Audience and Context in Oral Communication Online Short Course

Audience and Context in Oral Communication Online Course

Understanding your audience is the cornerstone of effective communication. This short course explores the essential skills and strategies needed to analyze and adapt to different audiences in oral communication settings. Whether you’re presenting in person or online, you’ll learn how to identify key audience characteristics—such as demographics, cultural background, interests, and expectations—to craft messages that resonate and drive engagement.

Effectively engaging in spoken or signed communication, employing strategies to capture and maintain audience interest, and recognising and responding to manipulative language use. Learners will develop skills in interactive communication, audience engagement, and discerning manipulative language techniques.

Course Content

  • Contributions to group work are appropriate to the task and nature of the group, and promote effective communication and teamwork.
  • Interviews successfully establish a relationship appropriate to the context, and provide a non-threatening opportunity for participants to share information.
  • Participation in formal meetings is appropriate to the purpose and context of the meeting. Participation is consistent with meeting procedures and contributes to the achievement of meeting objectives.
  • Participation in discussions, debates or negotiations is appropriate to the purpose and topic. Participation is consistent with the formality of procedures and contributes to meaningful interaction between participants.
  • Responses to the ways others express themselves are sensitive to differing socio-cultural contexts.
  • Key words/signs, pace and pause, stress, volume and intonation or sign size, pace, rhythm and non-manual features (NMFs) are used in appropriate ways to reinforce the message.
  • Body language is appropriate to context and topic, and reinforces main ideas and points of view. Formal communications are planned in writing/signing, and plans are detailed, complete, and realistic with respect to time allocation and content.
  • Visual aids are appropriate to topic and context, and enhance the presentation and the transfer of information and understanding.
  • Techniques are used to maintain continuity and interaction.
  • Facts and opinions are identified and distinguished.
  • Omission of necessary information is noted and addressed.
  • The implications of how the choice of language structures and features, specifically tone, register, style and point of view affect audience interpretations of spoken/signed texts are explained.
  • Distortion of a contributor’s position on a given issue is explored with specific reference to what has been selected and omitted.
  • Non-accredited: Short course only  
  • Duration: 1h 30m
  • Delivery: Classroom/Online/Blended
  • Access Period: 12 Months 
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