Patterns of Change in Willingness to Communicate in Public Speaking Contexts: A Latent Growth Modeling Analysis

Abstract

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of change in willingness to communicate (WTC) in public speaking contexts (i.e., PS-WTC). The proposed conceptualization of change was tested using longitudinal data collected from a sample of 706 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory communication course in a US university. Results of latent growth modeling (LGM) analysis indicate that PS-WTC scores increased linearly over a semester. In addition, this investigation found significant interindividual differences in students' PS-WTC intraindividual change trajectories, which were in part accounted for by differences in communication apprehension level, age, and class rank. The importance of these findings for advancing communication research and informing current pedagogical as well as methodological practices is discussed.

Keywords:

• Willingness to Communicate
• Change
• Latent Growth Modeling
• Public Speaking

Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers whose insightful suggestions were very helpful. The authors also extend a warm thank you to Dr Nathan Stucky and Dr Jonathan Gray for their tremendous support with this project. In addition, many thanks go to all colleagues who generously assisted with data collection and to all students who participated in this research. The research conducted for this study was part of the first author's dissertation supervised by the second author at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Georgeta M. Hodis

Georgeta M. Hodis is a Lecturer at Massey University Wellington, New Zealand

Nilanjana R. Bardhan

Nilanjana R. Bardhan is an Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Flaviu A. Hodis

Flaviu A. Hodis is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand