This exploratory study examined the relationship between public speaking anxiety levels indicated by scores on the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker questionnaire (PRCS: Paul, 1966) and evaluation probability on a wide domain of evaluation items reflected by scores on the Audience Attention Allocation questionnaire (devised for the purpose of this study). A large student sample (n=220) completed the PRCS as well as the AAA questionnaire. The AAA assessed the perceived allocation of the attentional resources of the audience members during a speech by asking respondents to rate how probable it is that a speaker is evaluated on a set of domains. The results of regression analyses indicated that AAA scores, Gender, and Study year were significant predictors of PRCS scores accounting for 8.5% of the variance. More interestingly, the nature of results obtained was contrary to the hypothesis of the study. It was in fact revealed that subjects scoring low on the AAA questionnaire, indicating less likelihood that audience members make evaluations about the speaker on a variety of items, tended to have higher anxiety scores. The results are discussed in terms of defense mechanisms and response bias.

<p>This exploratory study examined the relationship between public speaking anxiety levels indicated by scores on the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker questionnaire (PRCS: Paul, 1966) and evaluation probability on a wide domain of evaluation items reflected by scores on the Audience Attention Allocation questionnaire (devised for the purpose of this study). A large student sample (n=220) completed the PRCS as well as the AAA questionnaire. The AAA assessed the perceived allocation of the attentional resources of the audience members during a speech by asking respondents to rate how probable it is that a speaker is evaluated on a set of domains. The results of regression analyses indicated that AAA scores, Gender, and Study year were significant predictors of PRCS scores accounting for 8.5% of the variance. More interestingly, the nature of results obtained was contrary to the hypothesis of the study. It was in fact revealed that subjects scoring low on the AAA questionnaire, indicating less likelihood that audience members make evaluations about the speaker on a variety of items, tended to have higher anxiety scores. The results are discussed in terms of defense mechanisms and response bias.</p>

The classroom communication behavior of preservice teacher education students was the focus of this research. The study was designed to provide descriptive and empirical data for teacher educators to use in designing preservice and in-service training in classroom communication. Additionally, an interdisciplinary focus on research from the fields of interpersonal and instructional communication as applied to teacher education was emphasized. The sample for the study included 30 secondary and 29 elementary preservice teacher education students. The sample was stratified on the basis of the level of communication apprehension. A total of 30 high level apprehensive and 29 low level apprehensives were identified. The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension-24 (PRCA-24) was administered as a pre-posttest measure. Scores from the Communicator Style Measure (CSM) were analyzed with the PRCA—24. University supervisors and public school cooperating teachers completed a modified version of the CSM on two separate observation occasions.

Syftet med denna studie var att bidra med kunskap om de strategier som elever i gymnasiet ansåg vara stödjande för att övervinna talrädsla och svensklärares användningsområde för dessa strategier i klassrummet. Metoderna som användes var enkät och fenomenografisk intervju. Informanterna bestod av sex gymnasieelever från samma gymnasieskola men olika årskurser. Den teoretiska referensramen som studien utgick ifrån var fenomenografi. Det var även den fenomenografiska analysmodellen som användes vid analys av empiri. Utfallsrummen i studien resulterade i nio kategorier som besvarade de tre forskningsfrågorna. Resultatet visade att de faktorer som bidrog med talrädsla hos gymnasieelever var publikens beteende, om de skrattade eller agerade ointresserade. Vidare elevens osäkerhet gällande att bli analyserad och råka göra misstag framför publiken. Den sista påverkande faktorn var bedömning, att läraren skulle bedöma framförandet och hur det skulle påverka elevens betyg. De strategier som eleverna uppfattade som stöttande för att överkomma sin talrädsla var att det inte bara behöver finnas en trygghet i klassrummet utan även i klassen. Vidare att avdramatisera situationen och inse att ett misstag inte förstör framförandet. Slutligen att öva på framförandet innan och även veta var eleven kan fästa blicken under framförandet ansågs stöttande. Det eleverna ansåg att svensklärare kunde göra i klassrummet för att stötta talrädda elever var att ge positiv återkoppling för att höja elevens självförtroende. Svenskläraren kunde behandla publik och talare lika genom att även tilldela publiken en uppgift under det muntliga framförandet. Avslutningsvis kunde svenskläraren göra medvetna val gällande, gruppstorlek, tydlighet i instruktioner och svårighetsgrad. Sammanfattningsvis efterfrågar talrädda elever stöttning och respekt från svensklärare för att känna sig tryggare i sin rädsla. / The purpose of this study was to contribute with more knowledge about strategies that upper secondary students find supportive when trying to overcome their fear of public speaking and how Swedish teachers can use these strategies in the classroom. The methods used were a questionnaire and phenomenographic interviews. The participants were six students from the same Swedish upper secondary school but from different years. The theoretical framework that was used on the study was phenomenography. The analyzed material resulted in nine categories which answer the three research questions. The findings from this study indicate that the factors contributing to the fear of public speaking are the audience and how they behave, the students’ self-esteem and lastly that the performance is being graded. The strategies that the students found supportive were a safe classroom environment and class, as well as dedramatizing the situation and practicing on the performance and eye contact in advance. To help the students with speaking anxiety the Swedish teachers could make smaller groups, clear instructions, and adjust the difficulty of the speaking tasks. To summarize the students, request support and respect from their teachers to feel more comfortable facing their fear of speaking. / Examensarbete i samverkan