Relationships among four parameters of speaker evaluation: Speech skill, source credibility, subjective speech anxiety, and behavioral speech anxiety

Abstract

Measures of four parameters were obtained on 21 male and 21 female students near the beginning and end of a fundamentals of speech course. Both male and female speakers appraised as demonstrating a higher degree of initial speech skill were also perceived as more credible, and as exhibiting less behavioral speech anxiety. These same three parameters improved in males but not in females, improvements being positively intercor‐related in several instances.