Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety

• Student participation, according to Rocca (2010), can be defined as a combination of asking questions, raising one’s hand, and commenting in class. Rocca goes on to state that eye contact and smiling demonstrate support to students.

  → Rocca, K. A. (2010). Student participation in the college classroom: An extended multidisciplinary literature review. Communication Education, 59(2), 185-213. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520903505936.

• Brown & Pruis, as early as in 1958, explored the idea of getting students talk in class. They asked the question: “What can we do to make the discussion of the average classroom more interesting and useful?”. They had already identified this as a real problem with first-year university students. In addition, they explored the question of why students do not participate in class, with the following findings:
  • Fear of interrupting
  • Fear of language deficiency
  • Fear of non-fluency
  • Fear of not making sense to others
  • Fear of intellectual superiority
  • Fear of making some kind of mistake

The authors suggest a variety of class strategies that can help alleviate students’ fears.
→ Brown, C. T., & Pruis, J. J. (1958). Encouraging participation in classroom discussion. The Speech Trainer, 7(4), 344-346, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03634525809376980.

• In the context of the United States, the next study revealed how cold-calling resulted in a significant increase in the number of students answering questions voluntarily in class, participation which increased over time. When asking questions, give all students time to think and prepare their answer, then call on any student to respond (Dallimore et al., 2013).

  → Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2013). Impact of cold-calling on student voluntary participation. Journal of Management Education, 37(3), 305-341. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562912446067.

• In her review of previous studies about student participation in the classroom, Rocca covers 51 years of research in this field (1958-2009) and overviews elements such as the benefits of participation and the instructor’s influence on it:

  → Rocca, K. A. (2010). Student participation in the college classroom: An extended multidisciplinary literature review. Communication Education, 59(2), 185-213. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520903505936.

• Professor Abrahams shares many useful techniques in his book “Speaking Up without Freaking Out: 50 Techniques for Confident and Compelling Presenting”.

  → Abrahams, M. (2016). Speaking Up without Freaking Out: 50 Techniques for Confident and Compelling Presenting. Kendall Hunt Publishing.

• The book Non-Violent Communication: A Language of life, is a key resource for creating safe learning environments.

  → Rosenberg, M. B. (1999). Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. Puddledancer Press.

• Reflective writing assignments can also promote students’ reflection on their participation. An example can be found in: https://www.ucd.ie/teaching/resources/assessmentfeedback/keyassessmenttypes/reflectiveassignment/.
• Students could find a Toastmasters’ Club through the website: Toastmasters International. (n.d.). Find a Club. https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club.
• More information about how to ensure a safe, inclusive classroom environment can be found here: https://digitalstrategy.unt.edu/clear/teaching-resources/theory-practice/inclusive-instructional-strategies.html