Psychological Factors Affecting EFL Learners’ Speaking Performance in ELT Context in Iran: A Qualitative Study

Speaking is one of the four macro skills to be developed as a means of effectivecommunication in both first and second language learning contexts. In the English as aForeign Language (EFL) context, how to increase speaking competence and confidence forEFL students tends to be a crucial question among instructors. Moreover, in every learningsituation or environment, human psychology plays a significant role. Hence, Englishspeaking is a language skill that is highly affected by human psychology. This qualitativestudy aimed at explaining the psychological factors that affects EFL learners‟ speakingperformance in ELT context in Iran. A descriptive qualitative design was used to conduct thisresearch. The research was consisted of theoretical review, field notes, observations, andunstructured interviews. The participants of the study were 20 students in Bojnord StateUniversity. The data were analyzed using the interactive analysis technique developed byMiles and Huberman (1994). The results of the research reveal that the psychological factorsnegatively affect the students‟ English speaking performance. Although most of the studentsthink that they have good level of English vocabulary and grammar, they are insecure whilespeaking English. These results showed that there were a variety of factors such as fear ofmaking mistakes, feeling shy, feeling hesitated, lack of confidence while speaking English.Finally, some suggestions expected to be significant remedies to overcome the problem wereproposed by the researcher.

Keywords:

Psychological Factors , Speaking Skill , Qualitative Study