Making the voice matter in English Studies Teaching

Abstract This introduction frames the guest edition of the journal on ‘Oracy and English Studies’. The pieces in this special forum explore how a renewed focus on speaking can re-imagine what it means to ‘do English’. We are two university-level teachers, one from Classics, one from English, eager to explore the potential of this idea. We have brought together a series of short provocations from leading UK-based practitioners both within and beyond the subject area: including a speech-writer, university teachers of Shakespeare and contemporary poetry, charity leaders, and political communication specialists. Their pieces reflect on classroom practices including reading aloud and vocalization, impersonation, the analysis of political speeches and argumentation, or getting students to interrogate their attitudes to their own voices. In each case, our contributors have been asked to respond to the concept from educational theory known as ‘oracy’ (simply put, ‘listening and speaking skills’). English studies clearly need to grapple with this suddenly ubiquitous concept. Not just for its political resonances, but because it is rich in implications for teachers of English at all levels, and deserves greater recognition and interrogation beyond the world of education.