ORAL COMMUNICATION REVIEWER!!
SPEECH ACTS:
➢ Speech Act:
❖ explores how we use language to perform actions
❖ are acts done by saying them
❖ are actions performed through writing or speaking
➢ Language:
❖ is a powerful tool in communication
• Three Types of Speech Act are the following:
➢ Locutionary Act:
❖ the speaking part of the speech act
❖ the literal sentence or the utterance
❖ the action you’re performing when you say something
➢ Illocutionary Act:
❖ the acting part of the speech
❖ action done by saying something
❖ the meaning conveyed or the intention
➢ Perlocutionary Act:
❖ is the response to an illocutionary act
• Two Kinds of Illocutionary Act are:
➢ Constative:
❖ is making something true or false by saying it
➢ Performative:
❖ is doing something by just saying it
• John Searle’s Categories of Illocutionary Acts:
➢ Assertives:
❖ Commit the speaker to the truthfulness of a condition or
situation such as where he or she asserts, concludes, deduces, or
swears that something is true
➢ Directives:
❖ are attempts by the speaker to make the listener do something
❖ a speaker commands, requests, begs, invite, entreats, pleads,
and insists that the listener do something
➢ Commissives:
❖ Commit the speaker to a future action
❖ Speaker guarantees, pledges, assures, swears, or promises to do
something
➢ Expressives:
❖ show a speaker’s attitude toward a situation
❖ includes apologizing for a wrong that was committed,
congratulating someone for something, thanking someone for
something, or comforting someone
➢ Declaratives:
❖ making something true by saying it (constative) or make the
speaker do something by saying it (performative)
COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES:
➢ Communicative Strategies:
❖ can be verbal, non-verbal, or visual
❖ are attempts by participants in a communication activity
❖ the speaker express his or her ideas in a way that minimizes a
breakdown in communication
• The Seven Communicative Strategies are the following:
➢ Nomination:
❖ the topic must be identified or nominated
❖ it allows the listeners or audience to tune in to the topic
❖ recall background information they have about it
❖ prepare the listeners or audience to listen to what is to be said
about the topic
❖ the act of suggesting or initiating a topic to be discussed
❖ start of the conversation
o Examples:
✓ Let’s talk about….
✓ I would like to talk about….
✓ Today I am going to discuss/talk about….
➢ Restriction:
❖ a speaker must restrict the topic of discussion to make it specific
enough to be manageable
❖ determined and limited by the amount of time given to the
speaker
❖ time is limited, the speaker must make it clear to the audience
where he or she restricts the discussion
❖ a topic should be discuss
➢ Turn-taking:
❖ changing form one speaker to another in a way that does not
disrupt the communication process
❖ speakers must know when to take their turn or allow others to
speak
❖ one speaker should not take too much time in speaking
➢ Topic Control:
❖ the speaker should focus on the topic without straying into other
discussion
❖ the speaker must not give extended illustrations that are too
long such that the audience forget its connection to the topic
➢ Topic Shifting:
❖ changing from one topic to another
❖ the speaker prepare the audience or listeners for the change
o Examples:
✓ Let us now turn to the issue/topic of….
✓ I will now talk about….
✓ In addition to (current topic), there is also (next
topic)…
➢ Repair:
❖ the speaker must clarify what he or she is saying
❖ the speaker must repair this miscommunication by rephrasing
or using other words
o Examples:
✓ I mean….
✓ What I mean is….
✓ Let me rephrase that….
✓ In other words….
✓ Let me say that again….
➢ Termination:
❖ restate the main idea of the speech in a way that is memorable
to the listeners
❖ summary of the discussion
o Examples:
✓ Let me end by saying….
✓ In conclusion….
✓ In summary….
✓ We were able to discuss….