Speaking | Importance of Speech | Purposes of Speech

This article focuses on speaking, importance of speech, and purposes of speech. A detailed discussion has been made on the topic to make for the learners to comprehend and assimilate into their skills.

Language is primarily speech, and knowing a language means the ability to understand and speak a language.

Speaking means ‘conveying a message through words of mouth.’ We express our ideas and thoughts; convey our feelings and emotions; and communicate our message mostly through speech. Speech is therefore, called communicative or oral skill or simply speaking skill. This signifies the purpose and importance of speech.

Importance of Speech

Importance of speech is undeniable. The process of learning a language remains incomplete without mastering the spoken skill. It is observed by the researchers that the most important skill the learner should acquire is the speaking skill. It has also been noted that the development of the other skills would be comparatively easy if they are based on oral foundation. All this data reflects the importance of speech.

A learner needs oral skill in order to perform social functions. The value and importance of speech is evident from the fact that while living in society, we communicate ourselves mostly through speech. At home we share our ideas with the members of our family through speech. Again speech is our major means of expression when we deal with our customers or buy something form a shopkeeper. The teacher delivers their lectures in the classroom also through speech. It is important to note that we spend 30% of our communication time speaking.

According to Don Byrne, “it is the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably, accurately without hesitation.”

To attain this goal, language learner starts imitating the model from his/her teachers, and through constant practice he gains competency in speech.

Purposes of speech

Whenever we speak, we should have a definite purpose of our speech. A speech without purpose is known as “non-sense”. The person, who speaks without purpose, lacks wisdom and loses credibility in society. Nobody pays heed to what he says. “Think before you speak” is a wise maxim that should be acted upon. So it is wise to speak with a purpose.

Following are some purposes of speech:

1. To inform: The first purpose of speech is to inform the listener. The activity of speaking imparts information, awareness, and understanding to the listeners. A speaker speaks to his audience because he wants to give information about a product, program, person, project, incident etc.

2. To convince and persuade: The second purpose of our speech is to convince and persuade our listener to accept our view point. A sales representative of a firm tries to convince his customers to buy its products through persuasive speech. The more his speech is persuasive, the more he gains business.

3. To stimulate: the third purpose of speech it to stimulate others to perform some important action. A persuasive speech arouses interest and excitement in the listeners to act as the speaker wishes. For example, an exciting speech by a commander can stimulate the soldiers to make some impossible achievement. A teacher stimulates the students to follow his instructions for achieving brilliant success in their life.

4. To Entertain: The fourth purpose of our speech is to entertain and amuse others. On certain occasions we amuse and entertain our audience with jokes and humorous remarks. We colour our speech with humor which creates a pleasant atmosphere for amusement of our audience.

5. To Console: Lastly, speech can be used as an effective tool to console the people who suffer some loss or misery. A sympathetic and soft speech can minimize the effect of their sufferings. In the time of natural calamities like flood, earth-quake, accidents, a speech has soothing effect and makes the people forget their sufferings.

If you have any queries regarding the purposes and importance of speech, please free free to leave your comment in the comment section below. Thank You!

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