A Speaker’s Guidebook
Eighth Edition
This uniquely formatted text—the first to offer direction in speaking in disciplines outside of the public speaking classroom; in citing sources in the speech; in delivering presentations online; and in its diverse video collection and printed annotated speeches—continues its groundbreaking tradition in the 8th edition with its text-wide focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Careful changes have been made to ensure that all students can see themselves in this book, beginning with the inclusion of a truly diverse range of student speakers, represented both in the text and in the video program. After consultation with experts in linguistic diversity, important changes were made to the treatment of language throughout the book, particularly how it relates to standardized English and dialects.
Inclusive of Dialects and Accents
With the feedback we received from our linguistic diversity experts, we revised the chapter on The Voice in Delivery (Chapter 18). The previous edition discussed “mispronunciations” of certain words, but our experts advised us that the discussion of “incorrect” pronunciation as such was harmful, and that there is no one standard version of English that is “correct,” but rather, all dialects and and accents are valid. The section to the right shows some of these important revisions as they appear in the new edition.
This section from The Voice in Delivery chapter (Chapter 18) shows how the content was revised from the previous edition (top) to the new edition (bottom).
Removal of “Commonly Mispronounced Words” Appendix
Previous editions of A Speaker’s Guidebook contained an appendix of “commonly mispronounced words,” which was adapted from a 50-year-old public speaking text published in the 1960s. Our linguistic diversity experts pointed out how these lists actually are not inclusive of various dialects and accents, as many of the words deemed “mispronunciations” are actually correctly pronounced words according to the cultural conventions of the dialect or accent. The effect is that these lists elevate a particular dialect as a norm, and classify others as deviations, giving rise to linguistic discrimination. The new edition has been revised to remove this appendix, and instead focus on linguistic diversity, speech errors (e.g. slips of the tongue), and articulation issues (e.g. mumbling).
“Empirically, describing a dialectal variant as a “mispronunciation” is incorrect. Socially, it is problematic in that it reinforces norms that create linguistic discrimination. Pedagogically, we know that it doesn’t serve the purported goal of encouraging students to speak “standard” English. Mispronunciations do happen, but they don’t happen systematically (systematic “errors” are almost always dialectal variants) and it’s therefore impossible to generate a list of “common errors.” We therefore recommend deleting Appendix A and focusing on true mispronunciations: speech errors (slips of the tongue, etc.) and invented pronunciations of unfamiliar words.”
A quote from our linguistic diversity reviewers (Carlos de Cuba, Kingsborough Community College, and Poppy Slocum, LaGuardia Community College) appears to the right.
Positive Student Models
Students learn skills by imitating positive behavior modeled by others. For the new edition of A Speaker’s Guidebook, the authors worked with a diverse group of talented students to film and include their speeches to serve as positive examples to model and learn from. The new edition includes five brand-new full-length speeches from real students that have been professionally filmed and added to LaunchPad. By seeing examples from speakers that are in a similar context, students are better able to see themselves in the text.
Culturally Relevant Examples
Students learn best when they are intrinsically motivated to acquire skills and knowledge to accomplish meaningful goals in their lives and communities. The new edition of A Speaker’s Guidebook includes example speeches from people who have used their voice to speak for social change, including John Lewis and X González. This aligns to the NCA Learning Outcome #9: Influence Public Discourse.
Diverse and Inclusive Speech Examples
The new edition of A Speaker’s Guidebook includes 12 full-text sample speeches, nine of which were written by students. However, we know that 12 speeches cannot fully represent the diverse range of experiences, backgrounds, and lives of public speaking classrooms. Therefore, the new edition also includes a new Speechography module in the LaunchPad. This new resource includes a periodically updated list of over 25 additional speeches on current events, each accompanied by discussion questions. The module also includes instructions for quickly and easily setting up assignable, social, and interactive, and online activities in the LaunchPad for any of these speeches using Video Assessment powered by GoReact.
Speeches include Dwayne Johnson’s Eulogy for his father, Tyler Perry Accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and Queen Elizabeth II’s COVID-19 Address.
