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A research study was conducted to examine Fredrickson's Broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions in a speech anxious sample of undergraduate students. Experimental elicitation of positive emotions has previously been shown to speed cardiovascular recovery, increase attention, and broaden thought-action repertoires compared to elicitation of negative or neutral emotions (Fredrickson et al., 2000). 88 undergraduate students were selected from a screening process based on their reported speech anxiety on the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker (PRCS). Students who reported low or high speech anxiety completed an anxiety provoking task and were subsequently exposed to either a neutral emotion condition "Pipes" film) or one of two positive emotion conditions ("Puppy" film or thinking of a happy memory task). Fredrickson's theory was not supported since results showed no differences in cardiovascular recovery, thought-action repertoires, or global thinking for either groups or conditions. However, differences were found for broadened scope of attention on a modified Stroop task where the low anxiety group responded faster to threat words in the neutral and happy memory conditions than after viewing a positive film. Results of the study are discussed in light of attribution theory of emotion and previous studies on the effects of positive emotions. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

This study explored the relationship between the personality construct of hardiness and public speaking anxiety. Although hardiness has been widely explored in a variety of anxiety-arousing life events, its relationship with communication anxiety had not been previously studied. Therefore, hardiness, public speaking trait anxiety, and public speaking state anxiety were measured in a course requiring an oral presentation assignment. One hundred fifty students enrolled in a basic speech communication course participated in the study. A statistically significant correlation was revealed between hardiness and trait communication anxiety. Students higher in hardiness reported lower trait communication apprehension in three contexts: 1) meeting, 2) interpersonal, and 3) group. Overall, students did not differ on measures of hardiness and a fourth communication context: public speaking anxiety. Likewise, on measures of hardiness and state public speaking anxiety, students did not differ.

This study used an interdisciplinary approach to examine an intervention for reducing public speaking state anxiety. A quasi-experiment was conducted to determine if a multiple-exposure treatment technique (TRIPLESPEAK) would help to attenuate public speaking anxiety. The treatment group reported experiencing significantly less state anxiety during their post-test presentation than did the control group. This lead to the conclusion that exposure therapy can be used to help students enrolled in basic communication classes begin to overcome their fear of speaking in front of an audience. Follow-up analysis of the treatment group's reported anxiety levels during all five presentations (pre-test, Treatment Presentation 1, Treatment Presentation 2, Treatment Presentation 3, and post-test) revealed an increase in anxiety from the last treatment presentation to the post-test presentation. In order to explore this issue, Shannon's entropy was utilized to calculate the amount of information in each speaking environment. Anderson's functional ontology construction approach served as a model to explain the role of the environment in shaping speakers' current and future behaviors and reports of anxiety. The exploratory analysis revealed a functional relationship between information and anxiety. In addition, a qualitative study was conducted to determine which environmental stimuli speakers perceived contributed to their anxiety levels. Students reported experiencing anxiety based on four categories, which included speaker concerns, audience characteristics, contextual factors and assignment criteria. Students' reports of anxiety were dependent upon their previous speaking experiences, and students suggested differences existed between the traditional presentations and the treatment presentations. Pedagogical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Insufficient research has addressed communication apprehension (CA) as it relates explicitly to the journalism and public relations disciplines. The purpose of this study was to measure the CA levels of undergraduate journalism and public relations interns after participating in communication events with their immediate supervisors during their internship experiences.A total of 55 male and female undergraduate students, who had completed internships in the four semesters prior to this study, chose to participate. McCroskey's Personal Report of Communication Apprehension 24 (PRCA-24) scale (McCroskey 1984b) was administered to each participant to measure CA in four contexts: group discussions, meetings, interpersonal communication, and public speaking. The two hypotheses predicted significant differences in CA levels based on the age differences and sex differences between interns and their immediate supervisors. The results showed no significance for either hypothesis. Limitations and implications for future research were discussed in the final chapter. / Department of Journalism

In this study, I investigate how foreign language anxiety affects students’ performance during oral presentations. The study also explores how secondary school teachers in Sweden work with anxious students before, during and after an oral presentation and what approaches and exercises they find effective to use when doing so. Foreign language anxiety is a relatively new subject within language education and impacts language learning in various, mostly negative, ways. The data is collected from interviews with secondary school teachers in Sweden. The result show how these teachers identify FLA and what effects they believe it has on their students. The result also gives insight into how the teachers approach all three stages of an oral presentation to reduce symptoms that lead to increased anxiety. The study concludes by comparing the teachers’ choices to theories within language teaching to establish a pattern of what strategies are effective when dealing with FLA. In this study, I highlight the benefits of using oral presentations based on research and why every student should be given help to overcome their anxiety, so that they are prepared to use their English in high-pressure situations, such as during an oral presentation.

The purpose of this study is to investigate student progression in oral presentations. During almost an entire academic year, the students have read the course Swedish 3. To be able to examine their development, their self-efficacy, attitudes and speech anxiety ub these situations are measured. Both general and gender-related developments are intended to be discerned, while the results of a parallel study form part of the study. The second study is made by abother student and examines exactly the same thinds as in this study, altough students who have read the course Rhetoric during the academic year. Thanks to this, a comparative study was akso made possible between the students who have read the respective course, ans this gives an insight into the impact of the courses on the students and their self-efficacy, attitudes and the speech anxiety for oral presentations.  The results regarding all the Swedish 3-student's self-efficacy, attitudes and speech anxiety showed that the students developed maginally in all three areas. Otherwise, from a static perspective, the results also showed that student's mental speech anxiety, ehich inculdes factors such as shaking, palpitations and redness. The gender-related result showed that women develop more than men, but that men's level is more static and is at a higher level from the beginning regarding the self-efficacy, the attitudes and the speech anxiety. This result alsp showed that women's speech anxiety us significanlty higher than men's and it also showed than women prefer to talk about personal things to a greater extent than men, although borh men and women seem to prefer to talk about more impersonal things during the course. Finally, the comparative study between Swedish 3 and rhetorical students showed that the rhetoric students self-efficacy regarding discussions in the classroom and the speech anxiety develops most, while Swedish 3 students attitudes to oral representations develop more than the rhetoric students. / Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka elevers progression inom muntliga framställningar. Eleverna har under nästan ett helt läsår läst kursen Svenska 3. För att kunna undersöka deras utveckling mäts deras självskattning, attityder och talängslan inför dessa situationer. Både en generell- och en genusrelaterad utveckling ämnas att skönjas, samtidigt som en parallell studies resultat utgör en del av studien. Den andra studien är gjord av en studiekamrat och undersöker exakt samma saker som i den här studien, fast på elever som under läsåret har läst kursen Retorik. Tack vare detta möjliggjordes även en komparativ studie mellan eleverna som har läst respektive kurs, och detta ger en insyn i kursernas inverkan på elevernas självskattning, attityder och talängslan inför muntliga framställningar. Resultatet gällande alla Svenska 3-elevernas självskattning, attityder och talängslan visade att eleverna utvecklades marginellt inom alla tre områden. I övrigt, utifrån ett statiskt perspektiv, visade resultatet också att elevernas mentala talängslan, som bland annat innefattar rädsla, oro och nervositet, är betydligt högre än den fysiska talängslan, som innefattar faktorer som skakningar, hjärtklappning och rodnad. Det genusrelaterade resultatet visade att kvinnor utvecklas mer än männen, men att männens nivå är mer statisk och ligger på en högre nivå från början gällande självskattningen, attityderna och talängslan. Detta resultat visade även att kvinnors talängslan är påtagligt högre än männens och det visade även att kvinnor föredrar att prata om personliga saker i större utsträckning än männen, även om både män och kvinnor under kursens gång verkar föredra att prata om mer opersonliga saker. Slutligen visade den komparativa studien mellan Svenska 3- och retorikeleverna att retorikelevernas självskattning gällande diskussioner i klassrummet och talängslan utvecklas mest, samtidigt som Svenska 3- elevernas attityder till muntliga framställningar utvecklas mer än retorikelevernas.

Of all social situations, public speaking is the most prevalent fear in both the general population and among social phobic individuals (Mannuzza, Schneier, Chapman, & Liebowitz, 1995; Stein, Walker, & Forde, 1996). The fear of public speaking is referred to as communication apprehension (CA) by members of the communication field; in other programs of study, this condition has been categorized and conceptualized in a wide variety of ways ranging from stage fright to reticence. Several scholarly fields including communication, social psychology, the health sciences and the social sciences, seek to find an explanation and effective intervention for this prevalent condition. This study sought to examine relationships between several constructs, each associated with well-established and tested measurement instruments: The first construct, communication apprehension, was thought by communication scholars to be a generalized personality trait and was measured by the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24). The second communication instrument employed was the Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC). Generalized social anxiety pertaining to public speaking was measured by the Self-Statements during Public Speaking (SSPS) scale developed within the field of social psychology. Finally, a popular tool within social psychology was utilized, the Brief Version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE). An analysis of data utilizing Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation illustrated that there was a moderate relationship between the constructs being tested through the SPSS and the BFNE and the PRCA-24 and the SPCC