Speech-language pathology in the preparation of journalists: results of an action plan

ABSTRACT

Purpose  To present and evaluate the effect of a speech-language pathology (SLP) intervention proposal focused on professional communication for undergraduate students of journalism.

Methods  The study sample consisted of 23 journalism students. The SLP intervention was held in eight four-hour meetings, and evaluation of the students' communicative performance was conducted by 75 viewer judges. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were performed through analysis of videos considering the body, speech, emotion and interpretation aspects.

Results  According to the judges, most (91.3%) of the students showed better communicative performance on video after the intervention. The parameters associated with the emotion and interpretation aspect showed the largest number of positive characteristics mentioned on the post-intervention videos.

Conclusion  The SLP intervention program for professional television communication improved the communicative performance of most journalism students in the study sample. The aspects referred the most by the judges to justify this improvement were associated with emotion and interpretation followed by speech and body.

Keywords:  Intervention study; Voice; Communication; Journalism; Speech, language, and hearing sciences