TY - JOUR
T1 - Fostering elementary school children’s public speaking skills
T2 - A randomized controlled trial
AU - Herbein, Evelin
AU - Golle, Jessika
AU - Tibus, Maike
AU - Schiefer, Julia
AU - Trautwein, Ulrich
AU - Zettler, Ingo
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - Mastering public speaking is a competence which is already required in elementary school. Surprisingly, however, systematic research on the promotion of public speaking competence among elementary school children is scarce. In order to address this gap, we developed and evaluated a public speaking training for elementary school children. The training, an extracurricular enrichment program, consisted of 12 units covering speech anxiety, nonverbal communication, and comprehensibility. A randomized controlled trial with repeated measures (N = 65 elementary school children) was used to investigate the training effects on public speaking skills and speech anxiety. The dependent variables were assessed via self-ratings (extent of public speaking skills, speech anxiety) and video ratings of a public speech (appropriateness of public speaking skills). Findings revealed positive training effects on public speaking skills overall: Participating in the training elicited more appropriate speeches in terms of nonverbal and organizational skills but did not influence speech anxiety.
AB - Mastering public speaking is a competence which is already required in elementary school. Surprisingly, however, systematic research on the promotion of public speaking competence among elementary school children is scarce. In order to address this gap, we developed and evaluated a public speaking training for elementary school children. The training, an extracurricular enrichment program, consisted of 12 units covering speech anxiety, nonverbal communication, and comprehensibility. A randomized controlled trial with repeated measures (N = 65 elementary school children) was used to investigate the training effects on public speaking skills and speech anxiety. The dependent variables were assessed via self-ratings (extent of public speaking skills, speech anxiety) and video ratings of a public speech (appropriateness of public speaking skills). Findings revealed positive training effects on public speaking skills overall: Participating in the training elicited more appropriate speeches in terms of nonverbal and organizational skills but did not influence speech anxiety.
KW - Elementary school children
KW - Enrichment program
KW - Public speaking
KW - Randomized controlled trial
KW - Video ratings
U2 - 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.10.008
DO - 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.10.008
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0959-4752
VL - 55
SP - 158
EP - 168
JO - Learning and Instruction
JF - Learning and Instruction
ER -