Pathways to Intermediate Speaking

However, for many English language learners, speaking in English is challenging. A lot of them still feel anxious and insecure when speaking in English, especially in front of many people. This may be due to the limited opportunities that they have in using the language in their daily lives. Although English has been taught in primary and secondary education, the opportunities to learn the language in daily life are very limited. Learning English in the students' prior formal education might not endow them with sufficient space and time to practice their speaking skills. It may only focus on how students are prepared to answer the questions in the test.

Another possible problem that English language learners face is the materials that are less relevant to their context, in which English is not their first language. Commonly teachers only use the provided sources and materials designed by experts in English speaking countries. It may become problematic considering that language and culture are closely related. Studying the language also requires students to know the culture in which the language is used. In this vein, English reference books generally refer to the cultural context in the UK and America.

The books are usually designed by adopting the English as a Foreign Language Paradigm. In that paradigm, learning English culture is unavoidable. Yet, it may post some problems and challenges as the learners are not familiar with the context and what they study may be irrelevant. Therefore, there is a need to tackle this problem by adopting English as an International Language (EIL) paradigm. In EIL, local content or content which represents within the social and cultural context of the learner should be accommodated.