SPEAKING 5: SPEAKING TO PERSUADE

Persuasive speaking is all around us.  Any speech is persuasive if its purpose is to convince others to change their feelings, beliefs, or behavior.  When do we make persuasive speeches? We make them all the time.  When we ask our teacher for a higher grade, try to persuade a parent to buy us something, our goal is to try to change or influence others.

Activity 1

PRACTICE YOUR PERUASIVE SKILLS

Find a partner and role-play a situation in which you practice persuasion.

1. Choose one of the persuasive-speaking situations below (or think of a different persuasive-speaking situation):

- Convince your parents to let you go on a camping trip with friends.

- Convince your younger brother or sister to do his or her homework.

- Convince a friend that watching TV is or isn’t a waste of time.

- Convince your teacher that you did not get help writing a composition.

- Convince a friend to smoke less.

- Convince your parents to buy you a car

2. Your teacher will give you and your partner 5 minutes to plan your

scenario.

3. Role-play the situation in front of the class.
4. Speak persuasively about the topic for 2-3 minutes.  Present at least three compelling reasons why the person should do what you want them to do.  Be prepared to counter any objections they might have.

PREPARING FOR THE PERSUASIVE SPEECH

The first step to follow when preparing a persuasive speech is to choose your topic.  In order to do it more effectively, you may follow these steps:

a)     Choose a topic that really interests you.

It is easy to think of ideas if you choose a topic that you feel strongly about.

b)     Suggest a change that isn’t too large.

It is easier to convince an audience to change their opinions, feelings or behavior a little than to persuade them to change their minds completely.

c)      Choose a topic that is controversial.

Do not choose a point of view that most people already agree with.

Some topics might be:

Arranged Marriages

Nuclear Weapons

Capital Punishment

Use of Cell Phones

Donating Money

Working Mothers

Animal Experimentation,

Women’s Rights

Human Cloning

Smoking in Public Places   

Living Together Before Marriage

Violence on TV, etc.

Activity 2

NARROWING YOUR TOPIC

Choose one of the general controversial topics that interested you.  Think of three possible specific persuasive claims related to that topic,

General Topic:___________________________________________________

Specific Persuasive Claims:

1. _____________________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________________

Choose one of the topics for your persuasive speech.

The second step is to determine your specific purpose

a)     To Change Audience’s Belief

In this case, your purpose maybe to convince the audience that a reported fact is either true or false, that something will or won’t happen or that an event was represented accurately or inaccurately.

E.g.:

Mexico City is the largest city in the world.

Capital punishment will not diminish crime.

There is not life after death.

b)     To Change Audience’s Opinion

In this case you have to convince your audience that something is good or bad, important or unimportant, fair or unfair, better or worse, helpful or not helpful.

E.g.:

Dogs are better pets than cats.

Paris is more interesting than Rome.

It is fair to have extra homework if you don’t work in class.

c)      To Change Audience’s Behavior

In this case, your purpose is to convince your listeners to do something they’re not doing now or to stop some behavior they currently practice.

E.g.:

You should stop smoking

You should read more.

You shouldn’t eat junk food.

Activity 3

DETERMINE YOUR PURPOSE

Read your Persuasive Claim and reflect on your purpose, write it down.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The third step you should follow is to analyze your audience. There are mainly three different kinds of audiences, the ones that…

a)     completely agree with you.

b)     may be indifferent.

c)      may disagree completely.

Activity 4

ANALYZE YOUR AUDIENCE

Interview your classmates to find out what they think about your topic.

Topic: __________________________________________________________

Record how many of your classmates are in each of the following categories:

Disagree:      ______________

Indifferent:    ______________

Agree:          ______________

If your classmates are indifferent, it is because:

_____ They don’t think your topic affects them.

_____ They have never heard of your topic.

_____ They have never given your topic any thought.

Write at least three reasons that explain why some of your classmates disagree with your topic.

1. _____________________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________________

Once you have chosen your topic, identified your purpose and analyzed your audience, you must start gathering information:

a)     Write down what you already know about your topic.

b)     Think about your own related observations or experiences.

c)      Gather additional information by:

·         Conducting research

·         Interviewing experts or people who have an interest in your topic

Homework 1

Gather information for your persuasive speech taking into account the tips given.  Write it in your notebook.

Now that you have the information that you will include, you must organize your speech.  Read carefully the following steps.

1. Opener building on areas of agreement with audience

The introduction to a persuasive speech is very important.  In order to convince listeners to agree with you, it is essential to first give them reason to trust you and to see you as a person who thinks as they do.  You can do this by first discussing: Common goals, problems or experiences.

E.g.: “Most of us know people who have had friends or family injured or killed in terrible car accidents on the highways.  No one wants to worry about whether they will arrive at their destination safely every time they get in a car…”

Activity 5

Write five lines to introduce your persuasive speech.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Prepare a statement of purpose

Now that you have shown your audience that you are a sensible person who shares their values and beliefs, the next step is to clearly state the specific purpose of your speech.

E.g.: “Highway Speed Limits Are Too High”

Activity 6

Write your statement of purpose.

_______________________________________________________________

3. Prepare a preview of main persuasive points

Now that your listeners know your specific purpose, the next step is to preview the main persuasive points you will present in the body of your speech.

E.g:

-It is a fact that high speed limits are not the cause of car accidents but it is also true that the most severe accidents happen when driving too fast.

-Since high-velocity objects collide with greater force, accidents that occur at high speeds are more often fatal.

Activity 7

Write at least two persuasive points related to your topic.

1. _____________________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________________

4. Prepare the body

Now that your listeners know your main persuasive points, the next step is to prepare evidence that will convince them to agree with you.  Your audience analysis can help at this stage.  Review your opinion survey form before deciding how to convince indifferent or hostile listeners.

Homework 2

Write the body of your speech in your notebook, include the introduction and persuasive points at the beginning.

5. Prepare a summary

An effective persuasive speech includes a summary of the evidence presented.  This will remind your audience of why they should agree with you.  The examples below show how evidence was summarized in two speeches.

Activity 8

Use the information that you wrote for homework to write a summary to finish your speech.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Prepare memorable concluding remarks

The last part of your speech to prepare is the conclusion.  The conclusion of a persuasive speech should remind the audience why they should change in a belief, an opinion, or a behavior.  An effective way to do this is to make them think about the future and to remind them to take some type of action.

Activity 9

Write at least two concluding remarks.

1. _____________________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________________

Homework 3

Write the final version of your persuasive speech, print it and hand it in to your teacher.  Prepare your outline and visual aids.  Practice your speech in order to present it during the next session.  Be sure it doesn’t last more than three minutes.