COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION AS FACTOR INFLUENCING
THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF PEOPLE
Mrs. Marlize Drinkwater & Prof Nic
Vreken
School of Teacher Education
Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education
Potchefstroom, RSA
1 introduction
A better quality of life and a sound education are inseparable. Education could either
refer to informal or incidental education occuring in the childs home or to more
formal education offered by institutions like the school. In both these cases
communication is the most powerful "tool" used to educate and to teach. In fact,
teaching is regarded as a particular kind of communication which is qualified by its aim
of enabling the learner(s) to perform certain learning tasks (Drinkwater, 1997:vi).
This paper deals with a phenomenan called communication apprehension (CA) which is
described by McCroskey (1984:13) as "an individuals level of fear or anxiety
associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or
persons". Apart from a severe feeling of discomfort a person with high levels of CA
experiences when communicating, certain physiological effects could also be present like
rapid beating of the heart, some shakiness, a dry mouth and increased perspiration.
People with high levels of CA would as a result of their fear or anxiety try to avoid
communication where possible, like choosing careers where communication plays a minor
role, or choose a seat in a classroom or meeting where they would not be very conspicuous.
They would try to withdraw from communication by saying absolutely that which is
necessary or speak only when called upon. Disruption of communication could even
take place by people with high levels of CA, by stuttering when called upon or pretending
not to know the answer to a question put to them (Richmond & McCroskey, 1989:6061).
Apart from what has been mentioned above, research indicates that people with high
levels of CA generally have lower self-esteem, do not occupy managerial posts, are not
very assertive and students academical achievements are lower than those with
average to low levels of CA (Richmond & McCroskey, 1989:52-59).
At this stage it should be clear the CA does influence the quality of life of
individuals and has a detrimental effect on especially interpersonal relationships of
which the relationship between educator and educand is certainly one of the most
important.
2 what exactly is CA?
As mentioned earlier, CA is a feeling of discomfort experienced by individuals when
communicating with others.
According to Richmond and McCroskey (1989:49-51) four categories of CA could be
distinguished:
On one side of a continuum there is traitlike CA "a relatively enduring
personlality-type orientation towards a given mode of communication across a wide variety
of contexts" (McCroskey, 1984:16). Traitlike CA could be changed when treated, but
shows resistance towards change. Context-based CA is an anxiety experienced by
people in a certain context (like a fear for public speaking) - "... a relatively
enduring personality-type orientation towards communication in a given context"
(McCroskey, 1984:16). The third category is audience-based CA which is
situation-spesific and usually not the same from one person to another. Fear is
experienced when communicating with a spesific individual or group of individuals across
time. Examples might be the talking of an employee to the boss or students to teachers.
Audience-based CA is a relatively enduring orientation towards communication with a given
person or group of people" (McCroskey, 1984:17). On the far side of the continuum situational
CA is found and is experienced only with a given individual or group in a single
situation. An example here could be a student who is suspected of cheating in a test and
called by the teacher. Such a student could experience CA in that specific situation -
"a trasitory orientation towards communication with a given person or group of people
(McCroskey, 1984:17).
Before discussing some of the results obtained through our research at the Faculty,
lets briefly discuss possible causes of CA.
3 causes of CA
According to Daly (1986:24-25) there could be four possible causes of CA, being:
| a genetic one |
| the critical role of reinforcement |
| inadequate skill development and |
| the absence of adequate communication models. |
Let me explain:
Heredity
Social biologists have determined that infants already differ with regard to their
"sociability". This could influence their interaction with their environment and
eventually lead to lower or higher levels of CA (McCroskey, 1984:23-24).
Reinforcement
Reinforcement could be understood in the strict behaviouristic sense of the word, in
other words children who were/are rewarded for communication communicate all the more
while children who were/are punished would eventually develop high levels of CA and
withdraw from communication.
According to McCroskey (1984:25-30) the situation is more complicated that this. People
develop certain expectations with regard to other people and situations. If people in a
childs environment dont act according to a consistent pattern - in other words
the child is sometimes rewarded and other times punished for the same behaviour or this
behaviour is even sometimes ignored, the child gets confused. This leads to learned
helplessness and negative expectations which are according to McCroskey (1984:29) the
foundational components of CA.
Let us look at a practical example of a student making an attempt to deliver a speech
in his/her second language. The person may not be very fluent in this spsific language and
makes a few mistakes and is consequently laughed at by class mates or even punished (marks
subtracted) by the teacher. This negative reinforcement may lead to high levels of CA. If
a child is one day rewarded when speaking to his mother, like being encouraged to say more
and the next day told to keep quiet, he will get confused and later resort to learned
helplessness.
iInadequate skill development
People with high levels of CA tend to avoid communication and communicate all the less
with the result that they develop inadequate communication skills. The absence of these
skills increases levels of CA again - a vicious circle.
The absence of adequate role models
Children observe the communication behaviour of people in their environment and try to
emulate it. If a child has parents and/or teachers with high levels of CA who dont
communicate much he might follow suit.
Obviously one factor alone could not be singled out as that cause of CA of a spesific
person, but they are closely related to each other.
4 the influence of ca on the teaching-learning situation
Let us look briefly at the possible affects of CA concerning the pupil/student.
If students with high CA could choose their subjects they would prefer those where
communication played a minor role. They also prefer larger classes where the possibilities
of communication are minimized. The lecture type of classes are preferred where they could
only take notes. High levels of CA would even influence their choice of seating in the
classroom. They rather sit along the sides where the probability of the teacher calling on
them would be less (McCroskey, 1989:52-54).
Students with high CA tend to have a higher dropout rate than students with low levels
of CA (McCroskey, Booth-Butterfield and Payne, 1989:100).
Concerning their academic achievement pupils/students with high levels of CA tend to
achieve worse than those with low levels of CA (Bourhis and Allen, 1992:68).
Some possible explanations for the lower academic achievement of the high communication
apprehension could be the following:
| they prefer not to interact and dont ask questions even if they dont
understand the work |
| teachers tend to have negative expectations of students with high levels of CA
(McCroskey and Daly, 1976:67) - the Pygmalion effect in the classroom comes into being |
| students with high levels of CA tend to have lower self-esteems than those with low CA
(McCroskey, Daly, Richmond and Falcione, 1977:269). Low self-esteem on its turn influences
academic acheivement negatively. |
Not only the student, but also the teacher could be influenced by CA. The close
relationship between teaching and communication has already been pointed out. Teachers
having high levels of CA would experience more difficulty with their teaching than those
with low CA.
5 The measurement of CA
The method used mostly to measure CA is by using a questionnaire to be completed by an
individual reporting on his own level of CA or lack thereof. McCroskey (1978:192 and
further) has developed a questionnaire, the PRCA (Personal Report of Communication
Apprehension) which is found a valid and reliable instrument to measure CA and which has
been used in studies world wide.
The instrument measures CA in four different contexts:
| group discussion |
| meetings |
| interpersonal conversations and public speaking |
| public speaking |
In the research done at the PU for CHE we use this instrument as a basis but added a
fifth context, performance in the classroom.
6. research done at the PU for CHE
Van Staden (1994) has done research on the CA of student teachers at the Mamokgalake
Chuence College of Education and obtained the following results concerning CA in the
mother tongue and English (second language).
Although the respondents have been taught by medium of English since standard three
(fifth school year) they still experience higher levels of CA in the second language than
in their mother tongue.
Table 6.1 shows some of the results obtained by Van Staden (1994:61)
|
Mother tongue |
English (second language) |
Males
|
45,7% |
46,6% |
Females
|
49,5% |
51,7% |
Table 6.1 Level of CA experienced by student teachers at Mamokgalake
Chuene College of Education
Drinkwater (1996) conducted a research project and measured the CA levels of student
teachers at the Potchefstroom University over a period of five years and found that 15,4%
of student teachers experienced high levels of CA. She established though that there is a
decrease in the levels of CA after each of the two practical teaching sessions. For detail
on this table 6.2 could be studied.
SEX
Month
|
Males |
Females |
February
|
49,6% |
51,3% |
June
|
47,2% |
45,9% |
September
|
43,1% |
42,8% |
Table 6.2 Percentage of CA for periods after practical teaching of HED-students.
So far for student teachers. Let us take a look what has been found regarding secondary
school pupils. Pretorius (1997) conducted a study in which the CA of pupils in four
historically white schools was measured and found that 15,9% of the students experienced
high levels of CA, but very important that students who average 0-49% academically had the
highest levels of CA (Pretorius, 1997:78).
Malimabe (1997) did research in historically black secondary schools in Qwaqwa and
found that students levels of CA differ within different language contexts.
See table 6.3 for detail.
Language |
% CA |
Afrikaans (3rd language) |
57,23% |
English (2nd language) |
51,94% |
Sesotho (mother tongue) |
51,08% |
Table 6.3 Percentage of CA for different language contexts (Historically black
secondary schools)
The following conclusions could be drawn:
| a fair amount of student teachers as well as secondary school teachers experience high
levels of CA |
| practical teaching seems to help decrease the levels of CA of student teachers |
| secondary school students experiencing the highest levels of CA fare worst academically |
| levels of CA might differ in different language contexts. |
7 some measures to be taken to reduce ca in classrooms
| Students should not be punished for communicating in classrooms. |
| Students, teachers as well as student teachers experiencing high levels of CA should be
identified and helped to overcome this. |
| McCroskey (1977:33) indicates that levels of CA increase if stdents are forced to speak
in classrooms - therefore this practice should be avoided. |
| Let students choose their seats in a classroom so that those with high levels of CA
could sit where they feel safe. |
| Create a warm and supportive classroom climate, where students feel free to speak out
and where they are allowed to make mistakes. |
| In teacher training particular attention should be paid to developing the communication
skills of teachers to be, because of the fact that they are going to serve as role models
for students. |
| The value of practical teaching should not be underestimated for it seems that the
practical experience student teachers obtain helps to reduce levels of CA. |
8 Conclusion
CA is a phenomenan that definitely influences the quality of life of people and in
schools we should try to prevent and/or surmount this where possible.
bibliography
Bourhis, J. and Allen, M. 1992. Meta-analysis of the relationship between communication
apprehension and cognitive performance. Communication Education, 41(1):68-72.
Daly, J.A. 1986. Communication apprehension in the college classroom. New Directions
for teaching and learning, 26:21-31.
Drinkwater, M. 1997. Die aard en omvang van kommunikasievrees van HOD-studente.
Potchefstroom: PU vir CHO. (M. Ed. Dissertation). 92p.
Malimabe, M.M. 1997. Communication Apprehension in Qwaqwa secondary schools.
Potchefstroom: PU vir CHO. (M. Ed. Dissertation). 103 p.
McCroskey, J.C. & Daly, J.A. 1976. Teachers expectations of the communication
apprehensive child in the elementary school. Human communication research, 3(1):67-72.
McCroskey, J.C. 1977. Classroom consequences of communication apprehension. Communication
education, 26:27-33, Jan.
McCroskey, J.C. 1984. The communication apprehension perspective. (In Daly J.A.,
and McCroskey, J.C. (eds.) apprehension. Avoiding communication. Shyness, reticence, and
communication apprehension. Beverley Hills: Sage Publications. p. 13-38.))
McCroskey, J.C., Booth-Butterfield, S. and Payne, S.K. 1989. The impact of
communication apprehension on college student retention and success. Communication
Quarterly, 37(2):100-107, Spring.
McCroskey, J.C., Daly, J.A., Richmond, V.P. and Falcione, R.L. 1977. Studies of the
relationship between communication apprehension and self-esteem. Human communication
research, 3(3):269-277, Spring.
McCroskey, J.C., Daly, J.A., Richmond, V.P. and Falcione, R.L. 1986. One on one: the
foundations of interpersonal communication. Engelwood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. 294p.
Pretorius, H.A. 1997. Die verband tussen kommunikasievrees van Afrikaanssprekende
hoërskoolleerlinge en skolastiese prestasie. Potchefstroom: PU vir CHO. (M. Ed.
Dissertation) 100 p.
Richmond, V.P. and McCroskey, J.C. Communication apprehension, avoidance and
effectiveness. 1989. Scottsdale, AZ: Gorsuch Scarisbrick Publishers. 138 p.
|