was

adequate considering I had two tests last night and an English paper to write’’

(117, 2-5-04).

The fourth category included revising, editing, and fine-tuning the speech or for-

mal outline. Commenting on the revision process, students wrote:

‘‘Since the last class period I have spend 45 minutes rewriting my speech. I did this at

Babb’s Coffee House. It was fun. I recommend the while chocolate mocha.’’ (519,

2-11-04)

‘‘I spent about five minutes tweaking my speech in the library’s computer lab.’’ (510,

2-11-04)

‘‘I spent about a half an hour in my dorm room editing my formal outline.’’ (114,

2-10-04)

The fifth category included delivery, practice, creating presentational aids, and cre-

ating speaking outline notes for the speech. Comments about this theme included:

‘‘Today I spent about an hour finishing my notecards and practicing my speech. I

practiced it by myself in my dorm room. Made a couple of changes but I think

it sounds good.’’ (507, 2-11-04)

‘‘I didn’t spend any time on my speech last night, but the night before I spent an hour

practicing. I could’ve spent more time practicing but I had a test to study for.’’

(509, 2-11-04)

‘‘Since Tuesday I have spent a couple of hours in my dorm room and my friends’

room practicing with her and with my boyfriend.’’ (104, 2-12-04)

Krippendorff’s alpha reliability is a measure for calculating intercoder reliability

when multiple coders determine the themes (Neuendorf, 2002). The Krippendorff’s

reliability for the five themes was excellent (a ¼ .91). Once the researchers coded all

journal entries, they combined the time for each activity in weekly increments so that

they could examine a common unit of analysis or measure of time among the two

Tuesday=Thursday sections and the three Monday=Wednesday=Friday class sections.

The research group met as an entire group frequently during the data coding process

to address coding issues encountered by the five coders.

Measures

Dependent speech grade average measure

Over the fourteen weeks, students gave a total of four speeches. The researchers used

the grade given on each of the four speeches to compute a total speech grade average

for each participant. While students engaged in several preparatory outlines and

358 J. C. Pearson et al.

drafts of their speech with peers, outline grades are not reflected in the dependent

speech grade measure. Instructors provided the research group student speech grades

based on an assigned identification number to ensure student privacy and confiden-

tiality. Overall, participants of the study maintained a B speech grade average

(M ¼ 86.10, SD ¼ 4.44). The speech grade average variable was a normally distribu-

ted measure. The researchers used ANOVAs and t-tests to test the reliability of the

dependent speech grade measure by section and instructor. The overall speech grade

average of students was not significantly different by section (F[4, 90] ¼ 1.71,

p ¼ .154) nor instructor (t[93] ¼ .45, p ¼ .654).

Independent time measure for each activity

Some students were very precise in dividing their total time up among activities, and

others were not as precise in the distribution of time among activities. When students

provided a range of time for a group of activities, coders calculated the average time

based on the range provided by the participant and divided it equally among the cate-

gories mentioned. For example, a participant said, ‘‘I spent four to five hours total

writing my formal outline and practicing my speech.’’ The participant mentioned

completing activities three and five. The total time average provided for the activities

(4.5 hours) was 270 minutes. Thus, activities three and five were both coded for the

student at 135 minutes each with the journal entry.

Students used several uncertain time indicators for completing activities. The co-

authors consulted public speaking students to understand and code such uncertain

time indicators. Based on these discussions, students who said they spent ‘‘a little

bit of time’’ were coded for ten minutes; ‘‘some time’’ was coded for twenty minutes;

‘‘quite a bit of time’’ or ‘‘a lot of time’’ was coded for thirty minutes; and an ‘‘all

nighter’’ was coded for five hours or three-hundred minutes. Less than ten percent

of the coded journal responses reflected such uncertain time indicators.

To determine the reliability for the continuous measure of time with each activity,

the researchers computed correlations between each coder’s recorded time in minutes

by participant for each activity. An average of all the correlations between coders

became the reliability measure once all of the correlations were computed

(Neuendorf, 2002). The reliability of time measurement was excellent (a ¼ .91).

Total time spent in preparation of speeches was not significantly different by section

(F[4, 90] ¼ 1.64, p ¼ .171) or sex (t[93] ¼ .17, p ¼ .87).

Results

To answer the first two research questions, the researchers examined means, standard

deviations, and confidence intervals for the total time students indicated they spent

preparing for speeches overall and for each activity. Students indicated spending an

average of 1224.5 minutes (SD ¼ 591) per semester preparing for class speeches,

which was approximately 20.4 hours. Students spent an average of 87.5 minutes a

week (SD ¼ 42) preparing for public speeches (see Table 1).

Communication Quarterly 359

Participants gave each part of the speech-making process different amounts of time

or focus (see Table 1). Writing the formal speech outline accounted for 453 minutes

(37%) of the students’ overall time when preparing for speeches. Students also spent

306 minutes (25%) of their overall preparation time on delivery, practice, creating pre-

sentational aids, and creating speaking outline notes for the speech. Delivery as a

speech activity was followed by idea generation, researching speech topics, and gath-

ering or researching resources for presentational aids, which combined for 253 min-

utes of students’ overall time (21%). Organizing speech ideas or topics and completing

an informal outline for the speech accounted for 111 minutes (9%) of participants’

speech preparation time. Students spent the least amount of time revising, editing,

and fine-tuning their speech or formal outline for 101 minutes (8.3%).

To answer the third research question, the researchers performed a standard mul-

tiple regression analysis to examine the dependent variable, average of students’ four

speech grades, and independent variables of overall time spent by students with activi-

ties one, two, three, and five. When the team evaluated the assumptions for perform-

ing a multiple regression among all five independent variables, all of the activities were

slightly skewed to the right and did not correspond well to the normal curve distri-

bution. Therefore, all five variables were transformed using square root transforma-

tions to reduce skewness (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). Square root transformations

improved the skewness with activities one, two, three, and five. No transformations

were able to reduce the skewness of activity four because the data were primarily

Table 1 Means and Standard Deviations of Minutes Spent Preparing for Speeches over

14 Weeks

Activity Description (N ¼ 95) M SD

Percentage of

overall time

Overall Overall time in minutes spent by

participants preparing for speeches.

1224.52 591.25 100

Activity 3 Writing the formal speech outline. 453.84 322.96 37.06

Activity 5 Delivery, practice, and creating

presentational aids and outline

notes for the speech.

306.14 219.86 25

Activity 1 Generating ideas for speeches,

researching speech topics, and

gathering or researching resources

for presentational aids use.

252.65 207.07 20.63

Activity 2 Organizing the speech ideas or topics

and completing an informal

outline for the speech.

110.67 102.02 9.04

Activity 4 Revising, editing, and fine-tuning the

speech or formal outline.

101.21 124.10 8.27

360 J. C. Pearson et al.

bimodal. Therefore, activity four was recoded by either its presence or absence and

tested with overall speech grade averages with a t-test.

Results from this analysis indicate that the overall model of activities one, two,

three, and five (see Table 1) accounted for a significant amount of variance in higher

speech grades among participants, R2 ¼ .106, F(4, 90) ¼ 2.66, p ¼ .038. Only one of

the independent variables—activity five—contributed significantly to a prediction of

higher speech grade averages as a square root transformation, b ¼ .241, t(94) ¼ 2.04,

p ¼ .045 (see Table 2). Thus, students who engaged in more delivery, practice, and

the creating of presentational aids and speaking outline notes for speeches had higher

speech grade averages.

Activity four recoded by presence or absence in the speech writing process was

tested with overall speech grade average to see if students who revised, edited, and

fine-tuned their speech or formal outline had significantly higher speech grade

averages. Results were insignificant, t(93) ¼�1.07, p ¼ .286.

Discussion

This study found that students spend an average of 20.4 hours preparing four public

speeches. The range was great. Some students only spent five minutes over the entire

course of the semester in speech preparation activities while others spent sixty-one

and one-half hours in speech preparation activities. Students spent the most time

writing the formal speech outline, then next on delivery, practice, and creating pre-

sentational aids and speaking outline notes, then idea generation and research, then

organizing the speech and creating an outline, and finally, revising, editing, and fine-

tuning the speech or formal outline.

The study also found that increased public speaking preparation led to higher pub-

lic speaking grades. Students who maintained a ninety-percent speech grade average

spent close to five and a half hours preparing for each main speech delivered in the

course. Further, the four activities of idea generation and research; organizing and

outlining the speech; writing the formal speech outline; and delivery, practice,

Table 2 Standard Multiple Regression of Four Speech Preparation Activities on Speech

Grade Average

Variables

Speech grade

average (DV) 1 2 3 4 B(unique) b

Activity 1 .228 .070 .106

Activity 2 .181. .369 .045 .055

Activity 3 .124 .391 .133 �.007 �.014

Activity 5 .303 .445 .367 .133 .141� .241

Intercept ¼ 82.583

�p < .05.

R2 ¼ .106, adjusted R2 ¼ .066, R ¼ .325.

Communication Quarterly 361

creating presentational aids and creating speaking outline notes all contribute to

higher grades. Taken alone, the category that included delivery, practice, creating

presentation aids, and creating speaking outlines notes was the only activity that pre-

dicts higher grades. The communicative-related tasks may be most important. This

finding is consistent with Ayres (1996), who found that high communication appre-

hensive students were more likely to engage in non-communicative activities and

receive lower speech grades.

A number of people have been critical of the basic public speaking course. The

principal criticism has been that little has changed over the years. Pearson and Nelson

(1990) were among the first to notice the phenomenon: ‘‘Little change has been

reported in the basic course even though dramatic changes have occurred in other

avenues of the field’’ (p. 4). Leff (1992) reflected on 20 years of connection with

the basic public speaking course: ‘‘During the past two decades the academic study

of rhetoric has passed through profound and revolutionary changes. . . Yet, they still

teach public speaking very much as I taught it’’ (p. 16). Frobish (2000) echoes the

lack of change through time in his analysis of The Art of Public Speaking, the most

widely used public speaking textbook. Using Jamieson’s theoretical model of

eloquence in an electronic age, Frobish determined that this influential text does

not successfully acknowledge contemporary communication situations. This work

indicates that the basic course in public speaking has not progressed as well as other

aspects of the communication discipline.

Its size alone renders the basic public speaking course an important site of

research. Although anecdotal evidence abounds, social scientific methods need to

be applied to the course to determine current practices and measure them against

current theories and research. Nearly half a million students pass through the public

speaking course each year. Being unclear about best practices or recommending out-

dated methods for giving speeches is poor pedagogy.

Understanding student preparation for the basic course in public speaking leads to

additional questions (Palmerton, 1992):

What is it that the students are preparing for?

What will students gain from their study and preparation?

Does the basic course teach skills, including performance skills, or does the course

teach students to be better critical thinkers?

These questions should guide the instruction of the basic course. Finding that the

only activity resulting in higher grades was delivery, practice, and rehearsal suggests

that more can be done to assess, encourage, teach, and reward deeper critical thinking

among students and instructors alike.

Powell (1992) argues that we must assess how successfully we teach critical think-

ing. Assessing the teaching of critical thinking is a multi-faceted task. The determi-

nation of effectiveness requires one to consider factors from both the student’s

and instructor’s points of view. Are students who are spending more time thinking

and conceptualizing their speech topic and outline actually engaging in deeper critical

362 J. C. Pearson et al.

thought, or are they just putting off deciding on a topic so they do not have to begin

the writing process?

Students from the current study prepared all four of their major public speaking

assignments around understanding relevant social issues and considering solutions to

unresolved problems individually in small groups—a problem-based learning

approach. Additionally, students were given feedback and points for the development

of preparatory drafts of their written speech work. Such an approach is especially

geared toward encouraging deeper critical thought among students. The results of

the study beg the question: does deeper critical thought happen more naturally at

higher course levels where students have more self-interest in the course content than

at introductory level courses?

Teaching deeper critical thinking skills can also be problematic for instructors. At

most major universities, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are responsible for

teaching the introductory public speaking course. While most communication

departments provide extensive training to new GTAs, value rests in considering

the feasibility of transmitting strategies and tactics for engaging students in the pro-

cess of deep critical thought to novice public speaking instructors—or, does the issue

of engaging students in deep critical thought cut deeper than simply developing such

strategies through more hands-on experience?

Dance (2002) laments the current state of affairs in the public speaking course.

He believes that the basic course should integrate dialectic and rhetoric, thought

and speech. For Dance, effective public speaking should be based on the quality

of the ideas of the speaker, a focus that promotes critical thinking. Such an

approach leads to considering how the simple virtue of assigning points implicitly

tells students how much to value the end-product in the public speaking preparation

process.

Allen, Berkowitz, Hunt, and Louden (1999) have the final word on the effect of

communication education (and forensics) on critical thinking. These authors con-

ducted a meta-analysis of all of the studies that have tried to determine the relation-

ship between either communication education or forensics and critical thinking and

demonstrated that both result in improvements in critical thinking. Consequently, it

can be asserted that the basic public speaking course, as it is, does serve to advance

the educational outcome of critical thinking. However, improving critical thought in

the one and only class that most undergraduate students will take as an introduction

to the communication discipline always warrants further discussion.

Gayle (2004) has offered specific strategies for teaching both critical thinking and

civil discourse. Encouraging students to take multiple perspectives on a single topic,

they began to understand different points of view. They were also able to engage in

‘‘civil, robust, and effective public discourse’’ (p. 174).

This study suggests that students understand the role of multiple speech activities.

Students reported spending time on the classic rhetorical canons of invention, dispo-

sition, style, delivery, and memory. At the same time, their emphasis on the com-

municative aspects of preparation, namely delivery and practice, was the only

activity that individually predicted public speaking grade. Basic courses may be

Communication Quarterly 363

teaching both thinking and speaking but privilege the performance aspects or the

development of skills.

Limitations

This study relies on self-report data. One limitation of self-report data is the possi-

bility of students over-reporting preparation time for each activity. Possibly students

over-reported consistently across all categories, given the lack of significant differ-

ences in total preparation time by section for all but one of the categories. The

researchers did not actually observe the students’ participation in the variety of prep-

aration activities referenced. The self-reports were also collected only twice or three

times a week rather than day by day or activity by activity.

Another method of collecting data would be to use a public speaking daily diary

where students would record an entry each time they spent time preparing for

speeches. This alternative method might capture the data more realistically, but stu-

dents might also forget to add entries to the diaries or journals. Ideally, researchers

would collect and analyze observational data.

Another limitation of this project was that the sample size is relatively small.

Nonetheless, the sample size was sufficient to reveal multiple relationships among

variables. In addition, the large numbers of comments (nearly 2,500) render larger

sample sizes difficult to manage.

Implications

This study suggests that classroom instructors can tell students that increased prep-

aration time will lead to higher grades on their classroom speeches. Preparation time

does matter. We also have a gauge as to how much time students do prepare for their

speeches. The most important preparation activity may be activities related to deliv-

ery, practice, creating presentational aids, and creating speaking outline notes. In

other words, the communicative-related tasks are most important.

Future Research

Studying actual classroom behavior is difficult. Following students throughout an

entire semester is time-consuming and can lead to large data sets. Nonetheless, we

need to continue to study the basic public speaking course. While laboratory studies

can be useful, studies of actual students and their behaviors is most important. As

Lucas (1999) observes, the basic public speaking course is the ‘‘bedrock of the under-

graduate curriculum’’ (p. 75). Future studies might test the ‘‘sophomore slump’’

phenomena discussed by Rubin, Graham, and Mignerey (1990) in regard to speech

preparation by classification with a larger sample.

Further, evaluative behavior needs to continue to be studied. Recently McGlone,

Kobrynowicz and Alexander (2005) tested the idea that people change their evalua-

tions when they verbalize them. They found a contamination effect as so-called

‘‘experts’’’ verbalized their reasons for liking or disliking an abstract piece of art.

364 J. C. Pearson et al.

Novice viewers changed their judgment about a second object even though the

experts did not identify their rationale.

How do classroom evaluations of speeches by instructors affect other students’

evaluations? Optimistically, the continued study and discussion of the introductory

public speaking course, which is required of all students at many colleges and univer-

sities, will similarly increase our ability as instructors to have an impact on students’

lives and assist them in obtaining sound educational outcomes.

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