To convince, to delight, to persuade: rethinking teaching oral communication skills to undergraduate law students using Cicero and activity theory

This paper seeks to reassess teaching oral communication skills to undergraduate law students and develop a theoretical framework based on activity theory to help evaluate, design and re-evaluate approaches to the teaching of these skills. It will be argued that skills teaching at undergraduate level should not attempt to offer a version of vocational skills training but should seek to create teaching interventions that reflect the undergraduate social, cultural and historical context and that are based on learning theory appropriate to that context.