Motivating factors that affect first year university students' performance in English speaking tasks

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to describe the factors that motivate students to speak English language in English classes at the university stage. Factors of motivation can influence students as they help to increase their ability to speak a new language. This research involves 30 students from English department in the faculty of education at Alzawia University. The researcher applied the descriptive method in a quantitative approach. The data of this research were obtained by distributing a questionnaire. According to the findings, there are some factors of motivation, for instance, having the suitable time to use the target language in the class, being well prepared to the speaking task, avoiding the use of mother tongue in the class and during the task, practicing English outside the classroom and teachers help as well as their support. This research consists of seven main sections: the introduction, literature review, methodology, the results, conclusion and finally some recommendations.