WHAT AND WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES OF ORAL EXPRESSION? - LITERATURE - 2025

The qualities of oral expression are voice, diction, fluency, volume, rhythm, clarity, coherence, emotionality, vocabulary, and message structure. These qualities have the function of allowing adequate verbal communication from a sender to a receiver.

Oral expression is one of the linguistic skills that human beings have to communicate. Together with written expression and gestural expression, it constitutes the set of unique and exclusive codes of our species that allows us to understand ourselves and live in society.

Oral expression includes a series of techniques that require physical and cognitive skills. This means that for oral communication to exist, the existence, first of all, of the proper functioning of certain organs and parts of the human body is necessary.

The most important are the larynx, vocal cords, tongue and mouth and the respiratory system that provides us with the necessary air to be able to emit sounds. On the other hand, it is necessary to learn common codes, which originate in language.

Language learning is also given by learning to read and write, as well as, at a later stage, by understanding the meaning of these words to give them a correct and meaningful use.

A complex process that begins practically from birth and is perfected over the years.

While all human beings can speak, not all do so with the same level of skill or complexity.

Oral expression itself requires elements that go beyond the merely linguistic - where cultural, social and personality aspects are involved - in order to give meaning to what is spoken.

This is what we call effectiveness in oral expression, which is accompanied, as already said, by a series of qualities that we will explain below.

But first it is necessary to indicate what are the elements that must exist so that oral communication can take place.

Essential aspects in oral expression

• A morphologically healthy individual who can make sounds correctly
• Minimum knowledge of vocabulary and its correct use in the basic structuring of ideas (syntax)
• Ability to give meaning to the spoken words (semantics)
• Common and shared phonological signs with the interlocutor

Main qualities of oral expression

1- Voice

It is the ability of the individual to be able to emit sounds through the mouth.

Many parts of the body are involved in the emission of the voice, such as the larynx, the vocal cords, the tongue, the muscles of the face, the jaw and the lips.

Above all, the brain that activates the process so that the person can convert their ideas or feelings into words that the interlocutor can hear, interpret and understand.

2- Diction

It is the correct pronunciation of the words. To achieve a good diction, correct articulation is necessary, that is, the movement of the lips, tongue, teeth and palate is specific for the pronunciation of each vowel, consonant, syllable and word.

3- Fluency

It is the ability to pronounce the words without stumbling, continuously and making pauses in the necessary places so that the interlocutor correctly understands the idea expressed.

In this regard, speed when speaking is essential. It should not be so fast as to run over the words, nor so slow that it hinders the general understanding of the idea or bores the audience.

4- Volume

It is the intensity that is given to the voice when speaking. The greater or lesser volume of the voice will be determined, among other things, by the characteristics of the room (if it is very loud, if it is very large, if it is very noisy) and the number of people to whom the speaker is addressing.

It is not the same to speak to a single person than to an auditorium full of people. You don't speak with the same volume to a handful of attentive students in a classroom as you do to a large group of people in a street gathering.

5- Rhythm

As in a dance, oral communication must have a rhythm and cadence that helps to achieve the stated objective.

If you speak very quickly and without pauses, the listener will have to make an extra effort to try to understand what is being said and they may tire or give up.

If, on the other hand, one speaks very slowly, the listener can also get lost or bored, having difficulty putting the ideas together and understanding the whole.

The rhythm must have a cadence and change depending on the objective and content of the message. These changes help keep the audience interested.

6- Clarity

It has to do with the precision of what is spoken. Without going around the bush, without lingering on details that are not important or that do not add anything to the main idea of ​​the speech.

It also has to do with the correct selection of words based on the audience. It is necessary to handle common cultural codes, which is vulgarly said to "speak the same language."

For example, a doctor of nuclear physics will have to adapt his speech when explaining his experiments to elementary school boys.

7- Coherence

Oral expression must have a logical order where there is a main idea around which the speech revolves.

Avoid jumping from one topic to another constantly, as you run the risk of losing the original idea. From this main idea secondary ideas will emerge.

8- Emotivity

It is one of the great advantages that oral expression has over written expression.

It is the ability of the speaker to impress his words with the emotion indicated in each case; This will be very helpful in being well understood and achieving empathy.

9- Vocabulary

The more words the speaker handles, the more effective his message will be. However, a lexicon that is understandable by the audience should always be used.

The richness of vocabulary and the use of synonyms are skills that are acquired with the constant exercise of reading.

10- Structure of the message

Before starting to speak, you have to be clear about the idea you want to convey. For this the speaker can rely on written material.

Wandering is not recommended. The language should be simple and direct, designed to meet a specific objective.

References

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5. Characteristics of oral communication. Recovered from icarito.cl
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7. Reading oral and written expression. Recovered from materialdelectura.blogspot.com.ar.