THE DA'I STYLE OF SPEECH AND ITS IMPACT ON AUDIENCE INTEREST IN ATTENDING RELIGIOUS LECTURES

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the influence of a preacher's language style on audience interest in participating in Islamic studies. A preacher's language style is seen as an important factor in Islamic broadcast communication because it plays a role in determining the audience's appeal, understanding, and involvement in the preaching message delivered. This study uses a quantitative approach with a correlational design to examine the relationship between the preacher's language style variable and audience interest. Data were collected through questionnaires to respondents consisting of online and offline study groups, then analyzed using correlation tests and simple regression to determine the level of influence between variables. The results show that the preacher's language style has a positive and significant influence on audience interest in participating in studies. A language style that is communicative, persuasive, easy to understand, and accompanied by relevant illustrations has been shown to increase audience attention, interest, and the desire to continue participating in the study. Conversely, a language style that is too formal, monotonous, or difficult to understand tends to decrease audience interest. This finding confirms that the effectiveness of preaching is not only determined by the content of the message, but also by the method of delivery. Thus, it can be concluded that the better the preacher's language style in conveying the preaching message, the higher the audience's interest in participating in the study. Therefore, preachers need to develop communication skills that are adaptive to audience characteristics, especially in the increasingly competitive context of digital preaching.