ACJ Review: Building a Speech

Volume 4, Issue 2, Winter 2001

Building a Speech (4th ed.)

Sheldon Metcalfe
Harcourt College Publishers, Fort Worth, TX (2001)
586 pages
Paperback: $23.95

Reviewed by: Bonnie Clark, St. Petersburg Junior College/University of South Florida

This is NOT just another basic speech textbook.

This book provides an easy-to-follow theme and updated information at a discounted price.

In this fourth edition, Sheldon Metcalfe expanded his theme of speech-building. Students can broaden and strengthen their foundation of audience analysis by learning more about gender and cultural diversity. The outlining chapter deliberately uses a series of "building blocks"-not to talk down to the students, but rather to sequentially build them up so the process of outlining is as clear as the outlines produced by the students.

Students often resist the study of listening and they often consider themselves to be very good listeners when most of them are not. Metcalfe's new edition addresses this resistance and denial with a revamped listening chapter. A section has been added on "The Process of Listening," which includes a clear description of the Wolvin-Coakley listening model.

Communication classes in the new millennium must include units on new media. This textbook has a revised Chapter Eight on "Conducting Research" that focuses on searching the Internet. Most importantly, this section emphasizes the need to assess the reliability of web sources, and explains how and why students need to be skeptical when using broad-based search engines. Chapter twelve, "Using Audiovisual Aids," has advice for using computers to construct visuals, and tips for using an LCD (liquid crystal display) unit, a laser disk player, and digital video equipment to display information.

The appendix features several well-known speeches and a student speech. One of the strongest speeches is Senator Edward M. Kennedy's eulogy of his nephew John F. Kennedy, Jr. Also included are speeches by Jesse Jackson and Christopher Reeve. A student's speech on auto repair fraud has two introductions and two conclusions to allow study of alternative ways to begin and end a speech. All the speeches in the appendix are annotated, so the student can learn more about speech writing.

While some basic courses do not have a panel discussion or group project, most do include a unit on working with others. Students often complain that past experience has taught them not to trust others to do part of the group's work, but after the group exercise, many students report that they actually enjoyed the project. Metcalfe's chapter on group work can be the essential tipping point. His list-and-explain sections on "group-centered behavior" and "positive leadership behaviors" empower the proactive student to step in quickly and encourage better, more productive group work.

Each chapter starts with a list of "Key Terms," and the Fourth Edition has added an extensive glossary. The glossary will be very useful to students whose vocabularies and reading abilities are limited.

Perhaps the book's best feature, appealing to even the most cynical professors, is the price. This book was produced by The Harcourt Press, a budget-conscious imprint from Harcourt College Publishers. The production costs are reduced by the black-and-white interior design, but the content is still vivid through the effective use of white, black, and a series of gray half-tones. The savings then is passed on to the students. Bookstores that traditionally boost textbook prices will find that deception very difficult since the book's cover is printed with "suggested price $23.95."