Correlates of speaking skills in the United States: A national assessment

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Abstract
A nationally representative sample of 21 to 25 year olds completed eight speaking tasks. A composite measure of task accomplishment was derived from ratings of the speakers’ performances and this was correlated with a variety of demographic and personal characteristics. Using liberal estimates of speaking skills the data suggest that approximately 15 to 20% of the population of 21 to 25 year olds cannot adequately communicate orally, at least on the sorts of tasks used in this assessment. Results further suggest that speaking proficiency is inversely related to minority status and positively related to education, father's education, availability of literacy materials in the home in high school years, occupational status, age, proficiency in reading, document utilization, computing, and prose literacy, political activity, and community involvement.