Abstract
Nearly half a million students prepare classroom speeches each year, but little is known about overall preparation time and the relative proportions of time used for each speech preparation activity. Further, we do not know the specific speech preparation activities that result in higher speech grades. Public speaking students completed journal entries over the course of a semester detailing their speech preparation process. Multiple regression revealed the relationship of time spent in five writing activities and overall speech grade averages. Overall preparation time correlated significantly with higher speech grades; in addition, students who spent more time in delivery and practice earned higher speech grades.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Dr. Michelle Shumate and Dr. Paul E. Nelson for their advice and feedback on a previous version of this manuscript. Additionally, the authors would like to acknowledge Kristen A. Nanaziashvili and Min Liu (both from North Dakota State University) for assistance with data coding and feedback on a previous version of the manuscript.
Notes
*p < .05.
R2 = .106, adjusted R2 = .066, R = .325.
This paper was presented at the Eastern Communication Association Conference in 2005.