- The document discusses using improvisational theatre techniques to improve public speaking skills and reduce public speaking anxiety. - A study was conducted with secondary education students that either participated in improv exercises or a control routine, and measured changes in their public speaking anxiety and skills over time. - The results found no significant impact of the improv intervention on public speaking anxiety or skills. However, improv students speaking on familiar "student topics" showed greater skills improvement than those with unfamiliar topics.

1. Jordi Casteleyn
Antwerp School of Education
jordi.casteleyn@uantwerpen.be
jordi_casteleyn
www.slideshare.net/jordi013
The techniques of theatre are the techniques of
communicating”
Improving public speaking via improv(isational)
theatre
“

3. People fear public speaking more than death“
?

4. People fear public speaking more than death
Public speaking was
selected most often
But when asked to
select a top fear,
death was selected
most often
“
? “
Dwyer & Davidson (2012)

7. how to battle public speaking anxiety?
systematic
desensitization
which changes the
unconscious association
between public
speaking and anxiety
cognitive
modification
which replaces
problematic public
speaking cognitions
with more positive
views on public
speaking
skills
training
Bodie (2010)

8. how to battle public speaking anxiety?
systematic
desensitization
which changes the
unconscious association
between public
speaking and anxiety
cognitive
modification
which replaces
problematic public
speaking cognitions
with more positive
views on public
speaking
skills
training
Bodie (2010)
= improv (theatre)

9. the techniques of theatre are
the techniques of communicating
“

11. Yes, and …
Make statements
There are no mistakes
Only opportunities
“

12. Improv is an art form, not science“

14. • Does the improv intervention have an impact on public
speaking anxiety (PSA)?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on the
speaking competence?
• What is the relationship between public speaking anxiety
and speaking competence?
Research questions

15. improv
public speaking stress
public speaking skills
?
?
students in secondary education
?

16. improv
intervention
business
as usual routine
• PSA questionnaire (Hook, Smith, & Valentiner, 2008)
• speaking assignment
(video taped)
week 1 week 5 week 8 week 11
comparative judgement of
speaking assignment

17. eye contact
body language voice
fusion

18. red …

20. I know nothing about this topic!“

21. …
You should never drink and drive
We should do more to
battle climate change
Belgium should boost its
efforts to help refugees
Music festivals are too
expensive
Smart phones make you
asocial
Belgium should
reintroduce army service
We should eat less meat
Everyone has the right to
strike

22. the results

23. • Does the improv intervention have an impact on public
speaking anxiety (PSA)?
• Does the improv intervention have an impact on the
speaking competence?
• What is the relationship between public speaking anxiety
and speaking competence?
Research questions

24. • 64 representations (i.e. speaking assignments)
• 13 assessors:
5 trainee teachers,
8 well-experienced university college lecturers
• 566 comparisons
• most comparisons also got qualitative feedback
• (on average) 40 comparisons per assessor
• (on average) 2 hrs per assessor
reliability of final ranking: .80
Comparative judgement: D-Pac

25. no misfit judges

26. improv
public speaking stress
public speaking skills
?
?
students in secondary education
?

27. improv
public speaking stress
public speaking skills
?
?
yes,
but …
students in secondary education
?

28. condition speaking t1 speaking t2 PSA t1
speaking t2 BAU .86** (.00)
improv .29 (.30)
PSA t1 BAU -.56* (.02) -.50 (.06)
improv -.60* (.01) -.21 (.46)
PSA t2 BAU -.55* (.34) -.38 (.16) .78** (.00)
improv -.20 (.47) -.02 (.95) .63* (.01)
At test moment 1, PSA predicts speaking competence,
F(1,31)= 8.94, p<.01, R Square= .22
At test moment 2, speaking competence at test moment
1 predicts speaking competence at test moment 2 for
the BAU group,
F(1,13)= 37.51, p<.01, R Square= .72
improv group

29. improv
public speaking stress
public speaking skills
?
?
?
no, but …
yes,
but …
students in secondary education

30. improv
public speaking stress
public speaking skills
?
?
?
no, but …
no,
but also yes
yes,
but …
students in secondary education

31. condition n M SD
speaking t1 BAU 15 .05 1.79
speaking t1 improv 14 .30 1.64
speaking t2 BAU 15 -.33 1.48
speaking t2 improv 14 -.19 1.29
PSA t1 BAU 15 2.61 .86
PSA t1 improv 14 3.43 .88
PSA t2 BAU 15 2.64 .79
PSA t2 improv 14 3.66 1.02
• at t1, BAU group has
a lower PSA score
than improv group
t(31)= 3.09, p<.05
• at t2, BAU group has
a lower PSA score
than improv group
t(30)= 3.02, p<.05
• at both test test
moments, there is no
difference in speaking
t(31)= .35, p=.73 &
t(29)= .44, p=.66
• no impact of the
intervention could be
detected on speaking
or PSA
F(2, 26) = .22, p=.80, d=.02
BAU = business as usual routine

32. condition topics n M SD
test
moment 1
BAU ‘student’ 9 -.40 1.90
‘non-student’ 7 .64 1.40
improv ‘student’ 9 .95 1.33
‘non-student’ 8 -.52 1.41
test
moment 2
BAU ‘student’ 5 .02 1.98
‘non-student’ 10 -.50 1.26
improv ‘student’ 8 _.53 1.41
‘non-student’ 8 .30 .96
At t1, the improv group students with ‘student topics’
scores significantly higher on the speaking competence
than the improv group students with non-‘student topics’
t(15) = 2.22, p<.05
• This disappears at t2
• PSA & ‘topic’ do not explain variation in
speaking competence at t1

33. test moment condition n M SD
1 control 9 .88 .97
experimental 9 -3.07 1.54
2 control 7 -.50 1.25
experimental 8 2.19 .64
but Study 2 …
F(1,13)=8.08, p=.014, d=.38

34. improv
public speaking stress
public speaking skills
?
?
?
no, but …
no,
but also yes
yes,
but …
students in secondary education

36. Jing, Cheng, Wang, & Zhou (2011)

38. Blöte, A.W., Kint, M.J., Miers, A.C., & Westenberg, P.M. (2009). The relation between public speaking anxiety and social anxiety: A review.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23, 305-313 .
Bodie, G. (2010). A Racing Heart, Rattling Knees, and Ruminative Thoughts: Defining, Explaining, and Treating Public Speaking Anxiety.
Communication Education, 59(1), 70-105.
Casteleyn, J. (2018). Playing with improv(isational) theatre to battle public speaking stress. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of
Applied Theatre and Performance. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2018.1552129
Casteleyn, J. (under review). “The techniques of theatre are the techniques of communicating” Improving public speaking of secondary
education students via improv(isational) theatre.
Dwyer, K. & Davidson, M. (2012). Is Public Speaking Really More Feared Than Death?, Communication Research Reports, 29(2), 99-107.
Fey, Tina (2011). Bossypants. New York: Little, Brown and Co.
Hook, J., Smith, C., Valentiner, D. (2008). A short-form of the personal report of confidence as a speaker. Personality and Individual
Differences, 44, 1306-1313.
Jing, L., Cheng, Z., Wang, J., & Zhou, Y. (2011). A spiral step-by-step educational method for cultivating competent embedded system
engineers to meet industry demands. IEEE Transactions on Education, 54(3), 356-365.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2010.2058576
Lesterhuis, M., Verhavert, S., Coertjens, L., Donche, V., & De Maeyer, S. (2017). “Comparative Judgement as a Promising Alternative to
Score Competences”. In: Cano, E. & Ion, G. (2017). Innovative Practices for Higher Education Assessment and Measurement.
Hershey, PA, USA: IGI Global. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0531-0.ch007
References

39. Jordi Casteleyn
Antwerp School of Education
jordi.casteleyn@uantwerpen.be
jordi_casteleyn
www.slideshare.net/jordi013
The techniques of theatre are the techniques of
communicating”
Improving public speaking via improv(isational)
theatre
“