Author Information
Chaerin Song, The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, United StatesJuven Nino Villacastin, University of Hawaii at Manoa, United States
Abstract
Public speaking is an essential skill for a student’s success in higher education in the United States, yet many students describe it as anxiety-inducing. Public speaking courses are often offered for undergraduates in higher education institutions, including a component for addressing communication apprehension (CA) or one’s feeling of anxiety arising from speaking in certain contexts.However, most pedagogical approaches and instructional materials for managing public speaking CA are written with the assumption that students are English-as-first-language (EFL) speakers. In multicultural classrooms with English-as-second-language (ESL) students, existing lessons and exercises for overcoming CA may not adequately address ESL students’ specific experiences of public speaking anxiety. To address this conceptual and pedagogical gap, this paper reconceptualizes CA within Gasiorek and Aune’s (2021) “creating understanding” framework. More specifically, CA is conceptualized as arising from an individual’s anticipation of “low entrainment” – a perceived misalignment of mental models – which then reduces the likelihood of achieving mutual understanding with an audience. From this perspective, ESL speakers’ apprehension in public speaking contexts stems not only from language proficiency concerns but also from fears of miscommunication and misinterpretation across cultural and cognitive boundaries. Drawing on this framework, the paper identifies salient causes of public speaking CA among ESL students and suggests pedagogical strategies that focus on enhancing entrainment and practicing self-repair strategies to overcome CA. Implications for developing inclusive public speaking curricula in public speaking classes tailored to the needs of ESL students are also discussed.
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