Demotivational Factors Affecting Iranian EFL Learners’ Oral Performance

The study of motivation is concerned with what makes someone interested in learning a second language and what keeps them motivated. In addition to factors which increase students' motivation, there are factors which more likely reduce motivation rather than reinforcing it, that is, demotivation factors. The present study is aimed at identifying the ideas of Iranian EFL language teachers and learners about the demotivating factors affecting learners’ oral performance. ۶۰ EFL teachers and ۱۰۰ EFL learners from high schools in Sari, Iran were selected based on convenience sampling. A demotivation questionnaire was used including ۲۰ items in a Likert-scale format ranging from strongly disagree (۱) to strongly agree (۵). Results indicate that according to the language teachers and learners, “The teachers’ not being equipped with the required skills for teaching”, “Students’ lack of mental health and good memory”, “students’ not receiving sufficient timely incentives”, “Teachers’ lack of sufficient knowledge about the subject” and “Students’ lack of enough self-confidence” are the most important demotivating factors among the others.