Communication Apprehensives Research Articles

Communication Apprehension among the Communication Students of Bangladesh

The aim of this study is to assess the communication apprehension (CA) among the communication students of Bangladesh. The data were collected from 283 students from 10 public universities through the survey method. McCroskey's (1982) Personal Report of Communication Apprehension, also known as the PRCA-24 test was adopted for this study. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics of SPSS 23 software. The study explores that the mean communication apprehension score of communication students of Bangladesh is 68.12 which ascertains the medium level of CA of the students. It also says that 12.6% of students have high CA, 64.7% have medium CA and the rest 13.8% have a low level of communication apprehension. Students are more apprehensive in public communication rather than in group, meeting, and interpersonal communication. Male students have less CA than female students. This research also reveals that those students experience more CA who suffer from depression, prefer loneliness, and spend more time on social media. Communication apprehensive students prefer to sit in the back row or alongside in the classroom setting. Also, CA score is decreased when the age of the student is increased. The study also assesses that students involved with co-curricular activities have less CA than the other students. The study recommends that universities should offer more practical courses in communication to overcome communication apprehension. Keywords: communication, apprehension, communication students, Bangladesh, university students

Gender-dependent language anxiety in Polish communication apprehensives

This paper analyzes the relationship between communication apprehension and language anxiety from the perspective of gender. As virtually no empirical studies have addressed the explicit influence of gender on language anxiety in communication apprehensives, this paper proposes that females are generally more sensitive to anxiety, as reflected in various spheres of communication. For this reason, language anxiety levels in communication apprehensive females should be higher, unlike those of communication apprehensive males. Comparisons between them were made using a student t test, two-way ANOVA, and post-hoc Tukey test. The results revealed that Polish communication apprehensive secondary grammar school males and females do not differ in their levels of language anxiety, although nonapprehensive males experience significantly lower language anxiety than their female peers. It is argued that the finding can be attributed to developmental patterns, gender socialization processes, classroom practices, and the uniqueness of the FL learning process, which is a stereotypically female domain.

“Facing Threats”: Understanding Communication Apprehensive Instructors' Face Loss and Face Restoration in the Classroom

Noting a lack of qualitative literature devoted to student–teacher interactions, and even less targeting instructor communication apprehension (CA), this study aimed to combine these areas. Interview data were gathered from college instructors who experience CA in the classroom in an effort to garner their unique dealings with face-threatening situations with students. Using the concept of facework as a guide, two main themes arose from data analysis: (a) Threatening Face, and (b) Facing Identity: Managing and Restoring Face. Implications for facework theory and CA conclude this study.

Ethnocentrism and trait communication apprehension as predictors of interethnic communication apprehension and use of relational maintenance strategies in interethnic communication

The first of two studies investigated the differences between reported relational maintenance strategy usage by high and low interethnic communication apprehensives (IECAs). An instrument based on Canary and Stafford's (1992) relational maintenance strategies taxonomy and Neuliep and McCroskey's (1997a) Personal Report of Interethnic Communication Apprehension (PRECA) was employed. The results indicated that individuals who were law IECAs reported utilizing significantly more of the task, network, and positivity strategies. Differences in openness and assurance strategies followed the same pattern but were not significant. The participant's reported usage and IECA score were inversely related. The second study replicated the first and explored two theoretical explanations for the results. This study revealed significant differences on all of the dimensions and significant negative correlations. This study also examined whether trait communication apprehension (disregarding ethnicity) and/or ethnocentrism (the presumed foundational components of IECA) could account for the differences in reports of relational communication behavior. The results of the second study indicated that both trait CA and ethnocentrism contributed to the prediction of IECA and to overall reported strategy usage, and that ethnocentrism was the better predictor.

An examination of the long term effect of performance visualization

This investigation examined whether performance visualization impacts the way high communication apprehensive (CA) people envision themselves as public speakers over time. To that end, high CA individuals were randomly assigned to performance visualization, placebo, or control conditions. When asked to draw pictures of themselves as speakers, high CAs depicted themselves in a more positive, vivid, “in control” fashion after exposure to performance visualization than did those exposed to the control or placebo conditions. These high CAs also reported experiencing lower levels of trait and state CA than did high CAs in the placebo and control conditions. These findings and their implications are discussed at the conclusion of this report.

What behaviors reflect involvement in a course?: Students' perceptions and differences between high and low communication apprehensives

This project reports on a two‐part investigation into students' perceptions of behaviors constituting active participation in a college course. Seven factors emerged: Working Hard, Outside Contact, (Refraining from) Negative Behavior, Group Citizenship, Positivity, Attendance, and Class Discussion. Interestingly, students rated the Group Citizenship factor as the most representative of participation. High and low communication apprehensives differed on their ratings of the centrality of some of these factors to participation. The results of this study suggest that students have an expansive notion of what it means to participate in their classes, better characterized as “course involvement,” than is captured by conventional definitions of “class participation.”

An examination of the impact of performance visualization

This investigation examined whether performance visualization impacts the way high communication apprehensive (CA) people envision themselves as public speakers. To that end, a pre/post test control group experiment was executed. The pre and post‐tests, among other things, involved having people deliver a short speech and draw how they envisioned themselves as speakers. In one condition they were exposed to performance visualization prior to the post‐test, in the placebo condition they read some material, and in the control condition they did not do anything between the pre and post‐tests. The valence (i.e., positive/neutral/negative tone), vividness (i.e., amount of detail), and control (i.e., in control, being controlled, control not in evidence) of the pre/post‐test drawings were compared across conditions. These data indicated that the nature of these drawings changed in the performance visualization group but not in the placebo and control groups. In particular, high CAs depicted themselves in a more positive, vivid and “in control”; fashion after exposure to performance visualization than did those in the control or placebo conditions. It is well documented that performance visualization reduces CA, but little evidence is available on how performance visualization accomplishes that end. These data suggest that performance visualization is effective, in part, because it alters the way people envision themselves as speakers.

Communication apprehension and learning style preference: Correlations and implications for teaching

This study examined the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and learning style preference in order to describe the learning style needs of high communication apprehensives (HCAs). When the participants (N = 436) were separated by sex, results indicated that trait and context CA are significantly correlated with learning style preference for women, but not for men. HCA women prefer the Hands‐on Experimenter and the Analytical Evaluator learning styles. Low communication apprehensive (LCA) women prefer the Innovative Explorer learning style. CA is not correlated with age, sex, or self reported grade‐point average (GPA), but learning style preference is correlated with GPA and sex. Instructional implications are discussed.

Tactics for getting high communication apprehensive students to attend workshops: Are they effective?

This study examined the effectiveness of various ways to encourage high communication apprehensives (CA) to attend CA reduction workshops. Five different techniques were used to convince 156 high CAs to attend CA reduction workshops. Results indicated that none of the approaches were effective in getting students to attend workshops. The discussion section addresses why these approaches were ineffective.

Speech preparation processes and speech apprehension

This study compared self‐reports of speech preparation activities by high and low public speaking apprehensive individuals. Due to an aversion to communication for high communication apprehensives (CA), it was predicted that high CAs would spend proportionally more time on non‐communication‐oriented preparation activities (e.g., note preparation) than would low CAs with the reverse being true for communication‐oriented preparation activities (e.g., rehearsing). As anticipated, high communication apprehensives reported spending proportionally more of their preparation time on non‐communication‐oriented activities than low CAs. In contrast, low CAs spent proportionally more of their preparation time on communication oriented activities than did high CAs. In addition, high apprehensives reported spending more time preparing their speeches but received lower grades than low apprehensives.

An assessment of the role of communication apprehension in communicating with the terminally ill

Students who reported being high or low communication apprehensives in interpersonal encounters were asked to read a letter from a terminally or not terminally ill patient and write a letter in reply. These students also completed a variety of self‐report measures. In essence, high CAs were found to be less willing to communicate, less willing to volunteer, less willing to work with terminal patients, and felt less confident about their communication than low CAs. High CAs also disclosed less to terminal patients than did people in any other circumstance. Further, terminal patients who were depicted as quiet received less self‐disclosure and less communication that was sensitive to their perspective than did those in any other circumstance.

Public Speaking for Graduate Student Reachers in the Diploma of Education.

Graduate student teachers in the Diploma of Education took part in a 10 hour elective on speaking in groups, aimed at helping those who were communication apprehensive or shy to overcome their fears. Confident speakers also took part, to provide modelling and assistance, and to learn ways of teaching oral communication in school. McCroskey's (1977) Verbal Activity Scale (VAS) and Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) were used with a questionnaire evaluating the programme (EvaIProg) to compare the reactions of the more and less confident speakers to the activities. The less confident speakers claimed to benefit from the programme, which is outlined. Certain activities were preferred by confident speakers and others by less confident speakers, reflecting the different ways each of the groups view themselves and their audience.

A comparative analysis of interpersonal communication motives between high and low communication apprehensives

The aim of this investigation was to ascertain and compare motives that high and low communication apprehensives have for communicating with others. Results indicated that both groups used such motives as pleasure, affection, inclusion, and relaxation, while control and escape were less likely to be used. High apprehensives were more likely to report escape motives, whereas low apprehensives were more aligned with pleasure and relaxation motives.

An examination of the impact of anticipated communication and communication apprehension on negative thinking, task relevant thinking, and recall

Booth‐Butterfield offers evidence that communication apprehensive people who are expecting to interact after listening to a lecture recall less information than those who are not anticipating such interaction. The present investigations extend his work by examining this inhibition effect with regard to negative thinking, task relevant thoughts, and recall. The first study revealed that expecting to deliver a speech was related to lower retention for high communication apprehensives (HCAs) but not low communication apprehensives (LCAs). HCAs also reported more negative and fewer task relevant thoughts than LCAs. The second study was conducted to determine if the effect on HCAs could be avoided by having them deliver the speech prior to being exposed to the lecture material. These data indicate that it did not matter whether HCAs had delivered a speech or were expecting to deliver a speech, they retained less information and reported fewer task relevant thoughts than HCAs not expecting to deliver a speech or LCAs in either condition. HCAs were also found to engage in a higher proportion of negative thinking than LCAs regardless of the speech expectancy condition. These findings provide support, albeit limited, for the inhibition position.

Communication apprehension in the basic course in performance of literature

This study investigated the narrative accounts of the aesthetic performance experience as related by high communication apprehensives (HCA's) and low communication apprehensives (LCA's). Content analyses of beginning performance studies students’ personal narratives were used to discern differences between the two populations. Results indicate that while both HCA's and LCA's commonly label themselves as apprehensive about performance, their characterizations of the performance experience differ significantly across several dimensions.

High communication apprehensives talk about communication apprehension and its effects on their behavior

One rich, yet untapped, source of data about high CA is the thoughts about it of these people who suffer from it. An exploratory study was conducted to examine the possibilities of using the Focus Group Interview (FGI) technique to enable people suffering from high CA to discuss and report on their feelings and behaviors. Three FGIs were conducted, resulting in the generation of information from high CAs about their feelings about talking, feelings about not talking, the relationship between feelings about talking and behaviors, difficulties associated with talking, and reactions to the PRCA as a reflector of attitude. The information generated sheds some further light on the experience of CA.

Heterosocial communicative behavior and communication apprehension

This paper investigated the relationship between dating and communication apprehension. Results indicated that four of the eight dating variables differentiated between high and low communication apprehensives (i.e., conditioned anxiety, heterosocial apprehension, physical attractiveness, and heterosocial skills). In addition, discussions and recommendations were made for future research in three areas: (1) treatment programs for individuals with communicative deficits; (2) causal models examining CA and relational practices variables; and (3) the conceptualization and operationalization of heterosocial satisfaction and heterosocial quantity.

Three levels of communication apprehension: A value profile

A human values profile was constructed for communication apprehensives on three different levels: high, medium, and low. The instrumental values of Milton Rokeach were used to discriminate among the three levels. Multiple Discriminant Analysis and Multiple Regression were used to analyze the communication apprehension data in terms of a value profile. Six instrumental values were isolated that were significant discriminators among the three levels. Implications for value analyses and behavioral packages in communication apprehension training are discussed.

The perceptual world of the communication apprehensive: The effect of communication apprehension and interpersonal gaze on interpersonal perception

This study examined the effects of gaze behavior by interviewees on the interpersonal perception of interviewers. Additionally, the communication apprehension (CA) level of the interviewers was measured. Both the main effects of eye contact and the interactive effect of interviewers’ CA level and eye contact were tested for 11 person‐perception dimensions. Results showed both main effects and interaction effects, indicating the importance of assessing communication behaviors and communication traits in combination. Results also indicated that high communication apprehensives are relatively insensitive to differences in eye contact.

Communication Apprehension and its Educational Implications: Some Initial Australian Data

About 20 per cent of American college students suffer from debilitating communication apprehension (McCroskey, 1977) and, if a sampling of Australian college students typifies the larger population, Australia has a similar incidence. In America, the communication apprehensives are being classed as learning disabled or handicapped and are beginning to receive specialized instruction in order to maximize their learning potential (Hurt and Preiss, 1978). Australian college students may benefit from similar training. The purpose of this article is to describe the nature of communication apprehension (CA) and its academic implications, to present initial data on its prevalence in Australia, and to indicate some methods used to reduce its effects.