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Language Curriculum Research: A Critique Paper on the Research Article entitled

Article · March 2019

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A Critique Paper on the Research Article entitled “An Analysis of Factors Influencing

Learners’ English Speaking Skill.”

A Critique Paper
Presented to

Dr. Milagros Aurea Ayalin Sabidalas

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Subject

by:

Verna B. Cariaga

March 23, 2019

For Foreign/Second Language (EFL/ESL) learners, English speaking skills can be at their

utmost priority in the sense that language learners sometimes evaluate their success in language

learning based on how well they have improved in their spoken language ability and their

competence to the global stage in general (Richards 1990).

According to Harmer (2007) and Pourhosein Gilakjani (2016), human communication is

“a complex process” in many ways. They both emphasized that the need for proper

communication is a daily call in terms of saying something effectively and transmitting

information efficiently. That’s why speakers should be both listeners and speakers at the same

time for an effective communication to take place, but speaking has been absent from testing

because of the problem in assessing it objectively and the time it takes to carry out speaking tests

(Clifford, 1987).

II. Summary

Speaking is one of the most important skills of all the four language skills because

individuals who learn a language are referred to as the speakers of that language (Ur, 1996). The

main aim of English language teaching is to give learners the ability to use English language

effectively and correctly in communication (Davies & Pearse, 2000). However, fluency and the

accurate way of communicating are becoming big problems due to lack of basic principles of

how to do it. Thus, a mere enough knowledge in this field plays big to attain what is positively

desired in the communication process.

This paper aimed to find the factors affecting on language learners’ English speaking

skill, tracing out the body of research concerning the term speaking, the importance of speaking,

characteristics of speaking performance, speaking problems, and factors affecting speaking

performance.

Appropriate speaking instruction was found to be the learners’ priority and a field in

which they need more attention, which can be useful to teachers and researchers to consider their

language learners’ speaking needs in English language teaching and learning context.

IV. Conclusion

This paper can be a big help for curriculum designers in dealing facts that affect students’

English speaking performance, most especially in the Philippines wherein English is taught in

school. Factors being mentioned in this paper have an important role in developing learners’

speaking skill. Meanwhile, the findings of this paper indicated that learners with a low self-

esteem, higher anxiety, and low motivation have serious difficulties in speaking skill in spite of

having acceptable linguistic skills. Moreover, the paper showed that students who have higher

motivation and lower anxiety can speak easily and effectively. Thus, students should have a

friendly and cooperative environment that can help them overcome their difficulties in oral

performance.

V. Recommendations

Based on the review of the literature of the study, teachers should understand their

students’ interests and feelings, improve their learners’ self-confidence, and choose the best
teaching method to keep their learners’ involved in the speaking activity. Teachers should praise

their students to speak English. They should build a friendly relationship with their students,

make them feel very happy in the class and have a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness to

study English in general and speak English in particular.

VII. References

Davies, P., & Pearse, E. (2000). Success in English Teaching. Oxford University Press.

Dincer, A., & Yesilyurt, S. (2013). Pre-Service English Teachers’ Beliefs on Speaking Skills

Based on Motivational Orientations. English Language Teaching, 6(7), 88-95.

Efrizal, D. (2012). Improving Students’ Speaking through Communicative Language Teaching

Method at Mts Jaalhaq, Sentot Ali Basa Islamic Boarding School of Bengkulu, Indonesia.

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(20), 127-134.

Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford

University Press. Howarth, P. (2001). Process Speaking. Preparing to Repeat Yourself.

MET, 10(1), 39-44.

Richards, J. C. (1990). Conversationally Speaking: Approaches to the Teaching of Conversation.

In Jack. C. Richards. The Language Teaching Matrix. New York: Cambridge University

Press. 67-85.

Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Practice and Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press. Ur, P. (2000). A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

An Analysis of Factors Influencing Learners’ English Speaking Skill

Abstract

Speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced as means of

effective communication. Speaking skill is regarded one of the most difficult aspects of language

learning. Many language learners find it difficult to express themselves in spoken language.

They are generally facing problems to use the foreign language to express their thoughts

effectively. They stop talking because they face psychological obstacles or cannot find the

suitable words and expressions. The modern world of media and mass communication requires

good knowledge of spoken English. This paper aims at establishing the need to focus on the

factors affecting on language learners’ English speaking skill. This review paper traces out the

body of research concerning the term speaking, the importance of speaking, characteristics of

speaking performance, speaking problems, and factors affecting speaking performance.

According to the review of literature, appropriate speaking instruction was found to be

the learners’ priority and a field in which they need more attention. This study can be useful to

teachers and researchers to consider their language learners’ speaking needs in English language

teaching and learning context.

Researchers:
Lai-Mei Leong1 & Seyedeh Masoumeh Ahmadi
School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia Email: lmleong@usm,my 2
University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran Email: s_m_a57@yahoo.com
Received: December 20, 2016 Accepted: February 18, 2017 Online Published: March 20, 2017

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