Playing with improv theatre to battle public speaking anxiety

Jordi CasteleynAntwerp School of Education

[email protected]_casteleynwww.slideshare.net/jordi013

Playing with improv theatre to battle public speaking anxiety

mailto:[email protected]?subject=

http://www.slideshare.net/jordi013

People fear public speaking more than death! What are Americans Afraid Of? (1973)

“


“

?


Public speaking was selected more often as a common fear than any other fear, including death. However, when students were asked to select a top fear, students selected death most often. Dwyer & Davidson (2012)

“

? “

Rotgé (2002)

The Bock and Levelt Model of Speech Production

Rotgé (2002)

The Bock and Levelt Model of Speech Productionbut public speaking anxiety not included

how to battle public speaking anxiety?

systematic desensitization

which changes the unconscious association

between public speaking and anxiety

cognitive modification

which replaces problematic public

speaking cognitions with more positive

views on public speaking

skills training

Bodie (2010)

how to battle public speaking anxiety?

systematic desensitization

which changes the unconscious association

between public speaking and anxiety

cognitive modification

which replaces problematic public

speaking cognitions with more positive

views on public speaking

skills training

Bodie (2010)

= improv (theatre)

Yes, and … Make statements There are no mistakes

“Fey (2011)

• Do trainee teachers and well-experienced university college lecturers assess the speaking competence differently?

• Does the improv intervention have an impact on public speaking anxiety (PSA)?

• Does the improv intervention have an impact on the speaking competence?

• What is the relationship between public speaking anxiety and speaking competence?

Research questions

improv intervention

business as usual routine

• PSA questionnaire (Hook, Smith, & Valentiner, 2008) • speaking assignment

(video taped)

week 1 week 5 week 8 week 11

comparative judgement of speaking assignment

improv intervention


• PSA questionnaire • speaking assignment

(video taped)



Improv intervention

• 4 weeks • one session every week • one session = 50 minutes • one typical session:

• warming up • boosting creativity via free associations • learning how to take risks • pushing the boundaries • speaking without prep in front of an audience

improv intervention



(video taped)



…

You should never drink and drive

We should do more to battle climate change

Belgium should boost its efforts to help refugees

Music festivals are too expensive

Smart phones make you asocial

Belgium should reintroduce army service

We should eat less meatEveryone has the right to

strike

improv intervention



(video taped)



Comparative judgement: D-Pac

http://www.d-pac.be/





• 64 representations (i.e. speaking assignments) • 13 assessors:

5 trainee teachers, 8 well-experienced university college lecturers

• 566 comparisons • most comparisons also got qualitative feedback • (on average) 40 comparisons per assessor • (on average) 2 hrs per assessor

reliability of final ranking: .80


the results





no misfit judges





condition n M SD

speaking t1 BAU 15 .05 1.79

speaking t1 improv 14 .30 1.64

speaking t2 BAU 15 -.33 1.48

speaking t2 improv 14 -.19 1.29

PSA t1 BAU 15 2.61 .86

PSA t1 improv 14 3.43 .88

PSA t2 BAU 15 2.64 .79

PSA t2 improv 14 3.66 1.02

• at t1, BAU group has a lower PSA score than improv group t(31)= 3.09, p<.05

• at t2, BAU group has a lower PSA score than improv group t(30)= 3.02, p<.05

• at both test test moments, there is no difference in speaking t(31)= .35, p=.73 & t(29)= .44, p=.66

• no impact of the intervention could be detected on speaking or PSA F(2, 26) = .22, p=.80, d=.02

BAU = business as usual routine





condition speaking t1 speaking t2 PSA t1

speaking t2 BAU .86** (.00)

improv .29 (.30)

PSA t1 BAU -.56* (.02) -.50 (.06)

improv -.60* (.01) -.21 (.46)

PSA t2 BAU -.55* (.34) -.38 (.16) .78** (.00)

improv -.20 (.47) -.02 (.95) .63* (.01)

At test moment 1, PSA predicts speaking competence, F(1,31)= 8.94, p<.01, R Square= .22

At test moment 2, speaking competence at test moment 1 predicts speaking competence at test moment 2 for the BAU group, F(1,13)= 37.51, p<.01, R Square= .72

condition speaking t1 speaking t2 PSA t1

speaking t2 BAU .86** (.00)

improv .29 (.30)

PSA t1 BAU -.56* (.02) -.50 (.06)

improv -.60* (.01) -.21 (.46)

PSA t2 BAU -.55* (.34) -.38 (.16) .78** (.00)

improv -.20 (.47) -.02 (.95) .63* (.01)

At test moment 1, PSA predicts speaking competence, F(1,31)= 8.94, p<.01, R Square= .22

At test moment 2, speaking competence at test moment 1 predicts speaking competence at test moment 2 for the BAU group, F(1,13)= 37.51, p<.01, R Square= .72 improv group

In both groups, the relationship between PSA and speaking competence is disrupted.

• BAU group: now familiar with the assignment? • improv group: impact of the improv intervention?

• no link between speaking competence at test moment 1 and at test moment 2: the disruptive nature of education/learning?

• changes in speaking competence?

!

!

…

You should never drink and drive

We should do more to battle climate change

Belgium should boost its efforts to help refugees

Music festivals are too expensive

Smart phones make you asocial

Belgium should reintroduce army service

We should eat less meatEveryone has the right to

strike

condition topics n M SD

test moment 1

BAU ‘student’ 9 -.40 1.90

‘non-student’ 7 .64 1.40

improv ‘student’ 9 .95 1.33

‘non-student’ 8 -.52 1.41

test moment 2

BAU ‘student’ 5 .02 1.98

‘non-student’ 10 -.50 1.26

improv ‘student’ 8 _.53 1.41

‘non-student’ 8 .30 .96

At t1, the improv group students with ‘student topics’ scores significantly higher on the speaking competence than the improv group students with non-‘student topics’ t(15) = 2.22, p<.05

• This disappears at t2 • PSA & ‘topic’ do not explain variation in

speaking competence at t1

condition topics n M SD

test moment 1

BAU ‘student’ 9 -.40 1.90

‘non-student’ 7 .64 1.40

improv ‘student’ 9 .95 1.33

‘non-student’ 8 -.52 1.41

test moment 2

BAU ‘student’ 5 .02 1.98

‘non-student’ 10 -.50 1.26

improv ‘student’ 8 _.53 1.41

‘non-student’ 8 .30 .96

At t1, the improv group students with ‘student topics’ scores significantly higher on the speaking competence than the improv group students with non-‘student topics’ t(15) = 2.22, p<.05

• This disappears at t2 • PSA & ‘topic’ do not explain variation in

speaking competence at t1

‘Does improv work?’

• no clear impact on speaking competence or PSA but at test moment 2 (in the improv group) …

• no relationship between the two tests of the speaking competence (vs. BAU group): the disruptive nature of learning?

• there is no longer a difference in speaking competence related to the topic (vs. test moment 1) (but how does ‘topic’ contribute to the final quality?)

‘Does improv work?’

• Further investigate the impact of PSA, the type of assignment and topic on the speaking competence

• Conduct longer intervention, e.g. most improv programs for beginners are a 10-week program

• Deploy additional research techniques such as participant observation and semi-structured interviews with participants

Possible routes for further research

clear relationship between PSA & the speaking competence

Jordi CasteleynAntwerp School of Education

[email protected]_casteleynwww.slideshare.net/jordi013

Playing with improv theatre to battle public speaking anxiety

http://www.slideshare.net/jordi013

Bodie, G. (2010). A Racing Heart, Rattling Knees, and Ruminative Thoughts: Defining,

Explaining, and Treating Public Speaking Anxiety. Communication Education, 59(1),

70-105.

Dwyer, K. & Davidson, M. (2012) Is Public Speaking Really More Feared Than Death?,

Communication Research Reports, 29(2), 99-107.

Fey, Tina (2011). Bossypants. New York: Little, Brown and Co.

Hook, J., Smith, C., Valentiner, D. (2008). A short-form of the personal report of confidence as a

speaker. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 1306-1313.

Rotgé, W. (2002). Model/Models in linguistics. Retrieved 13 June 2017 from http://

asp.revues.org/1574 DOI: 10.4000/asp.1574.

What are Americans Afraid Of? (1973, July). The Bruskin Report, 53.

References

http://asp.revues.org/1574