Investigating the Problems Faced by the University EFL Learners in Speaking English Language

Abstract

Speaking English is a part of the daily academic life of the EFL learners at the undergraduate level of the major English programs in Bangladesh. This practice sometimes creates many problems for first-year undergraduate public and private university students. Despite its importance, sufficient data about the problems Bangladeshi university students face in speaking English was not found. To investigate the problems of speaking faced by the undergraduate students, the current study applied mixed methods, and eighty-eight students and four teachers from four universities participated in it. The result shows that both public and private university students with English majors face a lot of problems communicating in English. However, this study has found that public university students are slightly more competent in English and face fewer problems than private university students. The participants expressed different insights on the roles of curriculum, teaching techniques, and individual institutions to overcome the students' weakness in English speaking skills. Finally, the study puts forward some very specific recommendations on the basis of the findings for the concerned stakeholders.