Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Kelly, Stephanie Dr.

Abstract

This thesis purports to illustrate how communication apprehension (CA) and communication performance expectations inform professional physical appearance perspectives of high school students. The study includes a traditional and non-traditional high school, and focuses on three main variables: 1) communication apprehension, 2) communication performance, and 3) professional physical appearance. Three measurements were used during this study to assess students: 1) McCroskey's (1982) communication apprehension test Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24), 2) Daly and Miller's (1975) Writing Apprehension Test, 3) and an original perceived professionalism test. Teachers used an original oral and written communication measurement to assess their students' communication ability. There were five hypotheses tested, and none of the hypotheses were statistically significant at either school. This was likely due to limited statistical power in the sample. However, when the communication submeasures were examined individually there was a statistically significant correlation between oral communication performance and group CA. Additionally, for perceived professionalism of physical appearance there was bimodality in the sample between schools. Students at the traditional school judged the images more harshly, while the non-traditional students judged the images less harshly, meaning the traditional students more accurately assessed professionalism. The results of the study were consistent with expectations that students experiencing different educational conditions would have different communication abilities, anxieties, and expectations of professional physical appearance.

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