EFL Students’ Reluctance in Participating in English Speaking Activities at University College of Applied Sciences: Challenges and Solutions

Abstract

This study tackles the main reasons behind EFL students’ reticence in participating in speaking activities in the English language classrooms at the University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS) in Gaza, Palestine. As an emerging issue in the field of teaching and learning English, speaking reticence has attracted the attention of many researchers whom focused on the Asian context of learning English, particularly in China and Japan. Therefore, the researchers decided to investigate this issue in the Gaza Strip in Palestine in specific. Through a questionnaire distributed on 140 participants from different departments and specializations at UCAS, the researchers were able to collect data for the study analysis, which adopted mixed method. The qualitative results supported the quantitative ones, so that the study outcomes would be helpful to decrease the Palestinian students’ speaking reticence and to be taken into consideration for further research studies.