Factors affecting EFL student´s oral communication skills

Abstract

Abstract: The study seeks identify the pedagogical and individual factors that affect oral communication competence in students of public educational units. The sample consisted of five qualified EFL teachers and 41 high school students from the province of Azuay in Ecuador. To accomplish this purpose, a mixed approach methodology was used, that is, quantitative and qualitative, these consisted of the application of four research instruments: A teacher´s survey, a student´s survey, and a teacher´s interview, and five class observations. The results reported that the pedagogical factors that affect the development of language skills in English classes are the lack of class planning, the lack of resources to promote oral communication, and the lack of teacher s monitoring of the students' learning process. While individual student factors that affect English learning are low motivation, anxiety, and linguistic factors related to inadequate vocabulary management. All these aspects limit the mastery of the linguistic ability in the EFL context.