Academic oral communication difficulties encountered by Yemeni postgraduate students in a Malaysian university

Ali Abdullah Ali Alghail
San'a University, Yemen
Omer Hassan Ali Mahfoodh
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

This mixed-methods study examined academic oral communication difficulties encountered by Yemeni postgraduate students in a Malaysian public university and how they overcome these difficulties. The study also examined the correlation between students' academic oral communication difficulties and their prior learning experience. Questionnaires, focus group interviews, and journal writing were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation analysis were used to analyse the quantitative data. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis to identify academic oral communication difficulties encountered by the students and how they overcome these difficulties. The study revealed that the major academic oral communication difficulties encountered by these students are speaking accurately, communicating ideas fluently, speaking with clear pronunciation, and communicating ideas confidently. In the process of overcoming these difficulties, the students reported that they employed some strategies such as joining English proficiency courses and attending seminars, workshops, and conferences. Furthermore, the study revealed a strong negative correlation between most areas of academic oral communication difficulties and students' prior learning experience. Thus, it is recommended that these students need to be involved in various academic oral activities to survive in other similar contexts where they need oral skills for successful academic performance and effective communication.
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Authors: Dr Ali Abdullah Ali Alghail is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Languages, Sana'a Yemen. He obtained his PhD at the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in 2013. His research interests include applied linguistics, language education, academic literacies, and higher education. Email: mr_ghail@yahoo.com Web: http://www.su.edu.ye Dr Omer Hassan Ali Mahfoodh (corresponding author) is a senior lecturer at the School of Languages, Literacies and Translation at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). His research interests include applied linguistics, second language writing, feedback in L2 writing, genre analysis, ESP, EAP, discourse analysis, language education, and assessment in higher education. Email: omer@usm.my Web: http://www.ppblt.usm.my Please cite as: Alghail, A. A. A. & Mahfoodh, O. H. A. (2019). Academic oral communication difficulties encountered by Yemeni postgraduate students in a Malaysian university. Issues in Educational Research, 29(2), 301-325. http://www.iier.org.au/iier29/alghail.pdf