Some experts question whether it’s really possible, or necessary, to ease the anxiety of highly apprehensive speakers. A new branch of thinking, called communibiology, argues that the problem is one of nature, not nurture. “For most people, there is no solution,” says James C. McCroskey, a professor at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “Except maybe for gene replacement,” he adds with a laugh. A leading scholar in the study of communication apprehension, he says forcing students to talk in public can be counterproductive. His research, he adds, shows that students nervous about speaking learn less if they anticipate having to communicate in class. Rather than paying attention, they fret about whether they’ll be called on and what they will say. John A. Daly, a professor at the University of Texas, Austin, teaches a 500-student lecture class on interpersonal communication. He says the benefits of talking in class are overstated. “There’s a theory in this culture that class participation is the way to learn, and I don’t know if I buy that completely,” he says. “Unless you can make a really strong argument that the ability to talk about the topic is vital to understanding, you’re doing this population of students a real disservice, causing them incredible discomfort.”
The New York Times
Don’t Be Shy
(Nov. 4)
