Teaching english speaking skills to the arab students in the Saudi school in Kuala Lumpur :problems and solutions

Abstract

Teaching English speaking skills to the Arab students has always been a challenging task for EFL teachers because it is a foreign language. For this reason, EFL teachers must constantly learn new strategies to overcome the variety of problems concerning speaking skills in the classroom. Although much research has been conducted discussing the difficulties related to teaching English language skills to the Arab students in the Middle East, this study is considered the first study which focuses on problems in learning and teaching speaking skills in the Saudi School in Kuala Lumpur where English is spoken as a second language. The primary purpose of this study is to explore the major problems which influence the teaching of English speaking skills to the Arab students in the Saudi School in Kuala Lumpur. It also aims at finding out the areas of difficulties that hinder the Arab students from learning to speak in the English classes in the Saudi School. Furthermore, the research aims to explore the role of the environment on the Arab students‘ English language speaking skills in Kuala Lumpur. This research adheres to qualitative method, and its data collection was conducted through observing and interviewing four English teachers and four students selected purposively. Findings included areas like learning and teaching difficulties and curriculum inappropriateness. In conclusion, the researcher suggested some techniques to enhance the teaching quality and to enable the students to overcome their lack of speaking proficiency such as implementing communicative teaching in the classroom.