DETERMINANTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPEAKING PROFICIENCY OF TERTIARY STUDENTS IN WEST INDONESIA: A PREDICTIVE MODEL

Abstract

While there are various factors impeding students’ speaking proficiency, there are also factors that contribute to speaking proficiency. Addressing these factors may give enlightenment to address the different barriers to speaking  proficiency. This study focuses on what contributes—anxiety (reduced), motivation, teaching strategies, teacher’s language competency, assessment, and environmental support. Identifying the most significant predictors of English speaking proficiency and examining the relationship of these variables—how they influence each other may help language learners obtain higher levels of speaking proficiency.

This Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach study involves three sets of stratified random samples-- N=130 each from three different universities  in West Indonesia. SEM provides more enlightenment on the Sociocultural Theory—that humans make use of tools to mediate language learning. Students’  speaking proficiency is enhanced not only by linguistic factors but also by non-linguistic factors.