Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Qingwen Dong

First Committee Member

Teresa Bergman

Second Committee Member

Marlin Bates

Abstract

College students are increasingly engaged in watching online videos and using social media. Therefore, researchers should attempt to better understand how these variables as well as other social and cognitive variables, affect the communication competence of students. The researcher administered a questionnaire to 392 college students from a private medium-sized West Coast university using various modified scales examining student-to-student confirmation, social support through social media, online video viewing, self-esteem, personal reports of public speaking anxiety, and communication competence. Student-to-student confirmation and online video viewing were measured using new sets of scales developed by the researcher. The data from the surveys was analyzed to determine which independent variables have the greatest influence on communication competence. Student-to-student confirmation, social support through social media, online video viewing, and self-esteem all have a significant positive relationship with communication competence. The correlation analysis also found a significant negative correlation between personal reports of public speaking anxiety and communication competence. A regression analysis showed that the combination of social support through social media, online video viewing, self-esteem, and personal reports of public speaking anxiety demonstrated predictive power regarding communication competence. These results suggest that there are important relationships between both social and cognitive variables and communication competence.

Pages

82

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Communication Commons

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