Students’ perception on the factors that influence their willingness to orally communicate in the EFL classroom in Ecuadorian high schools

Abstract

This research addresses the students’ perception on the factors that influence their willingness to orally communicate in the EFL classroom in Ecuadorian high schools. The aim is to find out the facts how motivation, proficiency level and personality influence students’ willingness to orally communicate. This research came true in a State school located in Guayaquil, Ecuador, whose participants were 20 students from 9th to 10th grade in General Basic Education, and from 1st to 3rd grades in the Senior High School. The methods used to carry out this research were the qualitative and quantitative. The first one gives the details of students’ motivation to speak English in several activities, how teachers can motivate students to speak English, description of different levels of English proficiency focused on speaking, personality types and how to teach speaking. The latter method gives details of results obtained through questionnaires taken to participants based on the objective mentioned above. The results obtained suggest that motivation plays an important role to speak English in class. The more speaking activities teachers offer, the more motivated the students feel.