Communication apprehension and academic achievement among elementary and middle school students

This study examined the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and academic achievement (AA) among 1053 elementary and middle school students in a midwestern community. CA was operationally defined as scores on the Measure of Elementary Communication Apprehension (Garrison & Garrison, 1979). AA was operationally defined as scores on the Stanford Achievement Test. CA and AA were found to be significantly and negatively related. On three tests of achievement (mathematics, language, and reading), students high in CA demonstrated the lowest levels of learning. In the case of mathematics, students low in CA had achievement scores that were 23% higher than students high in CA.