A program was designed to reduce communication apprehension by using systematic desensitization, rhetoritherapy, and selected instructional strategies. Rhetoritherapy refers to the development of appropriate communication behaviors through a goal-setting procedure in which students learn to establish reasonable goals, ascertain behavior indicative of goal achievement, develop appropriate plans of actions, and carry out the plans for fulfilling their goals. An evaluation of this instructional program was conducted by comparing data on one class using the experimental program design to data on another class receiving regular instruction. The pre and posttest scores of communication apprehension, instructors' observations of student behavior, course evaluations, and students' self-reports revealed that the alternative instruction was superior to regular classroom instruction for students high in communication apprehension. (RL)