Speak Up!

With its vibrant illustrations, diverse examples, and wide range of experiences from both important historical figures and everyday individuals (including students), Speak Up, Sixth Edition seeks to help all students see themselves in the text as they go through the process of being an ethical and engaged public speaker.

In the Sixth Edition, great care was taken to uphold underrepresented voices and include examples that reflect the diversity of students who will read the text. Important topics including speech ethics, language and word choice, and civic engagement provide a well-rounded public speaking education while helping students become advocates.

With a wide variety of images and topics included in each chapter, Speak Up! gives students the tools they need to craft speeches that have personal meaning and resonate with the many diverse people in their audience. New and expanded coverage in the Sixth Edition includes ways to consider gender identity, disability status, and other demographics during audience analysis (Chapter 5); tips for using the singular “they” and other methods for incorporating gender-neutral language into a speech (Chapter 12); and suggestions for considering neurodiversity alongside nonverbal delivery (Chapter 13).

In addition, vibrant images representing a wide variety of people and experiences are integrated throughout—both the text’s hallmark illustrations and newly added photos that depict real people in a variety of real speech situations.

Speak Up! seeks to cover important areas outlined in the NCA Learning Outcomes. NCA Learning Outcome #8 (utilize communication to embrace difference), is covered in Chapter 5: Audience Analysis, which includes material on analyzing audience demographics to encourage inclusive and thoughtful communication, keeping in mind gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic background, and political affiliation.

NCA Learning Outcome 9 (influence public discourse) is covered in Chapter 21 on civic engagement, which discusses in detail how public speaking can and should influence public discourse. Newly updated in the Sixth Edition, this chapter incorporates research about both the resurgence of civic engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic and the declining quality of public discourse, along with cutting edge examples that include Derrick Palmer and Christian Smalls’s work to unionize Amazon, Mila Kunis’s Oscars speech on the war in Ukraine, and disability justice advocate Stacey Park Milbern’s speech style. The chapter includes a new annotated persuasive speech on banned books designed to model a presentation delivered at a school board meeting.

In a sample special-occasion speech in Chapter 19, author Joseph Tuman delivers a powerful speech to a group of new U.S. citizens being sworn in, illustrating the experience of his parents when they immigrated to the United States from Iran.

As instructors at public state universities with a significant number of first generation college students, Joe [Tuman] and I have used our experiences teaching public speaking to a diverse student body and encouraging students to find and use their voice in their communities and careers. I think it is an important factor that affects how we write the book.

— Doug Fraleigh, Co-Author of Speak Up 6e

(Right: Doug Fraleigh, California State University, Fresno. Left: Joe Tuman, San Francisco State University)