Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
11-1991
Abstract
The purpose of this pilot study was to examine Communication Apprehension (CA) in UT-PA student public speaking population, specifically the high risk Mexican-American student, and to measure the effectiveness of the beginning speech class and optional speech lab on CA and performance (grade). Both high and low Communication Apprehensives (CAs) improved their performance with the speech class to a significant degree. High CAs lowered apprehension with the class but low CAs had no significant change. High CAs with "high speech lab use" raised performance levels; as did those with "moderate use"; but "no lab" students showed no significant difference. Low CAs with "high lab" use showed a significant improvement in performance but none was noted with those of moderate or no use. High CAs with high lab use had no significant change in CA levels; though those with moderate use had a drop in CA, but no significant difference was noted in high CAs with no lab use. Unexpectedly there were no significant differences due to sex, ethnicity, bilingualism or first language on the baseline pretest (McCroskey's PRCA 20); but Hispanic students had a significant decrease in CA after treatment, Anglos did not. Males had significant performance increase on first and last performances, but females did not; and all had significant increases in performance but those speaking Spanish as a first language did not. ACT scores made no significant difference in either performance or CA. Data indicates other more complete and controlled studies need to be conducted in this area.
Recommended Citation
Courtney, J., Liebowitz, S., & Fischer, E. (1991, November 1). Communication Apprehension and the Hispanic Public Speaking Student at the University of Texas—Pan American. 77th Annual Meeting of the Speech Communication Association, Atlanta, GA. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED348708
Comments
Preserved in ScholarWorks from ERIC.