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Chapter 4: Overcoming Fear of Speaking
Key Concepts
4-1 Explain the body’s biological response to fear.
4-2 Develop a plan for managing public-speaking anxiety.
Suggested Activities and Exercises
Supportive Environment
Any class activity that promotes a supportive classroom environment will help ease some of the
anxiety students feel. You may also want to suggest specific breathing, relaxation, and
visualization techniques as another way to reduce fear.
Specific Fears
As an in-class exercise or as a take-home assignment, have students write down their top five
Class Fears
Pass out some Post-its to the class and have the students write their worst fear about public
A Helping Hand
Have students work in small groups and to create lists of steps on how each group might assist a
The PRCA
Administer the PRCA (McCroskey, 1970) to your students at the beginning of the term.
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PRCA: Personal Report of Communication Apprehension
McCroskey, J.C. (1970). “Measures of communication bound anxiety.” Speech Monographs, 37,
269-279.
This instrument is composed of twenty-five statements concerning feelings about communicating
with other people in public speaking situations. Please indicate the degree to which each
statement applies to you by marking whether you (1) strongly agree, (2) agree, (3) are undecided,
(4) disagree, or (5) strongly disagree with each statement. Please just record your first
impression. Again, the scale is:
(1) = strongly agree (2) = agree (3) = undecided (4) = disagree (5) = strongly disagree
*_____ 1. While participating in a conversation with a new acquaintance I feel very nervous.
_____ 2. I have no fear of facing an audience.
*_____ 3. I talk less because I am shy.
_____ 4. I look forward to expressing my opinions at meetings.
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*_____ 16. My thoughts become confused and jumbled when I speak before an audience.
*_____ 20. I dislike to expressively use my body and voice.
_____ 21. I feel relaxed and comfortable while speaking.
*_____ 22. I feel self-conscious when I am called upon to answer a question or give an opinion
in front of my co-workers.
Scoring the PRCA:
1. Add up your scores for all of the questions with stars next to them.
2. Add up your scores for the remaining questions.
3. Complete the following formula:
Tests
Correct answers are marked with an asterisk. The places in the Compact Handbook where the
information was presented are shown in brackets.
True/False Questions
Multiple Choice Questions
6. If you have a high degree of speaker apprehension you should try all of the following
except _____.
7. Fear of public speaking should be viewed as _____.
8. Which of the following is not a relaxation technique suggested by your authors?
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Essay and Short Answer Questions
9. Discuss the rationale for, and give examples of how, the use of positive self-suggestions
can help to reduce speaker apprehension. [4d]