Best for
Speech analysis, oral-language assessment prep, rhetorical-device study, and critical reading of public speaking in English or social-science contexts.
English ā¢ Years 9-13 ā¢ Oral language and rhetoric
Speech Analysis Toolkit
Use this handout to help Äkonga analyse how a speaker builds impact through purpose, structure, rhetorical choices, and delivery. A strong speech is not just a good opinion written down. It is a text designed to move an audience.
Free analysis base, premium class-text path
This page already gives you an excerpt, analysis frame, and response space. Te WÄnanga becomes useful when you want the same scaffold rebuilt around your own speech text, NCEA-style evidence, or a specific local issue.
- Swap in a class speech, debate extract, or student exemplar.
- Generate a junior version with more chunking or a senior version with evaluation prompts.
- Save the adapted task in My Kete and reopen it later in Creation Studio.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 35-50 minutes.
- Grouping: Whole-class annotation first, then pairs for analysis, then independent paragraph writing.
- Prep: Decide whether students will only analyse the sample excerpt or also compare it with a class speech.
- Teaching move: Keep separating what is said from how it is said so students notice craft as well as message.
Resources already provided
- Speech-analysis checklist
- Original sample speech extract
- Rhetorical-appeal prompts
- Delivery-analysis frame
- Evidence-based response space
If the lesson refers to ethos, pathos, logos, speaker choices, or a short analysis paragraph, those materials already exist on this page.
NgÄ WhÄinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning how speeches are shaped for audience and purpose.
- We are learning how rhetorical appeals and language choices influence listeners.
- We are learning how delivery choices strengthen or weaken a message.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can identify the speakerās main purpose and intended audience.
- I can explain at least two persuasive choices using evidence from the speech.
- I can comment on how delivery supports the speechās impact.
Curriculum integration / Te MÄtaiaho alignment
The companion page maps this resource to English expectations around interpreting author purpose, oral language, rhetorical choices, and evidence-based conclusions about how a text works.
Why speech study matters in Aotearoa
Public speaking in Aotearoa draws on many traditions, including debate, spoken-word performance, activism, church and community speaking, mihi, and whaikÅrero. Students need to understand that speeches are relational texts shaped by audience, context, and purpose.
A mÄtauranga MÄori lens adds care here: spoken language can carry mana, relationship, and collective responsibility. We should analyse persuasive technique clearly without flattening all oral traditions into one generic model.
What to notice in any speech
Audience and purpose
Who is being spoken to, and what does the speaker want them to think, feel, or do?
Rhetorical choices
Look for direct address, repetition, contrast, statistics, anecdotes, and rhetorical questions.
Structure
Notice how the speaker opens, builds momentum, and finishes with a final impact or call to action.
Delivery
Tone, pace, pauses, gesture, and emphasis all shape how the message lands with the audience.
Sample speech extract
āWhÄnau, students, and neighbours, we all know our local awa deserves better than being treated like a drain. When we walk past it after heavy rain, we see rubbish caught in the reeds and water that no one would call healthy. That is not somebody elseās problem. It is ours.
We are told clean-up work is too hard, too expensive, or too slow. But every community change starts with people deciding it matters. When schools, marae, sports clubs, and households act together, what looked impossible becomes normal. We have already seen this in places across Aotearoa where waterways once written off are now being restored.
So I am asking for something practical. Give one Saturday this term. Bring gloves. Bring your friends. Bring your tamariki so they know this awa is part of their future too. If we want a different story for this place, we have to become the people who write it.ā
Deconstruct the speakerās choices
Use evidence from the extract. Name the choice, then explain its effect on the audience.
Ethos: How does the speaker build trust or credibility?
Pathos: Which words or ideas are designed to move the audience emotionally?
Logos: Where does the speaker use reasoning, cause and effect, or practical logic?
How delivery could shape meaning
Imagine this speech being delivered live. How should the speaker use voice and body language?
Tone: Should this sound urgent, hopeful, angry, calm, or a mix?
Pace and pause: Where should the speaker slow down or pause for effect?
Emphasis: Which phrase deserves the strongest stress?
Body language: What gesture or stance would support the message without distracting from it?
Write one analysis paragraph
Use the frame below if you need it: The speaker persuades the audience by ... This is shown when ... This choice is effective because ...
Tautoko / Support
- Chunk the speech into one paragraph at a time before asking for whole-text comments.
- Highlight one example of ethos, pathos, and logos together as a model.
- Let students rehearse their explanation orally before writing the paragraph.
WhakawhÄnui / Extend
- Ask students to judge which persuasive choice is most effective and justify that view.
- Compare the extract with a real class speech or debate performance.
- Have students rewrite one paragraph for a different audience, such as council or students.
Hononga Marautanga Ā· Curriculum Alignment
English ā Te Reo PÄkehÄ
Level 3ā4: Read and interpret a range of texts for meaning and purpose; identify author intent, text structure, and language choices; write clearly for specific audiences and purposes using appropriate conventions.
Social Sciences ā Tikanga Ä-Iwi
Level 3ā4: Understand how texts construct knowledge and perspective; evaluate the credibility and purpose of different sources; communicate ideas and findings effectively in written and oral forms.
Aronga MÄtauranga MÄori
In te ao MÄori, language ā reo ā is a taonga: a treasure that carries culture, identity, and whakapapa across generations. The ability to speak clearly, to argue persuasively, to read critically, and to write with purpose are not simply academic skills ā they are forms of mana in action. MÄori oratory (whaikÅrero) has always valued precision, evidence, and the ability to locate one's argument within a broader cultural and ancestral context. Students who develop strong literacy skills are developing the same capacities that made great orators powerful: the ability to be heard, understood, and taken seriously in any room they enter.
NgÄ Rauemi Tautoko Ā· Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided ā no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
Curriculum alignment
- Reading ā Making Meaning: Students will select and use sources of information, processes, and strategies to identify, form, and express ideas across a range of texts.
- Writing ā Creating Meaning: Students will select and use sources of information, processes, and strategies to write in a range of text types for a variety of purposes and audiences.