Investigating Speaking Skills Problems of Pakistani Learners in ESL Context

A pivotal skill that needs focus and concentration for efficient communication is speaking. It is taken as one of the toughest skill for learning of language. However, the issue to attain speaking proficiency becomes more problematic in Second language contexts. Specifically in English language speaking situations and ESL contexts, the learners are unable to communicate effectively and they are reluctant to speak due to various problems. Particularly in Pakistan English is regarded as official language for communication, yet only small percentage can communicate in English effectively. This investigation objects to explore the hindrances and problems faced by Pakistani ESL learners while speaking English. The population for this current investigation comes from Pakistan whereas the sample comes from four provincial capitals (Sindh, KPK, Punjab, Baluchistan) and one federal capital of Pakistan i.e. Islamabad. The sample size from the population was 100 (20 each from provincial and federal capital). Quantitative research design was used in which questionnaire was conducted from the people to explore various factors affecting the English speaking in Pakistani peoples. The results revealed that ESL learners in Pakistan do face a lot of psychological, linguistic, and social problems while speaking English. The results concluded that these factors create hindrances to achieve fluency in English language speaking. The outcomes of this study are significant to help concerned administrators, institutions, educators and teachers to eliminate these problems to attain efficiency in speaking English.


INTRODUCTION
The only source of communication for human beings is language. It differentiates them from animals that have communication system only (Hockett, 1955as in Radick, 2016. The domain and scope of language is quite wide. Language actually is a rich phenomenon that satisfies the expressions of every human in the world. With the progression in modern world the need of learning languages has increased. Now people are more interested in learning languages. Particularly some languages like English have become important due to their international significance (Ali et al., 2020). English language enjoys high value around the globe. Speaking proficiency is the fundamental desire of every language learner. Even for English language learning the success is evaluated on the bases of speaking proficiency Textbooks as well as instructors apply approaches that are focused on specific components of communication either in group or on individual bases. Richards (1990) also stated that turn taking, presentations and other oral techniques are applied to boost up the speaking performance of in nature and from early grades of education the main focus is to cover the syllabus. The syllabus usually has activities and methodologies that encourage all other aspects other than speaking, particularly English speaking. Therefore, most of the Pakistani learners feel under confident and shy to speak English efficiently. Secondly there is no organized platform given to the learners to speak in front of the audience so learners feel hesitation in public speaking too. Resultantly the local learner who has the exposure to English can learn, read, write and listen to English but they are cautious, conscious and tentative when it comes to English speaking .
It is reality that acquiring any language is a tough ask. Specifically second language learning is always hard as the learner has already developed 1 st language patterns in mind (Ali, Buriro & Charan, 2017).Secondly during the process of learning second language apart from different patterns if there, there might be some other factors that can create problems in learning (Ali, Malik & Rehman, 2016). These factors can be psychological, linguistic and social that can create strong impact on the learning performance of the learners (Ali, Gulzar & Yasmeen, 2018). Connecting together these psychosocial problems and factors can severely dent the progress of English language learning of any learner Considering the present problems and hitches in English language learning the researchers desired to investigate some of the problems in learning English so that it is easier to comprehend and further highlight the problems of Pakistani learners. Moreover some solutions can be explored to overcome these issues. This research will be significant as it will explore some psychological and social issues in learning English language. By emphasizing the problems some of these problems can be sorted out to get better proficiency of ESL learners in Pakistan

LITERATURE REVIEW
Before we discuss other aspects of speaking let us first define what speaking is? Different researchers have suggested different definitions of speaking in accordance with learning of language. Chaney (1998) defines speaking as a method of constructing and cascading meaning through verbal and non-verbal signals in various situations. On the other hand speaking is also defined as a process interactive in natures and consists of producing, sending and receiving information (Brown,1994;Burns & Joyce, 1997). Many others also stated that speaking is a two sided method that have information, opinions and emotions that are conveyed through a specific channel (Bygate;1987 Eckard & Kearny;1981;Florez, 1999;Howarth, 2001)

Value of Speaking Skills
People are customized to speaking even before they figure out how to transcribe and read. Individuals invest extra vigor for communicating verbally as compared to writing. Speaking is the utmost substantial capability for human beings as it performs major role in communicating messages and information etc. Speaking English is not a simpler task since speakers should comprehend several characteristics like grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. Students ought to have enough. Rivers (1981) examined the utilization of language outside the conventional settings of classrooms circumstance and comprehended that speaking is utilized twice as much as perusing and composing consolidated. As per Brown (2000), tuning in and communicating in are students' language apparatuses.
Various researchers communicated that speaking is of important for the individuals' collaboration where they can speak prominently and affectively. Speaking is the method for conveying thoughts and messages also (Efrizal, 2012;Gilakjani, 2016). Richards and Rodgers (2001) expressed that in the conventional strategies, the speaking expertise is overlooked in the classes where the accentuation was on perusing and composing aptitudes (i.e. Grammar-Translation method).

Speaking Skills Features
Mazouzi (2013) is of the view that the activities of the learners must be structured on the balance between accuracy and fluency achievement. Both accuracy as well as fluency is pivotal and are hallmark of communicative method. Classroom techniques can assist students with building up their communicative capability (Ur, 2000). So they should know how the language framework functions properly. The most important feature for effective execution of speaking is the fluency and it is the primary point of educators in their teachings as well. Further, fluency guides the learners to communicate in flow is also extremely important element of speaking ability. Hedge (2000) also pointed that fluency is a key aspect as it gives coherence to structural elements of sentences, aspects of pronunciation and supra segmental features The other most important feature of speaking is accuracy. The individuals of society are desirable to speak English in various situations. Mazouzi (2013) is of the view that much concentration and focus should be given to develop language structures, pronunciation and vocabulary during development of speaking ability. As indicated by Thornbury (2005) the individuals needs to focus on speaking ability in order to achieve high ranks in society

Factors Affecting Speaking Skill
Since decades the value of English in ESL settings has been appreciated, though it is generally accepted that ESL learners face a lot of problems and difficulties in their English speaking. They found it a challenging task to communicate in various contexts. So of the important problems are psychological, social and linguistic issues that create hurdles in speaking skills proficiency. Taun and Main (2015) saw that students' speaking presentation is impacted mostly by psychological problems i.e. fearful of committing mistakes, anxiety, pressure of peers and lack of confidence etc. These all factors are relevant to performance. Students do a speaking action under various contexts. The context of performance influences their speak-ing. The speakers become timid and resultantly are unable to communicate effectively due to these psychological factors (Nation & Newton, 2009).
The second important obstacle is the social problems prevailing in society. Amongst these some of the major obstacles are less conversation in English in formal and informal contexts especially in the classrooms. The classrooms are not supportive for English language speaking in Pakistan (Ali, 2015). Further the learners are not ready to practice English and resultantly they cannot speak English. Moving ahead the environment for English is not congenial and the resources and peer conversation is also not appreciated. Lately with the invasion of social media the conversation has become more private and candid yet English language conversation amongst Pakistani speakers still needs improvement.
The Third problematic area is the linguistic difficulties like insufficient vocabulary, wrong pronunciation and unable to comprehend the syntax of English language. Urdu and Pakistani Speakers in Pakistan face a lot of these problems as syntax of Urdu and Punjabi is opposite to English . A study conducted by Ozkan, Bada, and Genc (2011) also emphasized that pronunciation and syntax becomes problematic for ESL learners importance of pronunciation in speaking skill because learners are unable to speak with right pronunciation. Finally the choices of words are also problematic. The learners cannot recall pertinent words and they are unable to use words in relevant contexts. Lin (2013) stated that lack of vocabulary knowledge also creates problems in speaking which makes the learners unable to speak These dangers baffle the students to talk English and want to be quiet instead of being reprimanded before countless individuals (Brown, 2000). Haphazardness in speaking actually is the result of hindrances that has made the tone and accent artificial. EFL students who have a low dignity will in general quit facing a challenge of submitting botches in their talking errands which bringing about the hindrance to the improvement of their talking aptitude (Mahripah, 2014).

Preceding Studies Regarding Factors Crating Problems in Speaking Skills
Here some relevant researches regarding some factors that impact speaking abilities are under focus Previous research suggested that psychological social and linguistic all issues create hindrances to attain mastery in speaking skills. Sawir (2005) explored by collecting view of various ESL learners in various countries that English communication and particular speaking is the biggest challenge for ESL learners. He found out that the learners are psychologically fearful to speak. He also investigated that the social environment of native language makes learners under confident and they do not practice and converse in English which make them less proficient speakers. Similar to this study another study by Rababa'h (2005) came out with a conclusion that the strategies of teaching, the classroom ambiance the social environment and the language issues i.e. lack of vocabulary are the real reason that does not allow a speaker to speak English fluently.
Hosni (2014) conducted a research on grade 5 students in Oman and came up with a recommendation that learners does not speak English because of linguistic variation with the native speakers. He also explored that the lack of vocabulary and pronunciation variance are also effecting to have better speaking skills. On the other hand a study by Lukitasari (2008) gave identical results that the mother language issue, psychological problems and the social issues are the chief reasons for language deficiency in speaking skills.
Further a study by Lee (2009) also showed that ESL learners are reluctant to speak in the classroom despite their long stay in other countries. He concluded that the learners are socially deprived of practicing English so they do not have a platform for speaking. An important study conducted by Park and Lee (2005) researched on the link between anxiety, self-confidence and linguistic problems of ESL learners and their speaking execution. 132 learners were the part of this study and it was found out that learner's anxiety had negative proportional to their speaking performances.
Further the linguistic problems that includes syntax, vocabulary and pronunciation also create trouble to get mastery in speaking English. Tanveer (2007) inspected the elements that create anxiety for students in picking up speaking capacity and the effect of nervousness on track language correspondence. The acquired outcomes demonstrated that students' inclination of stress and uneasiness stop their language learning and execution capacities. The researcher underscored that the high tension brings down the students' speaking abilities.

Limitation of the Study
For establishing validity, the study was delimited to only the four provincial, and the state capital to collect data through convenient sampling method. Furthermore the learners taken from each capital were 20 and these 100 learners were chosen from graduate institutes through simple random sampling methods.

Research Question
The research questions for this investigation views that • What are the problems faced by ESL learners in Speaking English?

Design of the Research
The present investigation followed quantitative research method design that was designed to record the responses of the participants. For the quantitative analysis the results were concluded by applying frequency tests on the responses of the learners. As mentioned earlier the population for this current study comes from four provincial capitals as well as a federal capital.

Data Analysis
The replies of the questionnaire were analyzed through SPSS 23. Likert Scale Values were abbreviated and nominated for convenience (See Table 1). Where frequency test and validity test was applied to explain data through likert scale. Ten questions were the part of questionnaire and all questions are presented in separate tables. The Likert scale varies from strongly disagree to strongly agree and the table downwards show how they are denoted in the results tables.
Here in the above table tt can be viewed that bulk of the respondents agreed to the question's statement (39% agree and 36% strongly agree). Whereas the collective percentage of disagree and strongly disagree is 16% only. 9% of the participants stayed neutral. This vivid tilt of the participants clearly suggests that fear and fright of getting insulted from people in the society is one of the major causes of lack in speaking English in Pakistani society.
The statistics in the above table provide the responses of the contributors regarding the question's statement. It can be viewed that mostly the respondents agreed to the question's statement (34% agree and 46% strongly agree). On the other hand there are quite few respondents who either disagree or strongly disagree i.e. only 16%. Moreover 4% respondents were neutral. This strong inclination directs that individuals in Pakistan feel panic and stress when they are in speaking English process and it make then psychologically tensed too.
The data above show the answers of the respondents. Here one can see that the frequency percentage clearly presents the strong inclination towards the favor of the statement of the question. Overall76% of the respondents gave their verdict in favor of the question (47% strongly agree and 29% agree). On the other hand there are quite few respondents who either disagree or strongly disagree i.e. only 19% for both. Moreover 5% respondents were neutral. The replies reflect that being conscious make them cautious of making mistakes hence they cannot focus and care unable to concentrate to maintain their speaking fluency of English The data above show the answers of the respondents. Here one can see that the frequency percentage clearly presents the strong inclination towards the favor of the statement of the question. Overall76% of the respondents gave their verdict in favor of the question (47% strongly agree and 29% agree). On the other hand there are quite few respondents who either disagree or strongly disagree i.e. only 19% for both. Moreover 5% respondents were neutral. The replies reflect that learners become anxious and nervous when they are to speak in English. Importantly if they cannot speak in English they cannot get proficiency. As to attain mastery in speaking, initiation of conversation on regular bases in very important.
The above data in the table reflects the opinions of respondents. Here bulk of the participants agreed to the question (34% strongly agree and 37% agree). On the other side the percentage of strongly disagree and disagree is only 18% (7% strongly disagree and 11% disagree). Importantly the percentage of neutral respondents is only 11%. These figures suggest that socially the Pakistani learners clearly opinioned that their respective classroom ambiances are not conducive to promote English speaking. Either the teacher or peers discourage, or demotivate them to speak English. Furthermore there is lack of opportunities for an individual to practice English speaking inside the classrooms.
In the above table the figures presented give a clear picture of respondents' opinions. 42% strongly agreed and 27% agreed respondents claimed that English speaking is a way of getting prominence in the society and community. Only 13% participants were neutral and the percentages against the question were 2% for strongly disagree and 16% for disagree respectively. These figures explain explicitly that a large percentage of the participants think that speaking English communication amongst society and even inside classroom is not appreciated by people around. People and instructors feel discomfort to converse in English. Hence those enthusiastic learners who have will to speak English becomes disinterested in speaking activity.
These statistics provide the replies of the participants of the questionnaire regarding the question's statement. It can be viewed that most of the respondents agreed to the question's statement (23% agree and 27% strongly agree). Moreover, 16% strongly disagree and 8% disagreed, whereas 16% were neutral. This reflects that the participants were of the view that for permanent impression and creating an impact on the people in Pakistan English speaking skills is pivotal, but having much importance the resources are not sufficient. There are less skillful teachers in the formal institutions who can work on English fluency, pronunciation and developing desire in English speaking. Secondly the material and methods available are old so it does not make impact on improving English speaking.
The results presented in the form of figures in the above table direct the preference of the learners. It can be viewed that 65% of the respondents were inclined and favored the question's statement (28% agree and 42% strongly agree). Looking at the other side only 27% respondents were against the question's statement (22% strongly disagreed ad 5% disagreed). Here only 3% participants remained neutral. Looking at the above table it can be concluded that the respondents commented that no incentive, encouragement or motivation is given to them to speak English inside the classroom. Being a difficult task to achieve incentives are part of motivational process that insert energy and stimuli amongst learners. Here no incentive is offered in the form of class participation marks or any other to encourage and push students to speak English.
Figures provided in the table clearly presents that majority of the agreed with the question's statement (51% strongly agree and 32% agree). Contrary to it the percentage of Henceforth the learners forget them after sometime and in regular English speaking contexts they are unable to use words which results in their lack of fluency The table presented above reflects the percentages regarding the question. It can be viewed that 86% (49% strongly agree and 37% agree) stated that they felt shyness when the situation demands them to speak English. It means that this is a psychological hindrance in speaking English. Secondly when there is a need to speak English publically they become jittery. On the other side 4% respondents remained neutral as sometimes they may find shyness and sometimes they speak and 10% respondents (7% disagree and 3% strongly disagree) to the questions. It clearly presents that the overall sample of this research felt inhibition while speaking English In the above table the figures show the percentages regarding varied responses of the participants of the research. Observing the above table the responses regarding the question's statement can be analyzed. Here majorly the participants showed their inclination towards questions (30% agree and 40% strongly agree). Furthermore only 22% participants were against the statement of the question. Only 8% remained neutral. The replies of the respondents indicate that Pakistani learners are unaware of the sentence making in English. Lack of practice and old methods along with certain other issues can be problematic for them. Importantly their grammar causes them tension and panic and they cannot build sentences. Therefore are confused in their speaking as well.

DISCUSSION
The outcomes acquired from this investigation show that participants faced a ton of speaking challenges. Some major ones obviously come under the heading of psychological, social and linguistic problems.
From Question 1-3 the statements represent psychological problems. As per the outcomes of this investigation it can be seen that there are a lot of psychological issues of Pakistani learners. Some important questions relates to the fact that learners are fearful, under confident. They are also anxious to speak English language fluently. These findings are identical with the results by MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, and Noels' (1998) as in Zarrinabadi and Abdi (2011)  stated that under confidence learners cannot speak fluently. There are striking parallel points amongst earlier researchers and the present one. English language learning and particularly speaking has always been a problem. This issue becomes more intense in ESL countries. The major reason is that ESL countries the learners are context, instruction and situation dependent to learn English as a language. The outcomes are also in line with the study conducted by Park and Lee (2005) in which they analyzed the anxiety problems of L2 learners and found out that anxiety and stress creates panic amongst speaker and hence they become reluctant to speak English Q4-Q 7 presents social problems affecting speaking skills of ESL learners. The findings suggest that the ambiance of learning is not positive. The results described vividly that the ESL learners feel that their classrooms do not support English speaking. The instructors themselves do not use English much. Moreover the local classroom environment is not supportive to provide any incentive for English speaking. It is a fact that Speaking English with fluency is a problem bot no remedy is done by the teachers. The learners are not encouraged to speak and the conversation amongst peers and teachers do not support English speaking. Overall ambiance is not conducive for Speaking English. Speaking abilities is totally ignored by majority of the institutions. There are so many issues and problems faced by the non-native speakers while speaking English and this creates a gap between speaking and the desire to speak. The results are identical with the study by Lukitasari (2008)  problems like situations that demotivate learners to speak. Further no particular incentive is given to learners to speak English that can uplift them or create stimulus in them to speak English. This research is also identical with the study conducted by Ali et al., (2020) who stated that classrooms much devise some methods and incentives to promote speaking skills. Conclusively from Q8-10 the replies regarded linguistic issues has been discussed. The finding appeared from the replies clearly indicate that lack of linguistic competence also becomes problem to speak English effectively. Overall learners stated that less choice of words are troublesome for them. This is endorsed by Sayuri (2016) who stated that having few words in repertoire is the biggest hindrance in speaking English effectually. Moreover the pronunciation is also a big concern for learners. Pronouncing a word with local accent creates dissatisfaction and fear of mockery amongst peers. So resultantly the speaker becomes uncertain to speak. The results also revealed that learners are unable to arrange words in a sentence and this might be because of the Urdu and English structural difference.
Responses in Table Q; 11 regarding the question's statement can also be analyzed. Here majorly of the participants showed their inclination towards questions (30% agree and 40% strongly agree). Furthermore only 22% participants were against the statement of the question. Only 8% remained neutral. of practice and old methods along with certain other issues can be problematic for them. Importantly their grammar causes them tension and panic and they cannot build sentences. Therefore are confused in their speaking as well.
The overall results of this study are connected to the previous researches which concluded that psychological social and linguistic problems create issues in speaking English fluently these factors collectively can create low performance amongst learners. (Hosni, 2014;Gan, 2012;Lee, 2009;Lukitasari, 2008;Tanveer , 2007;Park and Lee, 2005;Sawir, 2005) CONCLUSION This paper evaluated the elements that influence the performance of English speaking. The referenced factors in this research have a significant role in creating hindrance for speaking expertise. It was explored that majority of the ESL students are of the view that that psychological elements create hurdles in speaking English. These psychological problems are so strong that they make learners jittery. Furthermore the learners also pointed out another predominant issue that is societal behavior and attitude towards speaking English. Here in Pakistan it can be seen that no relevant and specific platform is given to the students to speak English. They did not get chance to practice English. Specifically in classrooms the instructors do not promote English speaking activities and no incentive is collaborated to urge learners to speak English. Further the lack of language knowledge i.e. limited awareness of syntax; less vocabulary and unawareness to grammatical structure also cause a lot of trouble in speaking English effectively. Finally it has also seen tha pronunciation problems are predicament of Pakistani society that barred the learners in efficient English speaking.
The research also expressed that though Pakistani learners are keen to speak English yet because of so these barriers they fail to communicate in English. Apart from being ESL learners these problems add more misery to the situation. The stress, anxiety and fear of public speaking make this situation worst and it impacts the speaking abilities of the individuals of Pakistani society. The confidence level of speakers is quite low which make them lazy and they participate less and communicate less in English.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The results complied from the data give ways to some important recommendations

•
In academic ambiance the instructors should devise situations that encourage speaking skills • Various speaking tasks should be assigned that should instigate them to speak.

•
Additionally at the initial level no mistakes should be rectified in order to make them confident speakers of English.
• To alleviate psychological issues counseling and practice is required for learners • Incentive and marks should be allocated to speaking English inside classrooms • Vocabulary building techniques should be taught to the learners • Speaking activities should be devised for the learners • The institutions should provide platform to the learners to speak English regularly.