Strong communication skills are important in an individual's personal and professional life; however, research regarding what influences youth's public speaking self-efficacy is limited. To address this gap, we surveyed youth who participated in a statewide presentation event about their self-efficacy and sources of that self-efficacy. Results…

Students need to know how to communicate succinctly. Often, students struggle to determine how much content is necessary to communicate a message. Designed for courses on public speaking, interpersonal communication, and organizational communication, this activity invites students to tell their class a story using a single sentence. After…

This article is intended for both the teachers involved in the professional training of pre-service teachers, as well as the pre-service teachers. The professionalism of the teacher is determined by several factors. An essential factor in this context is the competence of public speaking. The efficiency of public speaking is determined by the…

Courses: Large-lecture; public speaking, business, professional, and technical communication; sales and marketing courses; courses with team-based projects. Objectives: To provide opportunities to develop public speaking skills, especially in large-lecture courses; to improve public speaking endurance; to improve students' abilities to give…

The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between visiting a communication center and taking an introductory communication course on student public-speaking anxiety, goal orientation, and motivation. Researchers analyzed pre- and post-course survey data for 1,373 students enrolled in a fundamentals of communication…

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between two content formats of the basic communication course (BCC) and first-year college student retention over a 4-year period (N = 5,653). Chi-square and logistic regression models indicated students who completed the BCC were more likely to be retained than those who did not complete the BCC.…

The purpose of this study was to assess the degree to which sheltered versus unsheltered contexts of introductory communication courses impact communication skill development and overall learning outcomes for international students. Specifically, this study examined the following outcome variables: public speaking anxiety, engagement,…

The purpose of this essay is more of an intellectual exercise than an attempt at a pragmatic redesign of the basic course. Essentially, I submit that we as a discipline have lost sight of what the phrase "public speaking" actually means and erroneously and dangerously equated it with simply delivering formal presentations. When the term…

Various pedagogical strategies promote the development of communication skills that enable graduates to leave their mark and make positive changes in society. This article focuses on instructional lessons learned from undergraduate student perspectives of the pedagogy of the lightning talk, a three-minute oral presentation delivered without the…

This study assessed whether L1 (English as first language), L2 (English as second language, recent transition to the United States), and Generation 1.5 (English as second language, years of United States--based education) students are able to grow and perform similarly in a public speaking course on measures of public speaking anxiety, information…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mindset theory and public speaking apprehension, interpersonal communication competence, and student engagement in the introductory communication course. The study adapted a mindset theory measure towards specific communication skills. Researchers collected and analyzed data…

This case study examines the effectiveness of a formative assessment intervention in an honors section of a basic public speaking course. Previous research has found significantly higher levels of public speaking anxiety among honors students than among non-honors students and has therefore identified them as a population at risk for high public…

Courses: Persuasion, Marketing, Advanced Public Speaking, Argumentation. Objectives: The aims of this assignment are to introduce students to the concept of data mining as a tool for audience analysis and to improve students' ability to adapt a message to a specific audience.

The purpose of this study was to compare student growth in public speaking and hybrid introductory communication skills courses on four outcomes: public speaking anxiety, self-perceived communication competence, intercultural effectiveness, and connected classroom climate. This study also sought to find out whether there were differences in the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate communication mindset changes across one semester of the introductory communication course and differences across students' demographic backgrounds. The study measured the communication mindset and other instructional constructs of 1299 undergraduate students during the first two and last two weeks of…