: Using emoji to practice impromptu speaking

Abstract

Impromptu speaking is a typical exercise in communication-focused courses. This format is often used to practice reducing or assess speaking anxiety, getting to know one another, and delivering project updates and ceremonial remarks. For students to practice their skills in quick thinking and speech preparation, instructors commonly have students draw random written topics and speak in front of their classmates. This procedure, while efficient, can be uninspiring and induce anxiety. The activity outlined increases creative engagement while reducing speech anxiety in impromptu speaking scenarios. It uses randomized collections of emoji as speaking prompts and embraces students’ use of texting and visual communication to create livelier classroom experiences while reinforcing impromptu speaking skills by mitigating weaknesses in traditional approaches.

Courses

This single-class activity would be useful in public-speaking courses or during presentation and public-speaking units of any course. For example, this activity has also been successfully deployed in an Introduction to Professional Development course’s unit on impromptu speaking.

Objectives

The learning objectives of this activity are: (1) to practice impromptu speaking and (2) to encourage creative engagement in class.