Short Presentation Pathetic—Emotion and expression in Japanese students’ English speeches more

Sat, Dec 18, 09:15-09:40 Asia/Tokyo

Persuasive speeches seek to balance the expression of the speaker's ideas in a manner that is convincing to an audience. Japanese students orating in English must further accommodate their beliefs about performing their identities in the language—particularly the often-held conception that English is a more direct, more emotional language than Japanese. This in turn can lead to overcompensation and speeches that are overwrought and unpersuasive. The presenter will draw on ideas from classical and contrastive rhetoric, and a decade coaching and judging speech contests at the high school and university levels, to discuss how this tendency to over-emoting comes about and can be addressed. Practical advice will be offered on improving the balance, writing, and delivery of persuasive speeches.