Public Speaking as Civic Engagement
What Is Civic Engagement?
This semester in English 130, we will be focusing our speeches and discussions on the idea of civic engagement and awareness. Simply put, civic engagement means becoming more active, aware, and engaged with your community, whether that community is on a local, national, or global scale.
To understand these notions better, Project 540 at the University of Pennsylvania defines civic engagement in this way: “Adding one’s voice to community conversations. Advocacy on behalf of others. Participation in public life. Encouraging other people to participate in public life. Joining in common work that promotes the well being of everyone” (“Engagement”). Likewise, Pew Charitable Trusts defines civic engagement as “individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. Civic engagement can take many forms, from individual volunteerism to organizational involvement to electoral participation. It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others in a community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions of representative democracy. Civic Engagement encompasses a range of activities such as working in a soup kitchen, serving on a neighborhood association, writing a letter to an elected official or voting” (“Engagement”).
In short, civic engagement means learning more about your community and world and finding ways to make change, whether that is by going out in the community and engaging directly with people and agencies or simply by learning more about particular issues. Either way, civic engagement is meant to foster better understanding and civic responsibility in a democratic society.
Why Civic Engagement and Public Speaking?
Public speaking is one of the best opportunities to become civically engaged. In this course, we will discuss a great deal what it means to be a public speaker and the responsibilities of that role. According to Cindy Griffin, public speaking is really about public dialogue: it urges speakers to think of themselves in conversation with an audience and to think of their role in the larger community. Griffin also proposes that public speaking encourages an “ethics of civility” where speakers should consider their care/concern for others, the thoughtful use of their words, and their responsibility to understand multiple sides of an issue. These will be the guiding philosophies of this class—that public speaking comes with both ethical and civic responsibilities.
What Does All This Mean for English 130?
Now that you know the meaning of civic engagement, you probably wonder what this means for English 130: Fundamentals of Communication. In short, most of your speeches this semester will focus on related community issues and non-profit agencies. Early in the semester, you will be asked to consider your own interests, concerns, and passions with regard to the larger community. For instance, maybe in the past you have tutored elementary school students and you think literacy is an important issue. Or maybe you were involved in Boys and Girls Club as a youth yourself, and you think this is a very important cause. Perhaps you heard a lot about the American Red Cross during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and you would like to learn more about that group. Or maybe you have no idea yet what interests or concerns you; that’s ok too. Part of the purpose of this class is to figure that out!
For now, I would like you to begin thinking about what specific issues, agencies, and problems you might want to explore. Your first speech, which will be informative, will ask you to research and explore a community or non-profit agency and present this information to the class. Your second speech, which will be persuasive, will require you to pick a particular issue or policy related to that agency and persuade your audience to agree with your point of view. Later speeches will also require you to work with these same topics. Therefore, because the majority of your projects this semester will ask you to explore related issues, you want to make sure you pick something interesting.
On Monday, September 10, you will be asked to turn in a topic proposal for your first speech. While I will give you more specific instructions on this assignment later, the gist will be turning in a brief description of the topic you plan to explore for the first speech, which will inform your audience about a specific community organization. Committing yourself to this topic will also determine, in part, your speech topics for the remainder of the semester. Therefore, think carefully about possible topics before you choose. Also, if at all possible, I would prefer that no two students work on the same community organization. Therefore, I will probably ask that each of you choose one community group and have another selected as an alternative. Since the only fair way to select groups is first come, first serve, it is in your best interest to let me know early what group you might want to explore.
To begin your thinking about civic engagement, try doing a little brainstorming. Consider these questions:
I have also posted some links to various non-profit and community organizations on my faculty website at http://faculty.ncwc.edu/lakirby to help with your brainstorming. Just follow the links to English 130 and then look in the Resources section. We will discuss your brainstorming more in class, but feel free to come see me or e-mail if you have any problems getting started.
Griffin, Cindy. “Public Speaking as Public Dialogue and Bringing Civic Engagement to the
Public Speaking Classroom.” Lecture. Communication Studies Online Events. 3
August 2007. <http://www.newtexts.com/newtexts/cluster.cfm?cluster_id=87>.
“What Is Civic Engagement?” Raise Your Voice: Student Action for Change. 7 August 2007
<http://www.actionforchange.org/getinformed/civic-engagement.html>.