The Relationships of Public Speaking
(First Edition)
©2026, 302 pages
Paperback list price: $91.95
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The book emphasizes the interconnected nature of public speaking and our ever-evolving social landscape. It addresses the impact of global changes on public speaking, such as technological advancements and societal shifts, on public speaking; various modalities with emphasis on nuances between online and in-person communication; and how to construct and deliver speeches effectively across different mediums. A dedicated chapter provides guidance on effectively using artificial intelligence to explore topics, synthesize research, and create aids for presentations. Each chapter includes objectives, key terms, real-world examples, and review questions to well support the reading and learning experience.
The Relationships of Public Speaking is an ideal introductory textbook for public speaking courses that emphasize a comprehensive approach and contemporary relevance, showing how we can use the key tenets of public speaking to make sense of, and interact with, our developing social world.
Madison A. Pollino is an assistant professor of instruction and the director of public speaking in the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida. As a critical interpersonal communication scholar, her research and teaching seek to transform campus communities into welcoming spaces where students, faculty, and staff of all genders, identities, races, cultures, and/or socioeconomic statuses feel empowered and are not confined by discriminatory systems and structures that privilege dominant social groups. Dr. Pollino holds a Ph.D. in media and communication with an emphasis on interpersonal communication from Bowling Green State University.
Cognella Active Learning is available for this title! Adopting instructors can provide students with dynamic online learning activities that reinforce key concepts from the text, provide engaging educational experiences, and support various learning styles.
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The Cognella Active Learning content for The Relationship of Public Speaking includes:
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Please note: Cognella Active Learning can be bundled for purchase with the text or posted separately. Contact us to learn about bundle discounts.
The Cognella Active Learning content for The Relationship of Public Speaking includes:
- 12 chapter quizzes
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"This text is a must have for instructors who want to educate students for the 21st century. I consider this work’s greatest strength to be its commitment to describing public speaking as an ever changing and relational form of communication. It is innovative in its approach to the art of public address in that it seeks to decouple the notion that public speaking is just speaking at audiences.
This is a unique, refreshing, and useful conceptualization of public speaking that is sorely needed at this time. Much of the public speaking texts that exist either ignore public speaking as a form of relational communication, or simply touch on it in one chapter or paragraph. Approaching public speaking as something we do with audiences and not just a means to an end is a refreshing and vital perspective for a public speaking textbook.
The chapters are written with the student in mind and communicate in a way that is easily digestible and relatable for them. The examples that are used throughout the book are audience appropriate and communicate that this textbook is written with them in mind instead of a traditional approach that students often reject.
There is a tremendous balance between theory and practice and the textbook makes certain to represent and explain different sociological, economical, and cultural perspectives throughout its chapters. Students are well equipped to enter a diverse world after reading this public speaking textbook."
Macauley Williams, The University of Mississippi
"I really enjoyed the [book’s relational communication perspective] and I think this is an extremely important idea to bring to the teaching of public speaking. I myself have taught public speaking in a very linear, formulaic way in the past and I find that it does the students a disservice. The students’ relationship to their topic and those they are speaking to is so incredibly important and is often left out of conversation. While we may discuss audience analysis and speaking for your audience as a core principle of public speaking, it often stops there. There is usually less discussion of what role a speaker’s position and lives experiences have in what they are saying and who they are saying it to. When students consider their own identity and relationship to their topic, they often care more, produce a speech they are more passionate about, and feel more encouraged and excited about speaking. It also makes the material learned in a public speaking course more applicable to situations outside of that specific class.
This book covers complex and important material in a way that does not bog the reader down and get boring. It is difficult to make a textbook relevant in its tone and content but the style of writing and use of relevant and interesting examples is like a breath of fresh air amongst much of what is in circulation.
I believe these chapters are more appropriate than other books I’ve used in the past. The material is easy to digest and understand, interesting and engaging, and extremely relevant. Examples used are helpful in extending the contents’ usability for students and the chapters give wonderful tools for applying these skills outside the classroom.
This book’s greatest strength is that it is written start to finish for the exact audience it is going to be used by. It is not written to impress other academics, it is written so that students can relate, understand, and apply. It asks students to think outside of themselves and outside of the class, something we are constantly trying to get them to do. It makes public speaking and learning public speaking a conversation and not a monologue. I was so pleasantly surprised page after page and how interested I was in concepts I have heard and taught a thousand times because it was legitimately fun to read. This type of writing and this type of educating is what makes a student think back for years about a specific class and remember the skills they learned."
Melissa McCormick, University of South Florida
This is a unique, refreshing, and useful conceptualization of public speaking that is sorely needed at this time. Much of the public speaking texts that exist either ignore public speaking as a form of relational communication, or simply touch on it in one chapter or paragraph. Approaching public speaking as something we do with audiences and not just a means to an end is a refreshing and vital perspective for a public speaking textbook.
The chapters are written with the student in mind and communicate in a way that is easily digestible and relatable for them. The examples that are used throughout the book are audience appropriate and communicate that this textbook is written with them in mind instead of a traditional approach that students often reject.
There is a tremendous balance between theory and practice and the textbook makes certain to represent and explain different sociological, economical, and cultural perspectives throughout its chapters. Students are well equipped to enter a diverse world after reading this public speaking textbook."
Macauley Williams, The University of Mississippi
"I really enjoyed the [book’s relational communication perspective] and I think this is an extremely important idea to bring to the teaching of public speaking. I myself have taught public speaking in a very linear, formulaic way in the past and I find that it does the students a disservice. The students’ relationship to their topic and those they are speaking to is so incredibly important and is often left out of conversation. While we may discuss audience analysis and speaking for your audience as a core principle of public speaking, it often stops there. There is usually less discussion of what role a speaker’s position and lives experiences have in what they are saying and who they are saying it to. When students consider their own identity and relationship to their topic, they often care more, produce a speech they are more passionate about, and feel more encouraged and excited about speaking. It also makes the material learned in a public speaking course more applicable to situations outside of that specific class.
This book covers complex and important material in a way that does not bog the reader down and get boring. It is difficult to make a textbook relevant in its tone and content but the style of writing and use of relevant and interesting examples is like a breath of fresh air amongst much of what is in circulation.
I believe these chapters are more appropriate than other books I’ve used in the past. The material is easy to digest and understand, interesting and engaging, and extremely relevant. Examples used are helpful in extending the contents’ usability for students and the chapters give wonderful tools for applying these skills outside the classroom.
This book’s greatest strength is that it is written start to finish for the exact audience it is going to be used by. It is not written to impress other academics, it is written so that students can relate, understand, and apply. It asks students to think outside of themselves and outside of the class, something we are constantly trying to get them to do. It makes public speaking and learning public speaking a conversation and not a monologue. I was so pleasantly surprised page after page and how interested I was in concepts I have heard and taught a thousand times because it was legitimately fun to read. This type of writing and this type of educating is what makes a student think back for years about a specific class and remember the skills they learned."
Melissa McCormick, University of South Florida
