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Fear Of Oral Communication Essay

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Fear of oral communication is found among people of all ages and in many walks of life. Two decades ago, Furmark (2002) found out public speaking was found to be the number one fear among, not only people with social phobia, but also the general population. A survey conducted by Witt (2006) confirmed the finding that public speaking was people's number one fear. Another survey in the United States of America (Ruscio, Brown, Chiu, Sareen, Stein, & Kessler, 2008) also concluded that public speaking ranked as people's number on (Clevenger Jr., 1959) fear, from among the subtypes of social phobia, such as writing, eating, or drinking while being watched. Study concerned with fear and anxiety about oral communication has been conducted under a variety of labels, most notably stage fright (Clevenger, 1959), reticence (Phillips, 1968), shyness (Zimbardo, 1977), audience sensitivity (Paivio, 1964), and communication apprehension (Horwitz, 2002; McCroskey, 1970, 1975). The term communication apprehension (CA) has been chosen for the purpose of this study because it more broadly represents the total of the fears and anxieties studied previously, and the research conducted under the other …show more content…

The person experiencing CA feels fearful and uneasy about the communication situation he is about to participate in. He also foresees experiencing unpleasant psychological as well physical manifestations on the day of the speech. He would, if possible, withdraw from the situation to escape the offensive feelings altogether. An individual with high communication apprehension may also be described as a reticent individual, or a person who chooses to remain silent in order to avoid embarrassment (Keaten, J. A., & Kelly, L. (2000). Reticence: An affirmation and revision. Communication Education, 49,

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