Public speaking anxiety: The S.A.D. implications for students, transition, achievement, success and retention
Year: 2016
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Public speaking anxiety, as an aspect of social anxiety, while not necessarily constituting a social anxiety disorder (S.A.D.) is widespread in society.This paper considers the largely unspoken equity issue of public speaking anxiety, its prevalence, symptomology and potential implications for students in higher education and the future.A small pilot research project was undertaken as a preliminary step to understand local conditions and open up a space for ongoing and extensive research in the Australian context.The preliminary findings suggest the social anxiety and public speaking anxiety may impact negatively on student engagement with oral communication assessments and that further research is needed to develop better support and training.We suggest that to assist students to transition, achieve, succeed and persist we need to adhere to the notion of constructive alignment which takes account of personal competencies and mitigates psychological distress. Introduction.Psychological distress has been identified as a mediating factor in student transition and achievement (Field, Duffy & Huggins, 2013;Field & Kift, 2010).Accordingly Field et al., (2013) argue that, "[t]he empirically established decline in law student well-being during the first year of law school is a red-flagged imprimatur for first year curriculum change" (p.15) which may, in some instances, be addressed through constructive alignment of the curriculum (Biggs, 2014).While Field and Kift (2010) and Field et al. (2013) refer to law students and changes to the first year law curriculum their assertions can, and have, been translated across the disciplinary spectrum of higher education.Of particular relevance to this paper are the notions of psychological distress and student well-being, and their impact on the student experience and success.We suggest that many students, across disciplines, experience significant anxiety and distress in social, interpersonal, and performance situations, which has substantial implications for their transition into, out of, and through university, as well as their capacity to achieve successful outcomes, including persistence in the higher education context.Yet fear of public speaking, performance anxiety, communication apprehension, stage fright or fear of negative evaluation can all be considered as forms of social anxiety, which is one of society's most widely suffered anxieties (Blöte, Kint, Miers, & Westenberrg, 2009;McConnell, 2009) as mental health issues or disabilities, remain 'unspeakable' equity issues in higher education.Public Speaking Anxiety: the SAD Implications for Student, Transition, Achievement and Success, refereed paper.Although there has been little research conducted in the Australian context that relates specifically to students in higher education, a large body of literature from psychological and communication discourses support the prevalence and debilitating impact of social anxiety disorders on sufferers' day-to-day, education and employment function (see for example Goberman, Hughes, & Haydock, 2011;Hancock, Stone, & Zeigler, 2010).This is of clear importance to achievement and success in higher education because effective verbal communication is a stated graduate learning outcome of many Australian universities.(Barrie, Crisp & Hughes, 2010) and a highly sought after and valued employability skill (Selvadurai, Choy, & Maros, 2012), which Richmond and McCroskey (1998) suggest leads to greater levels of respect from colleagues, more promotions, and life successes generally.
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2787090767