The impact of self‐directed videotape feedback on students’ self‐reported levels of communication competence and apprehension

This research examines whether having students privately watch their own videotaped speeches impacts their self‐reported levels of communication competence and speaker apprehension. Based on a naturally occurring experiment, results indicated that: a) students' reported levels of apprehension about meetings decreased significantly in sections with videotape feedback; b) students reported significant increases in competency and decreases in apprehension across work and social settings but reported the largest improvements in the classroom setting; and c) the videotape feedback had a limited differential impact on students' perceived improvements based on their initial levels of competence and apprehension. Results suggest the need to further evaluate use of videotapes in the basic course.