MASTERING SPEAKING SKILLS IN A NEW LANGUAGE: OVERCOMING BARRIERS AND EFFECTIVE APPROACHES

Аннотация

This research explores how to accelerate speaking skills while studying a foreign language, specifically examining different approaches and expert opinions on how to improve the ability to convey thoughts in a new language for those just starting their language-learning journey. This research will also investigate the most common difficulties faced by beginners while attempting to communicate in a foreign language. In addition, the study delves into several ways and experiments to help students improve their speaking skills, such as task-based learning, interactive speaking exercises, and the effective use of technology. However, it is pivotal to remember that becoming fluent in a new language is a long-term process that requires consistency, patience, and perseverance. Therefore, this study also addresses strategies to maintain focus throughout the whole learning process, regardless of the challenges or setbacks, and emphasizes the importance of staying motivated and committed during the language- learning journey. Keywords: new language, beginner, speaking skill, different challenges, task-based learning, the useoftechnology, long-term development, focus onconsistency. Learning a new language is an exciting challenge that opens doors to communication and cultural exchange. However, for many beginner learners, one of the most daunting tasks is developing speaking skills. Effective communication in a new language often involves overcoming common hurdles such as limited vocabulary, pronunciation difficulties, and grammar mistakes. Understanding these challenges and adopting specific strategies to address them is key to improving speaking abilities. This article explores the common challenges faced by beginner learners in attempting to communicate in a new language, offers key methods to boostspeaking skills,and emphasizes the importanceoflong-term development and consistency. Challengesfaced by learners Students have a big willingness to communicate with others in the language that they are learning. But they come across some obstacles in this process. For example, lack of vocabulary can be the biggest challenge for new learners due to the fact that beginners know only common verbs or nouns in that language, even if they may recognize some more vocabularies while reading or listening, they struggle to recall them in conversation, which often leads to hesitation, pauses and switching to their native language. Apart from that, overuse of basic words while communicatingleads to limitingtheir abilityto express emotions andconvey precise meaning. Another main problem is connected with mispronunciation. As Seidlhofer (2001: 56) points out, pronunciation is “…the production and perception of the significant sounds of a particular page408 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ISSN:2692-5206,ImpactFactor:12,23 AmericanAcademicpublishers,volume05,issue03,2025 Journal: https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai language inorder to achieve meaning in contexts of language use. But new learners struggle with some problems with pronunciation while developing speaking skills. Because some sounds do not exist in their mother tongue, and they find it challenging to pronounce such sounds correctly. For example, in English the words “ think” and “this” can be difficult to pronounce, so learners replace such difficult sounds with similar ones in their mother tongue, like “sink” instead of saying “think”, causing mispronunciation. Furthermore, word stress, intonation, and sometimes difficulty withdifferent rhythm are themain obstacles in pronunciation. We should point out that most students, while improving speaking skills in a new language, find grammar so hard as theyalways make mistakes in sentence structure, verb tense, and word order. At first, beginners commonly make such mistakes due to the fact that they apply grammar rules in their mother tongue to the new language, a phenomenon known as “ language interference”. Errors in sentence structure and incorrect word order are also themain part ofgrammar mistakes. For example, as a new language learner, I also come across such problems almost every time while speaking the Spanish language. If we compare the Spanish and English languages, they both have different grammar rules and sentence structures. For instance, in English the sentence “ She is a beautiful girl” is “ Ella es una chica hermosa”. In English, the adjective comes before the noun(a beautiful girl), but the Spanish common structure is noun adjective(chica hermana). That iswhy grammar mistakeis acommon difficulty forbeginner learners. As Tony Robbins exposed “Repetition is the mother of skills”. However, beginners only focus on reading and listening, but not speaking. They use the language that they are learning only in structured classroom settings, rarely apply it in real life conversations. Without regular practice, definitely the progress becomes slow and it can cause loss of motivatio