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In:Expanding Horizons in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Interdisciplinary applications, multimodality, and theoretical advances
Edited by Claudia E. Stoian and Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 80] 2027
► pp. 145–165

Chapter 7
Applying SFL to the teaching of oratory

Examples from the context of France

ORCiD logo with link | Université Paris-Nanterre
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Since the beginning of this century, oratory, or public speaking, has been the object of a renewed global interest, which can notably be explained due to the digital revolution and the new public speaking formats engendered by the digital interface. In such a context, oratory has become a key contemporary communicational competence in almost every sector of society. SFL offers an opportune framework to appraise the unique type of discourse practice within the social semiotic that is oratory — from its grammar (it represents a hybrid between prototypical spoken and written language), to its multimodal resources and the variation of these different resources within the new digital context. SFL therefore provides an extremely appliable theory via which a pedagogy of oratory can be developed. After briefly reviewing the literature that reports on the absence of an adequate pedagogy when it comes to public speaking, this chapter concretely demonstrates the use of the aforementioned dimensions of SFL theory within a pedagogy of oratory. The contribution also reports on two experiences of teaching oratory in the context of France, one in English to non-native speakers, the other as part of the continuous learning and training provided to professionals at manager level in their native language.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.“Teaching” oratory
    • 1.1Towards a theory-informed pedagogy
    • 1.2The context of France
  • 2.Towards a teaching model: Some initial elements
    • 2.1An aggregate of skills
    • 2.2Deconstructing oratory within the spoken and monologic semiotic
    • 2.3Multimodality
  • 3.The spoken and monologic semiotic and its hybrid lexico-grammar
  • 4.Two examples of application in the context of France
    • 4.1Business communication in English (master’s level)
    • 4.2Training at managerial level
  • Several concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
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