Investigating the Impact of Obstacles on English Speaking Score

Abstract

In the past decades, English language is considered the most popular spoken language worldwide. English for second language learners aims to develop speaking skill abilities and it is a challenging task. This study aims to investigate the perceived obstacles on the English-speaking score of Zarqa University (ZU) students majoring in English language and literature through the impact of various factors on the speaking score. This study adopts a quantitative method using a survey. Therefore, a questionnaire is designed to understand the students’ perception of the factors that may have an impact on the speaking score. A sample of (147) students, for whom English is a foreign language, from ZU from different nationalities are selected. The results indicate that academic and conversational English skill has a significant impact on the speaking score. However, linguistic obstacles, speech processing difficulties, speaking confidence, and access to speaking opportunities do not have significant impact on speaking score. This study provides insights to the academic institutes to focus on the improvement of their curricula and academic plans to further enhance the English speaking skill as second language learners.