Psychological Barriers Contributing to Students’ Poor English Language Speaking Skills

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate psychological barriers contributing to students’ poor English language speaking skills at the College of Education and Behavioural Sciences, Haramaya University, Eastern Etiopia. A descriptive survey research design was employed through a stratified random sampling technique to collect primary data from participants (n = 210) by using a questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the collected data. The finding indicated that 75% of the participants agreed upon psychological barriers contributing to students’ poor English language speaking skills in Ethiopian Higher Learning Institutions in general and Haramaya University in particular. Students’ lack of confidence in English language speaking skills, lack of motivation to speak the English language, fear of mistakes while speaking in English in front of many eyes, shyness, and stage anxiety (psychological barriers) contributed about 88% to students’ poor English language speaking skills. There was a statistically significant mean difference between female and male respondents in English language speaking during their senior essay presentation, open defense, and advisory activities. To conclude, fear of mistakes, stage anxiety, shyness, lack of self-confidence, and lack of motivation were the five psychological barriers contributing to students’ poor English language speaking skills.