Difficulties and Weaknesses of Speaking Skill among Iranian EFL Learners: A Review Article of Speaking Obstacles in Applied Linguistic Students

Speaking skill is considered as a challenging skill for all language learners, especially nonnative EFL learners. Non-native language learners, specifically, university level students, experience many difficulties and weaknesses in way of developing or improving speaking skill. According to the importance of speaking in means of communication and improving the related issues in spoken language, the present study reviewed twenty applied linguistics papers related to the speaking skill in order to classify and find problematic parts among university students. In other words, twenty papers which are related to the speaking difficulties and weaknesses were reviewed the university level students (applied linguistics students in Iran) in particular to enrich the review of article. According to previous studies, these applied linguistic learners (as EFL learner) can have problem in linguistic variables such as grammar, vocabulary,pronunciation, and intonation; psycholinguistic variables like anxiety, self-confidence, and shyness, and also sociolinguistics variables such as culture, identity or sense of agency and etc. Moreover, educational related problems such as insufficient courses and lack of teachers’ proficiency can put the learners in trouble. The main findings of this study can create a path toward improving and solving the difficulties and problems in speaking related issues inlanguage studies.

Keywords:

Difficulties , Weaknesses , Speaking Skill , EFL Learners , Applied Linguistic Students , Iran