![]() Most importantly, the program works, with 85 to 90 percent of these highly apprehensive, at-risk students successfully completing the course. In the remaining 12 weeks of the semester, students complete all the same assignments required in every section of Communication 101, so the “CIS” section meets all requirements for graduation and is fully transferrable. No grades are given during these first four weeks however, students are required to give three one-minute mini-speeches so they can practice the anxiety reduction techniques they have learned.ĥ. Students learn several techniques for reducing speech anxiety, including systematic desensitization, cognitive restructuring, visualization and deep breathing.Ĥ. Students spend the first four weeks studying Dwyer’s textbook, iConquer Speech Anxiety.ģ. The enrollment is limited to 12 students (traditional sections have 24).Ģ. There are many differences between the “CIS” sections and our traditional sections of Communication 101:ġ. Students whose “Speech Survey” scores show high levels of anxiety are given permission to enroll in a “CIS” section of our basic public speaking course (“CIS” stands for “Confidence in Speaking”). These students are identified through an online “Speech Survey” which they can access through the LLCC website. We created a section of our basic public speaking course which enrolls only students who suffer from high speech anxiety. Our program was initially modeled after a program designed by Karen Kangas Dwyer at University of Nebraska-Omaha. In 2001, we began a program to help these students at LLCC. One student confessed to me that he repeated this enroll-drop cycle six times! Other students will change schools or even drop out of college to avoid taking Communication 101. Some students will enroll but then drop the course when it comes time to give their first graded speech. Their typical response to their anxiety is to avoid giving speeches.īut our course, Communication 101 (formerly Speech 101), is required for many of the programs at LLCC. ![]() As many as 1 in 5 students in America experience anxiety about public speaking so severe that it interferes with their ability to give speeches successfully.ĭuring my 20 years at LLCC, I have encountered many students like Richard for whom public speaking is an upsetting, terrifying experience. He described the ways he had avoided giving speeches, including changing his major to one that didn’t require the public speaking course and refusing a friend’s request to be the best man at his wedding because he was petrified to stand up and give the toast to the bride and groom.Īs it turns out, Richard is not alone. Richard was expressing the intensity of his fear of public speaking. These words are an exact quote from a student I met at Lincoln Land Community College many years ago. ‘If I had to give a speech, I would die.” ![]()
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