Investigating the Psychological Barriers Affecting EFL Learners Performance in Speaking

Abstract

This study is mainly concerned with investigating some psychological barriers which affect Sudanese EFL learners ‘performance in speaking skills.Among the many barriers that the researcher has investigated and mentioned, are (anxiety, lack of motivation, lack of self-confidence, and shyness).The researcher has used the descriptive methodology and used questionnaire to collect data from the population of the study which is the teachers of Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST). The researcher has distributed 30 questionnaires and all the reached results point out that most of Sudanese EFL learners have problems of speaking performance related to psychological barriers that are proved to cause a number of difficulties such as lack of vocabulary, fear of committing mistakes and has nothing to say.The researcher has recommended that teachers should use the teaching aids in classrooms in order to enable students to speak English fluently as well as to encourage students to communicate in English inside or outside the classroom.