"Can We Help?": Students’ Reflections on their Public Speaking Anxiety and Teacher Immediacy

Abstract

Public speaking is one of the most common anxieties for the average person, with many even ranking it as a more significant fear than death. Even though several people suggest that they would rather be the one in the casket than the one giving the eulogy at a funeral, public speaking courses are required at almost all colleges and universities. Public speaking anxiety is particularly real for most college students, meaning that it is important for public speaking teachers to develop andragogical strategies to help students alleviant their public speaking anxiety. Thus, the purpose of the study is to observe if students’ perceptions of their teacher’s verbal and nonverbal immediacy influences students’ public speaking anxiety. Using Emotional Response Theory (ERT) as the conceptual framework, I applied a phenomenological analysis that explored students’ lived experiences and perspectives in their college public speaking course. Twenty-one students enrolled in a Fall 2017 public speaking course at a Midwest University participated in one-on-one, semi-structured interviews about the students’ anxiety of public speaking and their perceptions of their teacher’s verbal and nonverbal immediacy. Students’ responses suggested their teacher’s verbal and nonverbal immediacy helped decrease their public speaking anxiety. In particular, students indicated when a teacher demonstrated positive verbal and nonverbal behaviors, the students’ public speaking anxiety decreased. In addition, new themes emerged on the matter: the teacher self-disclosing about their own public speaking anxiety, mistakes, and current status, classroom activities, peer-to-peer interactions, timely detailed feedback, and class-wide feedback. Some students noted that being graded and the using of timecards did increase their public speaking at times. Even though some students’ public speaking anxiety increased during those specific circumstances, all the students stated their public speaking anxiety decreased during the semester. This study concludes with recommendations for how public speaking teachers can address students’ concerns about public speaking anxiety by applying verbal and nonverbal immediacy strategies in their public speaking courses.