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 language learners as a second language aim to develop speaking skill abilities and consider it as a challenging task. In this study, the aim is 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 adopted a quantitative method using survey. Therefore, a questionnaire was designed to understand the student’s perception towards the factors that may have impact on the speaking score. A sample of 147 students that includes English as a second language learners from ZU from different nationalities is selected. The results indicated that academic and conversational English skill has 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 curriculums and academic plans to further enhance the speaking skill for English learners as a second language.