Learners’ Challenges and English Educators’ Approaches in Teaching Speaking Skills in an ESL Classroom: A Literature Review

Abstract

Speaking skill is one of the most essential skills to be acquired as it is the means of communication around the globe. However, most of the English as second language learners (ESL), are still struggling to develop their speaking skills in English. Thus, this paper provides a literature review on the challenges faced by the ESL learners in learning speaking skills and English educators’ approaches in teaching speaking skills. Some of the challenges faced by the ESL learners are lack of motivation and self-confidence, anxiety, inhibition and limited knowledge of vocabulary. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the approaches employed by English language educators in teaching speaking skills and enhancing the speaking skills among these learners from related past studies. Some of the English language educators’ approaches in teaching speaking skills are by using social media such as Instagram, flipped classroom, debates and games as learning activities within and outside classroom. By identifying the approaches employed by other educators, ESL educators could select the ones which might be feasible in their own classroom.