Digital oratory: a multi-data analysis of L2 speakers’ public speaking anxiety and nonverbal speech performance in digital contexts

Abstract Digital oratory skills have become essential for academic and professional success in today’s digital world, making it imperative to integrate digital oratory training into public speaking pedagogy. This study examined second language (L2) speakers’ public speaking anxiety and nonverbal speech performance in the context of digital oratory. Participants were 40 English as a second language students enrolled in a public speaking course at a Hong Kong university. Each student recorded and uploaded an 8-minute speech to a digital learning platform. They also completed a questionnaire measuring digital oratory anxiety and participated in semi-structured interviews sharing their perceptions of digital presentation. Nonverbal speech performance was assessed, and correlations with digital oratory anxiety were analyzed. The results showed that cognitive and physiological factors had a greater influence on digital oratory anxiety than behavioral and technical factors. Although no significant correlations were found between digital oratory anxiety and nonverbal speech performances, the technical factor had the least impact on L2 students’ anxiety, leading to positive outcomes regarding the technical quality of the speech videos. Comparatively, eye contact and gestures attained much lower mean scores than voice control and facial expressions. Interview results further elucidated the benefits and challenges students experienced during digital presentations. Pedagogically, the findings highlight the need of a holistic approach considering cognitive, physiological, behavioral, and technical factors to address L2 learners’ digital oratory anxiety. Given its affordability and accessibility, digital oratory can be effectively integrated into instruction to develop L2 students’ multimodal communication and nonverbal delivery skills.