The development of principles and strategies for treating and preventing reticence in high school students

Abstract

Many writers in both psychology and education--Rogers, Johnson, Maslow, Glasser--maintain that effective oral communication is essential for self-actualization, mental health, and acceptance in society. Unfortunately, however, a large portion of our society is unable to communicate orally when it wishes because their anxiety about the communication act outweighs or precludes the consideration of a successful performance. That is, a large section of society suffers from reticence. -- The main purpose of this thesis, then, is to examine the literature on oral communication, reticence, education, and psychology with a view to presenting principles and strategies for use in the high school classroom as a prevention and treatment of reticence. -- This examination is presented in five chapters. Chapter I serves as an introduction to the study and explains the purpose, design, and significance of the study. Chapter II reviews the literature on reticence, including definitions of reticence, the relationship between speech and personality, and possible causes of reticence. Such a review is necessary because it provides an understanding of reticence and the reticent person. In attempting to treat reticent students, one must consider what is known about those students. Therefore, Chapter III reviews the literature on the high school student--his physical, psychological, and intellectual development; his interests; and the influence of the peer group on him. Chapter IV presents the views and research of experts on self-concept. It presents various views of self-concept, shows how self-concept is developed and measured, and shows the relationship between self-concept and achievement. It also presents the manner in which self-concept can be changed. Finally, Chapter V presents a synthesis of the previous chapters, building the framework for the principles and strategies that follow.