Listening and Evaluating Unit 1 Section 3b

Vocabulary Faulty reasoning Analogy Hasty generalizations Bandwagon Irrelevant evidence Loaded words Mnemonic devices Name-calling Propaganda Signal words Stereotype Transfer Analogy Bandwagon Begging the question Card-stacking Critical listening Critique Emotional appeals False analogy False premise

Factors that Affect Listening Your physical and mental state The speaker Your prejudices The environment

Control Factors That Affect Listening HOW TO Be energetic and focused Focus on the message Keep an open mind Do what you can to adjust the physical environment.

Activity 1: Analyzing Your Listening Skills Over the next two days, identify five listening situations and determine whether or not you listened attentively in each situation. If so, what factors helped you to listen so well? If you had trouble listening, what factors hindered you? Were you able to overcome those factors? How? DUE FRIDAY.

Listening Critically Identify the speaker’s goals Identify main ideas Identify supporting details Use context clues Synonyms Comparisons or contrasts Examples Take advantage of nonverbal cues Emphasis contradiction

Activity 2: Using Critical Listening Skills Read an editorial or feature article in your local newspaper. Identify the writers goal(s), main ideas, and supporting details

Evaluating a Speaker’s Reasoning Generalizations: general conclusions or opinions drawn from observations Hasty generalizations: conclusions drawn from a very few observations or ignoring exceptions Begging the question: assuming the truth of a statement before it is proven Premise: stated or implied starting point for an argument False premise: premise that is untrue or distorted

Evaluating a Speaker’s Reasoning Analogy: form of reasoning by comparison False analogy: draws invalid conclusion from weak or far-fetched comparisons Irrelevant evidence: information that has nothing to do with the argument being made

Activity 3: Analyzing Faulty Reasoning Evaluate each of the following items. Identify the form of faulty reasoning in each. Write a brief logical analysis to explain your answer.

Activity 3: Analyzing Faulty Reasoning 1. Jackson was the lowest scorer in the game last night. He’s simply not a great player and not worth the big money they paid for him. 2. The people claiming doom from the green house effect are like the little boy crying wolf. It hasn’t happened and we shouldn’t respond. 3. The nation’s food companies are cheating their consumers—every one of us—by raising prices this year. After all, farmers had perfect weather and no shortage of workers. 4. The saleswoman said I looked terrific in the jacket—so I bought it. 5. Look at the year’s progress: five new downtown high-rises and not one new park. The manipulation of the city commissioners by real estate developers must be stopped.

Propaganda Techniques Propaganda: persuasion that deliberately discourages people from thinking for themselves.

Propaganda Techniques Transfer: method that builds a connection between things that are not logically connected. Ex. Ad showing a prosperous, happy family drinking a certain brand of milk. The goal of the transfer technique is to get the viewer to associate the brand of milk with prosperity and happiness.

Propaganda Techniques Bandwagon: encourages people to act because everyone else is doing it; substitutes peer or crowd pressure for analysis of an issue or action Ex. Someone says that you should vote for a proposal because all your friends are voting for him; no mention of why the proposal is worth supporting

Propaganda Techniques Name-calling: labeling intended to arouse powerful negative feelings. Its purpose is to represent a person or group as inferior or bad without providing evidence to support the claim.

Propaganda Techniques Card-stacking: based on half-truths. Presents only partial information in order to leave an inaccurate impression Ex. A speaker might refer to a person who has gained a fortune through illegal means as a “good breadwinner.” The negative methods of gaining the fortune have been ignored.

Propaganda Techniques Stereotypes: biased belief about a whole group of people based on insufficient or irrelevant evidence. Loaded words: words that draw out strong positive or negative feelings. Connotation, denotation Emotional appeals: statements made to arouse emotional reactions

Activity 4: Identifying Propaganda Techniques Folks, the upcoming election is going to be a landslide. Garver is carrying the entire West Side. Here’s your chance to support a winner the people really want! Friends, my opponent is a fine woman, but she is over sixty. Can you afford a mayor without youth’s vigor—who might tire under the pressure, long hours, and huge workload? Only fashionable, good-looking people buy Goodlook clothing. It’s the brand to try.

Activity 4: Identifying Propaganda Techniques Wilson must be a gangster; he comes from a family of gangsters. A vote for Wilson will put the criminals in control. They’re calling Wilson a mouthpiece of organized crime. But would a criminal treat his family in the loving way Wilson does? He is a devoted husband and father. Vote for Wilson. At night, these refugees go to sleep with no food or shelter. In the morning, they wake up to face another day of hunger. Do not ignore the plight of these helpless people. Send money to fee them now.

Activity 4: Identifying Propaganda Techniques I might be thin, but Kelly is skinny. And Yolanda looks practically emaciated! I want to tell you what a vote for me means. My roots are in a small, rural town. There the sick were always cared for. There the police were always friends, not adversaries. The whole student council and the Athlete’s Forum are going to the school board meeting to protest the dress code. You’ll be part of the group that stands up and fights! The all-wheel-drive Lion doesn’t just go up hills. It positively leaps. Stubborn and sure-footed, it is the king of the mountain. If your dream is to stand alone on the top, get one vehicle only: the Lion.

Listening and Evaluating The oral critique Analyses and evaluations given out loud Valuable because everyone in the class can profit from analyzing the mistakes and successes of others Purpose is to help the speaker understand what went right and what went wrong

Give an Oral Critique HOW TO Give positive feedback When giving negative feedback, concentrate on only one or two criticisms. When making criticisms, mention what the speaker to could do to improve. Be specific.

Listening and Evaluating The Written Technique More complete and detailed than oral critique Develop a checklist of questions Organization? Content? Language? Delivery?

Develop a Written Critique HOW TO Think about the organization of the speech Consider the content of the speech Analyze the language the speaker used Comment on the delivery the speaker used

Activity 5: Giving an oral and written critique Choose a speech from this website http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html Practice evaluations with a partner Deliver the speech as if you had written it. Have your partner use the guidelines discussed to give you an oral critique. Let your partner deliver the speech and prepare a written critique of content and delivery.

REVIEW QUESTIONS Unit 3b How is listening different from hearing? What are the four reasons for developing good listening skills? What are the four obstacles to effective listening? Explain how to overcome each. List and explain the five strategies that allow a critical listener to test the strength of what he or she hears. Name and explain each type of faulty reasoning. List the types of propaganda techniques. Explain three of them. List the four guidelines for giving an oral critique. What are the four areas one needs to evaluate in completing a written critique?