Higher Education Commons^™

Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 23

Basic Communication Course Annual

Full issue (322 pages, 11.6 MB)

Students’ Communication Predispositions: An Examination Of Classroom Connectedness In Public Speaking Courses, Robert J. Sidelinger, Scott A. Myers, Audra L. Mcmullen

Basic Communication Course Annual

The connected classroom climate centers on supportive student-to-student communication in the classroom, and may provide students enrolled in public speaking courses with a safe and comfortable haven to present speeches.

This study examined student connectedness in public speaking courses and it’s affect on students’ (N = 368) communication abilities. Results revealed positive perceptions of student connectedness related to decreases in public speaking anxiety and public speaking apprehension, as well as increases in perceptions of communication competence.

These outcomes suggest public speaking instructors should consider the relationships that exist among students and how they may further encourage connectedness in their classrooms.

A Grade-Norming Exercise To Increase Consistency And Perceived Consistency In Grading Among Public Speaking Instructors, Bessie Lee Lawton, Mary Braz

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study reports the results of a grade-norming training exercise in a mid-Atlantic university. The study’s goals were to improve consistency in grading among Public Speaking instructors, and to see whether self-report normative perception behavior and self-efficacy also improved. Four training sessions on speech evaluation were conducted with a group of instructors over the course of one semester. A control group was asked to evaluate speeches independently at the same time period, but its members did not have any training. Results show that the training led to greater consistency in grading over time in the training group compared to the …