Path to Success or Failure in Foreign Language Speaking

Abstract

The article contributes to the research field on the development of speaking in a foreign language. It presents the results of a survey conducted at the University of Defence in Brno. The survey was designed to identify differences between two groups of fifty students with different levels of their speaking sklil in English, corresponding to A1 and B1 levels in terms of the CEFR. The participants were interviewed in Czech about their previous language achievements, motivation to learn English and their experience of learning English. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed using inferential and descriptive statistics. The outcomes have shown that the groups differed significantly in the type of school the students had studied at prior to the university, the grades they had achieved in their secondary school leaving examinations in English Language and Czech Language and Literature, and the degree of their motivation to learn English. Furthermore, the analysis of students’ opinions on the development of their speaking skill in English has revealed that successful foreign language speakers actively seek opportunities to speak in the foreign language, and attribute their success to factors within their control, which is not the case of the unsuccessful ones. The author proposes that undergraduates with low foreign language skills should be detected and interviewed in their native language when they enter university to reflect on their language learning experience, and encouraged to resume responsibility for their language skills development.