Linguistic analysis in public speaking: evidence from a Gavel Club for people with aphasia

Public speaking has been described as one of the most daunting tasks one can engage in, even more so for people with aphasia (PWA). Gavel Clubs (affiliated with Toastmasters International) were established over 20 years ago for those who want to engage in public speaking but do not meet the eligibility criteria for Toastmasters membership. This study is the first of its kind to systematically evaluate changes in the speeches of PWA attending a weekly Gavel Club. The aims were to compare Table Topics (TT) and Prepared Speeches (PS) which are two different tasks regularly performed in a Gavel Club; to measure linguistic change over time in the two speech types; and to determine the feasibility of a discourse measure for analysing public speeches. Thirty-six speeches (four each from nine PWA) were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using the Linguistic Communication Measure (LCM). The nine participants represented a wide range of aphasia severity. Analysis revealed that engaging in weekly speaking activities in the GC was associated with an improvement in conveying content and in grammaticality through an increase in total number of words and number of correct words produced. The LCM is a comprehensive analysis tool but proved to be challenging in its speed and utility when measuring linguistic change in public speeches of PWA. Regular GC participation appears to facilitate improved language abilities, but we have yet to find the best tool to demonstrate this.