Previous studies show that students are often expected to speak in front of a group, but they receive little guidance on how they should proceed. The aim of this essay is to contribute to the area by a critical examination of the advice and exercises that appear in six textbooks for the Swedish subject in upper secondary school. The study focuses solely on body language and voice ("actio") in oral presentations. 

     Through a qualitative text analysis, the study examines what is considered to characterize a good actio according to the textbooks and how students are expected to acquire these abilities. The essay also sheds light on how the content of textbooks can be understood in relation to the theory ”actiokapitalet” (Gelang, 2008). The result show that contact with the audience through gaze, variation in the use of voice and a lack of nervous expressions, is considered desirable. In the textbooks, students are often encouraged to develop actio through listening to feedback. Within actiokapitalet, a holistic perspective on actio is emphasized, as well as the fact that body language and the use of voice depend on the social context. The content of the books can both be considered compatible with, and deviating from, the theory. In the concluding discussion, I claim that ”actiokapitalet” contributes with an in-depth perspective on the textbooks and I call for further studies where the theory is tested in teaching.