The communication of public speaking anxiety

Abstract

The relationship between beginning speakers’ self‐reported speech state anxiety and audience perceptions of that anxiety, during public speaking performances are investigated in this study. The results indicate that untrained audiences are not proficient at detecting the self‐perceived state anxiety of beginning speakers. Moreover, audiences perceive speaker anxiety levels to be lower, during performance, than the speakers themselves report. Implications of the findings for students and instructors of public speaking are suggested.