Perspectives of EFL Students´ Difficulties in Speaking: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

An unprecedented surge in English language learning has spread all over the world. Unfortunately, interacting in such a language for EFL learners is an effort. This descriptive study focuses on the difficulties of senior students from a public high school in Ecuador when speaking in English. The research instrument was a survey that was applied to 69 students. According to the results, students struggle to self-express and understand others in oral language by the virtue of limited vocabulary, slight exposure to the language, inappropriate pronunciation, demotivation, anxiety, and translation habits. In English classes, students participated in grammar-based activities from books. They also worked in pairs to create oral dialogues. In essence, they consider that pair work promotes speaking amelioration, notwithstanding drawbacks such as little collaboration, unequal level of knowledge, and feeling of superiority from more active peers. This research represents a source of reference to similar studies in EFL teaching areas.