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Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 31 > No. 5 (2026)

 

Abstract

In Rojava region, the interplay between sociopolitical factors and educational infrastructures complicates the landscape of English language speaking skills development among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. This qualitative study explores the factors that hinder EFL students from developing their English-speaking skills. It primarily aimed at reporting teachers’ voices on the challenges in the context of Northeast Syria (NES) known as Rojava. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven EFL teachers and two English educational supervisors (EES) to explore the challenges facing students in the context of this study. Using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase thematic analysis, the results identified obstacles to speaking skills and the strategies employed to address these challenges in upper-secondary schools. The findings underscored several challenges EFL learners faced, including insufficient linguistic competence and psychological factors, as well as other influential elements such as environmental support, curriculum limitations and EFL teacher lack proficiency in the improvement of speaking skills. Additionally, the study identified key strategies to mitigate these challenges, such as professional development for teachers, offering constructive feedback, addressing instructional constraints, and employing pedagogical approaches tailored to varying levels of fluency. Future research can take a closer look at school students’ speaking skills by incorporating mixed methods research approaches to include a more comprehensive picture of the issue.

Keywords

speaking skills, teaching speaking skills, EFL teachers, qualitative research, Rojava

Author Bio(s)

Civin Ebdulrehman Segvan is currently a master's student in English language teaching (ELT) at the University of Kobani. She completed her bachelor’s degree in English literature from University of Aleppo, Syria in 2011. Her interests are in the field of English language teaching and learning as a foreign language, education, technology in education, EFL evaluation. Please direct correspondence to civin-segvan@hotmail.com.

Karwan Mustafa Saeed earned his B.A. degree in Translation from Koya University in Kurdistan Region in 2008, his master’s degree in applied linguistics from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in Malaysia in 2013, and his Ph.D. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Malaysia in 2018. He is currently a lecturer at the Faculty of Education at Koya University and a research associate for the collaborative research project Between Koya University in Kurdistan Region and Ulster University, in Northern Ireland, UK. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of TESOL Today published by EngiScience Publisher. His professional interest is in the realm of TESOL Education, teacher professional development, English language teaching, speaking proficiency, language testing, education, education privatization, and multidisciplinary research methods in the line of social sciences. His works have appeared in several prestigious international peer-reviewed journals. Please direct correspondence to karwan.saeed@koyauniversity.org

Acknowledgements

We would like to offer our special thanks and appreciation to those who served as participants in the study for sharing their insightful and valuable thoughts during the course of the data collection process.

Publication Date

5-19-2026

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0866-9548

ResearcherID

AAM-5675-2021

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