Factors affecting EFL student s oral communication skills

Abstract

Abstract: The current research called "Factors Affecting EFL Students' Oral Communication Skills" aims to determine the pedagogical and individual factors that affect the communicative competence of EFL students. The research sample consisted of five EFL teachers and forty high school students from the province of Loja-Ecuador. A mixed research method was used for the research, which consisted of a quantitative and qualitative approach for the application of four research instruments which were the teacher s survey, the student s survey, the teacher s interview, and the observation sheet. The data collected from the surveys were presented on a four-point Likert scale and were compared with what was declared in the interviews and classes observation. The results of the present study evidenced that the pedagogical factors that affect the students oral communication skills were method, activities, and evaluations applied, and the individual factors that produce the same problem were lack of motivation and lack of language practice. Throughout the current process, it was found that even though teachers plan their classes, those plans did not reflect the expected results of improving the oral skill.