Going Public: Teaching Students to Speak Out in Public Contexts

Many students find speaking in large group, whole class or ‘public’ contexts intimidating. Over the last 30 years, a model of collaborative talk in small groups has been favoured within English teaching in British education but, with the new generation of GCSE syllabuses, students are required to speak effectively to larger audiences. This article explores what constitutes an effective ‘public’ speaker at GCSE level, and suggests various teaching strategies as starting points.