Factors affecting EFL students oral communication skills

Abstract

Abstract: The present study named Factors Affecting EFL Students Oral Communication Skills aimsto identify which factors, both pedagogical and individual,most affect the development of EFLlearners speaking skills. This research study was carried out in two public high schools in the city of Piñas, El Oro province, Ecuador. The participants were 40 EFL students and five Englishteachers from the first and second year of high school. Throughout this inquiry, a mixed approach, both quantitative and qualitative, was implemented. The information was collected through surveys, interviews,and class observation, and displayed in tablesusing the Likert scalefollowed by a thorough analysis factor by factor.According tothe findings, the pedagogical factors that most affect the students oral communication skills are the type of class activities, the type of assessment, and the extra-class activities; and the individual factors are anxiety, academic and linguistic factors. The author recommends that EFL teachers should update on activities to develop students oral communication skills by attending workshops or training programs before each school year.