For my listening piece I decided to do a talk on first aid for adults.

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Listening commentary

        For my listening piece I decided to do a talk on first aid for adults.  I identified the main characteristics of scripted speech and tried to emulate them in my piece.  The key characteristics of instructional speech are that it uses very short, concise sentences to give directions.  Long complex sentences can lead to ambiguity and confusion. Instructional speech uses simple, easy to understand vocabulary as complicated wording, jargon and terminology make instructions difficult to understand and may confuse the listener. The points must also be presented in a logical order to make them easy to follow.

The audience should be addressed directly, using a fairly personal, friendly tone. There should be directives, for example, 'You should…', 'Fill…', 'Place…' 'Make sure…'. In addition, there should be cohesive devices to make the instructions clear and logical. For example ‘firstly’, ‘secondly’, ‘next’, ‘finally’, ‘following this’, ‘once you have done this.’  Also, having something relevant to look at while listening helps concentration and promotes active learning. 

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After analysing my first draft I decided that some of the sentences were too long and contained too much information.  In order to comply with the rules of instructional writing, I needed to shorten the sentences so that the information was broken down in to smaller chunks to make it easier for the audience to follow.  So I decided to change the graphology of the piece by using bullet points for the points in the opening paragraph of the speech so that it shows in a better way that the reader will pause between them.  In my second draft, however, ...

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