Public speaking anxiety and how to cope with it: a study of graduate students in a public university

The study aimed to examine the degree of anxiety in MA students taking presentation and public speaking classes at the four stages of public speaking, as well as the major factors contributing to anxiety and the mitigating strategies. The participants in this study were 23 second-year MA students in a public university in Bangkok enrolled an English presentation or public speaking class in the academic year 2019. The instrument was a questionnaire containing PSPSA, developed by McCroskey (1970) that allowed students to self-report the degree of anxiety felt during each of the four key stages of public speaking in English. Also, the questionnaire was designed to illicit and details of students the techniques they used to reduce anxiety and how effective techniques are. Frequency and percentage were used to interpret the data obtained from the questionnaires. The findings revealed that most MA students in the study experienced moderate anxiety in English public speaking classes and had the highest anxiety in the performance stage. The key factor contributing to anxiety was the individual’s personality. The methods adopted to diffuse the anxiety also varied. One strategy seemingly common to all MA students was deep breathing before the commencement of speaking, and after any mistakes that were made. Feeling prepared with notes was cited as another strategy that reduced MA student’s anxiety. It is recommended that in-depth interviews be conducted in further study to obtain more in-depth findings.