Development and Validation of the Public Speaking Attitude Scale: A Theoretical Approach to Assess Student Performance in Public Speaking Courses in Higher Education

Although anxiety is an important component of individuals’ relationship with public speaking, it only represents a portion the story. Specifically, understanding attitudes toward speaking can help instructors develop improved methods for teaching and assessing student performance in speech classes, on oral communication-based university-level learning outcomes. This study addresses our lack towards by collecting examining data from 1,112 college students to Public Speaking Attitude Scale examine scale’s ability predict students’ intent leverage skills learned introductory classes their future endeavors. Initial item development validation are described, scale compared against existing measures determine which accounts more variance skills. Findings suggest that significantly than shyness student’s basic course. Implications avenues research discussed.