Insufficiency of Oral Communication Performance of Kurd EFL Undergraduate Learners at the Universities of Kurdistan: Reasons and Suggested Solutions

Insufficiency of oral communication performance is noticed among Kurdish EFL learners at the universities of Kurdistan region of Iraq. Thus, the current study investigates the reasons behind this issue and attempts to suggest solutions for it. The data has been gathered among 120 Kurdish EFL university students and 20 instructors at the universities of Charmo and Sulaimani. The results and discussion of the data gathered identify the main reasons behind the issue as students’ shyness, fear of losing face, reliance on L1 use, lack of self-confidence and de-motivation; that is in addition to the lecturers’ focusing mainly on grammar and writing skill and ignoring listening skill. In addition, the paper suggests solutions for the issue which are mainly overcoming students’ shyness, focusing on listening and speaking skills and avoiding L1 use in the class.