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Objectives: The aims of the study were to determine the prevalence of fear of public speaking among college students and to assess its association with sociodemographic variables and those related to the voice and oral communication. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive and analytic study was conducted with 1135 undergraduates aged 17-58 years. The assessment instruments were (1) a questionnaire addressing the variables sex, age, field of undergraduate study, voice, and frequency of exposure to public speaking, and (2) the Self-statements During Public Speaking Scale (SSPS), which includes variables implicated in specific domains of public speaking. A descriptive analysis was performed of the variables as well as uni- and multivariate logistic regressions to examine their association with fear of public speaking. The level of significance was set at 5%. Results: In all, 63.9% of the college students reported fear of public speaking. As many as 89.3% of the students would like their undergraduate program to include classes to improve public speaking. Being female, having infrequent participation as speakers in groups, and perceiving their voice as high-pitched or too soft increase the odds of exhibiting fear of public speaking compared with students without those features. Conclusion: A great number of undergraduates report fear of public speaking. This fear is more prevalent among women, students who participate in few activities involving speaking to groups of people, and those who have a self-perception of their voice as high-pitched or too soft.
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Fear of Public Speaking: Perception of College Students
and Correlates
Anna Carolina Ferreira Marinho, Adriane Mesquita de Medeiros, Ana Cristina Côrtes Gama, and
Letícia Caldas Teixeira, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Summary: Objectives. The aims of the study were to determine the prevalence of fear of public speaking among
college students and to assess its association with sociodemographic variables and those related to the voice and oral
communication.
Methods. A cross-sectional descriptive and analytic study was conducted with 1135 undergraduates aged 17–58 years.
The assessment instruments were (1) a questionnaire addressing the variables sex, age, field of undergraduate study,
voice, and frequency of exposure to public speaking, and (2) the Self-statements During Public Speaking Scale (SSPS),
which includes variables implicated in specific domains of public speaking. A descriptive analysis was performed of
the variables as well as uni- and multivariate logistic regressions to examine their association with fear of public speak-
ing. The level of significance was set at 5%.
Results. In all, 63.9% of the college students reported fear of public speaking. As many as 89.3% of the students
would like their undergraduate program to include classes to improve public speaking. Being female, having infre-
quent participation as speakers in groups, and perceiving their voice as high-pitched or too soft increase the odds of
exhibiting fear of public speaking compared with students without those features.
Conclusion. A great number of undergraduates report fear of public speaking. This fear is more prevalent among
women, students who participate in few activities involving speaking to groups of people, and those who have a self-
perception of their voice as high-pitched or too soft.
Key Words: Speech-language pathology–Voice–Students–Speech–Fear.
INTRODUCTION
Public speaking is an act specific to oral communication that com-
bines physiological, linguistic, psychological, and cultural factors.1
Public-speaking competence is one of the determinants of pro-
fessional success,2a strategic skill to gain a competitive edge,
credibility, and a positive reputation.3
Thus, the communication exceeds the function of conveying
information. The voice, the rhythm, and the expressiveness of
the speech are valued when it comes to persuading the people.4,5
However, one of the barriers to the communication process
is fear of public speaking—a type of anxiety prevalent in the
general Brazilian population6as well as in other countries.7–13
Fear of speaking leads to communication impairments with
an impact on the individual’s personal, social, and emotional
life.5,14 The causes include lack of speaking practice, insuffi-
cient command of the topic, and/or a negative self-image.12,13
Among the sciences that study the subject, speech-language
pathology assists individuals in building their communication
skills and controlling their public-speaking anxiety.5,8,13,15 However,
if the fear of speaking becomes uncontrollable, psychological
or psychiatric treatment is warranted.4,10,16
Focusing on how college students cope with their fear of speak-
ing reveals that the context is even more challenging. Every year,
millions of students are admitted to university. Their entry is
marked by new challenges and the promise of a profession.
Throughout their preparation years, undergraduates will be
tackling tasks demanding intellectual achievement as well as
public-speaking skills. In view of this, we wonder how stu-
dents are facing this situation and how they are being prepared
for the coming challenge of being judged by their competence
distinguished based on their skills— including that of commu-
nicating proficiently.
We believe that an investigation of fear of public speaking
among college students will raise the interest of the academic
community in the importance of building public-speaking skills
and assist in planning and enhancing programs and/or speech-
language pathology consulting initiatives to that end.15
Accordingly, the aims of the present research study were to
determine the prevalence of fear of public speaking among college
students and to assess its association with sociodemographic vari-
ables and those related to the voice and oral communication.
METHODS
The present work, a cross-sectional descriptive and analytic study,
was approved by the Research Ethics Committee under Tech-
nical Opinion No. 860.425.
In all, 1135 undergraduate students of an institution of higher
education responded to a questionnaire concerning fear of public
speaking. Of these, 765 were women and 360 men, with a ma-
jority of females (67.4%). Ages ranged from 17 to 58 years (mean,
23.2 years). The study was composed of 70 undergraduate pro-
grams of the university, with 34.3% of the college students
enrolled in health sciences programs, 35.3% in humanities, 26.4%
in exact sciences, and 4% in fine arts.
Accepted for publication December 21, 2015.
From the Department Speech-language Pathology and Audiology, Universidade Federal
de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Anna Carolina Ferreira Marinho,
Department Speech-language Pathology and Audiology, Universidade Federal de Minas
Gerais (UFMG), Av. ProfessorAlfredo Balena, 190, Belo Horizonte, MG 30130-100, Brazil.
E-mail: anna.marinho9@gmail.com;lcaldas4@gmail.com
Journal of Voice, Vol. ■■, No. ■■, pp. ■■-■■
0892-1997
© 2015 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.12.012
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Assessment instrument
The research questionnaire was a dedicated self-report instru-
ment developed by the investigators. It consists of two parts. The
first comprises 12 questions concerning the student’s age, sex,
presence/absence of stuttering, field of undergraduate study, self-
perception of voice, influence of voice on fear of public speaking,
participation in activities requiring public speaking, and level
of interest in speech-language training for speaking in public.
All those questions elicited “yes” or “no” answers. For the item
addressing the student’s self-perception of the voice, they should
select how they rated their voices among the following choices:
adequate, hoarse, high-pitched, soft, deep, or nasal. The self-
rated voice was considered positive when the participants regarded
it as adequate, and negative when another description was chosen.
The terms used were easily identified by the general public. The
second part consisted of the Self-statements During Public Speak-
ing Scale (SSPS),12 a self-report measure adapted for Brazilian
Portuguese.11 This protocol relies on the cognitive theories pos-
tulating that social anxiety is the result of one’s negative
perception of oneself and of others regarding one. The scale in-
cludes 10 questions and 2 subscales: one of positive self-
statements (items 1, 3, 5, 6, and 9) and the other of negative
self-statements (items 2, 4, 7, 8, and 10) based on a scale of 0
(totally disagree) to 5 (totally agree) points. The maximum total
score is 50 points, obtained by the summation of the 10 items
of the measure, considering that the scoring of the negative
subscale should be reversed as proposed by the Brazilian group.12
Thus, the closer a score is to 50, the greater the positive eval-
uation and the less negative; conversely, the lower the total score,
the more negative the student self-rates in the public-speaking
situation. According to the mean data of the validation study,11
the values obtained for college students were 22 for the total score,
17.32 for the positive scale, and 5.08 for the negative scale.
The questionnaire and the informed consent form were sent
online, only once, to the students on the undergraduate campus
of the university using the SurveyMonkey software. The data were
gathered during 4 months. The inclusion criteria were: to be an
undergraduate student enrolled in the institution of higher ed-
ucation in the field of arts, exact sciences, humanities, or health,
regardless of ethnicity, sex, or age. Students were excluded from
the study if they self-reported stuttering or failed to complete
the assessment measures. A pilot study was previously admin-
istered to 10 volunteers to verify the correct understanding of
the instrument. All the questions were deemed applicable because
the volunteers had no difficulty answering the questionnaire. The
participants spent 5 minutes on average to answer the questions.
Data analysis
The data were stored on a digital database and were subse-
quently analyzed. The response variable was fear of public
speaking and the explanatory variables were sex, age, field of
undergraduate study, influence of voice on fear of speaking, self-
perception of voice, and participation in activities involving
speaking to an audience. The statistical analysis was done based
on the description of the self-perceived voice features and the
interest in speech-language lessons for public-speaking improve-
ment. The analysis of variance test was used to compare the scores
of the protocol SSPS in relation to the students’ sex. The anal-
ysis of the correlates of fear of public speaking considering other
variables was done using Pearson chi-squared test. The vari-
ables with statistically significant associations (P0.05) were
included in the multivariate logistic regression model. The mag-
nitude of association for each variable taken separately with the
response variable was assessed through odds ratios. The vari-
ables that sustained an association were retained in the final model.
The level of statistical significance was set at 5% across tests.
The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 20, and
the STATA, version 12.0 (Intercooled, Stata Corporation, Texas,
USA) software were used for the analyses.
RESULTS
As many as 63.9% of the undergraduates reported fear of public
speaking. Table 1 shows a statistically significant association
between the fear of public speaking to the variables: female
gender, negative vocal self-perception, no influence of voice in
fear and little participation in public-speaking activities. The
groups with and without fear of public speaking did not differ
in age and field of study.
Regarding the association between sex and SSPS scores, it
was found that women had more negative self-statements than
men (Table 2).
The descriptive analysis of the students’ perception of their
own voice and of their interest in the inclusion of speech-
language training in the curriculum is shown in Table 3. Negative
self-perceptions of the voice were more frequent for high-
pitched and soft voice features (Table 3). Of the college students,
89.3% would like their undergraduate program to include classes
for improvement of their public-speaking skills.
All the variables revealing an association in the bivariate anal-
ysis were retained in the final multivariate model (Table 4). Being
a female and perceiving that the voice influenced public-
speaking fear nearly doubled the likelihood of reporting fear of
public speaking when compared with being a male and not ac-
knowledging the influence of the voice, respectively. Negative
self-perceptions of the voice increased by 53% the odds of a
student reporting public speaking fear compared to those who
perceived their voice as adequate. As expected, the association
of fear of speaking in public with scarce participation in activi-
ties of public speaking was strong.
DISCUSSION
A great number of college students reported fear of public speak-
ing. In the corporate world, oral communication is a critical tool
for professional survival. Large companies value it and welcome
job applicants who, among other skills, are capable of speak-
ing competently in public.4,17 Public speaking is considered an
anxiety-generating factor that leads to fear and has a negative
impact on personal and academic achievement.6,16,18,19
In the United States population, speaking in public is con-
sidered one of the most fear-generating activities.7–9 This is no
different among Brazilians: a study showed that fear of public
speaking afflicted 32% of the population of the largest Brazil-
ian capital.6In the present study, the majority of the sample
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2Journal of Voice, Vol. ■■, No. ■■, 2016
(63.9%) experienced fear of public speaking—a greater per-
centage than that found in the aforementioned study.
Percentually, fear of speaking to an audience was more prev-
alent among females, as noted in other studies.6,20 Some studies
note that fear of public speaking is independent of sex, ethnic-
ity, and age; yet in some cases, it has been more associated with
females.20–22 There was no significant association of the vari-
ables age and field of undergraduate study with public-speaking
fear. We believe that fear of speaking afflicts individuals regard-
less of their age or profession. According to the literature,
accumulated experience and enhanced ability to deal with public-
speaking situations can minimize negative impacts on
communication.13
Current studies on voice have increasingly encouraged taking
into account the subjects’ self-rating of their voice.23–28 In our
study, we found that most students do not relate their voice quality
to fear of public speaking; nevertheless, the data analysis showed
an association between students with negative self-perceptions
of their voice and public-speaking fear. The predominant neg-
ative terms used by the undergraduates to refer to their self-
perceived voice were: high-pitched and soft. The literature
indicates that limited loudness—ie, lack of voice volume—
suggests insecurity, fear, and introversion when speaking.29,30 If
the voice is too high, this could imply that the speaker is child-
ish or frail,30 in addition to somewhat immature psychologically,
which could contribute to an impression of naïvety produced on
TABLE 1.
Association of Fear of Public Speaking with the Variables Sex, Age, Field of Study, Influence of Voice, Self-perception of
Voice, and Participation in Activities Involving Public Speaking (n = 1135)
Variables
Fear of Public Speaking
PValue
No Yes
n%n%
Sex
Male 171 41.6 199 27.5
Female 240 58.4 525 72.5 <0.001*
Age (years)
17–21 176 42.8 331 45.7
22–26 168 40.9 283 39.1
27–31 32 7.8 61 8.4 0.255
32–58 35 8.5 49 6.8
Field of study
Health 243 44.4 142 34.0
Exact sciences 188 29.6 114 26.7 0.702
Humanities 261 23.2 139 35.2
Arts 32 2.8 14 4.1
Influence of voice on fear of speaking
No 327 79.6 464 64.1
Yes 84 20.4 260 35.9 <0.001*
Self-perception of voice
Positive 191 46.5 227 31.3
Negative 220 53.5 497 68.7 0.001*
Participation in activities of public speaking
Frequent 159 38.7 110 15.2 <0.001
Rare 252 61.3 614 84.8
*Pvalue 0.05; Pearson chi-squared test.
TABLE 2.
Comparison of the Variable Sex with the Scores of the “Self-statement During Public Speaking Scale”
Variables
Total Score Positive Score Negative Score
Female Male Female Male Female Male
Mean 26.18 25.96 16.27 17.20 9.92 8.76
Minimum 16050 0
Maximum 49 47 25 25 25 26
SD 7.38 7.16 4.75 4.06 6.72 6.39
Pvalue 0.646 0.001*0.006*
*P<0.05; analysis of variance.
Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.
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Anna Carolina Ferreira Marinho et al Fear of Public Speaking 3
Q2
the listener with regard to the speaker.30 Recent studies have in-
dicated that a low-pitched voice is charismatic, that is, a more
widely accepted voice compared with a high voice when it comes
to influencing and persuading the listener.31,32
In regard to the association of participation in activities of public
speaking with the presence of speaking anxiety, the data suggest
that college students who take part in many oral presentation
activities exhibited significantly less fear than those reluctant to
speak to an audience. The literature confirms that lack of ex-
perience accounts for increased fear of speaking, which is inherent
to an unknown situation.4,6,10,32,33
A difference was found between sexes in the SSPS scores.
Women had a higher mean negative score, whereas men scored
better on the positive self-statements. This indicates that public
speaking is a more challenging situation for women, presum-
ably because they perceive more negative elements in their
communication.34
Regarding the students’ interest in public-speaking training
(Table 3), it was found that 89.3% of them would appreciate such
an addition to their curriculum. Astudy shows that after a basic
communication course, college students displayed a signifi-
cant reduction in their anxiety when speaking to an audience,
as well as improved communication competence by the end of
the course, thereby becoming more confident and less anxious
in their overall communication.35
In light of the above data, we emphasize that universities should
acknowledge the importance of public speaking during the grad-
uation of students. Public speaking is a topic of social and
scientific relevance, and further studies are warranted, which
should focus on fear of public speaking with other populations.
CONCLUSION
Fear of public speaking is a prevalent subtype of anxiety among
college students. It occurs more frequently in women, in stu-
dents who rarely participate in activities involving speaking to
audiences, and in those who have a negative self-perception of
their voice and characterize it as high-pitched or soft. Most college
students appreciate and are interested in having classes for public
speaking in their university curriculum.
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Characterization of the Self-perception of Voice and In-
terest in Speech-language Training in the Curriculum
(N = 1135)
N%
Self-perception of voice
Positive
Adequate 418 36.8
Negative
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High-pitched voice 340 30.0
Soft voice 210 18.5
Deep voice 56 4.9
Nasal voice 84 7.4
Interest in speech-language training
Yes 1014 89.3
No 121 10.7
Notes: N: number of cases; %: frequency.
TABLE 4.
Multivariate Analysis of the Association Between Fear of
Public Speaking and the Variables Sex, Influence of Voice,
Self-perception of Voice, and Participation in Activities
Involving Public Speaking
Variable
Fear of Public
Speaking
OR 95% CI
Sex
Male 1.0
Female 1.95 1.49–2.56
Influence of voice on fear of
speaking
No 1.0
Yes 1.93 1.39–2.65
Self-perception of voice
Positive 1.0
Negative 1.53 1.16–2.02
Participation in public-speaking
activities
Frequent 1.0
Rare 3.41 2.56–4.53
Note: Logistic regression.
Abbreviations: 95% CI, 95% confidence interval; OR, odds ratio.
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4Journal of Voice, Vol. ■■, No. ■■, 2016
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Anna Carolina Ferreira Marinho et al Fear of Public Speaking 5
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... This thesis was supported by a study on general population, which found that after 18th year, there was a sharp decline in PSA, with a slight increase later in life (Caballo et al., 2008). On the other hand, several studies on student populations did not find age to have any effect on students' PSA levels (Marinho et al., 2017(Marinho et al., , 2019Phillips et al., 1997). ...
... Awareness of these stereotypes, especially when combined with the heightened visibility of public speaking, can undermine women's performance and exacerbate their PSA. Empirical evidence supports this notion, showing that women tend to report higher levels of PSA (Caballo et al., 2008;Hunter et al., 2014;Marinho et al., 2017;Perveen et al., 2018), demonstrate a reluctance to engage in public presentations (De Paola et al., 2021), and exhibit stronger physiological responses to public speaking (Carrillo et al., 2001) compared to men. Conversely, some studies have found no significant gender differences in self-reported PSA levels, in other studies, women and men were found to have the same self-reported PSA levels (Marinho et al., 2019;Phillips et al., 1997), and in one study, men were found to have higher PSA levels than women (Rodero & Larrea, 2022). ...
... This contrasts with the natural sciences, where the curriculum may prioritize written communication and technical proficiency, possibly resulting in less frequent engagement with public speaking tasks. So far, a single study looked at the effect of the field of study on students' PSA levels -finding no effect (Marinho et al., 2017). ...
Article
Full-text available
Public speaking is a crucial component of many higher education courses and is essential for students’ academic performance and future career success. Despite its importance, public speaking anxiety is a common issue among higher education students, adversely impacting their learning. Addressing this anxiety through targeted interventions, especially for the most at-risk students, is vital. This study provides insights into the demographic predictors of public speaking anxiety, using a sample of 1745 students from a large public university in the Czech Republic. We employed the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker in a short form to assess public speaking anxiety levels. Our multivariate regression analysis identified gender, type of high school, and study level as significant predictors of public speaking anxiety, whereas age, nationality, and field of study were not. The study found that women, non-binary individuals, graduates of academic high schools, and bachelor’s students are more prone to public speaking anxiety. These findings highlight the need for targeted intervention and support strategies for students with higher levels of public speaking anxiety.
... Estudos epidemiológicos demonstraram que, na população universitária, problemas relacionados ao falar em público são bastante comuns (Fernández et al., 2015;Marinho et al., 2019). Um estudo realizado por Marinho et al. (2017) foi avaliada a prevalência do medo de falar em público em 1.135 universitários de uma universidade pública de Belo Horizonte, no estado de Minas Gerais. Os resultados indicaram que 63,9% da amostra relatou possuir medo de falar em público, sendo mais prevalente em mulheres (72,5%), nos estudantes que participavam de poucas atividades de fala em grupo (84,8%) e naqueles que autopercebiam suas vozes como negativas, com altura de voz para o agudo e volume de voz baixo (68,7%). ...
... Considerando a alta prevalência do medo de falar em público na população universitária (Fernández et al., 2015;Marinho et al., 2017) e que tarefas de falar em público são comuns no ensino superior (Celeste et al., 2018), evidencia-se a relevância social e educacional de se avaliar os fatores, como as autoavaliações (cognições) sobre o próprio desempenho diante de tais tarefas e as características sociodemográficas e ocupacionais, associados a um bom repertório de habilidades sociais de falar em público, uma vez que estudos com essa temática são escassos na literatura. Além disso, falar em público é uma habilidade importante para os estudantes universitários aprenderem e praticarem à medida que progridem na educação e em suas carreiras profissionais (Spieler & Miltenberger, 2016, Gallego et al., 2020, Werdiningsih & Mukminatien, 2023, o que destaca a importância de se realizar esse tipo de avaliação em estudantes provindos de diferentes áreas do conhecimento (ciências humanas, exatas e biológicas) e instituições de ensino superior (privada e pública). ...
... Literature on public speaking focuses on public speaking anxiety as a common social phobia (Marinho et al., 2017;Ruscio et al., 2007;Stein et al., 1996), eclipsing research into the potential benefits of public speaking for student wellbeing, including confidence building (McCammon et al., 2012), growth mindset (Stewart et al., 2019), confidence in technical and non-technical communication skills (Shirazi et al., 2024), or behavioral competence and selfesteem (Morreale et al., 1995). Additionally, public speaking is a form of embodied performance in which students garner skills to express themselves and to listen to one another. ...
... However, this often leads to public speaking fear among students: at least 63% of college students report feeling anxious about public speaking (Marinho et al., 2017). Some of these fears include being judged and being the center of attention (LeFebvre, LeFebvre, and Allen, 2018). ...
... La habilidad de comunicarse de forma efectiva implica tener desarrollada la capacidad de transmitir conocimientos y expresar ideas y argumentos de manera ordenada, clara, rigurosa y convincente, tanto de forma oral como escrita, utilizando los recursos apropiados y adaptándose a las circunstancias y al tipo de público [2]. Esta competencia se puede desarrollar mediante talleres prácticos, como el que desarrolla el grupo GiDeCien, el cual combina sesiones expositivas con otras en las que el estudiantado es el protagonista. ...
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El Grupo Pluridisciplinar de Innovación Docente y Divulgación de Ciencias, GiDeCien, de la Universidad de Extremadura (UEx), lleva nueve años ayudando al estudiantado de la Facultad de Ciencias a mejorar sus competencias transversales, poniendo especial énfasis en aquellas relacionadas con hablar en público. Desde el curso 2015-16 el grupo oferta anualmente un taller denominado “Hablar en Público: prepárate para la defensa de tu TFG/TFM (presencial o virtual)”. Hasta la fecha han participado en el taller unos 170 estudiantes prácticamente de todos los Grados de la Facultad de Ciencias de la UEx. El objetivo principal del taller es ayudar a los estudiantes a desarrollar sus habilidades comunicativas mediante la preparación y presentación de charlas sobre un tema -generalmente un artículo científico- elegido por los propios estudiantes. En este trabajo se resume la metodología empleada y los resultados obtenidos en las diez ediciones del taller.
... This study and its findings entirely validate and corroborate that. However, this finding conflicts with an investigation by Marinho et al. (2017), who claimed that they observed fear of public speaking primarily in females, especially those who do not engage in public speaking activities. ...
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Public speaking is a less practiced issue in Bangladesh as it is not included in academic curricula in any tier of education. The fear of public speaking, especially in English, is common among many Bangladeshi university students. To better understand this matter, 19 in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions were carried out among public and private university students in Bangladesh, keeping gender, class, urban, rural, and regional variation in mind. This research integrates Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Bourdieu’s concept of linguistic capital to examine how socio-cultural, institutional, and psycholinguistic factors influence public speaking anxiety among university students in Bangladesh. The findings show that educational institutions and socio-cultural issues impact students’ public speaking skills at the university level. In addition, psycholinguistic factors such as negative self-perception and linguistic fluency are the most common causes of fear of public speaking in English. The findings implicate that enhancing communication education across all levels and fostering supportive environments could mitigate this anxiety, potentially improving students’ academic and professional prospects. Further research engaging a wider population is necessary for policy formulation, which might facilitate the culture of public speaking among students of all levels of education.
... Proficiency in speaking is often seen as an indicator of a student's English language skills (Gumartifa & Syahri, 2021). However, approximately 63.9% of college students report experiencing fear or anxiety when speaking in public (Marinho et al., 2017). This fear significantly affects students' speaking abilities, leading to varying anxiety levels. ...
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Speaking anxiety is a form of social anxiety disorder characterized by a fear of public speaking, nervousness around others, fear of judgment, and self-consciousness in front of large groups. This study aims to understand why first and second-year college students majoring in English experience speaking anxiety. It utilizes a descriptive research design, examining academic performance, communication, fear of negative evaluation, and low self-confidence. A questionnaire was used to gather data from 100 College of Education, Arts, and Sciences students at Gordon College. The findings, analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences version 26, indicate no significant relationship between respondent profiles and dimensions. However, a moderate positive correlation exists between communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, and low self-confidence. Additionally, fear of negative evaluation strongly correlates with low self-confidence. In conclusion, female English majors dominate the survey, and speaking anxiety is prevalent when speaking English unprepared, giving oral presentations, facing unexpected questions, and using correct grammar. Collaboration between educational institutions and organizations is crucial to address speaking anxiety and providing effective solutions for tertiary students.
... The most common response was that some students felt anxious when preparing to present. Fear of presentation is a common finding among students [40,41]; however, this obstacle can be overcome through proper instruction and coaching [40] so this should be a priority for facilitators when designing peer-led activities. Other comments related to the organisation and timing of the session that will be taken into consideration in forward planning. ...
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Background Therapeutic Radiographers (RT) and Speech and Language Therapists (SLT) work closely together in caring for people with head and neck cancer and need a strong understanding of each others’ roles. Peer teaching has been shown to be one of the most effective methods of teaching; however, no studies to date, have involved RT and SLT students. This research aims to establish the effectiveness and perceptions of peer-led teaching between undergraduate RT and SLT students in Ulster University. Methods Twenty SLT students and 14 RT students participated. Knowledge tests were taken online before the peer-led teaching session (T1), after the session (T2) and 3 months later (T3). Students’ perceptions of the experience were collected at the end of the session. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to analyse the impact of the intervention on knowledge scores. Qualitative content analysis was used for open text response data. Results RT students’ own professional knowledge score at T2 was statistically significantly higher than the score at T1; the score at T3 was not deemed to be statistically significantly higher. RT students’ SLT knowledge score at T2 and T3 was found to be statistically significantly higher than the score at T1. SLT students’ own professional knowledge score was not statistically significantly higher at T2 or T3 than T1. They did have a statistically significantly higher score at T2 on the RT test, but score at T3 was not deemed to be statistically significantly higher. The majority of students across both professions agreed or strongly agreed that the peer-led teaching experience had a positive impact on their learning. Conclusion This investigation highlights the benefits of an interprofessional peer-led teaching intervention for RT and SLT students and the findings add to the evidence of more objective study of knowledge gain as a result of interprofessional peer teaching.
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The majority of the relevant studies have concentrated on identifying the potential employable abilities of Bachelor of Arts in English Language (BAEL) students in general rather than the employability skills of BA English Language graduates. Hence, it is important to know also what are the employable skills of the BAEL graduates in order to determine the areas of workplace they are to be employed in. This study aims to know the self-efficacy of BAEL students in oral, written, computer-mediated communication and the important employability skills of BAEL undergraduate students. The study is quantitative in nature, and a descriptive survey approach was employed to ascertain the respondents' employability skills in the various fields. The researcher used Google Forms for the survey questionnaire. The study revealed that the self-efficacy of the BA English Language fourth year undergraduate students had a positive opinion of their own skill efficacy. The English language students can handle themselves in company especially when interacting in small groups. They can carry out written communication tasks and also electronically assisted tasks. On the other hand, BAEL students have potentials to be employed in various industries. The researcher advised the students to be readily accepted in various fields in the workplace after graduation. Teachers and curriculum/policy makers were suggested to create learning interventions that can enhance the employability of the students in the various areas of English communication.
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To analyze speech expressiveness in a group of executives based on perceptive and acoustic aspects of vocal dynamics. Four male subjects participated in the research study (S1, S2, S3, and S4). The assessments included the Kingdomality test to obtain the keywords of communicative attitudes; perceptive-auditory assessment to characterize vocal quality and dynamics, performed by three judges who are speech language pathologists; perceptiveauditory assessment to judge the chosen keywords; speech acoustics to assess prosodic elements (Praat software); and a statistical analysis. According to the perceptive-auditory analysis of vocal dynamics, S1, S2, S3, and S4 did not show vocal alterations and all of them were considered with lowered habitual pitch. S1: pointed out as insecure, nonobjective, nonempathetic, and unconvincing with inappropriate use of pauses that are mainly formed by hesitations; inadequate separation of prosodic groups with breaking of syntagmatic constituents. S2: regular use of pauses for respiratory reload, organization of sentences, and emphasis, which is considered secure, little objective, empathetic, and convincing. S3: pointed out as secure, objective, empathetic, and convincing with regular use of pauses for respiratory reload and organization of sentences and hesitations. S4: the most secure, objective, empathetic, and convincing, with proper use of pauses for respiratory reload, planning, and emphasis; prosodic groups agreed with the statement, without separating the syntagmatic constituents. The speech characteristics and communicative attitudes were highlighted in two subjects in a different manner, in such a way that the slow rate of speech and breaks of the prosodic groups transmitted insecurity, little objectivity, and nonpersuasion.
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Purpose to relate data from auditory vocal analysis, complaint and vocal self-perception of journalism students. Methods it is an observational, descriptive, cross-senctional study with prospective data collection, conducted at Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste/UNICENTRO-PR. 41jounalism students participated, 27 women and 14 men. A protocol was applied to collect data of identification and voice complaints, and vocal recordings were made with sustained emission of the vowel “a”; and chained (counting of numbers and months of the year). These recordings were analyzed by a speech therapist, voice specialist, related to voice quality (adapted or altered). Students also responded to the protocol “Descriptive terms about voice”;. Results despite presenting adapted voices, the students presented voice complaints. The most common complaints reported to pitch change, phonemic production, voice quality and speech speed. The students who presented adapted voice quality mentioned a greater amount of positive terms related to the self-perception. There was no difference when compared the average amount of positive and negative terms presented by the group. The most positive terms listed were: nice voice, expressive, confident, feminine, strong and docile. The negatives were: tuneless voice, unstable, oscillanting, irregular, rapid, nasal voice, low and timid. Conclusion even with adapted voices from the auditory vocal point of view, journalism students refer voice complaints, probably due to the demand placed upon them during graduation.
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BACKGROUND: The fear of public speaking is on of the most prevalent fears in the general population, and it is important to assess its underlying cognitive aspects. OBJECTIVE: To perform the cross-cultural adaptation for Brazilian Portuguese of the Self Statements during Public Speaking Scale (SSPS), a self-assessment instrument designed for the public speaking situation. METHODS: The process of translation and adaptation involved four bilingual professionals, the appreciation and approval of the back-translation by the authors of the original scale, a pilot study on 30 Brazilian undergraduate students, and appreciation by raters who attested to the face validity of the Portuguese version, which was called Escala para Auto-avaliação ao Falar em Público. As part of the psychometric study of the SSPS, the items of the scale were analyzed and its internal consistency was assessed in a sample of 2,314 undergraduate students. RESULTS: The items of the positive self-evaluation subscale received the highest scores. The correlation of the items with the total score was quite adequate, ranging from 0.44 to 0.71, and internal consistency was also good, ranging from 0.78 to 0.90. DISCUSSION: The Brazilian Portuguese version of the SSPS proved to be adequate regarding its psychometric properties. Studies evaluating the remaining indicators of validity and reliability of the SSPS on clinical and non-clinical samples would be opportune and necessary.
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The public-speaking fear constitutes a recognizable subtype of social phobia in epidemiologic studies. To verify the impact on personnel functioning and the professional help seeking for treatment of public-speaking fear in a population sample, we conducted a survey with 452 residents of the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Thirty two per cent of the respondents reported that had excessive anxiety when spoke to a large audience. In total, 13% of the survey reported that public-speaking fear had resulted in a marked interference in their work, social life and education, or had caused then marked distress. Seven per cent of the survey had public-speaking fear in isolation, without evidence of others social fears. This data support the inclusion of severe forms of public-speaking fear within the social phobia diagnostic construct and also suggest that public-speaking anxiety may have a negative impact on the lives of many individuals in the community (O medo de falar em público constitui um subtipo não reconhecido da fobia social em estudos epidemiológicos. Para se verificar a prevalência, o impacto no funcionamento pessoal e a procura por tratamento do medo de falar em público, foi realizada uma pesquisa com 452 residentes da cidade de São Paulo, Brasil. Trinta e dois porcento dos entrevistados reportaram ansiedade excessiva quando falavam para um grande grupo de pessoas. No total, 13% dos entrevistados relataram que o medo de falar em público resultou em grande interferência em seu trabalho, vida social e educação, ou causou sofrimento acentuado. Esta pesquisa apóia a inclusão de formas graves do medo de falar em público no constructo diagnóstico da fobia social e sugere, também, que essa ansiedade de falar em público pode ter um impacto negativo na vida de muitos indivíduos na comunidade)
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As disfonias podem comprometer a qualidade da comunicação e, por conseqüência, a relação social do indivíduo e assim afetar sua qualidade de vida. Existe hoje necessidade de protocolos objetivos para avaliação da qualidade vocal que mensurem suas implicações na qualidade de vida do paciente. OBJETIVOS: Relacionar qualidade de vida e voz com o grau de disfonia e o uso profissional da voz em um grupo de pacientes disfônicos. MATERIAL E MÉTODO: Realizou-se estudo clínico prospectivo aplicando-se protocolo internacional para avaliar a qualidade de vida e voz em um grupo de pacientes disfônicos. Realizou-se tratamento estatístico dos resultados considerando-se não-distinção entre profissionais da voz e não-profissionais da voz e, em seguida, considerando-se esta distinção profissional. RESULTADOS: A disfonia afetou a qualidade de vida em todos os indivíduos. Não houve diferença estatística entre os grupos, profissionais da voz e não-profissionais da voz, quanto ao grau de disfonia. Houve correlação entre qualidade de vida e grau de disfonia, no entanto, considerando-se os grupos separadamente, esta correlação foi significativa apenas no grupo de sujeitos não-profissionais da voz. CONCLUSÃO: A disfonia afetou a qualidade de vida em todos os sujeitos independente do uso profissional da voz.
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Background: Recent epidemiologic studies have revealed that social phobia is more prevalent than has been previously believed. An unresolved issue is the extent to which public-speaking fears constitute a recognizable form of social phobia in a community sample and, moreover, to what extent these fears are associated with functional morbidity.Methods: To examine the prevalence and impact of public-speaking fears and their relationship to social phobia in a community sample, we conducted a randomized telephone survey of 499 residents of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a medium-sized midwestern metropolitan area.Results: One third of the respondents reported that they had excessive anxiety when they spoke to a large audience. The onset of fears was early (ie, 50%, 75%, and 90% by the ages of 13, 17, and 20 years, respectively). Anxious cognitions about public speaking included the following fears: doing or saying something embarrassing (64%), one's mind going blank (74%), being unable to continue talking (63%), saying foolish things or not making sense (59%), and trembling, shaking, or showing other signs of anxiety (80%). In total, 10% (n=49) of the respondents reported that public-speaking anxiety had resulted in a marked interference with their work (2%), social life (1%), or education (4%), or had caused them marked distress (8%). Twenty-three persons (5%) had public-speaking anxiety in isolation (ie, without evidence of additional kinds of social fears).Conclusions: These data support the inclusion of severe forms of public-speaking fears within the social phobia construct and, furthermore, suggest that publicspeaking anxiety may have a detrimental impact on the lives of many individuals in the community.
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In this study, we assessed how classroom instruction might result in changes in students' communication competence (CC) and communication apprehension (CA). Students enrolled in a basic communication class completed the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) and the Self‐Perception of Communication Competence (SPCC) Scale at the beginning and end of a semester. Scores on the PRCA and SPCC negatively correlated with each other at Time 7 and Time 2. CC increased and CA decreased from Time 1 to Time 2. CC with strangers increased and CA in groups decreased from Time 1 to Time 2. High apprehensive and low competence students experienced greater changes in their respective PRCA and SPCC scores than did their counterparts. Students who completed the course and those who dropped out differed on dyadic SPCC and total PRCA. We discussed implications of the findings.