Speaking Step 6

Outcomes

To achieve Step 6, learners will have to show that they can use the appropriate tone, expression and gesture in different settings.

In the previous step, the focus was on how to speak effectively by using appropriate language – that is, the right words. This step is about the other elements that give meaning to what is said – the tone, expression and gesture. 

Learners need to be able to:

• Understand what tone is, and how it varies

• Understand what expression is, and how it varies

• Understand how gestures vary, and what is appropriate

Introduction

• Tone is how we say the words that we are speaking. Without changing the words, the meaning can vary a lot depending on how someone says those words.

• Tone varies by volume, speed, how high or low it is said and any parts that are emphasised. It can make a sentence sound positive or negative and can show if it's a question or instruction.

• The variation in tone creates a different effect on a listener; a speaker may sound calm, anxious, angry or confident, based on their tone. Different tones will be appropriate for different settings.

Teach & Apply

• As well as what we say and how we say it (tone), our expressions and gestures can also affect the meaning of what we are saying.

• Expression is how your face communicates information as you are speaking. By moving our faces in different ways, we convey a range of emotions.

• A gesture is a movement of the body which means something, e.g. crossed arms suggests you are defensive, leaning forward shows you are interested in what is being said, pointing at someone suggests aggression or disagreement.

• While we can control our gestures and facial expressions when we think about them, sometimes we automatically make them without thinking about it. Sometimes these will not be appropriate for the message that we are trying to convey.

Reflection & Assessment

Embed these strategies across your teaching and coaching to help learners apply what they’ve learnt.

• When learners come back from break time or at the start of a session, they can be asked to think about how their tone, gesture and expressions might need to be different now to how they were before.

Use these ideas for ways of assessing this skill step to help you check learners’ understanding and confidence.

• By observing over a sustained period whether learners can use their tone, expression and gestures appropriately.

• Ask these reflective questions:

  • What do we mean by tone, gesture and expression?

  • How can they affect the meaning of what we are saying?

  • What do we need to be careful of when using them?