Noting that stagefright has been the subject of intensive analysis and subjected to almost every conceivable test or measurement without revealing either its "cause" or its "cure," this paper presents vocal exercises to help combat the performance malady. After listing four principles concerning the nature of stagefright (it is…

Aided by her advisor, a communication apprehensive college senior majoring in speech communication at a small rural college developed a project designed to help herself and other apprehensives through cognitive modification. Six students enrolled in a speech communication course who were classified as communication apprehensive by the Personal…

A study tested a delivery skills method of instruction for reducing public speaking anxiety. Subjects were 59 male and 71 female undergraduates (ranging in age from 17-49) enrolled in a basic public speaking course at a midwestern university during the 1986-87 academic year. The Personal Report of Public Speaking Apprehension (PRPSA) which…

A study investigated speech anxiety in the basic speech course by means of pre and post essays. Subjects, 73 students in 3 classes in the basic speech course at a southwestern multiuniversity, wrote a two-page essay on their perceptions of their speech anxiety before the first speaking project. Students discussed speech anxiety in class and were…

The community services department of an eastern community college offers a noncredit course called Overcoming Speech Anxiety. The students range from those who avoid conversation with most people to those who speak publicly often but with a great deal of discomfort. Their reasons for taking such a class suggest that most people suffer situational…

A free response self-evaluation instrument to determine the existence of communication apprehension or anxiety has been used at Pennsylvania State University and Mansfield State College in Pennsylvania as part of their programs to identify reticent and communication apprehensive students. The instrument is administered as an assignment on the…

Numerous studies indicate that communication apprehension can and does have considerable negative consequences for college students so affected. There are strategies that can be undertaken in the classroom that may help alleviate communication apprehension for some students. Classroom instructors must first recognize how students are processing…

Communication apprehension (CA) has emerged as the dominant paradigm for explaining communication stress and its corollaries. It has achieved this status largely because several key assumptions have not been challenged or assessed empirically. These assumptions are that CA (1) is a pervasive social phenomenon, (2) affects external outcomes of…

Reports on the results of a two-year study finding that college students' communication competence is linked to success in college, that high school communication experience is related to higher G.P.A., and that communication apprehension is related to perceptions of communication competence. Recommends replication employing a larger, more…

A study examined the relative effectiveness and synergistic effect of two treatments for reducing speech anxiety--Self-Statement Modification (SSM), a therapy focused on modification of cognitive behavior; and Modified Desensitization (MD), a therapy focused on physiological variables, utilizing relaxation training, group hierarchy construction,…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The seven titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effects of a seven-hour communication training program on participant utilization of six components of communication style; (2) communication skills and cognitive processes in…