Abstract

When a speaker engages in public speaking, the expression shown while delivering the speech determines the effectiveness of the communication and can be very influential in organizational settings. However, in public speaking, the audience can often see the speaker before the presentation begins. Therefore, the public could hypothetically gain an impression on the basis of the speakers’ expressions even before performing the presentation. With this idea in mind, the goal of this research is to analyze the influence of speakers’ expressions before delivering a speech and during the presentation. The study included two brown-haired/dark-eyed male and female and two blonde-haired/blue-eyed male and female presenters to investigate the effect of appearance and gender. A total of 200 participants looked at the speakers’ pictures with five different expressions before delivering the speech. They then watched videos with the same speakers and similar expressions while delivering the speech. The results showed that happiness was the most pleasant and positive expression, followed by confidence, indifference, shyness, and anger, when the participants watched the speakers before the presentation. However, confidence was considered the most pleasant, credible, and comprehensible expression, followed by happiness, anger, shyness, and indifference, while giving the speech. In both cases, female presenters were perceived as the most pleasant, and brown-haired/dark-eyed speakers were considered the most pleasant, credible, and comprehensible. The speakers’ expressions were perceived as more intense before the speech than during the discourse. This line of research helps understand the influence of these two crucial moments in presentations, and the results may be transferred into practice for public speaking training.

Abstract

In the current communicational scenario, transformed by technological and digital advances, media literacy is considered a crucial competence for active and informed participation in society. In this context, the main objective of this study was to assess the media literacy competences of 416 students of the 4th, 6th, and 9th grades in Portugal, identifying training needs and presenting suggestions for intervention. A non-experimental quantitative methodology was used, and the participants completed a self-response questionnaire. The results indicate that the three grades studied have a transversal need regarding the use of media, the production of media content, and participation in society through the media, and also regarding the analysis, understanding, and assessment of media content. We confirm the importance of media education in the development of media literacy and present some intervention suggestions for the promotion of these competences in the school context, namely the reinforcement of some curricular content, the use of guiding documents, and the development of critical thinking. We emphasize the importance of training teachers and parents on the subject, and finally, we also emphasize the importance of deconstructing the belief that digital natives have natural competences in this regard and therefore do not need training in this area.