The Indian Pupil in the High School Speech Class

By evaluating the 112 responses to a questionnaire sent to 241 speech teachers in 17 states, an attempt was made to identify the peculiar instructional problems confronting the high school speech teacher in classes composed of both Indian and non-Indian pupils. Teachers cited eight distinct student problem areas, including feelings of social inadequacy, natural shyness and reluctance to speak, poor vocabularies, and monotonal and mumbled delivery, all of which were aggravated by irregular attendance patterns. Seven major approaches were mentioned by teachers as effective solutions, such as encouraging Indian students to "warm up" with group speech activities before individual presentations and developing in students a greater knowledge and self-respect for Indian heritage. Concerning their own classroom effectiveness, teachers pointed to the need for special training in various areas of speech instruction and recommended that a clearinghouse be set up as a source of information exchange. (MF)