Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

This study examined the encoding accuracy and decoding accuracy of individual speakers and audience members as predictors of the accuracy with which public speaking anxiety is communicated during speech performance. Previous research revealed that audiences tend to underestimate the state anxiety of public speakers and that a low-to-moderate, positive correlation exists between speaker self-report and audience-observed state public speaking anxiety. Two divergent theoretical perspectives, differential information processing and emotional communication processes, were proposed as explanations for this phenomenon. Predictors for each perspective were estimated by Kenny's 1988 Social Relations Model (SRM). The study was conducted at a large metropolitan community college in the southwest region of the United States. Eighty subjects (40 males and 40 females) delivered two brief speeches before audiences of 20 fellow classmates. Immediately following each speech, speakers reported their state public speaking anxiety on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory A-State (STAI A-State). Audience members recorded their observations of speaker state anxiety on an audience version of the STAI A-State. Correlations between speaker self-report and audience-perceived state public speaking anxiety served as the estimate of judgment accuracy. The full SRM explained 65.7% of the variance in communication accuracy. Actor effects, the most powerful predictor of communication accuracy, accounted for 49.5% of the variance. The interaction of actor and partner effects accounted for approximately 10% of the variance. A surprisingly low (5% of the variance) degree of accuracy was attributable to audience decoding skills. Interpretation of the findings and suggestions for future research are presented.

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The Yezidis are a Kurdish-speaking religious minority living mainly in Northern Iraq. In the past their religion forbade literacy: thus their accounts of their history and their descriptions of their society ha ve been preserved orally. This thesis considers how the Yezidis use oral literature. or verbal art. to represent themselves and their past. It is based largely on fieldwork carried out in Northern Iraq. The theoretical perspective of this work combines elements of both literary and social studies by considering both text and social context. The genre of a tradition has major implications for its content; three genres considered in detail are lyrical song. prose narrative and extemporised lament. Yezidi discourse about the past stresses their distinctive identity and their endurance against adversity and persecution. This is reflected in the oral traditions. especially in the lyrical song. which is performed at festivals and is extremely popular; prose narratives of events predating the immediate past. on the other hand. are in decline. Most love songs and stories feature historical figures; the performance of lyrical love songs. many of which depict conflict between the wishes of the individual and the rules of a society where marriage is arranged. provides an outlet for the audience's own emotions. Laments are performed by women. Using traditional imagery. they are a vehicle for the expression of a variety of emotions by the performer. Their performance is a social duty and is likely to remain so. The texts included in this work comprise variants of two historical themes. Feriq Pa~a and DawLide Dawtid; variants of a theme of love, Derwe~e C E.,di. and examples of women's lament. both semi-professional and personal. Some of these were transcribed from material collected during fieldwork; all were translated for this thesis. An appendix lists performers and informants.

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Thesis (Ph. D., Education)--University of Idaho, March 1, 2009. / Major professor: Roger L. Scott. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-198). Also available online (PDF file) by subscription or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Speech Communication, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 35 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 20-24).

This thesis has investigated the effect of a beginning public speaking course upon students. The sample was drawn from students enrolled in courses taught at Ball State University during the Spring Quarter, 1971. An experimental group of thirty-three students enrolled in Speech 210 and a control group of twenty-five students enrolled in Theatre 100 were studied.The three attitudes examined were: (1) self-confidence, (2) leadership, and (3) cooperativeness. These attitudes were measured by the Leary-Attitudes Scale. The test was administered during the first week of the quarter and again during the final week. In addition, a semantic differential, incorporating questions relating specifically to public speaking, was given to Speech 210 students as a part of the post-test.Very few differences in scores were noted between the experimental and control groups as measured by the Leary test. With regard to self-confidence, it was found that (1) freshmen in the experimental group had a significantly greater increase in self-confidence scores than did upperclassmen and (2) upperclassmen in the experimental group had a significantly higher increase in scores than did their counterparts in the control group. In the area of leadership, (1) the experimental group had a significantly greater increase in scores than did the control group and (2) the total population, both the experimental and control groups combined, showed a significant decrease from high (scores sixteen or above) to low (scores below sixteen) leadership. With regard to cooperativeness, the subjects in the control group perceived their class as possessing a significantly lower degree of cooperativeness than the scores of the individual class members indicated they possessed. Many other comparisons were made, but no other statistically significant differences were found.However, the results of the semantic differential contradicted the results of the Leary test. The semantic differential showed that the subjects in the experimental group did increase in their attitudes toward self-confidence over the quarter. These contradictory findings led to the conclusion that the fundamentals of public speaking students may have improved their attitudes as related to speech even though there was no increase in the scores relating to these attitudes on the Leary scale which dealt with the whole personality.

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