Dr Julie AndersonUniversity of Bristol

julie.anderson@bristol.ac.uk

ESCalate - GSoE

35 Berkeley Square – Bristol - BS8 1JA

Presentation

An account of research into the anxiety pupils and students may experience

when answering questions and presenting in whole class contexts, with

a focus on the coping strategies the learners may employ.

Whole group questions

What has been your experience of the conference this morning so far?

Why are you attending this conference/ symposium today?

Can you name one resource/ outcome you hope to take away from this event?

Responses to questions

How did you feel: a) being asked the questions? b) watching others being asked

questions?( surprised, fine, shocked, taken aback, nervous, unsettled, amused, reflective…)

Anxiety in the literature

Social anxiety is common

(Furmark, 2002) Linked to poor attainment in school

(Stein et al, 1999) Affects memory and concentration adversely

(Wells and Matthews,1994)

AKA

Audience anxiety Presentation anxiety Communication apprehension Social phobia and social anxiety disorder

(Russell,2006)

What is it? A H Buss – theory of audience anxiety

Includes and relates to: Feelings of self –

consciousness in the speaker, How the speaker perceives audience

reception, An important factor may also be how

familiar the context is.

Communication apprehension (CA)

Defined as an:

“individual level of fear or anxiety

associated with either real or anticipated

communication with another person or persons”

(McCroskey,1977)

Holbrook, H. T. (1987)

CA described as a “significant problem” at the equivalent of our UK KS2/3 school level

eleven per cent of pupils experience severe CA

twenty per cent experience enough anxiety to warrant some form of intervention

Longitudinal - mainly Year 4 study (8/9yr olds) - 32 pupils ( visited between yrs 3 -6)

Every child questioned admitted to experiencing some sense of being ill at ease during times of whole class teacher questioning

“a primary determinant of one’s status is the ability to perform”… (and) children as young as five “ …can already identify the brightest and dullest among their peers”

(Covington and Beery, 1976)

Research relevance

All too often, research tries to find out if people

are 'anxious', then studies relationships

between the trait and other traits or

performances; but as educators we should be

more concerned as to what people do when

feeling anxious.

(Sutherland, 1983)

Conclusions

Teacher questioning of pupils in front of their peers

leads to an emotional response that may include

anxiety, worry and fear and associated negative

feelings, including embarrassment and shame.

Leads to pupils employing coping strategies during

times of whole class teacher questioning that could

adversely affecting their learning.

Study with MEd students ( summer 2006)

A seminar group of thirteen full time Ten to fifteen minute project presentations Non assessed presentations Encouraged to present as groups

The 13 students

Aged from early twenties to late forties Most UK based – England, Wales and NI Two international Majority had been state school educated Most had supportive family circumstances Eight had some education background in

teaching: the five others were from NHS, business and sales backgrounds

Qualitative study methodology

Participation observation Interviews – just one key question 20 – 45 mins Transcription verification offered Data analysis of common themes

Outcomes

Feelings included: Being frightened, nervousness, worry,

concern over subject content, feeling silly, lacking knowledge in Q&A time

Re: Lecturer – 2 had concernsRe: Peers – relationships all important

Coping strategies: in order of being referred to most often

Six said that using PowerPoint gave structure • distracted the audience from selves

Five said that practice was important Four - not looking at audience important Three - appearing calm mattered Two talked about preparation time vital

( NB - some mentioned several or all of the above)

Additional points included:

Have a plant in audience to encourage Use humour to get audience onside Rephrasing questions to help answers in

Q&A If don’t know, to be honest Water on stand by ( to drink!) Get it over with (try to go first) Provide notes / be interactive with audience

Which students feel what?

Apparently vivacious, lively Home student - sick with nerves - opted out ( only one to do so)

v

Quiet, apparently reticent student – presentation confident ( very experienced through living and working in Greece)

Russell – ESCalate supported quantitative study

Students across disciplines 80% aged up to thirty – younger than my group Social anxiety-screening tool to identify

students with social anxiety –invited to take part in larger quantitative survey

Presentations was activity that scored highest -83% stated frequently caused anxiety

Feelings/reactions in Russell study

Shy, nervous, embarrassed, stuttering, speaking quickly, worry over response from

tutor, feeling physically sick, problems remembering materials and self consciousness

(Russell and Shaw, 2006)

Coping strategies for presentations

Avoidance (pretending to be sick, missing class swapping modules to avoid presentation work)

Preparation

Also key was friends and family support - 70%

Personal tutors next with 18%

How can institutions help?

Recognition of the condition/ issue Choice to participate or not More training and development programmes

to increase confidence in public speaking Presentation skills workshops Opportunity to practise specific presentations

Final conclusions

Use presentations with caution Sophisticated avoidance strategies in use at all

ages Effective group work may help build

confidence Relationships all important – peers as well as

with lecturers/ tutors

Acknowledgements

With special thanks to: Jane Tuffill for her work on creating the initial

data sets from the student interviews Graham Russell for permission to draw on his

findings from his 2006 ESCalate project.

ESCalate – the Subject Centre for Education

www.escalate.ac.uk

For the paper with references please go to the ESCalate website above and search

on “Anderson”

Thank you.