Résumé:
The endeavor of this study is to explore the common difficulties encountered by EFL students
in speaking as well as the factors behind those difficulties. In order to realize these objectives
and to evaluate the validity of the hypotheses, a field work was carried out in the Department
of English at the University of Mohamed El Bachir El Ibrahimi for the academic year 2021-
2022. The quantitative method was adopted, and the data was collected through submitting a
questionnaire to all second year students (males and females). After that, 86 participants were
randomly picked out of 215 with a percentage of 40%. The analysis of the collected data
revealed the following results: Second year English students encounter linguistic and
psychological difficulties. The former include grammar confusion, lack of vocabulary,
pronunciation problems, first language interference and the difficulty to balance accuracy and
fluency. The latter refer to fear of making mistakes, shyness, lack of self-confidence, low selfesteem, anxiety and inhibition. However, the factors that contribute to the aforementioned
difficulties are: lack of motivation and interest, irrelevance of topics to students‟ life, lack of
activities devoted to speaking and lack of equipments and audio-visual aids, over-crowded
classes and limited time, lack of exposure to English, lack of listening and speaking practice
and excessive mother tongue use. These results confirm the hypotheses. Eventually, some
recommendations and suggestions are provided for students, teachers, administrators and
curriculum designers in attempt to help overcoming these problems
