Best for
Speech analysis, oral-language assessment prep, rhetorical-device study, and critical reading of public speaking in English or social-science contexts.
English • Years 9-13 • Oral language and rhetoric
Speech Analysis Toolkit
Use this handout to help ākonga 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 Wānanga 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.
Ngā Whāinga 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 speaker’s 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 speech’s impact.
Curriculum integration / Te Mātaiaho 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 whaikōrero. Students need to understand that speeches are relational texts shaped by audience, context, and purpose.
A mātauranga Māori 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
“Whānau, 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 else’s 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.”
Deconstruct the speaker’s 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.
Whakawhānui / 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 · Curriculum Alignment
English — Te Reo Pākehā
Level 3–4: 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 — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: 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 Mātauranga Māori
In te ao Māori, language — reo — 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 — they are forms of mana in action. Māori oratory (whaikōrero) 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.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · 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 — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to build core literacy skills — reading comprehension, writing craft, and oral language — grounded in the rich storytelling traditions of Aotearoa New Zealand and the literacy practices that empower rangatahi voice.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can apply the literacy skill or strategy featured in this resource with growing independence.
- ✅ Students can connect this resource's literacy focus to authentic texts, contexts, or purposes from their own world.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide sentence starters, word banks, or graphic organisers for entry-level access. Model think-alouds before independent tasks. Offer extension challenges that deepen analysis — for example, comparing the author's craft choices across two texts or writing an additional stanza or paragraph.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key vocabulary before reading. Allow students to annotate in their home language first, then translate key ideas. Use shared reading and think-pair-share structures to lower the stakes for language production. Bilingual glossaries and visual text supports help bridge comprehension.
Inclusion: Chunk reading and writing tasks into manageable steps. Offer multimodal options — oral, visual, or digital — for students to demonstrate understanding. Neurodiverse learners benefit from clear task structures and explicit success criteria. Affirm diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds as assets, not deficits.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Literacy in Te Ao Māori encompasses tātai kōrero (the arrangement of speech), waiata, whakataukī, and the deep art of kōrero — storytelling as knowledge transmission. Encourage students to see their own family stories and community knowledge as valid literacy texts. Karakia opens and closes learning with intention. Tātai kōrero honours the voice.
Prior knowledge: Adaptable across year levels. No specialist prior knowledge required for entry-level engagement. Teachers may wish to pre-read the resource and anticipate vocabulary that needs pre-teaching.
Curriculum alignment
- Reading — 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 — 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.