The relationship between tertiary-level students' self-perceived presentation delivery and public speaking anxiety: A mixed-methods study

Oral presentations are common in higher education worldwide. There is no shortage of evidence substantiating the association between oral presentations and anxiety. In the light of the close connection between self-perception and anxiety, and the under-researched nature of the delivery aspect of presentations (e.g. use of voice and body language), this study explored the relationship between tertiary-level learners' (n = 211) perceived delivery competence (23 areas) and their levels of public speaking anxiety. The data were collected via questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaire results revealed highly significant correlations between anxiety and 22 of these areas. The 23 areas overall also had a highly significant predictive power for anxiety levels, indicated by their explaining 45% of the variance. Follow-up in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants to shed light on these quantitative findings. This article ends with an argument for greater emphasis on presentation delivery skills in higher education, which can potentially mitigate learners' public speaking anxiety.