A study investigated the time honored notion that students who successfully complete a basic course in public speaking will experience less anxiety about speech situations, and will have significantly different emotional reactions to potential public speaking situations. Scales to measure communication apprehension, speech anxiety, and pleasure, arousal, and dominance as trait emotions (personality characteristics) and as state emotions (changing emotional response) were administered to all students of all five sections of an undergraduate public speaking class at the beginning and end of the semester. Classes ranged in size from 15 to 24 students. Results showed that successful completion of the course did indeed reduce anxiety about public speaking, and that subjects' trait emotions remained constant. State emotions of pleasure were neutral and unchanged, arousal was reduced, and dominance was higher. This lends support to the notion that traits are predispositions but that cognitive change can intervene between them and state reactions; thus higher feelings of mastery and control in a public speech situation are associated with lower anxiety. (One table of data is included and 12 references are attached.) (SR)