Anxiety Level in Students of Public Speaking Causes Remedies
Anxiety Level in Students of Public Speaking Causes Remedies
Anxiety Level in Students of Public Speaking Causes Remedies
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Abstract
Introduction
Most people are not born public speakers; they are trained
to become one. When they find themselves in situations where they
become the focus of attention as they have to address an audience,
they experience emotions like fear and anxiety, leading to nausea
and excessive sweating. Most of them try to avoid situations where
they have to perform or speak in public, but when unavoidable,
such situations are endured by distress. According to Lucas (2011),
“Many people who converse easily in all kinds of everyday situations
become frightened at the idea of standing up before a group to make
a speech”(p.9). Such people need to realize that they are not the
only ones who may be going through these emotions; in fact, almost
every speaker feels the same. It is important that people consciously
realize the fact that there are more nervous speakers in the world
than those who are not.
Research questions
Literature review
should also analyze the requirements of the topic and examine the
motivation for speaking and the audience’s motivation for listening.
He emphasizes on goal setting and puts forward that one should
also set some specific goals that need to be achieved at the end of
the presentation. If the speaker is not certain about his/her stance, it
will not leave a good impression on the audience and the audience
may get demotivated.
Methodology
This was a small scale exploratory research conducted to
analyze the needs of students of public speaking class at undergraduate
level for formulating strategies that would overcome public speaking
anxiety. The study was conducted using the quantitative descriptive
research method. Creswell (1994) defines quantitative research as
an explanation of phenomena by collecting numerical data that are
analyzed using mathematically based methods. The methodology
that was used to carry out the study included questionnaires as
primary data collection tool.
Instrument
Sample
Data analysis
Instructor’s observations
Questionnaire results
This section of the study presents the results and analysis
Table 1
Percentage responses given by the undergraduate students
public speaking or not was that more than 75% of them surveyed
feared speaking in front of an audience. Thus, the majority of them
were found to be afraid of speaking in front of others, which is
consistent with McCains’ (2012) results that showed that, “Nearly
90% of people reported feeling shy or uncomfortable speaking in
front of others at some time in their lives” (p.1). However, this
observation differs from person to person, as different people have
different beliefs and confidence level for familiar and unfamiliar
audiences.
References
Kelly, L., & Watson, A. K. (1986). Speaking with confidence and skill.
New York: Harper & Row Press.
Luca, S.E. (2001). The art of public speaking. New York, NY: McGraw-
Hill.