An Investigation into the Challenges EFL Libyan University Students Encounter in English Speaking Classroom

Abstract

Speaking is one of the important English language skills that should be mastered by students and teachers besides the other language skills (reading, listening and writing). According to Chancy (1998:3), "speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and nonverbal symbols in a variety of context. Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching". Ur (1996) considered speaking as the most important skill among the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) because people who know a language are referred to as speakers of that language. This indicates that using a language is more important than just knowing about it because “there is no point knowing a lot about language if you can’t use it” (Scrivener, 2005:146). In this case, students should be able to communicate with others in order to get or to share their knowledge and/or to express what they feel.