Deck 13: Informing

Question 1

The process of deciding how a speech can best achieve its purpose is called __________.

A) strategic planning
B) agenda setting
C) strengthening the purpose
D) inducing reinforcement

Answer 1

strategic planning

Question 2

When asked to deliver a speech for which you are allowed to decide the purpose, what should you assess?

A) how the audience and occasion create opportunities or constraints
B) how specific purpose creates opportunities or constraints
C) how topic creates opportunities or constraints
D) how thesis and main ideas create opportunities or constraints

Answer 2

how the audience and occasion create opportunities or constraints

Question 3

What strategies are most appropriate for a speech aimed at helping listeners learn how to conduct efficient Internet searches?

A) persuasive
B) entertaining
C) informative
D) forensic

Answer 3

informative

Question 4

Informative strategies ask listeners to __________.

A) change their understanding of a subject
B) believe what the speaker believes about a topic
C) take some action on an issue
D) tell others what they have learned about a subject

Question 5

Which of the following goals relies heavily on both informative and persuasive strategies, as well as entertaining strategies?

A) providing new perspective
B) creating a positive or negative feeling
C) creating a utopian vision
D) agenda setting

Question 6

Global warming, which was not always perceived as an issue, is now an important concern because of public messages that served the purpose of __________.

A) creating a positive feeling
B) converting
C) agenda setting
D) inducing a specific action

Question 7

Dr. Chadi spoke to a group of seniors about the many alternative treatments available for the most common medical complaints among those over the age of 55. Her speech served which purpose?

A) providing new information
B) agenda setting
C) creating a positive feeling
D) creative a negative feeling

Question 8

When you aim to make the audience aware of an issue or problem that they had not previously known about, your informative purpose is likely __________.

A) creating a feeling
B) converting the audience
C) providing new perspective
D) agenda setting

Question 9

Karla knows that her audience is familiar with the many public messages about the dangers of alcohol. She decides to give her informative speech about recent studies showing that one drink per day can have health benefits, such as significantly reducing the risk of heart attacks. Her informative purpose is __________.

A) agenda setting
B) providing new perspective
C) creating a negative feeling
D) strengthening a feeling

Question 10

Which of the following purposes requires a combination of informative and persuasive strategies?

A) agenda setting
B) inducing action
C) creating a positive or negative feeling
D) weakening commitment

Question 11

Lars listened to his classmates debating the provisions of the Patriot Act and decided to give a speech clarifying their understanding of the term "patriotism." Which informative strategy might he have relied on most in his speech?

A) reporting
B) explaining
C) defining
D) comparing

Question 12

Hillary's informative speech focused on clarifying the audience's understanding of feminism. Which informative strategy did she need to rely on most?

A) reporting
B) defining
C) demonstrating
D) describing

Question 13

Which of the following examples best demonstrates the informative strategy of defining?

A) The speaker tells the audience about the events surrounding a political debate on campus.
B) The speaker shows the audience how to practice T'ai Chi Ch'uan.
C) The speaker clarifies the similarities and differences between censorship and rating systems.
D) The speaker clarifies the concept of affirmative action.

Question 14

Speeches relying on the strategy of reporting almost always use which organizational pattern?

A) topical
B) chronological
C) spatial
D) cause-effect

Question 15

Magda attended a two-day celebration of campus diversity. She decided to make this event the topic of her upcoming informative speech. Which informative strategy is she most likely to use?

A) defining
B) reporting
C) describing
D) explaining

Question 16

June wants to give a speech about her radiation and chemotherapy treatments for cancer. She plans to relate her experiences in chronological order. Which informative strategy is best suited to this goal?

A) describing
B) repeating
C) reporting
D) relating

Question 17

Which of the following examples best demonstrates the informative strategy of reporting?

A) The speaker tells the audience about the events surrounding a political debate on campus.
B) The speaker shows the audience how to practice T'ai Chi Ch'uan.
C) The speaker clarifies the similarities and differences between censorship and rating systems.
D) The speaker clarifies the concept of affirmative action.

Question 18

Which strategy should a speaker use to help listeners distinguish between the essential meaning of a difficult concept and its other less central meanings?

A) describing
B) reporting
C) demonstrating
D) explaining

Question 19

Talia presented a speech about how to give a pedicure, covering several steps in a specific order. Her informative strategy was __________.

A) describing
B) comparing
C) reporting
D) demonstrating

Question 20

Which of the following is true of storytelling?

A) Stories are useful as introductions but should not serve other functions in the speech.
B) Stories are less useful than technical approaches if the audience is diverse.
C) Stories should include anecdotes and moments of reflection.
D) Stories inform but do not persuade.

Question 21

Which of the following questions is least relevant when preparing a demonstration?

A) Can the subject be demonstrated in the time available?
B) Does the subject need to be seen to be understood?
C) Are my actions coordinated with my verbal instructions?
D) Can my audience learn this procedure by any other method?

Question 22

Which of the following strategies encourages information retention during an informative speech?

A) reinforcement
B) reportage
C) inducement
D) conversion

Question 23

The forgetting curve is a measure of __________.

A) how listeners' opinions change from positive to negative
B) how easy it is for speakers to forget parts of their memorized speeches
C) the relationship between what listeners understand and what they remember
D) the rate at which information is forgotten over time

Question 24

When a speaker uses "we" rather than "you" to refer to his or her relationship with the audience, what is the speaker doing?

A) comparing
B) reinforcing
C) agenda setting
D) clarifying

Question 25

Explicit references to the audience, inclusive language, and a clear organizational pattern are all strategies for encouraging __________.

A) decorum
B) resonance
C) commitment
D) reinforcement

Question 26

Informing, persuading, and entertaining are three distinctly different kinds of speeches.

Question 27

Informative strategies rely on the metaphor of the speaker as leader and the audience as followers.

Question 28

Informative speaking can create positive feeling because knowledge and information are power, so being informed makes listeners feel powerful.

Question 29

Informative speeches do not tell an audience what to do but they may help listeners form criteria for making a decision.

Question 30

Speeches that use defining strategies are partly persuasive because defining terms always influences listeners to think about things in a certain way.

Question 31

The strategy of defining can be used for speeches that aim to inform or for speeches that aim to persuade.

Question 32

Reporting is unbiased so it is the only truly informative strategy.

Question 33

The strategy of comparing would be particularly appropriate for a speech about the costs and benefits of mutual funds versus bond funds.

Question 34

The same strategies that improve attention also encourage retention.

Question 35

Through the effective use of reinforcement strategies, a speaker can reverse the forgetting curve and create a remembering curve.

Question 36

Informative strategies presume that the principal goal of the speech is to __________ with the audience.

Question 37

Informative strategies do not ask listeners to believe or do anything in particular; they ask that listeners change their __________ of a subject.

Question 38

When a speaker intends to change and update the audience's common knowledge, the purpose is to provide new __________.

Question 39

__________ is an informative strategy aimed at clarifying a term or concept that is vague or troublesome.

Question 40

John gave an account of his trip to New Jersey to help Hurricane Sandy victims. He wanted to convey, in vivid detail, the conditions faced by those victims. His best choice of strategy to achieve this was __________.

Question 41

The effective speaker using the describing strategy gives __________ about a person, place, or event.

Question 42

When explaining a difficult concept, it is important to distinguish its __________ meaning from its other less central meanings.

Question 43

The strategy of __________ provides listeners with a basis for making a choice, without telling or urging them to make a particular choice.

Question 44

The biggest constraint on the effectiveness of informative strategies is the __________ curve.

Question 45

Retention is encouraged through __________, which is a response by the speaker that rewards the listeners.

Question 46

List the three general strategies for accomplishing speech goals. Identify how they are different, and tell when each might be appropriate.

Question 47

What three purposes are most closely associated with informative strategies? Why are these purposes more suitable for informing than persuading?

Question 48

Identify and define the seven informative strategies discussed in Chapter 13. Identify how they differ from each other.

Question 49

How do the strategies of describing and explaining differ from reporting?

Question 50

What are three strategies for encouraging retention? Why do they work?