Speaking problems among Saudi

English students in Qassim
University in Saudi Arabia. 
By: Abdullah Suliman alhufair
ID:351113106
Email: abo7fr@gmail.com
The Subject: Research methodology

The instructor: Dr. Fahad Hamad Aljumah

abstract
This study is aimed at analyzing the effectiveness and importance of speaking

skills, as it is one of the most crucial and learning-oriented aspects in the

language education field. The English as a foreign language (EFL) Saudi

male students from Qassim university was selected for this study and all of

the respondents were willing to provide their viewpoints in response to the

questionnaires provided to them. The entire study was based on considering

and acting upon the importance of speaking activities inside and outside the

classroom. Results have shown that there are issues and needs associated

with speaking activities: speaking tasks and speaking materials

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Table of content
Abstract 1
Table of content 2
Chapter 1:
Introduction 3
Research purpose 3
Research question 3 
Chapter2:
Literature review 4
Chapter 3:
Research Methodology 8
Research participants 8
Collecting data 8
Chapter 4:
Result and discussion 9
Chapter 5:
Appendix 15
Reference 16

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Chapter 1:

Introduction
Why are public speaking skill is so important?

I’m not just talking about standing up and delivering a planned presentation. I

mean being able to talk to others easily, clearly and powerfully about yourself,

your job and why it’s important – to your seatmate in the airplane, passers-by

at a trade expo and co-workers in a last-minute meeting and also when you’re

delivering a planned presentation. In this research we going to discuss the

lack

of speaking skill as EFL learner.

Research purpose

the purpose of this research is to review the speaking problems encountered

by Saudi English student in Qassim university and focusing on the reasons

that lie behind these problems. This research concludes that Saudi English

student encounter many serious problems in speaking language skill. It also

concludes that the reasons that lie behind these problems are many such as:

English is not the mother tongue of Saudi English student, Saudi English

student use Arabic as their formal language of communication, the lack of the

target language exposure as spoken by its native speakers, Saudi English

student preference for using Arabic in the classrooms rather than English, the

lack and weakness of the input in their language teaching context, the lack of

the Saudi English student personal motivation, the inappropriateness and

weakness of the English language curricula adopted by some academic

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institutions, etc. the reason for choosing this topic is because of high

percentage of English student in Qassim university that can't speak English

appropriately, even the senior English student have this problem. As a result

some student can't express them self or explain to the teacher if they didn't

understand something. Also, when they graduate from college the will face

a lot of problems with job interviews or when they become teachers.

Research question 
 
1) What are the reasons for the lack of speaking skill of the English
student in Qassim university? 
2) How will this problem affect the English student in Qassim
university? 

3) How can the English student in Qassim university avoid this problem
and improve their speaking skill? 

Chapter 2:

Literature review

Many studies have explored the use of speaking skill in classes and

discussed the problems with speaking in classes. One of these studies is by

Basmah Ali Abu-ghararah( 2014) "This study is aimed at analyzing the

effectiveness of speaking practice exercises, as it is one of the most crucial

and learning-oriented aspects of the language education field. The English as

a foreign language (EFL) Saudi sector was selected for this study. The entire

study was based on considering and acting upon the importance of speaking

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activities inside and outside the classroom. Results have shown that there are

issues and needs associated with speaking activities: speaking tasks and

speaking materials".

We can learn from this study that’s the lack of speaking activities inside

and outside the classroom can be a major problem to the improvement of

speaking skill in English students. So the teacher should know that apart from

reading the written text aloud and answering the teacher's questions, learners

should have enough opportunity to practice the language.

Another reason for the lacking of speaking skill is the anxiety of speaking

the language inside and outside the classroom. (Young, 1992)"A considerable

number of previous studies have proven that speaking is the most anxiety-

provoking skill among the four main English language skills". so we can notice

that EFL learners are afraid to speak and show an unwillingness to speak and

share in language classrooms’ discussions. Previous research on language

anxiety by Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope (1986) has shown that "the most

important causes that raise speaking anxiety among EFL learners are the

three components of anxiety which are: communication apprehension;

students' fear of negative evaluation; and test-anxiety".

We can understand from this studies that the anxiety and lack of

encouragement can affect the EFL learner's speaking skill, and because of

that, learners will not speak and participate in class. instead, the learners use

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their native language to speak to their teacher or classmates. so their

speaking skill will not improve.

This problem of lacking speaking skill will affect the EFL learners in many

ways. First, it will affect their education improvement. For example, when a

student can't ask the teacher about something that he doesn't know

mentioned in the lecture or when the student can not express a problem that

he faces in a test, Because Either, he lacks the speaking skill or he is afraid

and anxious to speak. Eventually, that will lead to losing some marks or

maybe a fail at an exam. Also, the lack of speaking skill will affect the EFL

students life after their graduation from college when they try to find a job.

Here are some examples:

1-Call Centres and Instant Employability of Graduates

Call centers is an example of a job that the graduates can get.

According to Suresh,p(2017) said " a graduate, who is just out of college, may

get a job in a call center if his or her English skills are impressive and

effective. Proficiency in English language, especially pronunciation, is

emphasized. In most of the call center interviews academic records of the

candidates are not counted much, but extensive command over English

language seems to be the deciding criterion."

2- The Role of English Language in Job Interviews

Most of the jobs in the industry right now require English language skills

especially if you're an EFL college graduate. So if he doesn’t speak the

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language appropriately he will not get the job. Suresh,p(2017) also said " In

the world of globalization, English is the only medium of communication in

most of the interviews for graduates. So, it is necessary that a prospective

employee is good at his/her verbal communication. We can articulate the

message across clearly and effectively if we are proficient in English language

and its pronunciation.".

there are many ways to improve the lack of speaking skills is the EFL

students. One of them is using English learning apps or by playing video

games with native speaker online. nowadays technology becomes part of our

lives such as smartphones, laptops, and internet:

1- English learning apps

english learning apps are widely used between learner because they are

very easy to use and their prices are becoming more affordable to the majority

of people.One of the most used apps between learners is (Cambly). What's

Cambly ?(www.cambly.com/fr/help/what-is-cambly)" Cambly gives you instant

access to friendly native English speakers, so you can practice English

conversation. Tutors are ready to help you 24/7, whenever you have time to

practice. You can browse tutor profiles to find tutors with relevant experience

or interests. Cambly tutors have a wide range of education and professions.

You can also search for interesting topics to read and discuss with your

tutors"

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 2- Video games
There are a lot of people who play video games and they are increasing

every day. People who play video games are usually between the age of 7 to

27 years. that’s mean most of them are students. Edro .B (2014) said that

“ video game is a powerful and effective tool to improve a new language”.

Video games can improve your speaking skills by talking to other players

online. Usually, players speak English when they play online.

Chapter 3:

Research Methodology
The method used in this research is Questionnaires method. we gave the

participants a survey that contains a set of question for the participant to

answer online.

Research participants

this research is concerned with 30 male English students at Qassim

University in their formal college education who registered for college English

ranging from the academic year 2014–2015 to 2017–2018 Their age is

between 20 to 23 years old.They are from Level 5-8.

Collecting data
The following data were collected using google forms. by giving the

participant a link that has a survey that contains a set of question

(https://goo.gl/forms/pOGrN1OahEA90aAK2 ).

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Chapter 4:
Result and discussion

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 As shown above. In the first diagram out of 30 students 14 students
(46.7%) said they are not sure about their confidence in their speaking ability
.also, Four people agreed that they have no confidence in their ability to
speak English. that shows that there is a lack of speaking ability for English
students at Qassim University. Certainly, this is a big problem that we should
find the causes of this problem and, find the solution for it. especially that the
participants that were chosen are students at the last stages of their university
studies.

The results in the second diagram show that 24 students out of 30 (80%)
students believe that they do not have enough homework and speaking
exercises. This supports the idea mentioned in the literature review. by

Basmah Ali Abu-ghararah( 2014)" speaking practice exercises, as it is one of

the most crucial and learning-oriented aspects of the language education

field". This is one of the main reasons that led to the low level of speaking

ability of the students of Qassim University.

Also in the third diagram 19 out of 30 students(63.3%) said they don’t

speak English with their classmates and 9 students (30%) said that they
speak English sometimes.This is also one of the problems that led to
weakening the students speaking ability. Because, the places where the
English student can use the language out of class are few. the class is one of
the best places to practice the language.

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 the question in the fourth diagram was about if the student ever felt afraid
or anxious to ask the teacher about something mentioned in the lecture
because they are afraid to make mistakes. 8 out of 30 students (26.7%) said
that they always feel anxious to ask the teacher and 16 out of 30 students
(53.3) said they do it sometimes. That supports the idea that mentioned in the
literature review, by (Young, 1992) that said "A considerable number of
previous studies have proven that speaking is the most anxiety-provoking skill
among the four main English language skills".

In the fifth diagram, we discussed one of the possible solutions for

students to raise their level of speaking skill through English learning apps.

26 out of 30 students (86.7%) believe that these programs can develop

and improve the speaking skill. The last four participants (13.3%) said that

these apps may improve the student skills. We see from this statistic that

there is almost a consensus that learning apps are important for the

development of student language ability.

In the sixth diagram, the participants were asked about the

effectiveness of another Suggested solution to raise the level of speaking

skills of students by chatting online in video games. 27 out of 30 students

(90%) agreed that chatting online will help the students to improve the

speaking skills and the last 3 students (10%) said that there is a possibility

to improve the speaking skills by online chatting in video games. That

shows that m the majority of Qassim university students believes in this

way of learning.

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 the last one the participants were asked about the importance of

speaking skills after graduation to get a job. 13 out of 30 students (43.3%)

strongly agreed with this statement. 7 out of 30 students (23.3%) agreed with

this. On the other hand, 7 out of 30 students (23.3%) strongly disagreed about

the idea of the importance of speaking skill for getting a job and the last three

students (10%) were not sure about this idea. We can see from these

statistics that there is a difference of views on this subject, But most

participants believe that speaking skills are important to get the job after

graduation.

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Chapter 5:
Appendix:

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Reference
Basmah Ali Abu-ghararah, Problems with Speaking Activities in the Saudi EFL
Classroom, AWEJ Volume.5 Number.4, 2014

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom
anxiety scale. The Modern Language Journal, 70, 125-132.

Young, D. J. (1992). Language anxiety from the foreign language specialist’s

perspective: Interviews with Krashen, Omaggio Hadley, Terrell, and Rardin. Foreign
Language Annals, 2, 157-172.

Dr. P. Suresh M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. (2017) Mastering English Pronunciation to Ensure
Employability vol. 17 issue 8, p186-193. 8p.

Edro (2014). English Expert: Learning English through video games. Retrieved from
https:// www.englishexperts.com.br/forum/learning-English-through-videogames-
t44135.html

(Cambly). What's Cambly ?: www.cambly.com/fr/help/what-is-cambly

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