Speaking Problems of 9 th Grade High School Turkish Learners of L2 English and Possible Reasons for those Problems: Exploring the Teachers and Students’ Perspectives

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the speaking problems of ninth-grade high school Turkish EFL learners and possible reasons for these problems through the perspective of teachers and students. The means of data collection involved a questionnaire for teachers and students, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations considering classroom materials and syllabus. The results revealed that the students mostly experienced problems in speaking English affectively through personal factors including: insufficient language and content knowledge, limited contact with English outside the classroom, and the mis- directed methods and materials used in the classroom.