Chair: Gayle V. Davidson-Shivers

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the possible effect of the learning strategies of speech mapping and outlining on speech performance and speech anxiety.  Another purpose of the study was to determine the implication of these variables for speech educators and instructional design purposes.

The independent variable was learning strategies with two levels: outlining (OL) and speech mapping (SM). Outlining was defined as organizing and writing a speech in complete sentences with the use of a traditional Roman numeral format. Speech mapping was defined as a visual representation of a speech with symbols and links that showed the organization, development, and relationship of ideas on one page.

The dependent measures were speech performance and speech anxiety. Speech performance was measured by the observations of three independent raters who viewed videotapes of the speakers. The "Competent Speaker" speech evaluation form was used for performance scores. Speech anxiety was assessed twice with "The Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety" (PRPSA): once prior to instruction and after the last performance. Speech anxiety was also used as a covariate.

Eighty-two undergraduate students enrolled in basic public speaking courses participated in the study. After completion of the initial instruments (consent form, demographic survey, and PRPSA), students were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. The OL group and the SM group were taught separate scripted lessons. A lesson on informative speaking was taught to both groups. Students wrote and delivered three informative speeches using the learning strategy they were taught. The repeated measures experimental design covered the three trials of 4-6 minute informative speeches over a six week period. Exit surveys were completed at the end of the study. Data analysis included paired t-tests and ANCOVA's. Results indicated that there was no statistical significance among speech performance and the learning strategies. However, when speech anxiety remained in the data, statistical significance was found.