Speech Craft

Building on the success of the first edition, the second edition of Speech Craft presents public speaking as a cultivated practice that emphasizes public deliberation and debate. In both text and images, it engages more deeply with the values of diversity and inclusion, representing a broader range of contemporary speakers. Moreover, the second edition of Speech Craft explores public speaking as advocacy, empowering students to make ethical connections with their audiences and meaningful differences in the world around them. Achieve courseware for Speech Craft also includes a new module on being inclusive in online presentations.

In the second edition of Speech Craft, author Joshua Gunn revised the coverage of gender and sexuality in several ways. A subject-matter review was conducted to examine the coverage of gender identification and make changes to be more inclusive of transgender and nonbinary folks. The text now embraces the singular they to avoid the binary of he or she. Chapter 3, Audience Analysis, presents a more nuanced discussion of sex and gender identification. This chapter also provides new coverage of implicit bias and microbehaviors. The new Achieve module Inclusive Online Speaking provides 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, using captioning, and more.

Chapter 19, Speaking for Social Change, now begins by exploring the difference between advocacy and activism. Timely examples of advocating in the civic sphere, including student activists, show how people across the political spectrum can speak up for the causes they believe in.

Discussions of civil disobedience and public activism address the widespread protests against the systemic racism and police brutality after the murder of George Floyd. In Achieve, a new video activity has students analyze a Black Lives Matter rally speech.

Because photographs and illustrations have the power to reflect students’ own lives, every image in Speech Craft was carefully considered to ensure diverse representations. More photographs of women speakers and speakers of color were added, including community advocate Eva Lewis (right), anti-gun violence activist X González, climate activist Greta Thunberg, Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, and aerospace engineer Tiera Guinn Fletcher. Particular care was taken to include images that defy gender norms, such as the photo of Tony-Award-winning actor Billy Porter at the Academy Awards in Chapter 3.