Main Factors that Affect Ecuadorian Public High School Students EFL Speaking S kills in the classroom.

Abstract

Abstract:A notorious problem related to Teaching English is how teachers can help students develop their speaking skills. Thus, this study focuses on Main factors that affect public high school students EFL speaking skills in the classroom . Its objective is to determine how those factors influence students communicative skills and how much time teachers dedic ate for teaching vocabulary and for promoting speaking activities. To perform the current research, qualitative and quantitative methods were applied. I ts population was made of fifty-nine students from a public high school in Machala city, who belong to Second grade of Bachillerato. They were administered surveys and a structured interview. Moreover, teachers who worked in those high school levels were applied a survey which helped compare the information provided by students. The analysis of the findings obt ained showed that classmates teasing clearly affect students to participate in speaking activities because students feel unmotivated, anxious and nervous. Another factor that influence students to avoid speaking English is relat ed to the limited time their teachers give them for speaking practice and the limited vocabulary they learn in the class.