Investigating Psychological Barriers To Oral Fluency-the Case Of Second Year Efl Student Mohamed Boudiaf Msila University

Résumé: In Algerian EFL classes, English speaking performance mainly oral fluency when using the language in front of an audience is affected by some psychological factors (anxiety, fear of making mistakes, shyness...); due to this impact ,this study is built to find out the different psychological barriers of EFL students and to investigate students’ awareness about their psychological hindrances of speaking fluently, and also teachers’ awareness about their students speaking problems and how to help them cope with these problems. The present work is conducted with second year English LMD students at Mohamed Boudiaf M'sila University; the sample size was 48 students of different ages and genders. The study uses a triangulation methodology of data collection tools which includes a questionnaire for the students, interview with four oral expression teachers in the English department, and classroom observation. Thus, it follows a descriptive analytical method to analyze the obtained data from the three data collection tools; The study shows that most foreign language learners have psychological hindrances that prompt them from speaking fluently and use the language proficiently mainly anxiety and fear of making mistakes and lack of motivation to speak. The results also illustrate different activities that teachers do to reduce those barriers and the reasons of what makes those psychological factors decrease in the classroom and hinder the students from being fluent speakers. At the end of the study some recommendations are provided for the teachers, and students of English department of M’sila University to enhance students' oral fluency level.

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