Speech/Oral Performance Content in ENGL106
As I've been preparing a possible presentation topic for this week's class, I have been wondering about a few things: Is oral performance (in-class discussion/participation, presentations, etc.) approached/handled/taught in ENGL106? If so, what are some ways that oral performance is approached/handled/taught in ENGL106? How are student "voices"/styles addressed? How do ENGL106 teachers approach students who struggle with writing?
I recognize that there is not a monolithic answer for this-I would appreciate any personal approaches you take concerning your ENGL106 or any foundational English writing courses.
Please post or directly email me (wzeitz@purdue.edu) your responses.
Thanks! 
ps. I am not (currently ) trying to indicate that ENGL106 should have an oral component-I am just trying to gauge what you all as instructors are currently doing in your classes.
Submitted by Morgan Tristana on Wed, 2006-11-08 17:26. Oral presentations...
Well, we have done a few formal presentations in class this semester. I mostly had students brainstorm and think about what makes a markedly good presentation/oral speech, verses what makes a poor or uncool one. They got a pretty good list going...
Voice and language concerns I try to approach rhetorically: who is your audience and what do you want them to be convinced of. We talk about ethos a lot in this concern (and pathos... and logos)(all the time really). I ask them to think about how a certain word, phrase or organization style is either going to work for the audience or make the audience turn against them with pitch forks (only happens occationally).
Working with a student with writing issues? Thats kinda the whole deal, and recognizing that none of us are experts, even those publishing gurus. I think it really depends on how the student is having trouble: have they been told in the past that they are a poor writer, and thus wont write? Do they have some sentence level issues that could be helped, and thus help them with confidence? Are they having trouble oraginzing? What are they writing? Are they familiar with the genre? Who are they writing for, and do they understand (or construct usefully) what that audience wants or needs?
I also have been doing a lot of multimodal work this semester, which throws a big wrench in...
LOTS O STUFF
namaste
Submitted by Morgan Tristana on Wed, 2006-11-08 17:30. Extensive errors in above post
I like how in Talkin and Testifyin Smitherman talks about the construction of "right" and "wrong" grammar, spelling, wording... all constructed. No doubt my post, and all the errors it contains, is a good example of this....
Submitted by alice on Wed, 2006-11-08 16:44. In my ENGL 106 course, I do
In my ENGL 106 course, I do not grade students on speaking ability. I grade them on the inclusion of content into their oral presentations and their ability to back that information up with peer-reviewed sources. I also incorporate much visual presentation requirements into the syllabus, asking them to "speak" in other ways than words.
Submitted by jaciwells on Wed, 2006-11-08 21:40. english 106
Sorry if this is too late, but I do presentations in English 106; I don't really grade them on their speeches, but count it more as participation credit. Also, sometimes I have used speech outlines and/or PowerPoint presentations as paper outlines.
Submitted by lsoderlu on Wed, 2006-11-08 17:33. Eh.
My students do presentations, but it's not yet been made clear to me whether or not we are to judge students at all based on their ability to create or deliver speeches. I must figure out some loose translation between the basic rhetorical elements (speaker and ethos, subject and logos, audience and pathos) I've been explaining to my students and their appearance in students' presentations. So sometimes a student is graded highly for a great speech, sometimes for a great idea, sometimes graded above average for a presentation that is average in all areas.
The question of "voices" and styles is addressed similarly- if the student's voice or style is apropos to whatever situation in which they are using that voice or style, I try to grade them highly. If not, I try to nudge them in the right direction.
For students who struggle with their writing I try to diagnose problems and address the higher order ones one at a time. That's what I say, anyway- really it's a matter of me seeing the good in what they write and trying to make the most out of it on a case-by-case basis.
Lars