Post on 22-Jan-2018
Jordi CasteleynAntwerp School of Education
jordi.casteleyn@uantwerpen.bejordi_casteleynwww.slideshare.net/jordi013
Playing with improv theatre to battle public speaking anxiety
People fear public speaking more than death! What are Americans Afraid Of? (1973)
Public speaking was selected more often as a common fear than any other fear, including death. However, when students were asked to select a top fear, students selected death most often. Dwyer & Davidson (2012)
“
? “
how to battle public speaking anxiety?
systematic desensitization
which changes the unconscious association
between public speaking and anxiety
cognitive modification
which replaces problematic public
speaking cognitions with more positive
views on public speaking
skills training
Bodie (2010)
how to battle public speaking anxiety?
systematic desensitization
which changes the unconscious association
between public speaking and anxiety
cognitive modification
which replaces problematic public
speaking cognitions with more positive
views on public speaking
skills training
Bodie (2010)
= improv (theatre)
• Do trainee teachers and well-experienced university college lecturers assess the speaking competence differently?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on public speaking anxiety (PSA)?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on the speaking competence?
• What is the relationship between public speaking anxiety and speaking competence?
Research questions
improv intervention
business as usual routine
• PSA questionnaire (Hook, Smith, & Valentiner, 2008) • speaking assignment
(video taped)
week 1 week 5 week 8 week 11
comparative judgement of speaking assignment
improv intervention
business as usual routine
• PSA questionnaire • speaking assignment
(video taped)
week 1 week 5 week 8 week 11
comparative judgement of speaking assignment
Improv intervention
• 4 weeks • one session every week • one session = 50 minutes • one typical session:
• warming up • boosting creativity via free associations • learning how to take risks • pushing the boundaries • speaking without prep in front of an audience
improv intervention
business as usual routine
• PSA questionnaire • speaking assignment
(video taped)
week 1 week 5 week 8 week 11
comparative judgement of speaking assignment
…
You should never drink and drive
We should do more to battle climate change
Belgium should boost its efforts to help refugees
Music festivals are too expensive
Smart phones make you asocial
Belgium should reintroduce army service
We should eat less meatEveryone has the right to
strike
improv intervention
business as usual routine
• PSA questionnaire • speaking assignment
(video taped)
week 1 week 5 week 8 week 11
comparative judgement of speaking assignment
• 64 representations (i.e. speaking assignments) • 13 assessors:
5 trainee teachers, 8 well-experienced university college lecturers
• 566 comparisons • most comparisons also got qualitative feedback • (on average) 40 comparisons per assessor • (on average) 2 hrs per assessor
reliability of final ranking: .80
Comparative judgement: D-Pac
• Do trainee teachers and well-experienced university college lecturers assess the speaking competence differently?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on public speaking anxiety (PSA)?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on the speaking competence?
• What is the relationship between public speaking anxiety and speaking competence?
• Do trainee teachers and well-experienced university college lecturers assess the speaking competence differently?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on public speaking anxiety (PSA)?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on the speaking competence?
• What is the relationship between public speaking anxiety and speaking competence?
condition n M SD
speaking t1 BAU 15 .05 1.79
speaking t1 improv 14 .30 1.64
speaking t2 BAU 15 -.33 1.48
speaking t2 improv 14 -.19 1.29
PSA t1 BAU 15 2.61 .86
PSA t1 improv 14 3.43 .88
PSA t2 BAU 15 2.64 .79
PSA t2 improv 14 3.66 1.02
• at t1, BAU group has a lower PSA score than improv group t(31)= 3.09, p<.05
• at t2, BAU group has a lower PSA score than improv group t(30)= 3.02, p<.05
• at both test test moments, there is no difference in speaking t(31)= .35, p=.73 & t(29)= .44, p=.66
• no impact of the intervention could be detected on speaking or PSA F(2, 26) = .22, p=.80, d=.02
BAU = business as usual routine
• Do trainee teachers and well-experienced university college lecturers assess the speaking competence differently?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on public speaking anxiety (PSA)?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on the speaking competence?
• What is the relationship between public speaking anxiety and speaking competence?
condition speaking t1 speaking t2 PSA t1
speaking t2 BAU .86** (.00)
improv .29 (.30)
PSA t1 BAU -.56* (.02) -.50 (.06)
improv -.60* (.01) -.21 (.46)
PSA t2 BAU -.55* (.34) -.38 (.16) .78** (.00)
improv -.20 (.47) -.02 (.95) .63* (.01)
At test moment 1, PSA predicts speaking competence, F(1,31)= 8.94, p<.01, R Square= .22
At test moment 2, speaking competence at test moment 1 predicts speaking competence at test moment 2 for the BAU group, F(1,13)= 37.51, p<.01, R Square= .72
condition speaking t1 speaking t2 PSA t1
speaking t2 BAU .86** (.00)
improv .29 (.30)
PSA t1 BAU -.56* (.02) -.50 (.06)
improv -.60* (.01) -.21 (.46)
PSA t2 BAU -.55* (.34) -.38 (.16) .78** (.00)
improv -.20 (.47) -.02 (.95) .63* (.01)
At test moment 1, PSA predicts speaking competence, F(1,31)= 8.94, p<.01, R Square= .22
At test moment 2, speaking competence at test moment 1 predicts speaking competence at test moment 2 for the BAU group, F(1,13)= 37.51, p<.01, R Square= .72 improv group
In both groups, the relationship between PSA and speaking competence is disrupted.
• BAU group: now familiar with the assignment? • improv group: impact of the improv intervention?
• no link between speaking competence at test moment 1 and at test moment 2: the disruptive nature of education/learning?
• changes in speaking competence?
…
You should never drink and drive
We should do more to battle climate change
Belgium should boost its efforts to help refugees
Music festivals are too expensive
Smart phones make you asocial
Belgium should reintroduce army service
We should eat less meatEveryone has the right to
strike
condition topics n M SD
test moment 1
BAU ‘student’ 9 -.40 1.90
‘non-student’ 7 .64 1.40
improv ‘student’ 9 .95 1.33
‘non-student’ 8 -.52 1.41
test moment 2
BAU ‘student’ 5 .02 1.98
‘non-student’ 10 -.50 1.26
improv ‘student’ 8 _.53 1.41
‘non-student’ 8 .30 .96
At t1, the improv group students with ‘student topics’ scores significantly higher on the speaking competence than the improv group students with non-‘student topics’ t(15) = 2.22, p<.05
• This disappears at t2 • PSA & ‘topic’ do not explain variation in
speaking competence at t1
condition topics n M SD
test moment 1
BAU ‘student’ 9 -.40 1.90
‘non-student’ 7 .64 1.40
improv ‘student’ 9 .95 1.33
‘non-student’ 8 -.52 1.41
test moment 2
BAU ‘student’ 5 .02 1.98
‘non-student’ 10 -.50 1.26
improv ‘student’ 8 _.53 1.41
‘non-student’ 8 .30 .96
At t1, the improv group students with ‘student topics’ scores significantly higher on the speaking competence than the improv group students with non-‘student topics’ t(15) = 2.22, p<.05
• This disappears at t2 • PSA & ‘topic’ do not explain variation in
speaking competence at t1
• no clear impact on speaking competence or PSA but at test moment 2 (in the improv group) …
• no relationship between the two tests of the speaking competence (vs. BAU group): the disruptive nature of learning?
• there is no longer a difference in speaking competence related to the topic (vs. test moment 1) (but how does ‘topic’ contribute to the final quality?)
‘Does improv work?’
• Further investigate the impact of PSA, the type of assignment and topic on the speaking competence
• Conduct longer intervention, e.g. most improv programs for beginners are a 10-week program
• Deploy additional research techniques such as participant observation and semi-structured interviews with participants
Possible routes for further research
clear relationship between PSA & the speaking competence
Jordi CasteleynAntwerp School of Education
jordi.casteleyn@uantwerpen.bejordi_casteleynwww.slideshare.net/jordi013
Playing with improv theatre to battle public speaking anxiety
Bodie, G. (2010). A Racing Heart, Rattling Knees, and Ruminative Thoughts: Defining,
Explaining, and Treating Public Speaking Anxiety. Communication Education, 59(1),
70-105.
Dwyer, K. & Davidson, M. (2012) Is Public Speaking Really More Feared Than Death?,
Communication Research Reports, 29(2), 99-107.
Fey, Tina (2011). Bossypants. New York: Little, Brown and Co.
Hook, J., Smith, C., Valentiner, D. (2008). A short-form of the personal report of confidence as a
speaker. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 1306-1313.
Rotgé, W. (2002). Model/Models in linguistics. Retrieved 13 June 2017 from http://
asp.revues.org/1574 DOI: 10.4000/asp.1574.
What are Americans Afraid Of? (1973, July). The Bruskin Report, 53.
References