Bradford McCall:

Chapter Summaries on Litfin

Chapter 1:

Because human beings are created in the image of God, we can thereby communicate. Further, because we can communicate, it is incumbent that we in fact communicate, and that to the best of our ability. In communication, information flows from the source, after which it is encoded, the receiver gets the information, and then must decode the material. Mediated communication involves some sort of transmission through means of an interposing nature, whereas nonmediated communication is direct and immediate, usually involving some sort of face-to-face contact. Nonmediated communication, then, is interpersonal. Public speaking would be considered, then, non-mediated communication. Dyadic communication involves all communication and conversation with one other person. It is usually more intimate than other forms of non-mediated communication, for example, small group interactions. A small group interaction must be defined as that which occurs between no more than 20 people. This must be contrasted with public speaking, which by definition includes many more people than 20. Public communication, then, is the least private form of non-mediated communication. Public addresses are beneficial if one intends to convey large quantities of material to a vast number of people in a timely manner. Secondly, small group addresses are beneficial because the speaker can have more control over the programming of material to be discussed. Public addresses also allow for the speaker to become thoroughly acquainted with the material to be discussed prior to delivery of it. Certain characteristics must be present in an effective public communicator, including but not limited to the following: integrity, sensitivity, knowledge, desire, and skill. I readily admit my lack of skill, but do boast in the volume of knowledge that I have regarding the information that I wish to speak of in any given situation. A paradox is present, then, in view of the aforementioned sentence: my knowledge is useless and empty if not able to be conveyed in an appropriate manner. 

Chapter 2:

If one plans to address a certain audience effectively, he must adapt to the level of the audience (“to the Jews I became a Jew, to the Greeks I became a Greek”). Of the 3 elements in public speaking (speaker, audience, and subject), Aristotle states, the audience determines the speech’s end and object. We must reckon it true that listening is at least difficult, and at most impossible and cumbersome to conduct. It is incumbent upon a speaker, then, to attempt continually to keep the listener’s attention—to in fact, arrest it. Most people, even more pronouncedly so in America, are bad listeners, as we have been trained by the “dumb-down box” (i.e. TV) to have sporadic minds. People are much more likely to listen for amusement (I admit that is a somewhat paradoxical statement, as the literal meaning of that term is “without thought-ment”), and are drastically less likely to listen for comprehension. I see a corollary to that statement daily in public school education, as I teach 6th grade science. My students are still learning to read, and are by no means reading to learn. Attention is the most difficult thing to retain for modern Americans, as there is forever a plethora of items competing for our minds. Involuntary attention must be defined as that which is not conscious in its make-up. Voluntary attention is that which we give willingly to something or someone. Involuntary attention is harder to earn and keep but one may achieve a high degree of retention by presenting novelty to the audience, or presenting the material with intensity, or even by making sure the material is applicable to the audience, to name a few methodologies. There are some invariable commonalities that must be recognized in audiences, such as the fact that we are rational, volitional, social and moral creatures as humans. Maslow presented a hierarchy of needs that are pertinent to public speaking: physiological needs (including food, sleep, and body temperature), safety needs, needs of love, and esteem needs. I take issue, however, with modern public education, which seemingly exalts esteem needs above and beyond the needs for love, safety, and physiological resources. Adapting to your audience must be seen as a means to an end. The message used should always contain, at minimum, a statement of purpose, an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. 

Chapter 3:

The singular most effective thing to do in a speech is to build said speech around a central, unitive, significant proposition. The human mind craves unity. Naturally, our minds, then, also crave and seek order. It is against nature, then, the modern bent toward chaos in all things social and individual, I proclaim. We must endeavor, however, to maintain progress in conjunction with both our unity and order. Once more, having a central idea advances unity, along with order and it additionally advocates progress. An idea consists of a subject and a compliment, not merely a subject alone, proclaims Litfin. The subject is simply what you are talking about, whereas the compliment is actually what you are saying about your subject. To have a complete idea, one must assert some positi about a subject. A full sentence, however, cannot be a subject, for subject are by definition incomplete in and of themselves. Changing compliments in an idea, also changes the entirety of the resulting idea. It is quite possible to build two ideas into a single sentence. Ina good speech idea, two things are met successfully: the idea must meet the needs of both the audience and the speaker, along with the fact that the idea must be broad enough to gain attention, but maintain conciseness to be relevant. I might add additionally that the speaker must be interested in the idea, and have the necessary knowledge to communicate it effectively. When a speaker desires to reach his audience, a sense of purpose and excitement permeates the entire speech, and is readily evident to the crowd. Power to expand is generated by compression, notes Davis. Do not fall into irrelevance by the broad nature of the idea, however. The audience must be able to identify with it, so it must be narrow as well (the two must be in tension). The intellectual abilities of the audience should always be taken into account, along with their expectations as well as the location in which the speech is delivered. It must be significant and relevant.  There are many different types of subjects. Firstly to be pointed out is a nominal subject, one that simply names a person, place, or thing as the object of attention. Further, there are relational subjects, one that focuses its attention on the relationship between two things. Thirdly, adverbial subjects begin with who, what, which, why, where, or how. Multiple-compliment subjects take a combined form of the ones listed above. Predicating subjects take the form of, “to be”. In any speech, it important that you state early and exactly what you want to talk about. One’s personal experience is limited, but when one reaches outside himself to knowledge, identifiable things, and the unknown, the topics to discuss in a speech exponentially increase in number. Litfin notes that there is no such thing as uninteresting subjects, only uninterested people instead. Eloquence consists in saying all that should be said, not all that can be said. The compliment of your subject will govern all that you thereafter state about your subject. The compliment could be in the indicative mode (“is”), the imperative mode (“to be”), or the conditional mode (“may be, probably”). To some degree, your compliment is dictated by the way in which your subject is stated. Failure in speech writing is not a crime, but low aim is, according to Parish. 

Chapter 4: 

The habit of common, continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency, states Walter Bagehot. According to Booth, communication involves three things, which are as follows: the audience, the arguments, and the character of the speaker himself. I unfortunately fall into the Pedant’s Stance, as Booth calls it, by relying too much on statements about the subject instead of tending to the relationship between the Speaker and the audience. The Advertiser’s Stance, on the other hand, is somewhat understandably derived, for it at least some way has the audience’s needs in mind, but takes them to the extreme of mere superficiality. The Entertainers Stance, also gives the audience too much of what they want, and not enough of what they need. Entertainer’s often manipulate their audiences by charisma, to their detriment. The pedant forgets the purpose of speaking, whereas the other two over emphasize the purpose of speaking to the detriment of the truth of the matter. In order to avoid my tendency toward pedantry, I must recollect that there are generally only 3 things you can do with an idea: explain it, prove it, and demonstrate it. Therefore, in a speech, your idea will fall into one of these three categories: explanation, proof, or implication. Understanding precedes belief, and both understanding and belief precede acting on what we believe. “Audience” refers to not only the people spoken to, but also the setting in which the speech takes place, as well as the occasion in which the speech takes place in. We should always be seeking some sort of response from our audience whether we be speaking an explanatory, a proof-based, or an implication-based speech. Informative speeches present factual material. They call for understanding, and not belief nor debate. It is crucial in an informative speech to present the material clearly, completely, honestly, and accurately. There may be difficulty in informative speeches with clarity, but this can be avoided by limiting the number of major points, keeping the transitions clear, including summaries often, defining ambiguous terms, and making the abstract concrete. Litfin states that we should avoid technical terms, but I find his statement abhorrent, and further state that America’s ignorance is due in large part to its voluntary “dumbing-down” in reference to avoiding that which challenges it. Informative speeches often tend to cover too much material too quickly. 

Chapter 5:

The body of your speech should be composed of the major points, the subpoints used to develop your major points, and the connectives between points. An isolated fact is an irrelevant thing, so anything that does not contribute to the point should be eliminated. Ideas should be presented in order. It is difficult to thin. It is more difficult to think about thinking, and it is most difficult to describe thinking about thinking, Haddon Robinson posits. In developing your idea into a speech, list all the implicit and explicit “kernel”-type sentences. Inductive patterns for speeches are very reliable when the inferences are founded upon a sufficient number of specific observations. Inductive speeches are “inductive” in so much as they reason from specifics to general ideas. In categorical syllogism, if the points are true, the conclusion, based on those points, will also be true. In hypothetical syllogism, the major premise establishes what will happen under a certain set of conditions, and in fact the minor points support that major assertion. In disjunctive syllogism, and “either-or” condition is established in the major premise. Problem-Solution patterns attempt to answer select problems that we invariably will face in life. To solve problems, we must discover the problem, isolate it, list possible solutions, establish criteria by which to judge, and then choose the best solution. The motivated Sequence is a common psychological pattern in speeches. Said pattern consists of getting attention, addressing a need, offering satisfaction, giving visualization, and prompting action. Outlining, generally speaking, is a crucial step and skill for a speaker. Bypassing outlining will produce superficial speeches that merely tickle the ears, but I must state that if I produced superficial speeches, I would probably be serving at a bigger church, because people love to have their ears tickled. In an outline, one must list the main points, show the chronological order, and show the connections between the points. It is wise to limit your speech to 5-6 main points for the audience’s sake. Keep the wording of the outline lean and concise, which may be built upon in the actual speech event. Do not allow your speech to reach climax in the middle, but only at the end instead. Additionally, begin on common ground with your audience, and work from that location outward into your new idea, so as to be maximally effective. Transitions, sign posting, parallel wording, and time-weighting are all tactics used to display structure. Transitions are the bridges between thoughts of speech. There are 3 types of transitions: additional (builds), inferential (logical connection), and disjunctive (contrast). You should transitions whenever your audience needs a summary before moving on, a preview of what is coming, or needs to see some relationship between two points. The more important points receive more time, usually, which is the key to time-weighting. 

Chapter 6:

Functions of supporting material include usage to explain, clarify, amplify, or demonstrate. The primary function of supporting material is to inform and persuade. I find it hard to comment on Ernest Boyer’s speech found here in chapter 6, but will state my support for all things written therein. Types of supporting material are multivariate. Firstly, examples must be mentioned. An example may be a specific instance or an illustration. Many illustrations take the form of a narrative. Narratives need to be kept short, and lean of any unnecessary details. When using examples for persuasive purposes, keep them short and use them in a compounding fashion. When using statistics, majke sure they are spoken clearly and accurately. If all the people who go to sleep in church were laid end to end, they would be a lot more comfortable, notes Robert Taft. When you gain conciseness, you lose vividness. Mark Twain said that there are three types of lies: white lies, black lies, and statistics. In explanatory supporting material, you are to list its attributes, use synonyms, classify it, describe its components or ingredients, set it in various contexts, or point to its source. We must build an element of redundancy into our speech, because repetition is maximally effective for retention. Statements of your ppoints and during transitions are especially important places to repeat yourself at. When using quotations, be vivid, cite the authority quoted, and identify its source. Be mindful to keep the quotations short, and that they come from respectable sources. Attempt to paraphrase the quotation when possible, and never use the terms “quote-unquote”. Various comparisons are similes (like, as), metaphors (literal comparisons), figurative comparisons, or analogies. Contrasts clarify differences between two things. Visual aids are a Biblical precedent, and are still widely used in American pulpits today. Visuals can be further broken into subdivisions, including objects, charts and graphs, diagrams, maps, and illustrations. Do not overdo personal experience as a source of supporting material, which unfortunately too many preachers in this day do too frequently. Try to use, in public addresses, as many of the aforementioned types of supporting material as possible. 

Chapter 7:

There are various purposes of an introduction, of which capturing the audience’s attention, building rapport with the audience, explaining to the audience why they should listen, and orienting the audience to the subject matter are but a few. Introductions commonly use such speech tactics as novelty, movement, proximity, concreteness, conflict, suspense, intensity, or life-relatedness to capture attention of the audience. Using these devices will not automatically produce the desired results, however. Keep what you do in fact use clean and concise. Avoid sensationalism and gimmickry, as they are ultimately deceiving and in the end offensive thereby. The initial relationship with the audience will be shaped by two things: their attitude toward you, and their attitude toward your subject material. Reinforce, intermitted-ly, throughout the speech the importance of said speech by alluding to the introduction and the reasons why they should listen to your speech. People are usually intrigued by a speaker who has a great desire to communicate. Show your interest in them also as people. Aristotle said that the listener will be more than willing to listen to anything that is applicable to himself, agreeable, surprising, or important. By the time you are through with your introduction to the speech, an audience should have a very clear understanding of where the rest of the speech is going. Be sure that the subject you raise in the body of your speech is exactly that which you introduced formerly in the introduction. Aristotle stated that a good conclusion reminds us of what has already been said; however, a speech should conclude, not just drop off or stop. Work on clarity and conciseness in the introduction as well as the conclusion. To insure clarity, attempt to recapitulate the main ideas of the speech at the conclusion. Further, return the audience to the introduction in your conclusion. As a general rule, the conclusion should require no more than 15% of your total time, and no less than 5% of your total time. Be weary of false conclusions, which are those that appear abruptly in the middle of speeches. 

Chapter 8: 

Good word choice is the difference between a good sermon and a bad sermon, between good communication and bad communication. Oral discourse tends to be more direct than written discourse, states Litfin, but I disagree with him in view of my own experience, as I bluntly write things to people, and attempt (often futilely) to speak them in a softer manner. Secondly, speech tends to be redundant, but written discourse generally only mentions things once (because the viewer can always go back and re-read it later). Oral discourse thirdly tends to be more fragmentary. Oral discourse also tends, usually, to be more personal in its nature. Effective styles of speech requires that word choice be pointed, appropriate, and interesting. Eschew obfuscation! Use clear words, words also that are appropriate to the audience. Litfin states to use familiar words, but I disagree with him and state that we should challenge our audience and their vocabulary, but define new words as we go forth into the discourse. I resist the dumbing-down of America, which is directly resultant from the dumbing-down of American public education. I do like, however, Nietzsche’s remark stating: “He who know himself to be profound endeavors to be clear; he would like to appear profound to the crowd endeavors to be obscure. I loathe Sue Spencer’s remark telling us to never use a fifty-cent word when a ten-cent word will do. Using accurate words, at times (in difference to Litfin) requires the usage of unfamiliar words to the audience (scientific terms, for example). We are to use fitting words that are modern in their usage as well. Whatever you do, speak pointedly with lean, concise, and compact wording. I struggle, at times, with compactness, as I load up on synonyms, as to promote further understanding. I dislike Litfin’s notion about using properly arranged words (I guess he intends the standard type sentence structure, with little or no complexity--- subject and verb, subject and verb, subject and verb). Litfin seemingly contradicts himself, just a few short sentences later, by declaring that the larger vocabulary that you have to choose from, the better your speech will be. Further, he states that we are “try out new words often” (288). Apparently, Litfin is a fickle American, with his mind tossing to and fro. If we are to be interesting, and able to maintain said interest, we should use concrete sensory words often. Be specific also in your speech, as it adds to the interest level therein. Though we should eliminate the passive voice altogether (I like using the passive voice for accentuation often), we should nonetheless attempt to use action wording most often. I disagree with Litfin’s conclusion that linking verbs sap the strength of your assertions. I, personally, like using linking verbs, and do so often. I enjoy, with Litfin, using imaginative language including metaphors (implied comparisons), similes (like, as), and personification (human attributes).  Litfin states that we should use “fresh words” (298), but is this not merely tickling the ears of the audience? What if the best way to state something is an “old way”? Use euphonious words that sound attractive and interesting. Alliteration and parallel wording are but two methods of euphonious wording. Euphonious speech must be defined as that which has the quality of having a pleasing effect, a pleasant sound, or having a pleasing combination thereof, as in music or poetry. I disagree with Litfin when he states that overstatements are “word wax” (i.e. not sine-cere), and state instead that it adds emphasis to the statement. Litfin totally contradicts himself on page 303 when he states that we should spend much time with a dictionary or a thesaurus (“use familiar wording”???). Quintillion states, “erasure is quite as important a function of the pen as actual writing”. Put away what you have written down for a period of time, only to pick it back up later, so as to look at it and edit it with “new eyes” that are not completely biased. Litfin tells us never to rehearse our speech from the manuscript, and I totally agree, as it becomes cumbersome in its delivery (as you always make some minor, spontaneous additions in the speech event, which may be cumbersome with your memory as afore-written). 

Chapter 9:

People communicate both verbally and nonverbally. The verbal code uses words, whereas the nonverbal code uses body language. Body language includes the way we move, look, hold ourselves, or approach something/someone. Verbal and nonverbal communication often work together, for example when pointing to a door and yelling “get out”. That would be an example of complimentary nonverbal communication, whereas if we yelled “go right”, while pointing left, that would be contradictory nonverbal communication. Substitutionary nonverbal communication is when you, for example, merely shrug your shoulders. We at times regulate our nonverbal and verbal communication by turning our eyes away, for example. Various channels of nonverbal communication include proxemics (distance), kinesics (body language, i.e.), eye contact, physical behavior, facial expression, and paralanguage (voice inflection, e.g.). As a general rule, get as close as you can to your audience. Avoid mounting a platform unless direly required to be seen by entirety of said audience. Avoid pacing back and forth spastically, but it is good to move around a little. Over half of the nonverbal communication occurs through facial expressions. Paralanguage deals with the task of phonation (making sounds, i.e.). Articulation (clarity of words), intonation, and inflection (different pitches) then, are concerns of paralanguage. The faster one speaks, the more difficult is articulation. I find this to be true in my own experience, as I speak excessively in a rapid style. 

Chapter 10:

There are 2 purposes for religious discourse: evangelism and edification. I tend toward the latter in all that I do, as I recognize my gift to be teaching, and not exhortation. Edification has as its goal the building up of the body of Christ—the making of them into the image of Christ Jesus. Hebrews 6 clearly tells us that we are to move onward in the faith, not forever laying the elementary principles of the faith. Edification is best achieved by exposition from Scripture, which is why I exegete continually the Bible. I preach the Word, and not stupid stories, because the /word nis authoritative. In Biblical exposition, meant comes before means (a text cannot mean something it never meant). Ideas for the speech are derived from the text, and conveyed to the audience. Application always is included within exposition. The ultimate goal of exposition is to equip the people of God to live for God. Topical exposition is when you trace a certain topic throughout the Bible, whereas exegesis generally allows the text, in chronological order, to dictate the sermon. When beginning an expository sermon, let the text guide your thinking, and not vice-versa. Repetitively read the text. Develop an exegetical idea, and the subsequently an exegetical outline. Explain the Scripture to the audience, prove it to be true, and then draw implications from it. As for implications, the question, “what does this mean for my life?” should be addressed and answered. One’s speech idea is composed of the exegetical idea along with the needs of the audience. In dealing with Scripture that was written to a particular people in a particular time, it is often necessary to draw principles only from the text. From the principles derived, thereafter apply them to the contemporary audience. Stay within the idea as originally presented, however. Context must be kept in mind when doing exegesis. Context, context, context! Your goal, in exposition, is to communicate your ideas through the text itself.