Vocal and body expressiveness to speak well in telejournalism: training results

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

to describe the changes of vocal and gestural features a story crossing simulation for television after speech training journalism students.

Methods:

longitudinal study, which was attended by 23 students of the Social Communication course, of both genders, with a mean age of 22 years. A theoretical and practical training of vocal and gestural expressiveness for presentations in television journalism was given to the students. The volunteers were randomly divided into two groups - training and control groups. To evaluate the effect of training two procedures were used: general self-assessment of expressiveness and of the speech therapist assessment of the vocal aspects, body and overall expressiveness.

Results:

of the 12 participants in the training group, nine (75%) showed positive changes, especially in the general expression and in the parameters melodic curve, emphasis and pauses (75%). The parameters that were less modified were loudness (5.33%) and resonance (25%). In the control group, 70% of participants had the general expression and the specific parameters considered as similar pre and post training. After the training the participants of the training group self-rated general expression as positive (average grade 8.2) and pointed out that the training contributed to the professional training (average grade 9.8).

Conclusion:

the training "vocal expressiveness and body to speak well in telejournalism" causes changes in the expression of Journalism students. The improvement is significant to the overall expression, emphasis, melodic curve and pauses. The self-assessment showed greater change in the overall expressiveness after training in relation to the speech therapist assessment.

Keywords:
Voice; Journalism; Speech therapy, Language and Hearing Sciences; Phonation; Communication

RESUMO

Objetivo:

descrever as mudanças dos recursos vocais e gestuais de uma simulação de passagem de reportagem para a televisão após treinamento fonoaudiológico para estudantes de Jornalismo.

Métodos:

estudo longitudinal, no qual participaram 23 estudantes de um curso de Comunicação Social, de ambos os gêneros, com média de idade de 22 anos. Um treinamento teórico-prático de expressividade vocal e gestual para apresentações em telejornalismo foi ministrado para os estudantes. Os voluntários foram divididos aleatoriamente em dois grupos - grupo treinamento e grupo controle. Para avaliação do efeito do treinamento dois procedimentos foram utilizados: autoavaliação geral da expressividade e uma avaliação fonoaudiológica dos aspectos vocais, corporais e de expressividade geral.

Resultados:

dos 12 participantes do grupo treinamento, nove (75%) apresentaram mudanças positivas, principalmente na expressão geral e nos parâmetros curva melódica, ênfase e pausa (75%). Os parâmetros que menos se modificaram foram loudness (5,33%) e ressonância (25%). No grupo controle, 70% dos participantes tiveram a expressão geral e os parâmetros específicos considerados como similares. Após o treinamento os participantes do grupo treinamento autoavaliaram a expressão geral de forma positiva (média das notas de 8,2) e apontaram que o treinamento contribuiu para a formação profissional (média das notas de 9,8).

Conclusão:

o treinamento "Expressividade vocal e corporal para falar bem no telejornalismo" promove mudanças na expressividade em estudantes de Jornalismo. A melhora é expressiva para a expressão geral, ênfase, curva melódica e pausa. As mudanças indicadas na autoavaliação da expressividade geral foram maiores do que as indicadas na avaliação fonoaudiológica após o treinamento.

Descritores:
Voz; Jornalismo; Fonoaudiologia; Fonação; Comunicação

Introduction

Speech therapy performing for reporters of telejournalism includes the vocal health and expressiveness. In recent years, such practice has been transforming and improving communicative gets more space. The expressiveness covers verbal and non-verbal features that must be on the same page and present themselves in a manner consistent with the subject to be reported^1),(2.

A quality voiceover in television news, with good oral and gestural expressiveness, is linked to a good text, which consequently produces a free communication noise and enhancement of information³. However, some reporters of television and especially journalism students do not have vocal training and communicative expressiveness to narrate your own text ⁴.

In this scenario, the speech therapy acting has been increasingly necessary. It promotes improving vocal quality and bodily resources to transmit information with credibility^5),(6, which prevents distortions of message and negative communicative interference in the report ⁽⁷.

One way to provide or improve communicative performance of voice professionals is group training⁸. Speech therapy intervention group facilitates the process of improvement, promotes reception, the bond and experience sharing among participants, aids in joint construction of knowledge, as well as providing new meanings inherent in the improvement process, encouraging the adoption of a position with respect to habits and unfavorable behavior ^9),(10.

Speech therapy training conducted with two groups of telejournalists for ten months produced positive changes in the communicative performance of the participants, and these became more involved the viewer and convey the news more naturally¹¹. Another study, after speech therapy training expressiveness for telejournalists, showed significant results of communicative improvement according to the self-perception of viewers⁵. Still, a speech therapy intervention program for television journalists group showed positive changes in the oral expression of their members generate more credibility and clarity during the transmission of news¹².

Although there are studies that dealt with the results of speech training for telejournalism, these are still few and difficult to widespread and / or systematized. Thus, it is important to develop studies that describe in more detail such training, with outcome measures that include self-perception evaluations, in addition to speech therapy evaluation. It is believed that research of this nature promote scientific knowledge and clinical practice.

Therefore, this study aimed to describe the changes of vocal and gestural resources in a report passing simulation for television, after speech therapy training to journalism students a Social Communication course.

Methods

This work was reviewed by the Ethics Committee in Research (Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa - COEP) at the Universidade Federal of Minas Gerais and approved under protocol ETC 763.424. All invited agreed to participate in the survey by signing the "informed consent".

It is a longitudinal study, with a convenience sample, composed by 23 students, the Social Communication Course with qualification for Journalism. Participants were students from first to seventh periods of the course and voluntarily enrolled to participate in training "Vocal expressiveness and body to speak well in telejournalism".

The overall objective of the training was to improve communicative performance in telejournalism. It was composed of six modules: (1) Integration of group; (2) vocal production and health of the voice; (3) Voice and body in telejournalism; (4) Vocal techniques for telejournalism; (5) Body techniques for expression in telejournalism; (6) Text and voiceover Workshop.

The training was composed of two meetings of four hours each, delivered by a voice specialist with experience in telejournalism and offered free to participants (Annex I).

The methodology of the training was theoretical and practical and included an expository part and several group dynamics with practical activities. The methodological structure aimed to reconcile theoretical and practical guidance, and create a dialogic interaction between the group and the practice of the approaches proposed.

Inclusion criteria were: be a student of Social communication (Journalism), age above 18 years, with no experience in telejournalism. Students were excluded with dysphonia and/or stuttering and those who failed to comply with at least 70% of the training workload.

After the voluntary registration, the participants were randomized into two groups: Training group (TG) and a Control group (CG). The TG was composed of 12 participants, eight women and four men. The CG was composed of 11 students, eight men and three women. The average age of the groups was 22 years.

For the data collection, the students from both groups were videotaped, simulating a transition of report for television. With the TG the recordings were performed before and after speech therapy training, and with the CG participants the recordings took place within two weeks, before this group be submitted any speech therapy intervention.

All recordings were performed by the same individual, random research, which used a Sony camera, model HDR PJ230. The participants were in the standing position and simulated the reading of a transition of report (time when the reporter appears in video, at the place of the news), whose text, serious content, was taken from a site of open internet television news. The estimated time of recording was from three minutes. Each participant trained reading the text previously, four times, in both moments.

After the first filming, the TG began the training that happened in two encounters, four hours/each, for two consecutive weeks. The CG was not submitted to any other training for expressiveness in this period. After two weeks the CG recorded the handover and then started training speech therapies.

To evaluate the effect of training, two procedures were used: speech assessment of the verbal and signal recourses, and a general self-assessment of expressiveness. The assessment of vocal resources was accomplished through perceptive analysis-hearing and the following parameters were studied: general expression, melodic curve, emphasis, pauses, pitch, loudness, speed of speech, resonance and articulation. The sign features were analyzed through visual review of the shooting, and the parameters considered were: body posture, gestures, head movements and facial expression.

The self-evaluation of expressiveness consisted of two questions: (1^{st) _{What is the general impression of your communicative expressiveness, after this training? (2nd) How much does this type of training contribute to your training?}} Participants should graduate self-assessment response on a scale visual-analog 0 to 10, where zero meant very negative impression and ten very positive.

The outcomes of the evaluations were analyzed by three evaluators with experience in speech therapy for telejournalism, independent of any procedure of the research, blindly and comparison task. The moments before and after the recording times were randomized and presented in pairs. The CG results were also randomized, however the participants did not undergo any intervention in the period before the second recording.

For the task of comparison, the evaluators should mark the parameters of the second recording were similar, better or worse than the first recording considering, therefore, non-verbal communication resources spanned by the voice and body language preferred for the television journalism ^3),(6. For this reason, the judges were speech therapists specialized in voice, with practical experience in speech therapy with telejournalists.

Therefore, the general expression should reflect credibility of psychodynamic, competence, naturalness and clarity with a predominance of a melodic curve linked to semantic content, without predominance of ascendance or descent; with varying emphases to enhance the understanding of the text, with the presence of significant breaks, pitch tending to serious, since the matter had serious content, loudness and average speed, diffuse resonance and articulation need for clarity in the transmission of the message.

As for the preferred gestural resources³, were analyzed body posture that should be upright, punctuating it with expressive head movements according to the news³, a serious facial expression by subject, with contact of eyes reflecting a psychodynamics of credibility, as well as small head shaking present and without exaggeration.

To calculate the intra-evaluator agreement 30% of the sample was replicated, and the weighted Kappa test was used to choose among the three evaluators the greater reliableness. Among the three judges, one showed 100% concordance in the assessments and is considered as "very good" by Altman¹³⁾ rating and for this reason your data used in the final evaluation. Descriptive analyses of the classification of parameters evaluated were evaluated, through absolute and relative frequency distribution of categorical variables, and numerical synthesis of continuous variables, stratified according to the group - training and control.

For the comparative analysis of the distribution of sociodemographic variables according to the groups, we used descriptive analysis, Qui-square test of Pearson and T-test for comparison of averages.

The Fisher exact test was used to analyze the association between the classification of the parameters evaluated according to the groups.

Results

Table 1 presents the classification of vocal and gestural resources valued by the Training and control groups. TG participants showed positive changes, that is, changes that best fit the profile preferred to the telejournalism^3),(6 in general expression, melodic curve, emphasis, pause, articulation and facial expression, followed by improvement of the pitch, speed, posture, and the movement of the head. None of the participants of the Training Group showed a worsening in the parameters evaluated. The parameters were changed less loudness and resonance.

Table 1:
Descriptive analysis of the distribution of the classification of vocal and gestural resources according to the training and control groups

• * Fisher exact test

Participants in the control group maintained a similar general expression. Some showed improvement in the general expression and the specific parameters observed, except at resonance and a single CG participant worsened. This only result was not considered in the statistical analysis, because among the evaluated parameters, of this individual, most appeared similar and the worsening was located only on facial expression. As the changes were few and isolated the impact was statistically not significant and so was removed from the sample. Thus, Table 1 shows the total of 10 participants and not 11 for the CG.

Table 2 presents numerical synthesis of the relative variables to self-analysis of the general expression and the contribution of training to the group. The results shows that the participants of the TG after training evaluated their expressiveness in a positive way. As to the contribution of training to the professional training in the opinion of the group, the average was considerably high.

Table 2:
Summary of numerical variables related to self-analysis of the general expression and training in the training group (n = 12)

Table 3 compares the distribution of the notes attributed in the self-analysis of the general expression with the evaluator's classification. In TG, it is noticed that self-assessment pointed positive changes in the expression general qualitatively larger than the pointed ones in the speech therapy evaluation. According to the evaluator's analysis most of the participants got better and the self-evaluation was positive for all, even to the participants that presented similar general expressiveness in accord with the evaluator.

Table 3:
Distribution of grades awarded in the self analysis of the general expression according to the classification reviewer on training group (n = 12)

Discussion

The descriptive results of this study shows that training "vocal and body expressiveness to speak well in telejournalism" promotes important vocal and bodily changes in telejournalism students with applicability to future presenters of television news. Other studies show that speech training for telejournalism stimulates the interest as a significant improvement process and positively impact the future professional practice of these individuals ^5),(14.

The proposed theoretical-practical training used training strategies in group, proposal that allows that involved modify them and be modified by the interaction and for the change of experiences lived¹⁵. The literature shows that the speech therapy intervention can happen through consultantships, individual sessions or trainings^3),(6) and that the speech therapy performance potentiates communicative resources, reducing the expressive difficulties and aiding in the acting of the reporters front to the cameras¹².

To evaluate the proposed training the perceptive-hearing evaluation it was used that, although subjective, pattern-gold of the vocal evaluation is considered, traditional in the vocal clinic and sovereign in relation to the other evaluation forms, because it allows the characterization of the vocal quality. For so much it was elaborated, for the researchers, an instrument for the accomplishment of the perceptive-hearing and visual evaluation of the vocal and no-verbal resources favorite for the telejornalismo described in the literture^3),(6),(16.

The expressiveness of telejournalist includes verbal, vocal and non-verbal resources that preferably should be in harmony and complement the verbal message. Verbal resources are the words, the text itself. The vocal resources include: voice quality and voice types, the vocal parameters and pauses. The non-verbal resources include the body as means of expression: the body posture; the use of gestures; facial expressions; physical appearance and garment³.

Table 1 shows that the majority of participants (75%) had positive changes. The general expression revealed a better communicative performance with melodic curve more linked to semantic content, without predominance of ascendancy or descent; varying emphases and enhancing the understanding of the text, present and expressive pauses, pitch tending to low, loudness and speed of average speech, diffuse resonance and precise articulation. As for gestural features, body posture to be considered better should be upright, emphasizing the subject with expressive head movements according to the news, a facial expression of seriousness in relation to the subject, with contact of eyes reflecting a credible psychodynamic with wiggles present and without exaggerations. The idea of "best" was always tied to the parameters described in the literature.

When analyzing the data in the general expressiveness after training, it is noticed that those changes happened mainly in the melodic curve, emphasis and pause (75%). These parameters are considered essential for a good voiceover^3),(16, because they are intimately related to the speaker's communicative intention as well as to the judgement of the listener; they interfere substantially in the differentiation between the professional emission and the spontaneous emission, so that the television reporters look for to develop them, in view of their influence on credibility and clarity aspects ^17),(18. This fact is important, because such aspects are the most expected lines in the communication of the telejournalists according to the theoretical framework of the concept of vocal psychodynamic^3),(16. To transmit the news with credibility and clarity, the melodic curve should be aligned with the semantic content of the report, the program's profile and the broadcasting station, where the reporter should give emphasis to the words of larger relevance, using significant breaks¹⁶.

Besides the mentioned vocal resources, the participants presented changes in the articulation, facial expression, pitch and speech speed. These parameters are also important for the construction of a locution that transmits credibility and clarity during the emission of the news and, in that context, the articulation should be accurate, the low pitch, with speed of medium speech in syntony with the facial expression and gestures^3),(16.

We observed the results of CG that improvement was noted in three participants, and one worsened, and the result of this participant was not considered in the analysis, since among the parameters, of this individual, most appeared similar and worsening was located only on facial expression. We understand that the voice and expression are influenced by emotional moment, the situation and the estresse¹⁶, susceptible to natural variations within a communicative process, as the changes were few and isolated the impact was isolated and statistically not significant, so it was removed from the sample.

Regarding corporal resources, the present study differs of a research that pointed more evident changes for the body to the detriment of the voice in a brief training of expressiveness for telejournalism¹⁹. It is believed that the structure of the present training is the triggering factor of the difference between the findings because the proposed training covers different text workshops of the study did not prioritize this aspect.

The resources that have changed with less training were loudness and resonance. It notes that dysphonic voices were not part of the sample, so there were no participants with voice disorders.

After training all TG members evaluated their general expressiveness of significantly positive way. The purpose of the training was also evaluated positively by all members of the TG. These results demonstrate that journalism students have benefited from group training and all the favorable characteristics promoted by this type of intervention.

The positive self-analysis of the general expression observed in the participants deserves prominence, because studies point that the positive self-perception is one of the telejournalist main characteristics as for their expressiveness, and these tend to change the voice with the development of the profession looking for compatible vocal resources with the style of the news and with the nature of the program and they look for to establish differences among the voice in the professional and personal context^12),(20),(21. The self-critical about the verbal and non-verbal resources present in Journalism students seem to be linked to the trial of these on the importance of speech training for the improvement of oral expression. This fact was observed by reporting students showed greater security to speak and greater clarity and objectivity during the transmission of the message after speech advice on expressiveness ²².

It is noticed that the self-assessment pointed larger change in the general expressiveness after the training in relation to the speech evaluation (Table 3). According to the evaluator's analysis most of the participants (75%) got better, but the self-assessment was positive in all (100%). This finding is important because it is believed that self-perception is one of the main motivating aspects for speech therapy training in expressiveness in telejournalism and that positive self-evaluation of communicative performance has also favored the positive assessment of the training.

The results of this study didn't show statistical association among the variables and we believed that the size of the sample went decisive for this discovery. However, the descriptive analysis deserved to be discussed and presented. We emphasize that the training should be repeated in other groups, but we didn't motivate groups with larger numbers of participants and yes, more intervention groups in a single research. We suggested that the number of participants in group training is among 12 and at the most 15 participants, so that there is not loss of the quality in the training.

Conclusion

The training "vocal and body expressiveness to speak well in telejournalism" promotes changes in the expression of journalism students. The improvement is significant to the overall expression, emphasis, melodic curve and pause. The changes indicated in the self-assessment of the overall expressiveness were higher than indicated in clinical assessment and the contribution of training for vocational training of students is very positive.

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Annex I: Training

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Mar-Apr 2016

History

• Received
  29 June 2015
• Accepted
  04 Feb 2016