The Effectiveness of Group Speaking on the Acquisition of Certain Speech Skills.
King, Clifford Anne · 1938
h m been to analyse ob jectively, through controlled experimentation, the effect iveness of group or choral speaking on the acquisition of three speech skillsi (1) Articulation, (2) Voice tonality, (3) Flexibility of Ton#* The method of Investigation sup plied also tlie answer to a fourth quart to m Em? toes train ing in group speaking compare In effectiveness with the older, generally followed method of individual training in the acquisition of the ease speech skillet This experiment ^as conducted in the Fundamental Speech course of the department of %eech.# lonisiana State University* Forty Rodents regularly enrolled In this course were given the s-n^e background material in lecture and in any drill not bearing directly upon those qualities o f good speech under consideration * ' then the m it of work involved training in articulation, voice quality 4r flexibility of tone, twenty of the students, designated ms Cfcmup A, were trained through the techniques of group speakings 'still# twenty of the students, designated as Uroup B, were drilled In the usual method of individual training* V The method of investigation incited the asking of phonograph records of the voices of the forty students before the training period began. The two group# were then trained by the two different methods over a period of six months # with one lecture end five recitation periods every two weeks. At the conclusion of the training period, second recording of the students* voices was made using: the same material as in the first record., These recordings were then judged from the standpoint of articulation,, voice quality and flexibility of tone by four people well qualified to pass judgment on these attribute# of good speech.. The Judges did not know which record#' represented the f irst recording* and which the second, nor did they know whether a given record came from Group A or Group B* The judging was done on a basis of ten points with one representing perfect articulation, voice quality, and flexibility o f tone, and tea representing entire inadequacy in these eh&reet eristics* A sample record, made by a graduate student in the department of speech was used to give a starting point for'the Judgment of the other records. The results of toe experiment show that in Articulation Group A made an average Improvement of 1*59; Group B m M e an average improvement of 0*91*. In Voice quality Group a made an average improvement of X#$S* Group B made average improvement of O.BB. In Flexibility of Tone Group A made an v i average improvement of 2*01, and. Croup B made an average improvement of 0.58, From these data and their Interpretation* the following conclusions seemed warranted: (X) throws* reading is m effective method of training for a) Articulation, b) Voice duality Mid o) Flexion i ty of tone. (2) A choral reading technique in training Is superior to the customary type of Individual training, when the two methods are Isolated for all three characteristics studied-. (3) Choral reading s m least effective la the development of Voice duality and most effective in the development of flexibility of Tone. The steps followed in the pursuit of the foregoing in vestigation were as follows: i* Origins ^nd & SaiByBti, teara-Mlaa* The evidences of group expression found among primitive and untutored peoples today are given,and the development of communal expression from the earliest records to Its formal beginnings in the Attic theatre is traced, the manifestation of survivals of ehoric speech in each succeeding *?.ge down to the Twentieth Century is noted* 2. twentieth Century Hadasconce. The rebirth in the Twentieth Century of Interest In chorlo speech, both as a separate art form and as an adjunct to the drama, is dis cussed* An account I given of the movement in England Inaugurated by John Masefield, which resulted in the founding Kg groups, f the Oacford Verse Festival, fhe subsequent wt&csorc&d development of Interest In Chorlc Speech In England and America Is teheed, with specific reference to the work being done by leading teachers and schools in both countries* & survey le given of the activities of both labor Choirs and Verse Choirs in Germany, Austria* France, Switzerland end Eusslm today* 3. fupposa of tfee %tudy It Is pointed ant that in 1? In the early ritual of the Roman church, the conjoined arte appeared as part of the ay-atleal liturgy of the mass, and again ae In the history of the Attic theatre, drama emerged from ritual, the Passion Flay, followed in turn by the Saint plays, developed from Latin liturgical drama tisation of the ehuroh festivals.^3 Up to the time of the final stage f liturgical drama, when it had progressed from the altar to the nave and finally outside the church 24 door, it etlll retained its choral accompaniment. Once outside the ehurch door, the religious drama was to fuse again, as it had done in Athens with another form 25 of boric art-the ballad literature f the people. When the mimes and histrtones had been driven from Home, they had carried the art of speaking poetry with them. Their B3H. C. Sehweikert, Early English P l a y , pp. 11-1?. P 4 * ' One other development of chorio speech from the mediaeval church is worthy of note here.