The reluctance of participating in oral activities in the class among eighth grade students at I.E San Jose de Luruaco

Abstract

This research process attempted to identify the affective factors which inhibit students to participate in oral activities and to use the target language in the classroom. The study was conducted with eighth grade students at San Jose de Luruaco School. In order to attain the objectives, the qualitative method was selected to facilitate the analysis of the students’ attitudes during oral activities and also to know their points of view about the strategies implemented in the classroom to develop speaking and communication. The instruments used for data collection were classroom observations, questionnaires and interviews to students and the teacher. The results indicated that most of the students are reluctant to participate orally in class due to different affective factors such as anxiety, low motivation, low self-confidence, fear of making mistakes, being ridiculed by their peers and also teacher’s method for correcting mistakes. On the other hand, students know the importance of using the target language for improving speaking and communication in the foreign language, however they recognize they have some limitations in relevant aspects of the language learning such as vocabulary and pronunciation which affect their motivation to perform in oral activities. Based on these findings, some implications were presented with the purpose of enhancing the oral participation in EFL classrooms.