Apprehension, self‐perceived competency, and teacher immediacy in the laboratory‐supported public speaking course: Trends and relationships

Abstract

This study examines trends and relationships among public speaking anxiety, self‐perceived public speaking competency, and teacher immediacy for students with high, moderate, and low communication apprehension in the laboratory‐supported public speaking course. Public speaking anxiety and self‐perceived competency were measured at three points during the semester. Trends of anxiety and self‐perceived competency for high, moderate, and low apprehensives were examined using two 3 × 3 mixed‐model factorial ANOVAs (one‐between and one‐within factors). All three apprehension groups perceived significant gains in competency and significant decreases in anxiety. Analyses failed to find differences among high, moderate, and low apprehensives in the amount of perceived improvement and anxiety decrease. Correlations revealed a significant negative relationship between anxiety and self‐perceived competency at each of the three test times. Correlations also revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between teachers' verbal immediacy and anxiety decrease for high apprehensives, but not for moderate and low apprehensives. Implications for educators are discussed.