Commentary: The Research Foundation for Instruction in the Beginning Public Speaking Course

The history of public speaking instruction is rooted in classical rhetorical theories. There is a lack of recent communication research findings cited in textbooks to support instruction in the beginning public speaking course. This research examined five leading public speaking texts in the hopes of finding contemporary communication research findings to support the advice given to students. This survey reveals little research being cited in beginning public speaking texts. The authors conclude with a discussion of reasons why research is not cited and offer communication scholars a challenge to conduct research to support pedagogical claims