Oral Communication Apprehension (OCA) among Undergraduate Accounting and Journalism Students in Bangladesh

176 Oral Communication Apprehension (OCA) among Undergraduate Accounting and Journalism Students in Bangladesh Maliha Tabassum* & Md. Sahid Hossain Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Bangladesh University of Professionals, Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh Lecturer, Department of Accounting and Information Systems, Bangladesh University of Professionals, Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh Corresponding Author: Maliha Tabassum, E-mail: malihawow@gmail.com


Introduction 1
In today's competitive scenario, sound communication skill is a must for both for academic and professional achievement. Especially oral communication is an important life skill to learn. For a student, effective oral communication is essential for a successful future career. Since 1971 a good number of researchers (McCroskey & Andersen, 1977;Davis & Scott, 1978;Powers & Smythe, 1980) are working on the effect of communication in student learning. Especially oral communication competency has become a core focus in many studies.
OCA has been elaborated differently, from different perspectives over time to time. Zimbardo (1977) stated it as a fuzzy concept and defined it as the discomfort in communication occurring in various contexts. He also included poor verbal skills as one of the characteristics of it and stated that all these make a person orally incompetent in talking. Bydon and Scott (2000) saw it as anxiety referring as discomfort in feeling which people experience before, during or even after public speaking. Some scholars linked it only with a big audience by naming it 'Stage Fright' (Ayres, 1986); not only on stage, but also off stage within a very normal communicative environment. Some researchers described it as a tendency to get nervous particularly within only a few settings for example particularly in public speaking. According to them, it can occur in situations in an everyday basis where people communicate or may even be part of an anxiety trait in general that arise in many phrases, from different angles (Friedman, 1980). This is what McCroskey called fear of having real or mediated communication with singular or plural in number from In that study, they tested PRCA 24 measurement scale against rival models including linear, one-dimensional model, Guttman simplex and second-order factor structure. They found second-order factor structure model fits well with highly used PRCA 24 measurement model but cannot go better against popularized PRCA 24 scale. They have admitted the fact that PRCA 24 scale is well balanced, flexible scale for measuring OCA.
In a cross-cultural study (Arquero, Hassall, Joyce, & Donoso, 2007) researcher did a comparative study to understand the similarity and dissimilarity experienced by accounting students of UK and Spain. Students of other disciplines at the same institutions were also considered as sample to get a broader perspective. The results confirmed that European accounting students have higher levels of communication apprehension.
Most of the researches identified OCA as a prime factor hindering individual's communication skill have focused specifically on quantitative analysis based on several scientific scales. Byrne, Flood and Shanahan (2012) explored the phenomenon qualitatively by interviewing students with separate disciplines (accounting and business students of first year) in one of the Ireland's higher educational institutions who have different levels of OCA. How the students were communicating in different contexts are analyzed and impact of different factors, for example prior communication experience is considered.
The findings stated that despite having variations in communication experiences apprehension typically increases in public sphere for almost all students. Also, OCA is influenced by anxiety in peer evaluation, communicating with new people and even in preparation activities. Their study also recommended educators adapting appropriate teaching practice and designing fruitful interventions to overcome OCA.
Devi and Feroz (2008) found OCA level varying from person to person. Conducting a study on 32 undergraduate students of electrical engineering faculty, they investigated the effect of a special semester course where the students were taught different soft skills like writing resumes, oral communication strategies, oral presentation, agenda and minutes of a meeting etc. The unique part of this study was their CA was examined twice (before and after) their exposure to different lectures. The study found the existence of CA in most undergraduate students but at a very moderate level. Again, young engineers were found with a lower level of OCA than other students. The overall study had a very positive result showing no correlation between communicative apprehension and lecturer's evaluation about individual student. Students having more confidence had greater level of communication competency and researchers found it very high among young undergraduates.
Prior studies have also shown the connection between OCA, curriculum development and academic performance. Gardner, Stringer and Whiting (2005) did a cross-sectional investigation of the CA of accounting students at a university in New Zealand. The results showed that final year students get exposure to greater communication demands. Communication apprehension level for final year students declined most comparing to first year which showed the effectiveness of their higher education. The study found curriculum of New Zealand more modern and self-directing for students to lessen their levels of OCA, although results did not find any solid connection between communication apprehension levels and students' gradual increase of academic result.
Gender was considered an important variable in many researches. Pearson, Child, DeGreeff, Semlak and Burnett (2011) suggested that the perception of men and women is different on OCA and socialization is why they behave differently during communication encounters in different social contexts. Simon et al. (1995) took gender as their prime variable and found higher communication apprehension among females major in accounting. Borzi & Mills (2001) found the OCA level is higher in male comparing to female accounting students in public speaking.
On the other hand, Gaibani and Elmenfi (2014) revealed that though gender has a positive relationship in a public sphere, it does not have any correlation with the level of communication competency. This means gender has little effect in OCA. This result supports that of Matsuda and Gobel (2004) who found no significant effect of gender on the overall anxiety of public speaking although had doubt on their own result considering uneven number of female and male in their sampling.
After reviewing the previous literatures, we have found that earlier researchers studied mostly on developed countries like New Zealand, UK, Spain, Ireland etc. So, this study is unique in the context of a developing country like Bangladesh. Again, there is scarcity of research on this topic in recent time though it is one of the most important topics for research. Prior studies were done based on either single department students or different departments' students of different countries. Here, a comparative study may be possible considering either two departments' students of a single university. Earlier researchers did their studies considering either only first year students or final year students as sample. So, there is a gap for research considering both year students as sample in a single research. Finding several research gaps in the prior works, this study aims to fill them up by doing a comparative study between two departments of a prominent university in the context of Bangladesh. Based on the above discussion, following hypotheses are developed:

Research Objectives
The primary objective of this research is to carry out a quantitative study to explore the nature of OCA existing among the undergraduate accounting and journalism students of Bangladesh. In understanding OCA and meeting the need of the study by comparing two separate disciplines, the specific objectives are as followed: • To identify the level of OCA among accounting and journalism students of Bangladesh • To determine the impact of department, year, gender, age, educational background and academic performance of the students of accounting and journalism on OCA score.

Problem Statement
This study focuses on OCA among university students, by measuring the level and different variables of OCA. Because of different affecting variables stated earlier (e.g. Arquero is appreciable, but the irony is not much have been found especially from Bangladesh perspective. This study aims to focus especially on the Bangladeshi students whether they are suffering from OCA or not from a developing country perspective.
However, other disciplines did not get the same level of treatment even in outside Bangladesh. Of course, that does not mean other students have less or low level of OCA. It is a vast field area that needs to be explored. Especially there is scarcity of study relating journalism major as they work in strategic communication like in marketing, public relations, advertising and in areas such as entertainment, gaming, politics, health care. Most of the universities have mass communication included in their curriculum alongside practical journalism courses, so this area should come under special consideration to identify OCA. Therefore, in this study the authors work with two separate disciplines accounting and journalism to find out the bigger picture of students suffering from OCA.
In a whole, this study will explore the nature and level of OCA among accounting and journalism students from Bangladesh perspective. The data gathered and analyzed in this study may provide stakeholders with information relating to the level of OCA among the students as well as the impact of department, year, gender, age, educational background and academic performance on OCA score.

Methodology
The study adopts a quantitative approach to explore the nature of OCA phenomenon experienced by students of two separate disciplines. Two departments of a public university were considered as target population for the study. From 16 departments of Bangladesh University of Professionals, the authors considered 2 departments which are Department of Accounting and Information Systems (AIS) and Department of Mass Communication and Journalism (MCJ). For this study, a convenient collection technique was used to collect data from the first and thirdyear students. Total 182 students (equal students from each department) were taken as sample size for the questionnaire survey where they were given Personal Report on Communication Apprehension (PRCA 24) worksheet to input their information. The sample had equal participation of both male and female students. The data were then statistically analyzed with the help of Stata software (Version 11.0).
The instrument used here is the most widely applied instrument called the PRCA 24 which was adopted from (McCroskey, 2006, p.40). It measures the total level of OCA, alongside four sub-levels, which are created to understand and analyze communication in different contexts like interpersonal speaking, in small groups, in meetings, and in public (McCroskey, 2006, p.42). This instrument is composed of twenty-four statements concerning experience of an individual while communicating in different context, from a very personal to public level. In this questionnaire, there is no right or wrong answer. Each statement is marked by students considering whether they strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree or strongly disagree with that information which ultimately add value to their total score. Department, age, CGPA, class rank (year), gender and educational background are the five key variables that are considered to determine the relationship between these variables and OCA score. The sample consists of 182 students from two departments of Bangladesh University of Professionals. Descriptive statistics (total observation, mean, standard deviations minimum and maximum) are used to investigate the extent of OCA, department, age, CGPA, class rank (year), gender, educational background, overall score, group discussion (GD) score, meeting score, interpersonal score and public speaking (PS) score. To determine the relationship among the variables and how much they are related with OCA score, Pearson correlation coefficient (at 1%, 5% and 10% significant levels) is used. Multiple linear regression model is used to determine the effect of independent variables (department, age, CGPA, class rank (year), gender and educational background) on dependent variable (OCA score). The model is: OCA score i= α +β1Departmenti+β2Agei+β3CGPA i+β4Year i+β5Gender i+ β6Educational Background i +εi Where, Department= dichotomous variable (student of AIS=1 and student of MCJ=0), Age= age of the students, CGPA = Cumulative Grade Point Average of the students, Year = dichotomous variable (student of 1 st year=1 and student of 3 rd year=0), Gender= dichotomous variable (male student =1 and female student=0), Educational Background= dichotomous variable (student from Bangla medium=1 and student from English medium or version =0), ε= Random error and i= Item (i).

Results
The paper intends to identify the level of OCA among the AIS and MCJ students of Bangladesh and the impact of department, age, CGPA, class rank (year), gender and educational background on OCA score.  In table 2, mean age is 21 where mean CGPA is 3.25. Again, mean overall score is 64 while its standard deviation is 14.21. Besides, mean GD score is 14 where mean meeting score is 17. Though, mean interpersonal score is 15, mean PS score is 19.
Mean OCA score of male students is lower than that of female students. The difference is less for MCJ students than AIS students. Again, male AIS students have lower mean OCA score than that of male MCJ students. Again, female AIS students have lower mean OCA score than that of female MCJ students as well. Standard deviation of OCA score for male students is higher than that of female students. The difference is less for AIS students than MCJ students. Again, male AIS students have higher standard deviation of OCA score than that of male MCJ students. Besides, female AIS students have higher standard deviation of OCA score than that of female MCJ students as well.
Minimum OCA score of male students is lower than that of female students. The difference is more for MCJ students than AIS students. Again, male MCJ students have lower minimum OCA score than that of male AIS students. But, female AIS students have much lower minimum OCA score than that of female MCJ students. Maximum OCA score of female students is much lower than that of male AIS students. The difference is more for MCJ students than AIS students. Again, male MCJ students have higher maximum OCA score than that of male AIS students. But, female AIS students have higher maximum OCA score than that of female MCJ students in Table 3. Again, Mean OCA score of 1 st year students is higher than that of 3 rd year students. The difference is more for MCJ students than AIS students. Again, 1 st year AIS students have lower mean OCA score than that of 1 st year MCJ students. Again, 3 rd year AIS students have lower mean OCA score than that of 3 rd year MCJ students as well. Standard deviation of OCA score for 1 st year students is much lower than that of 3 rd year students. The difference is less for AIS students than MCJ students. Again, 1 st year AIS students have higher standard deviation of OCA score than that of 1 st year MCJ students. Besides, 3 rd year AIS students have higher standard deviation of OCA score than that of 3 rd year MCJ students as well. Minimum OCA score of 1 st year students is much lower than that of 3 rd year students. The difference is more for MCJ students than AIS students. Again, 1 st year MCJ students have lower minimum OCA score than that of 1 st year AIS students. But, 3 rd year AIS students have much lower minimum OCA score than that of 3 rd year MCJ students. Maximum OCA score of 3 rd year students is much higher than that of 1 st year AIS students. The difference is more for MCJ students than AIS students. Again, 1 st year AIS students have higher maximum OCA score than that of 1 st year MCJ students. But, 3 rd year MCJ students have higher maximum OCA score than that of 3 rd year AIS students (See table 4).  In table 5, Mean OCA score of English medium/version students is much lower than that of Bangla medium students. The difference is more for MCJ students than AIS students. Again, English medium/version AIS students have higher mean OCA score than that of English medium/version MCJ students. But, Bangla medium AIS students have lower mean OCA score than that of Bangla medium MCJ students. Standard deviation of OCA score for English medium/version students is much lower than that of Bangla medium students. The difference is more for AIS students than MCJ students. Again, English medium/version AIS students have higher standard deviation of OCA score than that of English medium/version MCJ students. Bangla medium AIS students have higher standard deviation of OCA score than that of Bangla medium MCJ students as well. Minimum OCA score of Bangla medium students is much lower than that of English medium/version students. The difference is more for MCJ students than AIS students. Again, English medium/version AIS students have much lower minimum OCA score than that of English medium/version MCJ students. But, Bangla medium MCJ students have lower minimum OCA score than that of Bangla medium AIS students. Maximum OCA score of Bangla medium students is much higher than that of English medium/version students. The difference is more for MCJ students than AIS students. Again, English medium/version AIS students have higher maximum OCA score than that of English medium/version MCJ students. But, Bangla medium MCJ students have higher maximum OCA score than that of Bangla medium AIS students.  Table 6, educational background (0.29) and department (-0.16) have correlation with the overall score of OCA at 1% significance level and 5% significance level respectively.  Table 7. Breusch-Pagan test is also done to check whether there is any heteroskedasticity problem or not. As the chi square value is low and the probability is high (statistically insignificant), there is no heteroskedasticity problem (see Table  9). So, the model is well fitted.

Analysis and Discussion
Mean overall score is 64 which reflect average level of OCA. Still there is a big deviation of this score among the students. Besides, mean GD score is 14 while mean meeting score is 17. Though, mean interpersonal score is 15, mean PS score is 19. All the score of sub-categories also reflect average level of OCA. So, the undergraduate accounting and journalism students of Bangladesh have moderate level of OCA. It can be improved by educating themselves with required communicating tools and techniques.
As stated earlier, students were given PRCA 24 worksheet to input their information. Alongside, they were given a self-evaluator table where they can evaluate their own score and determine their own level of OCA both overall and categorically from a very personal level. This means all students participated in this research are aware about their level of OCA now. It is expected that students with higher/ moderate OCA will try to overcome it and students with lower OCA will have more confidence onwards.
The study did not find significant difference in the OCA level between male and female which also supports the findings of Dar and Khan (2014). Again, male AIS students have lower mean OCA score than that of male MCJ students and female AIS students have lower mean OCA score than that of female MCJ students. The results confirm the outcomes of Borzi and Mills (2001). Then again female AIS students have higher maximum OCA score than that of female MCJ students which also supports the findings of Simmons et al. (1995). The overall finding shows that the average OCA score is higher in MCJ students than in AIS students but in certain cases, some participants of AIS got maximum OCA score which is quite high comparing to MCJ.
This research denies the fact of having any significant impact of OCA on gender although some researchers (Person et al., 2011) found it impactful as men and women having different socialization and communication encounters. This result clearly indicates the improved performance of female students over time in overcoming barriers in oral communication.
Mean OCA score of 1 st year students is higher than that of 3 rd year students which also supports the findings of (Gardner et al., 2005). It shows a positive impact of university education as the graph goes down with years giving students ample scope and opportunities to overcome the level of OCA.
As the study was based on developed hypothesis, here are the results. Among the 6 hypotheses, 2 hypotheses (H3 and H6) have been accepted. CGPA has negative impact on OCA (H3) at 10% significance level which supports the findings of (McCroskey and Anderson, 1976). Educational background (H6) has impact on OCA at 1% significance level which also supports the findings of (Dar and Khan, 2014). The other 4 hypotheses are rejected. Department (H1) has no significant impact on OCA as the p value is 0.13. Again, age (H2) has insignificant positive impact on OCA (p value 0.37). Besides, year (H4) has no significant impact on OCA because its p value is 0.96. Although mean 0CA score shows effectiveness of higher studies in senior students but the impact is not significant enough. At last, Gender (H5) has insignificant impact on OCA (p value 0.46).

Conclusion
The study satisfies identified demands to research on the determinants and the level of OCA among the undergraduate accounting and journalism students of Bangladesh. The study adds implications for the development of a strong communication skill, the development of "good communicators" and for managing balance between academic knowledge and mass communication. Significant difference is absent in the OCA level between male and female. Both male and female AIS students have lower mean OCA score than that of both male and female MCJ students. Mean OCA score of 1 st year students is higher than that of 3 rd year students. CGPA has negative impact and educational background has impact on OCA at 10% and 1% significance levels respectively. Due to the selected research method, the study outcomes may not be generalized. So, future researchers are encouraged to study using qualitative research method.