Abstract

Reading, writing, listening and speaking are the four primary and required skills of every language. Of the four skills of a language, speaking is the skill that always matters the most for a language learner, and it is considered essential. According to Nazara (2012), speaking is an important and essential skill of the four language skills, and as an EFL student, one needs to master the speaking skill. However, the majority of Afghan EFL undergraduates face difficulties in this all-important skill of the language. According to Zia and Sulan (2015), for most of Afghan undergraduate EFL learners, reading and writing are easy, but in oral communication, they are not accurate and fluent. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the factors that affect the Afghan EFL undergraduates’ speaking skill at Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University Kunar, Afghanistan. The study specifically investigates teacher-related factors that affect students’ speaking skill. A mixed method was used for this study, i.e., quantitative (questionnaire) as well as qualitative (interview). The data of the questionnaire was descriptively analysed in SPSS version 20 and presented in figures and tables. The interview data were thematically analysed and presented. A total of 90 students (40 junior and 50 senior) were purposively selected and participated in this study. The findings revealed that the rare use of speaking activities like pair work, group work, role-plays, group presentations and improper methods of teaching were some of the factors on the part of teachers that affected students' speaking skill. It is hoped that the findings of the current study will help teachers as well as educators to be attentive toward their related responsibilities to reduce the factors that affect students' speaking skill.