Abstract

This study aimed to investigate (1) the factors affecting Chinese EFL learners' difficulties when speaking English, (2) the levels of English speaking difficulties experienced by Chinese EFL learners, and (3) how they perceive teachers' help to overcome such difficulties. Eighty-five non-English major Chinese postgraduate students at a Thai university participated in this study. This study used a mixed-methods design that included a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to analyze the data obtained from the questionnaire. Content analysis was used to look for themes that emerged from the data obtained from the semi-structured interview. The finding indicated that linguistic factors were the most influential for non-English major Chinese postgraduate students at a Thai university when speaking English. Moreover, this study also found that the overall mean score of 85 non-English major Chinese postgraduate students at a Thai university who participated in the survey was 3.66 out of 5 in English speaking difficulties, which indicated that the 85 participants generally experienced a high level of English speaking difficulties. Furthermore, the results revealed in the semi-structured interviews can be divided into five themes: teaching pronunciation, teaching vocabulary, offering more opportunities for English speaking, reducing criticism, and giving positive feedback.

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