Exploring Vietnamese EFL English-Majored Students’ Perceptions of the Causes and Effects of Speech Errors in Spontaneous Speech

Tóm tắt

This study aims at exploring the causes and impacts of speech errors in spontaneous speech produced by Vietnamese EFL learners, with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The results of the study showed that the major causes of speech errors were L1 interference, cognitive overload, and lack of exposure to real life English conversations. These linguistic and cognitive challenges affected to a large extent learners’ oral fluency that in turn reduces their confidence, increased their anxiety and made them hesitant in speaking. Furthermore, the study establishes the immediate and more general effects of speech errors on communicative competence and classroom participation. The results of the study also suggest the need for specific pedagogical interventions to assist learners to overcome speech disfluencies and enhance their spoken English proficiency.