UPDATED SUMMER 2024

Cover: Speech Craft, 2nd Edition by Joshua Gunn

Speech Craft

Second Edition  ©2021 Joshua Gunn Formats: Achieve, E-book, Print

Authors

  • Headshot of Joshua Gunn

    Joshua Gunn

    Dr. Joshua Gresham Gunn (Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 2002) teaches and researches at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and a Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing. He also taught public speaking as an adjunct professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Josh received the Outstanding Graduate Teaching award from the University of Texas at Austin in 2015, and delivered the Carroll C. Arnold Distinguished Lecture for the National Communication Association in 2018.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Building Confidence in the Craft
Chapter 2: Listening & the Ethics of Speech
Chapter 3: Audience Analysis

Achieve module: Inclusive Public Speaking
Chapter 4: Choosing a Speech Topic and Purpose

Achieve module: Avoiding the Dangers of Misinformation
Chapter 5: Researching Your Speech Topic
Chapter 6: Supporting Materials & Contextual Reasoning
Chapter 7: Organizing and Outlining Your Speech
Chapter 8: Introductions, Transitions, & Conclusions
Chapter 9: Style and Language
Chapter 10: Style and Delivery
Chapter 11: Presentation Aids
Chapter 12: Understanding Speech Genres
Chapter 13: Celebratory Speaking
Chapter 14: Informative Speaking
Chapter 15: Persuasive Speaking
Chapter 16: Making Arguments
Chapter 17: Speaking in the Workplace
Chapter 18: Speaking Online

Achieve module: Online Presentations in the Post-Pandemic Era
Chapter 19: Speaking for Social Change
Appendix: Sample Annotated Speeches

Product Updates

New Achieve-only modules bring students the updated advice for researching topics and speaking online. Three new Achieve reading modules, which are filled with images and video clips and backed by optional comprehension quizzes, cover some of the most needed advice in today’s public speaking classrooms.

  • “Best Practices for Online Presentations in the Post-Pandemic Era” uses often humorous videos of online presentations gone awry to illustrate situations to avoid and offers advice for preventing these awkward situations, such as the best ways to set up the space and technology for speaking online and how to prevent noise interruptions and other distractions. This module also addresses best practices for engaging with others online such as when to turn the camera or microphone off and how to recover from an “oops” moment.
  • “Avoiding the Dangers of Disinformation” warns students against the extreme dangers of disinformation in the digital media age and offers concrete methods for distinguishing credible from false information when researching a speech topic. With the role of the media placed in historical context, this module give students critical strategies for discernment including Gunn’s three hecks of Internet source reliability, Harris’s Internet research checklist, and other tips for avoiding conspiratorial thinking, being wary of the evidence of grievance, and making use of respected sources and authorities. 
  • “Inclusive Online Speaking” provides specific strategies for being mindful of the audience when speaking online. Aided by video and screen still illustrations, this module covers topics such as providing pronouns with names on screen, focusing on the camera, using captioning, attending to the chat feature, and engaging in online question and answer sessions.

A pedagogical approach that reflects the way today’s audiences listen and students learn. Drawing on emerging research, Speech Craft recognizes how we regularly divide our attention among multiple stimuli at once.

  • New advice on presentation aids helps speakers adapt to “hyper cognitive”audiences.
  • Bold illustrations and photographs and an appealing design keep students engaged with the text.
  • New Digital Dives activities and videos enable active learning, giving students the chance to try their hand at creating an elevator pitch, effectively lighting an online speech, identifying plagiarism, or speaking appropriately for common workplace situations.

An important new section on advocacy emphasizes how speech can make a difference. Chapter 19, Speaking for Social Change, now begins with timely examples of speaking to advocate in the civic sphere, showing how people across the political spectrum can speak up for the causes they believe in.

More support for fundamental skills of speech writing. Speech Craft provides students with more of the instructional content that helps them improve as public speakers:

  • New models for organizing and outlining speeches, including  informal speaker’s notes and helpful annotations on speech outlines.
  • Engaging new sample speech excerpts and videos, such as Greta Thunberg’s speech at the UN climate summit and Mark Zuckerberg’s speech about freedom of expression.

Further attention to diversity and cultural inclusivity. Building on the strength of the first edition, Speech Craft 2e engages even more deeply with  the values of diversity and inclusion. The text embraces the singular “they” to avoid gender binaries, includes an updated discussion of gender and sexual identity as part of audience analysis, and represents a broader range of contemporary speakers.

Thoroughly revised and improved supplement package, including

  • An innovative updated Instructor’s Manual with a new preface on how to teach the course online
  • Redesigned lecture slides, based on user feedback
  • An updated and expanded Test Bank
  • New LearningCurve adaptive quizzes for self-practice

NOW WITH ACHIEVE! Better engagement. Better outcomes.

Using Macmillans highly touted Achieve courseware to deliver superior content online, Speech Craft engages students with a contemporary edge and a focus on connecting with the local community.  It’s a public speaking textbook unlike any other. Joshua Gunn’s distinctive style and strong scholarship are paired with compelling visuals to prepare students for public speaking situations in their own lives, whether they are giving a toast or presenting to the class. Wildly successful in its first edition, Speech Craft has drawn accolades from instructors around the country for its distinctive personality, student-friendly tone, and support for teaching the public speaking course both face-to-face and online. The second edition explores public speaking as advocacy and pays careful attention to diversity, empowering students to make ethical connections with their audiences and meaningful differences in the world around them.

The new Achieve courseware for Speech Craft sets the standard for driving student learning in your public speaking course with powerful learning content, engaging activities, and actionable insights and analytics. Achieve brings together an interactive e-book; 3 new Achieve-only modules on: presenting online using tips learned during the pandemic era, avoiding the dangers of disinformation when researching a speech, and being inclusive in online presentations; new speech videos; LearningCurve adaptive quizzing and other assessments; learning activities; and extensive instructor resources–all within a new, enhanced technology platform carefully built over the past five years

Success Stories

Here are a few examples of how Achieve has helped instructors like you improve student preparedness, enhance their sense of belonging, and achieve course goals they set for themselves.

Prof. Kiandra Johnson, Spelman College

See how the resources in Achieve help you engage students before, during, and after class.

Prof. Jennifer Duncan

Use diagnostics in Achieve for a snapshot into cognitive and non-cognitive factors that may impact your students’ preparedness.

Prof. Ryan Elsenpeter

Here’s why educators who use Achieve would recommend it to their peers.

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Test Bank for Speech Craft

Joshua Gunn | Second Edition | ©2021 | ISBN:9781319343903

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GoReact Video Assessment Implementation Guide (.pdf)

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Instructor's Resource Manual for Speech Craft (Online Only)

Joshua Gunn | Second Edition | ©2021 | ISBN:9781319343880
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Lecture Slides for Speech Craft (Online Only)

Joshua Gunn | Second Edition | ©2021 | ISBN:9781319343910
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iClicker Questions for Public Speaking

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