EFL Learners' Beliefs about Speaking English and Being a Good Speaker: A Metaphor Analysis

This study aimed to investigate the beliefs of English as foreign language (EFL) learners about speaking in English and being a good speaker of English through metaphor analysis. A phenomenological approach was adopted and 60 EFL learners completed a questionnaire with demographic questions and two prompts focusing on the characteristics of a good English speaker (i.e., “Speaking English is like... because...” and “A good speaker of English is like... because...”). For the first prompt about speaking English, 46 valid metaphors were determined, which were categorized under five conceptual themes. For the second prompts about being a good speaker of English, 27 valid metaphors were given, with six conceptual categories identified. Findings showed that learners mostly perceived speaking as a skill requiring much effort and also giving pleasure. They described a good speaker of English as someone who is fluent at speaking, universal, disarming, wise, privileged and hardworking. The conceptual categories were also described with the speaking achievement and these categories were found to be connected to the degree of achievement. The findings gave insight into a better understanding of the speaking skill and what makes a good speaker of English for language educators.