1.0. Introduction
Speaking, defined by Hinkel (2005) as a process of oral language production, is one of the cardinal language skills traditionally referred to as the ‘four skills’. The skill of speaking in a non-native language, be it English or any other language is arguably difficult to teach, master and assess (Celce-Murcia, 2001; Cornfield, 1966; Díaz-Rico, 2008; Espinosa, 2003; Phillips, 1993; and Olshtain, 2001).
As linguistic research on second language acquisition has already revealed, there are fundamental differences between speaking one’s mother tongue and speaking a non-native tongue. In this connection, Starr (1996) has commented: “all normal children learn to speak the mother tongue fluently, without benefit of formal schooling, text or classroom” (p.7). Also, writing on the achievement of varying degrees of speaking proficiency in English as a non-native language, Richards and Renandya (2002, as cited in Hojati, 2013) have pointed out that “it is difficult for EFL learners, especially adults, to speak the target language fluently and appropriately”.
Speaking is one way to communicate orally. To enable students to communicate, we need to apply the language in real communication. Brown and Yule (1999) stated that speaking depends on the complexity of the information to be communicated; however, the speaker sometimes finds it difficult to clarify what they want to say. Zhang (2009) argued that speaking remains the most difficult skill to master for the majority of English learners, and they are still incompetent in communicating orally in English.
According to Ur (1996), there are many factors that cause difficulty in speaking, and they are as follows:
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Inhibition. Students are worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism, or simply shy.
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Nothing to say. Students have no motive to express themselves.
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Low or uneven participation. Only one participant can talk at a time because of large classes and the tendency of some learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all.
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Mother-tongue use. Learners who share the same mother tongue tend to use it because it is easier and because learners feel less exposed if they are speaking their mother tongue.
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