“Sorry, I Can’t Speak”: English Teachers’ Challenges of Teaching EFL Speaking in an Indonesian Vocational High School Sector

Abstract

Teaching speaking in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes at Indonesian vocational high schools has not been extensively studied from teachers’ perspectives. This paper reports on findings from interview data from four EFL teachers in an Indonesian vocational high school regarding the challenges they encounter on teaching EFL speaking and how they deal with these in the classroom. A case study design which enables researchers to explore a particular issue within a specific context deeply was used. The participating teachers in this study were voluntarily recruited for in-depth interviews. The data were analyzed with thematic analysis to capture emerging themes from the participants’ own words. The results of this study suggested that the participants experienced a number of challenging issues in teaching speaking to their students. They perceived that students’ lack of vocabulary and poor pronunciation were the major problems they encountered while teaching speaking in class. Furthermore, psychological factors such as a lack of confidence and low motivation were also factors hindering communicative speaking activities during class. Based on the findings, policymakers should reframe the current curriculum for speaking classes in the Indonesian vocational high schools.