Abstract

As communication center directors, we know the numbers well: over 60% of college students in the United States reported experiencing at least some degree of public speaking anxiety (PSA) (Dwyer & Davidson, 2012b), and “between 10 and 20 percent” of college students reported experiencing “extreme communication apprehension” (CA) and “40 percent were found to have a sufficient degree of apprehension to require treatment” (McCroskey, 1972, p. 260). Fortunately, there is myriad research that has investigated methods for lowering levels of PSA and CA for students, and it has been shown that communication centers may play a role in this important work (Dwyer et al., 2002; Dwyer & Davidson, 2012a; Jones et al., 2004; Stewart et al., 2021a; Stewart et al., 2021b). Unfortunately, there is less research on how center directors can prepare and train their tutors to take on the challenge. This article serves as a brief review of the state of communication center research related to PSA and CA and other related research, identifies opportunities for meaningful inquiry into tutor training and preparation around working with student anxiety, and, most importantly, calls for more research in the area.

Keywords: public speaking anxiety, communication apprehension, consultant training, tutor education

How to Cite:

Keating, S. G. & Horn, D. C., (2026) “Preparing Communication Center Tutors for Working with Student Anxiety: A Call for Research ”, Communication Center Journal 11(1). doi: https://doi.org//ccj.2903