Oral Communication

[Christine Cozzens <FAIRVIEW@worldnet.att.net>]

We are now the Center for Writing Speaking and offer a peer tutoring 
Speaking Center, which went into business earlier this year.  The SC has 
its own director, a theatre-public speaking professional, and uses a 
classroom (to simulate real presentation situations) equipped with audio 
and video playback equipment as its location.  Students sign up for 
appointments or drop in and can work at any level, much like they do in 
the Writing Center.  The SC tutors have all taken public speaking and 
have been recognized as good speakers themselves.  They advertise that 
they can work with everything from readings, to presentations (group and 
individual), to formal speeches, interview skills, etc.  We are planning 
to combine staff meetings once a month from now on because of course we 
have much in common in terms of tutoring, and because both groups can 
probably learn a lot from each other. Recently the WC tutors and I gave 
a presentation at the SWCA meeting in Augusta, GA.  We did our 
presentation for the SC tutors, and they gave us wonderful suggestions 
that covered everything from the use of our voices to the use of the 
space, etc.  

The hard part is getting faculty to think about oral presentations in a 
serious enough way so that they recommend the SC to their students.  The 
SC is going to send out a letter in the fall talking about their 
services and a copy of their brochure that they would like very faculty 
member to attach to the syllabus.  Several courses this year required 
students to come to the SC, and the results have beeng reat.  The SC is 
also going to work with student groups to prepare things like election 
speeches, presentations for Sophomore Family Weekend, and so on.  They 
are working on tie-ins with our annual undergraduate research 
conference, our Atlanta Semester program on Women, Leadership, and 
Social Change, and other obvious constituents.  The director of the SC, 
Pamela Turner, has amazed me with her creativity in figuring out what 
niche the center should fill and how it needs to be much more active in 
establishing itself than the WC had to be because of the vague nature of 
most oral presentation assignments and the lack of experience faculty 
have in assigning, grading, and using them wisely. 

As a liberal arts college with a reasonable faculty-student ratio, we 
are not under the gun the way some institutions are to prove everything 
with numbers and tests.  So far things like syllabi with oral 
presentation assignments highlighted, speakers and workshops (internal 
and external) on oral presentation skills, and the funding and 
functioning of the SC have been enough to prove we are doing something 
about oral skills.  

Over the summer I am planning to prepare a packet of sample materials 
from the Speaking Center and would be glad to send copies to those of 
you who are interested (give me your mailing address).  We have only 
been going this academic year, so we are still learning how this type of 
center works.  The ESL connection and other pieces are under study.