Abstract
In a recent issue of Change: The Magazine of Higher Education, Carnegie Foundation President Ernest L. Boyer, commenting on the foundation's study of undergraduate education at American universities and colleges, noted that, "Students are eager to get a good grade, but they're not caught up in the excitement of learning." Boyer's assertion represents a commonly held assumption, particularly among teachers of basic or required courses such as speech communication. In the public speaking classroom, despite the typical introductory pep talk on the value of effective communication for personal satisfaction, active citizenship and professional success and despite fundamentals texts that posit an innate urge to communicate, teachers often suspect that other less romanticized motives predominate.
What motives do students bring to the public speaking classroom? And, does motivation change during the course of instruction? As Cooper, Stewart, and Gudjkunst suggest, "Although most educators agree that motivation is a major variable affecting classroom behavior, there has been little research on motivation in the classroom setting." In this study, the authors have generated some initial data-based answers to the questions posed above, believing that such information will help communication educators appeal more successfully to that innate desire to communicate, since it is one aspect of motivation that can lead to better performance.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Speech Communication
Volume
21
Issue
1
First Page
29
Last Page
39
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Rossi, Sharon M.; Katula, Richard A.; and Forst, Edmund C.
(1989)
"Motivation in the Introductory Public Speaking Classroom,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 21:
No.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol21/iss1/7
Copyright
©1989 Iowa Communication Association
