Critical Concerns for Oral Communication Education in Alabama and Beyond

Table 1

Oral communication requirements in the general education curriculum of Alabama’s public two-year colleges and four-year universities.

Oral communication requirement	Schools	Number	Percent
Public speaking	Alabama Southern, Bevill, Faulkner, Jefferson Davis, Lawson, North Alabama, Northeast, Northwest-Shoals, South Alabama, Troy, Troy-Dothan, Troy-Montgomery, West Alabama	13	33%
Public speaking OR Fundamentals of oral communication	Enterprise, Snead, Wallace-Dothan, Wallace-Selma	4	10%
Fundamentals of oral communication	Montevallo	1	3%
Speech OR a communication “module”	Central Alabama, Gadsden, Jefferson, LBW, Reid, Shelton, Trenholm	7	18%
A communication course is one of many humanities options	Alabama, Alabama State, AUM, Bishop, Calhoun, Chattahoochee Valley, Ingram, UAB	8	20%
A speech option is offered as an English class	Alabama A&M, Jacksonville State	2	5%
None	Auburn, Drake, Southern Union, UAH, Wallace-Hanceville	5	13%
Totals		40	100%

Bold indicates a four-year university.