EFL Learners' Beliefs about Speaking English and Being a Good Speaker: A Metaphor Analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the beliefs of English as foreign language (EFL) learners about speaking in English and being a good speaker of English through metaphor analysis. A phenomenological approach was adopted and 60 EFL learners completed a questionnaire with demographic questions and two prompts focusing on the characteristics of a good English speaker (i.e., "Speaking English is like… because…" and "A good speaker of English is like… because…"). For the first prompt about speaking English, 46 valid metaphors were determined, which were categorized under five conceptual themes. For the second prompts about being a good speaker of English, 27 valid metaphors were given, with six conceptual categories identified. Findings showed that learners mostly perceived speaking as a skill requiring much effort and also giving pleasure. They described a good speaker of English as someone who is fluent at speaking, universal, disarming, wise, privileged and hardworking. The conceptual categories were also described with the speaking achievement and these categories were found to be connected to the degree of achievement. The findings gave insight into a better understanding of the speaking skill and what makes a good speaker of English for language educators.

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“…Mastery of speaking in another language is a complex process: the speaker must learn a variety of skills including both linguistic and non-linguistic elements, and should be able to conduct a free-flowing conversation (Dincer, 2017;Richards, 2008;Shumin, 2002;Tarone, 2005;Zhang & Head, 2009). A number of factors affecting speakers' oral performance, including maturation constraints (i.e., age), aural medium factors (i.e., listening skills), sociocultural factors (i.e., cultural elements), and affective factors (i.e., L2 anxiety, L2 motivation, selfesteem, confidence) can be listed in addition to linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discourse competence (Kawai, 2008;Shumin, 2002).…”

“…A number of factors affecting speakers' oral performance, including maturation constraints (i.e., age), aural medium factors (i.e., listening skills), sociocultural factors (i.e., cultural elements), and affective factors (i.e., L2 anxiety, L2 motivation, selfesteem, confidence) can be listed in addition to linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discourse competence (Kawai, 2008;Shumin, 2002). With its complex nature hindering proficiency, spoken English is arduous; language learners must spend significant time and effort on mastery (Dincer, 2017;Kawai, 2008). Spoken English is also a skill in high demand, as knowing a language is frequently equated with speaking a language at a communication level (Pawlak, 2018).…”

“…Spoken English is also a skill in high demand, as knowing a language is frequently equated with speaking a language at a communication level (Pawlak, 2018). Most learners in today's globalized world study English to obtain speaking proficiency; it is considered the most demanding among the four main language skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking (Dincer, 2017;Zhang & Head, 2009). Although speaking is the most challenging skill, most English language learners have limited opportunities to practice the language outside the classroom, despite today's technological advances (Dincer & Yesilyurt, 2013;Kawai, 2008;Pawlak, 2014Pawlak, , 2018Ruixue, Zejun, & Yijing, 2012).…”

Metaphorical Perceptions of Turkish EFL Students about Themselves The Sample of Kafkas University

“…There have been different studies in relation to metaphors about students, teachers, lessons, languages as well as school environments [6,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22].…”

“…In another study Dinçer [22] examined 60 EFL Learners related to their beliefs about speaking English and being a good speaker with respect to metaphor analysis and discovered that EFL learners created 46 valid metaphors and he grouped them under five conceptual themes, whereas he determined 27 valid metaphors for being a good speaker of English, and grouped them under six conceptual categories.…”