1The origins of this book lie in the work of the THEMPPO (Thématique Prosodie et Production Orale)1 subgroup in the action research project Innovalangues at the Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) from 2013 to 2019. This project was a response to the gap identified between what was expected of students in higher education and the results achieved and called for innovative approaches to language teaching. This approach meant that not only were linguists, researchers, and teachers involved in the project, but also ‘outsiders’ in the persons of Marieke de Koning, who had come to teaching English as a second language after a career as a dancer and body and movement specialist, and Chris Mitchell, voice coach and theatre director, as well as English teacher.

2Rebecca Guy, musicologist, musician, and English teacher, was a member of THEMPPO from the very beginning and has become, as a result of her participation in and contribution to the THEMPPO workshops, a fervent believer in the role of body and voice in the language classroom.

Illustration 1: Demosthenes Practising Oratory, Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ (1842–1923).