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Chapter 12: Communication Apprehension and Delivery
Chapter Objectives and Integrator Guide
After reading and thinking about this chapter, students should be able to:
Objective
Resources
1. Explain the relationship
between delivery and
communication anxiety.
Key Terms: Delivery,
communication apprehension
(CA), trait apprehension, and state
apprehension.
In the Text:
Page Reference: pages 251-254
Figure 12.1: Unpacking Delivery
Figure 12.2: The Top Fears of College Students
Study Question 1 (p. 272)
IM Resources:
Discussion Starter 1: Public Speaking Anxiety
Activity 12.1: Reduction of Anxiety
2. Describe the causes and
symptoms of communication
apprehension, as well as
ways to manage them.
Key Terms: Systematic
desensitization, cognitive
restructuring, and skills training.
In the Text:
Page Reference: pages 254-259
Challenge Yourself: I am really afraid to give a presentation to
a large group. I have not done much speaking and I am
worried about how I will appear. Can I do anything to relax
and enjoy speaking? (p. 256)
Skill Builder: Conquer Your Anxiety Through Skill Development
(p. 258)
Study Question 2 (p. 272)
IM Resources:
Discussion Starter 2: Public Speaking Skill Development
Mini Prezi: Cognitive Restructuring and Public Speaking
Anxiety (http://tinyurl.com/crestructure)
Activity 12.2: What If…
Activity 12.3: Cognitive Restructuring
3. Describe the four modes of
delivery, and explain the
advantages and
disadvantages of each.
Key Terms: Extemporaneous
mode, impromptu mode,
manuscript mode, and memorized
mode.
In the Text:
Page Reference: pages 259-261
Study Question 3 (p. 272)
IM Resources:
Discussion Starter 3: Modes of Delivery
Activity 12.4: An Impromptu Speech with Emphasis on Delivery
Activity 12.5: Bagging Apprehension
4. Understand how to apply the
vocal aspects of delivery
when giving a speech.
Key Terms: Vocal aspects,
projection, volume, rate, pause,
vocalized pause, fluency, pitch,
pronunciation, articulation,
enunciation, and vocal variety.
In the Text:
Page Reference: pages 261-266
Figure 12.3: The Control of Pitch
Study Question 4 (p. 272)
IM Resources:
Discussion Starter 4: Rate of Speaking
Activity 12.6: Observing Vocal Aspects of Delivery
Activity 12.7: Poetry in Motion
5. Demonstrate the proper use
of your body when delivering
a speech.
Key Terms: Bodily aspects,
gestures, facial expressions, eye
contact, and bodily movement.
In the Text:
Page Reference: pages 266-270
Considering Media: Respond to Speakers on YouTube (p. 239)
Connecting Globally: Eye Contact Communicates Different
Messages from Culture to Culture (p. 268)
Figure 12.4: An Evaluation Form for Nonverbal Aspects of
Delivery
Study Question 5 (p. 273)
IM Resources:
Discussion Starter 5: Use of Body during a Speech
Activity 12.8: Observing Bodily Aspects of Delivery
6. List some delivery tips for
non-native speakers of
English.
In the Text:
Page Reference: page 271
Study Question 6 (p. 273)
IM Resources:
Discussion Starter 6: Non-Native English Speakers
Activity 12.9: Introducing Another
Activity 12.10: Personal Goals for the Course
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Chapter Outline
I. Why Care About Delivery Skills?
A. What is delivery?
i. Delivery is how your voice and body affect the meaning of your
presentations.
ii. How you look and sound while delivering a presentation affects
whether your audience will decide to listen to you.
B. What is communication apprehension?
i. Communication apprehension (CA) is the fear of communication
C. Experiencing communication apprehension
i. Communication apprehension occurs across a range of contexts.
1. Trait apprehension is communication anxiety in a variety of
settings and under diverse circumstances.
ii. We are often our own worst critics and incorrectly believe that our
audience is judging our presentation skills as harshly as we do.
iii. The goal is not to eliminate CA altogether. Experiencing too little or
too much anxiety can reduce the overall effectiveness of your
communication.
II. Reduce Your Fears of Public Speaking
A. Systematic desensitization – focuses on progressive relaxation,
visualization, and active engagement exercises to help you overcome
public speaking anxiety.
i. This technique always begins by being in a relaxed state. Then,
imagine yourself doing a small part of your speech effectively, such
ii. After completing the three parts of the technique on a smaller part
of your speech, tackle something a little larger in scope, such as
practicing delivery of both your introduction and your first main point
in the body of your speech.
iii. Continue this process until you have successfully practiced your
entire speech (and had several smaller victories doing so) with
different types of people before your class presentation.
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B. Cognitive restructuring – works by analyzing negative perception and
developing coping statements for dealing with a variety of situations.
Cognitive restructuring helps to perceive the public speaking situation
differently by rebuilding negative thought processes. Utilize the following
steps for the technique:
C. Skills training – is the systematic work you do, through instruction and
practice, to develop your public speaking skills.
i. Rehearsal may sound like common sense, but research supports
D. Choosing the right anxiety-reducing technique for you
i. Use of all three strategies is beneficial because each targets
different aspects of public speaking anxiety.
ii. Consult with your instructor to develop a personalized plan that
emphasizes the strategies that will be most useful to you.
III. Four Modes of Delivery
A. The extemporaneous mode is when the speaker carefully prepares and
practices, but the presenter delivers the message conversationally without
heavy dependence on notes.
B. The impromptu mode is when you deliver a presentation without notes,
plans, or formal preparation and with spontaneity and conversational
language.
i. You use this mode when you answer a question in class.
ii. The impromptu mode encourages you to think on your feet without
preparation or practice.
C. The manuscript mode is when you deliver a presentation from a script of
the entire speech.
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D. The memorized mode is when you commit your message to memory.
i. This mode requires considerable practice and allows plenty of eye
contact, movement, and gestures.
ii. However, this mode discourages the speaker from responding to
feedback and also from adapting the message to the audience
during the speech.
E. Choosing the right mode of delivery for your presentation
i. The mode you choose should be appropriate for the message,
audience, and occasion.
IV. Vocal Aspects of Presentation
A. Projection and volume
i. Projection is speaking loudly enough for all to hear.
ii. Volume is the relative loudness of your voice.
B. Rate
C. Pauses
i. A pause is the absence of vocal sound used for dramatic effect,
transition, or emphasis.
ii. Vocalized pauses are breaks in fluency that negatively impact an
audience’s perception of the speaker’s competence and dynamism.
D. Fluency
E. Pitch
i. Pitch is the highness or lowness of a speaker’s voice – the voice’s
upward and downward movement, and the melody produced by the
voice.
ii. The pitch of your voice can make your sound either lively or listless.
iii. Speakers make many subtle changes in meaning by producing
changes in pitch.
F. Pronunciation
i. Pronunciation is the act of correctly articulating words.
ii. The best way to avoid pronunciation errors is to go to an Internet
source like Dictorionary.com, and listen to how a word is
pronounced.
G. Articulation
i. Articulation is the production of sources.
ii. Among the most common articulation problems are the dropping of
final consonants and “-ing” sounds (“goin’,” “comin’,” and “leavin’,”),
the substitution of “fer” for “for”, and the substitution of “ta” for “to”.
H. Enunciation (pronunciation plus articulation)
i. Enunciation is the pronunciation and articulation of sounds and
words.
I. Vocal variety
i. Vocal variety refers to voice quality, intonation patterns, inflections
of pitch, and the duration of syllables.
ii. Vocal variety increases the recall and retention of information.
V. The Bodily Aspects of Presentation
A. Gestures
i. Gestures are movements of the head, arms, and hands used to
illustrate, emphasize, or signal ideas in a speech.
ii. To create more natural gestures, you should focus on connecting
B. Facial expressions
i. Facial expressions consist of the nonverbal cues expressed by a
speaker’s face.
ii. Because you do not ordinarily see your own face while speaking,
you may not be fully aware of how you appear to an audience.
iii. The topic, the speaker’s intent, and situation, and the audience all
help determine the appropriate facial expressions to use in a public
speech.
IM – 5 | 7
C. Eye contact
i. Eye contact is the extent to which a speaker looks directly at the
audience.
D. Movement
i. Bodily movement is what a speaker does with his or her entire body
during a presentation.
VI. Delivery Tips for Non-Native Speakers
A. Recognize that you are not alone.
B. Give yourself time.
C. Check pronunciation.
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Discussion Starters
1. Public Speaking Anxiety: When you think about giving a speech, what concerns or
fears come to mind? How are your fears similar or different from the fears of your
2. Public Speaking Skill Development: Skills training is one way to effectively
increase your ability and decrease your public speaking anxiety. What are some
different ways that you might practice your speech before the day that you give it in
3. Modes of Delivery: When do you think it might be more appropriate to use a
manuscript for your presentation or speech instead of one of the other modes of
delivery? How might using a manuscript impact your connection with the audience?
4. Rate of Speaking: One issue beginning speakers struggle with is developing an
appropriate conversation rate of speaking for their speech. How does the rate of
speaking for your speech impact the way that the audience experiences it? What
can you do to help you slow down your rate of speaking during a speech? What can
5. Use of Body during a Speech: Sometimes while giving a speech a speaker may
not pay attention to or be aware of what they do with their hands or body overall.
What are some of the distracting things people you have observed do with their body
6. Non-Native English Speakers: What are some of the concerns that people who are
non-native English speakers have about giving a speech? What can a non-native
English speaker do to work on these concerns? What can native speakers of
IM – 5 | 9
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Activities
ACTIVITY 12.1 REDUCTION OF ANXIETY
Purpose: Students should be able to recognize that communication apprehension is a
manageable event in the public speaking context.
Procedure: Tell each student to prepare a short oral statement about his or her favorite
pastime, interest, or hobby. The statement should be one to two minutes long. The
student should first prepare the statement alone (intrapersonal), then share the
information with one other person (dyad), then with a group of five students (small
When all the students have made their statements in each of the situations, conduct a
class discussion about their feelings, reactions, problems, and successes in each
context. The students should first identify the differences in the situations. They should
discuss the amount and type of feedback available; the manner in which the ideas were
Since the purpose of the activity was masked, most of the students usually conclude
that there is really very little difference among the situations and that one should feel no
more anxiety about a public speech than about talking in a small group or dyad.
Extremely apprehensive students, however, may still have trouble in the public speech
situation. For such students, you should consult colleagues for approaches typically
Debriefing: This activity helps the students cope with anxiety about public speaking. It
should serve to ease apprehension about the public speaking presentations suggested
in future chapters.
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ACTIVITY 12.2 WHAT IF…
Purpose: Students should be able to anonymously vent their fears about public
speaking situations; to alleviate their tension about public speaking; and to utilize the list
of anxiety reduction approaches provided in the chapter.
Procedure: Ask each student to prepare on a sheet of paper a list of all the situations
and/or feelings toward public speaking that might cause them anxiety. The situations
Debriefing: This activity encourages students to disclose their feelings about
anticipated public speaking situations that might cause anxiety, at least in their minds.
Students need to talk about their feelings toward public speaking, since it is a new
