Voicing obstacles in EFL learning
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Date
2024
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University of Oum El Bouaghi
Abstract
Stuttering is a speech disfluency that has been extensively tackled by different researchers due to its profound impact on the individual’s quality of life, especially in educational settings. It has been constantly proven to pose significant challenges to students in the academic environment and to hinder their ability to interact and communicate effectively, and EFL learners are no exception to these setbacks. The current research aims to explore the place of stuttering in EFL Algerian pupils’ educational trajectories as well as its impact on their language and interaction skills development, and to scrutinize the social and psychological factors affecting their language performance. To this end, a phenomenological study was conducted to obtain a thorough understanding of stuttering EFL pupils’ experiences employing purposive sampling from three different populations, namely pupils who stuttered, teachers with pertinent experience, and speech therapists. Data were collected through overt classroom observations and in-depth semi-structured interviews and were thematically leveraged for analysis with NVivo. The results obtained exhibited that stuttering impacted EFL Algerian pupils’ interaction in the classroom but not their overall English language achievement. Nevertheless, it was substantiated that it caused a noteworthy obstruction to their spoken language performance due to the lack of practice and impeded pronunciation attempts that it seemed to engender. It additionally posed momentous social and psychological challenges to EFL pupils suffering from it. These findings suggest the need for sensitization among teachers and pupils alike about the deep impact of stuttering on those who suffer from it, as well as the exigency for the allocation of more scholastic time for EFL classes and more institutional positions for speech-therapists to provide unconditional help for pupils in need.