Speaking and Listening
Speaking and Listening items test discussion behavior, presentation skills, and critical listening. You will be asked what to do in a collaborative discussion, how to adapt a presentation to purpose and audience, how to integrate multimedia, and how to evaluate a speaker's argument - including whether the evidence is sound and whether the reasoning is fallacious.
Collaborative discussions
- Come prepared, having read the material and noted questions and evidence.
- Propelling the conversation means following up: "You said funding fell - do you mean district-wide or only for this program?"
- Ask questions that elicit elaboration rather than yes/no answers.
- Acknowledge new information and qualify your position when evidence warrants: "I still think the policy helps, but the enrollment data makes me less confident about the timeline."
- Disagree with ideas, not people, and cite the text under discussion.
Presenting
Match tone, vocabulary, and level of detail to the audience. State claims clearly and support each with coherent evidence. Use emphasis - deliberate pacing, pauses, and volume - to mark key points. Multimedia should clarify, not decorate: a chart showing the trend you just described earns its place; a stock photo does not. Rehearse so eye contact and pacing survive actual delivery.
Evaluating a speaker's argument
Listen for the claim, the reasons, and the evidence, then test the reasoning. Common fallacies at this level: ad hominem (attacking the person), bandwagon (everyone believes it), false cause (B followed A, so A caused B), either/or (only two options when more exist), and appeal to authority (a celebrity's opinion outside their expertise).
Worked example
Speaker: "Our school should ban phones because the principal, who has thirty years in education, says they hurt learning, and every parent I know agrees."
Evaluation: The speaker offers two supports - an authority and popular opinion. The principal's experience is relevant but remains one administrator's judgment, not data on outcomes. "Every parent I know" is anecdote plus bandwagon appeal, not evidence of a measurable effect. The strongest critique names both weaknesses and requests the missing evidence: achievement or attention data comparing phone-permitted and phone-restricted classes.
Traps
- Confusing a polite discussion with an agreeable one; strong discussion includes reasoned disagreement.
- Describing multimedia choices without linking them to audience or purpose.
- Accepting a cited expert without checking whether the topic is their field.
- Answering "what should the speaker do next?" with a summary of what was already said.