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

Abstract

The present study refers to students´ perceptions on the factors that influence their willingness to orally communicate in the English as a Foreign Language classrooms in Ecuadorian high schools, to know how motivation, proficiency level and the personality influence their learning. The students who participated in this research were freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors from different high schools in Cuenca, Ecuador. These classes were observed in order to have knowledge about the students´ behavior in speaking activities during the class. Besides, students were surveyed about their opinion on how motivation, level of knowledge, and personality, influence their participation in speaking activities during the English classes. The purpose of the observations and the surveys was to know the possible factors that affect the students’ oral production during their English classes. Through this study it is possible to say that most of the students surveyed are not willing to speak English. The main factors that influence them are shyness, fear of making mistakes, lack of motivation, and the preference of the students to speak in their mother tongue.