Fostering elementary school children’s public speaking skills: A randomized controlled trial

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 -