Tahereh Afrough - Department of English, Sama Technical and Vocational training college, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas Branch, Bandar Abbas, Iran
Ali Rahimi - Bangkok University, Bangkok, Thailand

Demotivation is a new issue in the field of second language (L2) learning and teaching. What is more unfortunate is that in the context of Iran, this concept has not been explored in more than a few studies and it can negatively influence the learners' attitudes and behaviors. To address this gap, the current study was carried out to compare Iranian EFL teachers’ and learners’ perceptions about demotivating factors with regard to practicing speaking skill in high school. To achieve this goal, 80 Iranian EFL teachers ( 40 males and 40 females) and 300 Iranian high school students(150 males and 150 females) were selected through convenience sampling method. Students and teachers filled the Persian version of the developed Questionnaire Foreign Language Speaking Demotivation (QFLSD). The personal and external factors which emerged were negative attitude toward learning L2, teacher’s inadequate competence and performance, lack of adequate teaching materials, unfavorable classroom climate, and insufficient opportunities for speaking practice. The Mann-Whitney test was run to probe any similarities and differences between students’ and teachers’ perceptions of these six factors. Both groups have similar perceptions about how much impact of teachers’ inadequate competence and performance and competence on learners’ motivation to practice speaking. Compared to teachers, students put significantly higher emphasis on the effects of their negative attitude to language learning and speaking on their demotivation regarding speaking practice and the other factors emphasized by teachers significantly more than by students.

Demotivation, speaking skill, high school learners, EFL high school teachers