Foreign language teaching has moved from an approach focusing on analysing a language, like Grammar Translation Method, to an approach focusing on using language, such as Communicative Language Teaching. However, arguably, the teaching of oral skills in language classrooms does not seem to have an important role because of the higher status of written language and a lack of knowledge of how to teach speaking. Besides, the current scenario is that the teaching of oral skills is more pronounced in the earliest grades to Grade 6, perhaps because the emphasis and the weighting for listening and speaking from Grades 7 onwards are lower than those of the writing skills in South Africa. Debatably, not much research has been conducted to find out why learners in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase in South Africa battle with oral tasks, particularly speaking skills, which are also mandatory in an English first additional language (EFAL) context. This qualitative study, which involved 6 teachers in the FET phase in South Africa, that is, Grades 10-12 EFAL teachers, aimed to explore the challenges to teaching speaking skills in EFAL classrooms in the FET phase in South Africa and to identify solutions to the challenges to teaching speaking skills in an EFAL classroom in the FET phase in South Africa. Telephonic interviews were conducted to collect data. The findings revealed that if oral production is excluded from tests, EFAL teachers in the FET phase in South Africa might not want to use their precious class time for oral production but instead teach to the test and prioritise other language skills and aspects such as writing and comprehension and visual literacy. Moreover, the EFAL teacher might not be well-informed about the strategies that can be used to teach speaking skills to EFAL learners in the FET phase.
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