Question

What are the difference and similarities between a speech of explanation and a speech of description? How can the five goals of informative speaking be fulfilled when giving these types of speeches?

Answer 1

Both speeches of explanation and speech of description are types of informative speech.

An informative speech focuses on providing information about a particular subject and presents it in a way that the information is stored in their minds, which is easy to understand. If we consider the speech of description and explanation, both seem quite similar, yet they are different in certain aspects.
An explanatory speech focuses on the explanation of the subject, on why and how the subject or the topic is generated. It gives an understanding of its inception to its execution. Descriptive speech helps create a picture of the subject or topic for easy understanding. So both focus on helping the audience to understand the subject.
However, where explanatory speech is more elaborated and explains a subject in detail, descriptive speech is more of analyzing and spontaneous.
The five goals of informative speech creativity, credibility, intellectual stimulation, relevance, and emphasis can be fulfilled as both explanatory and descriptive speech increases the credibility and creativity as it needs analysis and explanation of the subject. Descriptive speech more involves speech on pictures and images, hence it embeds the intellectual stimulation. Both explanatory and descriptive speeches involve the relevance and emphasis of the subject to its audience.