The key element to the survival of speech communication and its status in academe is the basic course, which tells the academic community what speech communication is and what it can produce in terms of observable student behavior. This basic course, upon which many communication departments depend, must produce students who are obviously trained in the art of speech if the field is to continue to prosper. The basic speech course should have a personal performance emphasis formulated on a "performance triad" consisting of units in voice and diction, oral interpretation, and public speaking. Practical training in voice and diction, which students are unlikely to get elsewhere, recognizes the essential utility of good speech and promotes the awareness that how we speak and sound is vitally important to our personal, social, and professional success. Oral interpretation offers a training ground for the student to practice the skills learned in the voice and diction unit, and an introduction to the oral interpretation of literature. Emphasis in the public speaking unit of the course would also be on the act of performance. The performance triad approach would return the basic course to the oral dimension of communication, improving the field's professional reputation, its usefulness to education, and the education of students. (SR)