Public Speaking (7th Edition) (MySpeechLab Series)

This is a letter I wrote to the authors (to which they responded but I won't post it there b/c of copyright):

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Dear Drs. Michael and Suzanne Osborn:

As a student in my first public speaking class, I felt I was benefiting from this textbook and classroom activities. I read about ways to maintain one's credibility through thorough research and avoiding using stereotypes, which impedes the audience's ability to listen critically. Imagine my surprise then, when I came across pages 135-137, where some web sites are listed as resources to understand ethnic/racial/cultural diversity. Under the heading for "Asian American," I couldn't help but notice that the sites are Asian but seem to have little to do with the Asian American experience. I checked out these websites to be sure not to judge prematurely, but sure enough, these sites are all based in Asia! Surely there are plenty of resources for those who truly identify themselves as Asian Americans? It is insulting to me that one would equate the Asian experience with that of the Asian American one. Similarly misguided sites are listed under "European American." Again, those sites seem more to have to do with Europeans than actual European Americans. Perhaps you should have advised those working on this text to check their own stereotypes at the door. I was disappointed yet again when I read page 157, where you raised as an example of questions students might ask during topic briefings, "Why do Asian students often excel in mathematics?" Though I understand people often raise questions like these, it wouldn't hurt to have addressed the racist nature of this sample question. I find any comment based on racial stereotyping racist, be the comment intended to be positive or not.

The above reminded me of yet an earlier example based on stereotypes. Where you discuss emotional reactions to words on page 87, you introduced a hypothetical case of one listener incensed over the speaker's use of the word "girls" to refer to women. In this case, it turns out the speaker goes on to say that "a program aimed at promoting more females is in effect," which seems to somehow suggest that it makes it all better. Though you probably did not intend for the women in the hypothetical case to be promoted without their own merit, it still sounds rather like the program in question encourages the promotion of someone based more on their sex to fill a quota than on merit, which I find intrinsically sexist.

These awkward examples in the book only worked to distract me from critically reading the text, not to mention making me seriously question this book as a credible resource. I highly suggest you rethink these examples for your next edition of what could otherwise be a useful tool for those embarking on their first public speaking courses.

Finally, a text that deals with the fear of public speaking by dedicating a whole chapter to it. It doesn't come naturally, or at least easily for most people, unless of course, you're in the business. The Osborns give a whole chapter to the "First Speech." Although I feel this team was a little short on speech preparation techiniques as far as conducting interviews, what was offered was good enough to set up a solid base of testimonies for informative speeches. And although they did well in the in in-depth lesson outlining, the Osborns could've devoted more space to the Power Point presentation. This is increasingly necessary to win over audiences. A good Power Point presentation is the epitome of competent public speaking.
I feel there could have been more detail on the delineation of small groups and subgroups. However, this team had good anecdotes and very colorful interpretation of language usage.
I look forward to the 8th edition.

I used the text book for a "public speaking" course at California State University Hayward campus.

The book does an excellent job of taking the reader through the steps in preparing public speeches. It contains numerous examples of speeches.

The main thing I felt that the author did was to teach the reader a the step by step process of picking a topic, preparing an outline and delivering the speech it self.

good luck to all potential public speakers!