An experimental study of two approaches to teaching speech in terms of reducing speech anxiety

The hypotheses on which this study is based state that a group receiving an encountering approach to speech training will register a greater reduction in speech anxiety than a group receiving the conventional approach to speech training; the conventional group will show a greater reduction in speech anxiety than a control group that received no speech training. The encountering approach consisted of encountering exercises, role-playing, creative drama, and discussion techniques. The conventional approach consisted of formalized speechmaking in front of an audience. Subjects were 47 grade 12 students enrolled in the English 12 course at Britannia High School in Vancouver. Three groups were randomly selected and each was assigned one of the experimental conditions. The experimenter met with the two treatment groups for fifteen one hour sessions and taught the encounter approach to one group and the conventional approach to the other. An introspective measure was administered to each group in the first and last session. Two trained observers rated each subject in terms of the overt manifestations of speech anxiety in their final speeches. An analysis of covariance was made involving the results on the introspective measure (MAACL). The Kruskal-Wallace test was used in comparing the observational scores (TORCL). Both hypotheses were rejected. The results of the introspective measure were not significant. However, in comparing the results of the observer scores, a significant difference was found between the encounter group and the other two groups. There was no significant difference between the conventional and control groups.Education, Faculty ofGraduat