Communication Apprehension In Undergraduate Engineering Students: The Influence Of Performing Arts Participation

Engineering students often display varying levels of communication apprehension (CA) when it comes to communication situations such as meeting participation, group discussions, presentations, and general public speaking. This study investigated the potential positive role that previous participation in the performing arts (instrumental and vocal music, theater, and dance) had on CA in freshmen/sophomore engineering students. A hypothesis of this study was that such participation would manifest in lower levels of CA since participating students would have had to face CA, performance anxiety, and related phobias prior to college entry. The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension was employed in this study, combined with a self-reported inventory of middle school and high school participation in the performing arts. The results indicated that students who had previous performing arts participation had significantly lower levels of CA relative to students who had no such participation. The possible benefits of engineering/performing arts interactions in terms of addressing CA is also addressed.