A Review of Selected Behavioral Treatment Programs Designed to Reduce Communication Apprehension, Inhibition and Avoidance(CAIA)(展望)

Abstract

Japanese society at large is calling for an improvement of communicative skills, and society's call is in being echoed by the Ministry of Education's recommendation that the communication skills of Japanese students be targeted for improvement in school curriculums. Problematic in the implementation of communicative skill programs, however, is the fact that a significant percentage of the Japanese population suffers from communication difficulties. The body of research concerned with identifying and treating communication difficulties is defined in this paper as Communication Apprehension, Inhibition, and Avoidance (CAIA). CAIA is an umbrella term used to unite the research areas which deal with the research and treatment of communication difficulties. Perhaps due to a historical lack of communication education in Japan, however, many of the behavioral treatments for communication difficulties are relatively unknown. This paper reviews American programs designed for helping students with communication problems caused by skill deficits, mainly rhetoritherapy, and also offers a brief explanation of CAIA measurement instruments.