This book focuses on successful classroom practices which used oral communication to develop student confidence in a variety of speaking situations and to expand student understanding of literature through both analysis and performance. The book contains the following essays, listed here with their authors: (1) "Follow the Bouncing Ball" (Harlan Underhill); (2) "'You See Their Interselves': Small-Group Discussion of Poetry" (Louann Reid); (3) "Learning Poetic Mood through the Fine Arts" (Elizabeth Altenburger); (4) "From Boom Box to Pegasus" (Ann R. Morris); (5) "A Talk Show with Class" (Madeleine Myers); (6) "The Student-Centered Classroom: Speaking and Listening in American Literature" (Barbara Osburg); (7) "Analyzing Literature through Collaborative Speaking" (Goran "George" Moberg); (8) "Talking about Books" (Margaret Hutchingson); (9) "Personification in Children's Literature: Identifying, Analyzing, and Performing" (Donna E. Norton); (10) "Who's Talking?" (Dion Kempthorne); (11) "The Play's the Thing for Middle School Students" (Robert W. Blake); (12) "Spoken Literature in the English Classroom" (Jonathan R. Eller and Dennis C. Porter); (13) "A Speaking Project about the Arts That Acknowledge Students' Underlife" (Hallie S. Lemon); (14) "Strategies for Developing Effective Use of the Voice" (Carole Schulte Johnson); (15) "The Process of Persuasion: An Approach to Thinking, Writing, and Speaking" (Dorothy E. Hardin); (16) "Speechmapping: Navigating through Speech Preparation and Delivery" (Marilyn Thanos and Brenda Avadian); (17) "The Classroom Debate: A Stimulus for Listening, Speaking, and Arguing" (Carol Hovanec); (18) "Student Panel Presentations: A Collaborative Oral Exercise" (Bruce R. Henderson); (19) "A Global Introduction to International Business Communications" (Ray Wallace); (20) "Structuring Speaking and Listening in the Classroom" (Nancy Wyatt); (21) "Weaving in Listening and Speaking throughout the School Day" (Lynn Plourde); (22) "The Interview Connection" (Dene Kay Thomas); (23) "Listening to the Songs People Sing: Writing Essays Based on Interviews" (Deborah DeZure); and (24) "Positive Strokes: An Affective Oral Language Activity" (Annis L. Cassells). (MS)