An Exploration into the Nature of Obstacles to Developing Oral Communication Skills in Target Language among Iranian EFL Learners

Since language is considered a social practice, language learners are expected to be able to communicate in target language and apply their language knowledge in daily conversations. In Iran, school English textbooks focus on promoting students' fundamental skills in grammar and vocabulary to fulfill their needs in understanding deep structure of target language, so the majority of the students do well in written exams and seem to possess a good command of English, while when it comes to oral communication they are extremely unexpected. The present study was concerned with an investigation into the nature of obstacles to developing oral communication skills among Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students during their seven years of English study. Two hundred Iranian EFL learners studying at the last two grades of high school answered a questionnaire of nine items, developed by the researcher. Nine English teachers, of different ages and years of experience were also interviewed by the researcher. Findings indicated that the obstacles can be classified into five groups of time effect, textbooks' effect, motivation, teachers' effect, and classroom activities.

کلیدواژه ها:

textbooks' effect ، motivation ، teachers' effect ، classroom activities