The Effects of Shyness and Lack of Confidence as Psychological Barriers on EFL Learners' Speaking Skills: A Case Study of South Punjab

Abstract

This work investigated the effects of shyness and lack of confidence as psychological barriers on EFL learner' speaking skill, particularly at the public sector colleges, universities and the sub-campuses of these universities located in the South Punjab, Pakistan. This project was scheduled to use a mixed-method type. Majority of the students indicated that there is an insignificant and negative relationship between the variables of shyness, lack of confidence and speaking English achievements. Since, as the shyness and lack of confidence increases, the speaking achievement decreases and as the shyness and lack of confidence decreases the speaking achievement increases. Findings from the explored work indicate that EFL teachers firstly, cultivate proper teaching circumstances by providing pupils adequate interval to prepare themselves for a conversational activity, develop a mind map to generate ideas, and offer learners plentiful time span to accomplish the given task well in the class.