Browsing by Subject "Yliopisto"

According to previous studies every third university student suffers from detrimental stage fright. Stage fright has been shown to cause students strong stress and anxiety. It also slows down the progress of the studies. Because of this universities should pay more attention to students who feel nervous about communication and performance situation. Students who suffers from stage fright have an opportunity to participate in the University of Helsinki speech communication course which is especially directed to students with stage fright. In this thesis I examine university student’s individual experience of stage fright. The aim of the thesis is to understand and describe subjective experience of student’s stage fright. The data of this qualitative research consisted of four theme interview. The students I interviewed participated in the speech communication course in fall 2017. Students were different age and they were all from Education and Arts Faculty. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. In this analyze I describe student’s stage fright as a phenomenon. Students who experience strong stage fright have postponed participating in speech communication course for several times. They have bad self-confidence and they react body’s physical tension critical and negative way. Speech communication course which was directed to students with stage fright proved to be a positive experience for them. Especially important for students was learning to have positive attitude toward their stage fright. Universities should offer students more theoretic knowing about stage fright and its possible support measures. Stagefright should also be taken into account in other courses where oral presentation skills are needed.