Would you prefer a lecturer who spoke "formally"?

[Eric01]

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Dating back to ancient Greece Sophists recognized the effect one's tone of voice has in persuasion and rhetoric.

Would you prefer a lecturer who talked in a formal tone in regards to teaching science? As an example of what I'm talking about, here's a lecture from Walter Freeman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf2_CauROKk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9khrgMKOMM&feature=related

This is something I believe is missing in modern education, and it seems to be a voice used in a bygone age. It sets the tone of respect towards the subject of science and aligns a person's mind to be more receptive and engaged in the subject matter with a more dramatic inflection. When one uses common language in education there is an element of relegation in the mind of the student. The ideas seem ordinary and not removed from their common experience, and therefore uninteresting. Well I can say it a million different ways, but I think already you know what I'm talking about.

 

[NeuralNetwork]

No one pays attention to this speech anymore. If I heard it once or twice, I would probably focus due to the novelty of someone actually lecturing like this, but would soon get bored of it.

With more of a conversational convention, a lecturer can choose more freely how he or she would like to emphasize the material. A monotone can't just start yelling an important point, that would be weird. But in a conversation, escalating your voice, changing the way you say something, etc are all important tools for shifting attention.

 

[Eric01]

With more of a conversational convention, a lecturer can choose more freely how he or she would like to emphasize the material. A monotone can't just start yelling an important point, that would be weird. But in a conversation, escalating your voice, changing the way you say something, etc are all important tools for shifting attention.

Monotone voice in the negative connotation is when one already is in conversational language. Therefore, the only excuse for being monotone would be if the lecturer had no emotional interest or general interest in the subject matter to which they are speaking, and therefore projects that disinterest to the audience.

But I don't think you can claim that with even a stringent formal lecture. They don't sound uninterested, in fact to me it adds a dramatic quality to the lecture as being profound and intellectual. When lecturing in that form of interest, I don't really care if the lecturer screams out or laughs or whatever, it sets the notion of being involved in something arcane and interesting.