Investigating EFL Learners’ Perceptions Towards the Diculties in Oral Presentation at Kandahar University

This research paper examines the diculties of oral presentation, strategies coping with diculties used in oral presentations and the perceived role of lecturer in improving EFL learners’ oral presentation skills. The study used quantitative approach in which a survey questionnaire comprising 34 items based on four likert scales was distributed to EFL learners in a public university. The data was collected from 150 learners from two English Departments through random sampling which 109 were male and 41 were female learners. The data was analyzed and interpreted in terms of mean and standard deviation through SPSS software (22) version. The results of the study revealed that learners had a problem with oral uency, accuracy and pronunciation during oral presentation, feel frightened when a lot of people are watching them, afraid of being assessed by their classmates in front of the class, having low self-condence. The results also revealed some strategies coping with diculties used in oral presentation such as, learners have to prepare themselves properly before an oral presentation, they have to build self-condence for presentation to present very well and they have to concentrate more on phonetics and phonology of language. Furthermore, considering a crucial role of lecturer in improving oral presentation skills, the following factors such as lecturer has to design a specic course in teaching oral presentation skills for EFL learners, lecturer has to show learners videos of good speakers for enhancing their presentation skill and lecturer has to give learners freedom to choose their own topic that lowers their anxiety were discovered for more consideration.


Introduction
As the result of world web contacts and worldwide availability of internet, excessive changes have been made which raised more demands on learning an English language verbally and written as the language of international contact (Karimkhanlooei, 2017). Generally, communication is one of the basic needs of human beings while it aims to get or share information from speaker to listener, and communication is done through language and people use many kinds of languages in the world as English is one of them (Mu dah, 2017). Likewise, English language is a powerful tool for communication and it is a global talking in front of a group of people the presenter knows or a crowd of strangers usually with some preparation." In addition, in today's globalized world where employers require recent graduates with good communication skills, oral communication skills are very essential. Furthermore, for personal growth, oral presentation is the most proli c source and for students with future work purposes, it is signi cant to enhance the skills and self-con dence in providing oral presentations (Alwi & Sidhu, 2013). Additionally, ELT departments offer courses which typically makes students to create oral presentations as part of extensive speaking activities to enhance their speaking and presentation skills, keenly involve in content, and encourage collaborative learning (Somalz, 2019).

Problem Statement
Generally appears that oral presentation is very important and essential in EFL classes where students are learning foreign language and they do not feel anxious when articulating their ideas to their peers.
However, when students present orally to the audience in front of class, they nd it di cult and become nervous. In fact, some even become terri ed to ask them for preparing an oral presentation at least for their classmates. This has become a major concern for many higher learning institutions and raised many issues that students graduate with excellent results, but remain incapable of communicating well in English and remain incapable of presenting orally. A similar concern is with many EFL learners in the Education Faculty at Kandahar University who feel hyperventilating when they are asked to make a presentation and stand in front of their classmates and present orally. In other words, when presenting orally, EFL learners express a feeling of stress and nervousness, frustrated and daunted. It is because they are neither well trained to present in front of the audience nor they have the required skills to have a competent oral presentation. It is valuable to note that Ait Atmane and Ahouari-Idri (2016) shared a similar concern that despite the signi cance of oral presentation in a university environment, students are still considerably short in their capability of delivering decent oral presentations. With attention to oral presentation, Ekmekçi (2018) highlighted that learners were feeling anxious, speaking in fear nervous and shy, and even shook like a leaf during oral presentation.
The study under the title of di culties in oral presentation is extremely signi cant and will directly bene t EFL learners at Kandahar University. Since EFL learners are expected to perform oral presentations regardless of the subjects they take, this research, therefore, will assist them as a guide to cope with di culties when delivering oral presentation. In addition, this study will assist in motivating students' pursuit of learning and will look for ways to empower and enhance oral presentation, and it will also provide a valuable opportunity to advance the understanding of oral presentation. Furthermore, the results of this research would be valuable to anyone who wants to master in oral presentations. Therefore, this research is guided by the following research questions. To be more precise, audience can actively involve themselves by answering questions, applaud at the start and end of presentation, smile, and always show enthusiasm in what the presenter is presenting.
The writers emphasized that the presenter will certainly feel motivated and decrease anxiety and stage freight when audience display encouraging attitudes. In addition to di culties, Whai and Mei (2015) found in their research that lack of experience was another major obstacle in oral presentation. EFL learners, according to the researchers, rarely participated in public speaking activities during school and learners, as a result, nd it challenging task to conduct oral presentation in pursuing higher education.
Moreover, Al-Nouh, Abdul-Kareem and Taqi (2015) also pointed out to the lack presentation skills that contributes to poor presentation delivery. To be more precise, El Enein (2011) conclusively stated that being unfamiliar with oral speaking activities and presentations have made EFL learners encounter challenges. EFL learners most often lack either oral presentation skills or unable to consolidate the presentation e ciently.
Another major di culty for EFL learners when presenting orally, according to Kho, Abdullah and Leong (2015), is shortage of preparedness. Since proper preparation is fundamental before presenting orally, most of the ESL learners even with a lot of preparation, however, worried about forgetting the information and the organization of the ideas logically. Therefore, they preferred to bring notes when presenting orally (Razawi, Zulkomain & Mohd Razlan, 2019). The authors further stated that allowing learners to bring short notes will assist them to be prepared in terms of good ow and coherence of presentations. With proper preparation in mind, Husain, Ganapathy and Mohamad (2015) vividly recommended that there should be more time for learners to prepare and rehearse the presentations. The authors further added that to improve presentations and view progress, it may be useful to video record learners' presentations. Moreover, Whai and Mei (2015) indicated inadequate preparation as the most common di culty in oral presentation and that may be because of the fact that learners prioritized and dedicated their utmost time and efforts to core subjects.
Another key factor causing di culty when presenting orally is the assessment process El Enein (2011).
According to the author, majority of the EFL learners in the study often feared of receiving biased grades and were assessed negatively which made the oral presentations di cult. This is because of the fact that every instructor's assessment criteria varies. With regard to oral presentation assessment, Al-Nouh, Abdul-Kareem and Taqi (2015) asserted that EFL learners started to have undesirable thoughts about getting low grades in their oral assessment that affected their level of con dence. With this in mind, Karimkhanlooei (2017) revealed in a carried out research in Iranian context that learners made a worthy improvement in their oral presentations when assessment criteria and rubrics on presentation skills were shared with them beforehand to lessen the errors. Indeed, a key part of oral presentation assessment that needs to be taken into consideration is scoring rubrics and should not be considered con dential (Razawi, Zulkomain & Mohd Razlan, 2019). The authors recommended that lecturers always need to have a smile on their faces and nod their heads to give a sign of understanding learners' delivery while assessing learners' in the back. This will eventually affect learners' motivation on the stage and they will feel con dent.
Linguistic is another element that contributes to di culty in oral presentations encountered by Sarawakian learners (Whai & Mei, 2015). According to the researchers, insu cient pro ciency in English when orally presenting is considered as linguistic factor. The authors precisely posited that learners had very few chances to speak in target language as they were inclined to communicate in local language particularly outside of the classroom. Also, Rajoo (2010) unearthed how important is oral presentation linguistically.
To be more precise, having poor choice of words and poor phrasing of sentences can make oral presentation di cult and confusing and can be barely understood by audience even with interesting topic and good delivery. In addition to linguistic di culty, EL Enein (2011) in a conducted research at Al-Aqsa University where nonnative speakers declared di culties with oral presentations stemmed from the linguistics. Furthermore, Kho, Abdullah and Leong (2015) revealed in their study that learners were incapable of English uently and majority of them tended to make errors and did not use correct structure of the sentences when presenting orally.
To overcome the di culties in oral presentations, Hanifa and Yusra (2018) suggested carried out a research that learners must have faith on their ability and must expect audiences to pose questions which leads to build presenter's con dence. The authors further added that learners can cope with di cult questions by addressing them to the oor. To have a better performance and build selfcon dence in oral presentations, Zivkovic (2015); Hanifa and Yusra (2018) recommended the presenters to master the topic and content well. Considering strategies to cope with di culties in oral presentation, Hanifa and Yusra (2018) con rmed in a study that speakers seemed relaxed and had faith on their ability which is an effective way of increasing con dence and coping with di culties. Researchers further added that there were good presenters who commonly expected and addressed questions to audiences. Remarkably, the speaker can also gain con dence with using jokes and humors related to the speaker, topic, audience, or the occasion. Moreover, according to the authors, using small notes as guidelines prepared prior to presentation is another strategy to cope with di culties which assist the presenters to recall the idea they intended to deliver.
In addition, to cope with di culties, Tanveer (2007) suggested three strategies to alleviate oral presentation di culty. First, EFL learners should cease acting like native language speakers in oral presentation which seems a reasonable step in decreasing di culty. Second, avoid practicing summative feedback that is likely causing di culty. Similarly, Chen (2015) found that being assessed by peers in front of the class and lecturer is highly contributing in making learners severe nervous. On the other hand, Otashi and Heffernen (2008) recommended peer assessment to enhance oral presentation because learners are involved in active learning process. Third, there should be single sex classes for receding oral presentation di culty. In addition to that, free oral and speaking activities like oral participation and free dialogues, role-play and simulation are conducive strategies in developing oral presentations (El Enein, 2011). Another encouraging strategy to cope with di culties noted by Hanifa and Yusra (2018) which worked well is using gestures to gain audiences' interest.
Additionally, practicing is another key aspect of good presentation that enables presenters to identify their weaknesses and work them out to speak smoothly and naturally. Accordingly, presenters need to seek further information regarding the audience to assist them in determining proper presentation style. In light of strategies coping with di culties, Barrett and Liu (2016) indicated that EFL learners observed their peers during oral presentation and noted lecturer's feedback, thoughtful use of slides and proper time management to overcome the di culties. Speakers, according to Raja (2017), should not only ask someone to record the presentation and watch it later several times for the improvement during practicing session but also look for the feedback at the same time. Likewise, Imaniah (2018) advocated in a carried out research that planning materials well is an integral part of oral presentation that EFL learners must consider to manage their allotted time in academic oral presentation. In the same manner, Raja (2017) posited that presenters essentially need to concentrate on the materials rather than on audience because audience mainly focus on the information being presented. Finally, El Enein (2011) found in a conducted study that to improve pronunciation during oral presentation, EFL learners should necessarily concentrate phonetics and phonology courses and expand their vocabulary and expressions.
As per lecturer's role in oral presentations, Husain, Ganapathy and Mohamad (2015) elucidated that lecturers should allot enough time to learners for preparing their presentations and video record their own presentations which will enable them to improve and ensure their oral presentation progress. . This, as a result will make them comfortable, motivated and con dent. In addition to that, lecturers should share the grading criteria with learners before the presentation to assist them reduce the errors and also notify learners to avoid having lengthy notes for coherent presentation. The authors added that lecturers should show learners several authentic videos of good speakers with good command of English.
With this in mind, El Enein (2011) considerably focused on lecturers' role that to notify learners as audience while listening to oral presentation to maintain academic behavior and convince them to raise questions, comments, provide feedback after the presentation and support each other without considering individual variances in ability. In light of lecturers' role from EFL learners' perspective, Alwi and Sidhu (2013) and Brooks and Wilson (2014) recommended lecturers in a carried out study to design tailor-made courses and cater e cient guidelines using presentations in classroom for EFL learners by creating a better learning environment for becoming an effective presenter. Also as part of lecturers' role in improving EFL learners' oral presentation skill, Subaşı (2010) perceived from EFL learners' responses that lecturers should categorize learners with strong fear of negative evaluation and then take initiatives by showing individual interest to weak performers, provide supportive assistance from early stages and prepare them mentally that it is personality traits which is not easy to be removed. The last foremost role of a lecturer in improving oral presentation according to Wang, Yu and Teo (2018), is that lecturers must give convincing feedback to EFL learners to improve public presentation task considering mode and function of oral delivery.

Research Design
As the current research tries to explore EFL learners' perception of the di culties in oral presentation and the perceived strategies to cope with these di culties, a descriptive quantitative survey research method is considered to be suitable. A quantitative research, according to Creswell and Poth (2016) is a type of research that is explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analyzed using mathematically based methods.

Population and Sampling
In this study, the participants are EFL learners pursuing their studies at the English Department at Kandahar University as one of leading and reputable public universities in Afghanistan. The rationale why the researcher has chosen this particular public university and the participants is due to their accessibility. The population where the research is intended to be executed is a total of 150 subjects consisted of 109 male and 41 female learners aged between 20 to 30 years old. Participations were selected through random sampling because it is the most popular method for choosing a sample among population for a wide range of purposes. In random to sampling, each member of population is likely to be chosen as part of the sample (Gravetter & Forzano, 2011).

Instrument
The main instrument used in this research was questionnaire adapted from various studies (

Validity and Reliability of the Questionnaire
Before the questionnaire was given for pilot testing to establish the validity of the instrument, the researcher consulted the supervisor for constructive feedback and comments. Supervisor was consulted regarding the context, content, structure, and to ensure that the questions included in the questionnaire covered all features of the research and its objectives (Collis & Hussey, 2009). It was also done to ensure that correct wording was used, and that grammatical errors that can in uence the result of the study were addressed. In order to examine the internal reliability of the questionnaire, the coe cient alpha method, used to evaluate internal reliability (Huck, Cormier & Bounds, 2012), was calculated using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, edition 23.0). Based on the data gathered, the reliability of the instrument was calculated .791 which is acceptable.

Data Collection and Ethical Issues
According to Kirk (2007), important ethical issues are involved in any social research including that into education, which deals with the beliefs, values, and lives of people. The researcher collected data from participants via questionnaire. Before data collection, the researcher took the permission from the heads of English Department to collect the data, and then the researcher went to the classes, described the research title with the questionnaire to participants and described the aim of conducting this research that the questionnaire would be used for the research purposes only. Thus, the participants were also able to freely give their attitudes without being conscious that they are being observed or judged. Besides, there was no time limitation for the participants in lling the questionnaire.

Data Analysis Procedure
The data was analyzed in terms of the means scores and standard deviation of each item in the questionnaire were employed to measure student's perceptions.  I have a problem with oral uency, accuracy and pronunciation during oral presentation.

Findings Of The Study
1.73 .940 Table 2 presents the mean scores for the di culties in oral presentation. All of the items had the mean scores between the ranges of one to three. It was deduced that the average level of EFL learners perceptions towards the di culties in oral presentations was in the range of 'Strongly agree, and 'disagree. Items which gained higher mean scores in this dimension were identi ed as "I start to panic when I give the oral presentation without enough preparation." with a mean score of M=3.17 (SD=.903). This is followed by "I shake when I know that I will be the next one to give oral presentation." (M=3.13, SD=.914), and "I nd it di cult to maintain eye contact with audience in oral presentation." (M=3.11, SD=1.031). Meanwhile, the four dimensions with comparative lowest mean scores were "I have a problem with oral uency, accuracy and pronunciation during oral presentation." with a mean score of (M=1.73, SD=.940), "I feel frightened when a lot of people are watching me." (M=1.77, SD=.814) and "I am afraid being assessed by my classmates in front of the class." (M=1.99, SD=.948). Overall, the results indicate that the major items which affect EFL learners' oral presentation are: 1) Learners have a problem with oral uency, accuracy and pronunciation during oral presentation 2) They feel frightened when a lot of people are watching them. 3) They afraid being assessed by their classmates in front of the class. 4) They nd an oral presentation di cult because they have low self-con dence.
4.2 RQ 2: What are EFL learners' perceptions towards the strategies coping with di culties used in oral presentations?  Table 3 indicates the strategies coping with di culties used in oral presentations. All of the items had the mean scores between the ranges of two to one. It was deduced that the average level of EFL learners' perceptions towards the di culties in oral presentations was in the range of 'strongly agree, and 'agree'.
Items which gained higher mean scores in this dimension were identi ed as "I prepare answers to anticipated questions, and practice responding to them." with a mean score of M=2.90 (SD=.789). This is followed by "I have to observe other presentations to help me present my presentation well. respectively. On the other hand, the three items with comparative lowest mean scores were "I prepare myself properly before an oral presentation." (M=1.66, SD=.890), "I have to build self-con dence to present very well." (M=1.76, SD=.976) and "I have to concentrate more on phonetics and phonology of language." (M=1.96, SD=.994). Overall, the perceived strategies coping with di culties used in oral presentations are: 1) When learners prepare themselves properly before an oral presentation, 2) When they build self-con dence for presentation to present very well and 3) they have to concentrate more on phonetics and phonology of language.

RQ 3:
What are EFL learners' perceptions towards the perceived role of lecturer in improving oral presentation skills? Design a speci c course in teaching oral presentation skills for EFL learners 1.97 .919 Table 4 indicates the perceived role of a lecturer in improving oral presentation skill All of the items had the mean scores between the ranges of one to two. It was deduced that the average level of the perceived role of lecturer in improving oral presentation skills was in the range of 'strongly agree, and 'agree'. The highest mean score is obtained for the item "Lecturer should give enough time to learners to prepare well." With a mean score of M=2.73 (SD=1.238). This is followed by "Lecturer should convince and provide useful feedback after oral presentation.  Similarly, the Post-Hoc LSD multiple comparison analysis also indicated that there were signi cant difference between the level of education and self-regulated learning.

Discussion
In terms of the potential di culties faced by EFL learners, the results of the current study revealed that EFL learners have major issues with uency, accuracy and pronunciation during oral presentation. Mostly, EFL learners concentrated on the three factors amidst oral presentation that caused them to become hesitant and made errors. As mentioned in the literature review, Kho, Abdullah and Leong (2015) revealed in their study that learners were incapable of English uently and majority of them tended to make errors and did not use correct structure of the sentences when presenting orally. The current study also found that EFL learners feel apprehended and vulnerable when presenting orally in front of a large audience.
The participants of the study acknowledged that they feel uncomfortable and uneasy which makes them reading from the slides rather than presenting to the audience and maintaining eye contact. These ndings are in line with the results of Imaniah (2018) who found that most of the EFL learners were lost and unable to present. EFL learners, therefore, started reading from the slides. Moreover, the current results indicated EFL apprehensive with assessment process and also they lack self-con dence. The participants are edgy being assessed negatively in front of the peers and they nd oral presentation challenging because there is a shortage of self-con dence. These results agree with the ndings of Razawi, Zulkomain and Mohd Razlan (2019) in which the assessment process should not be kept con dential to make oral presentation di cult and make EFL learners lose their self-con dence.
In addition, the nding of the research indicated that they are some strategies coping with di culties used in oral presentations. The nding of this study demonstrated that EFL learners have to prepare themselves properly before an oral presentation. According to the participants of this research, preparation for an effective delivery is a key factor. The nding of this study is in harmony with the nding of Whai and Mei (2015) who indicated inadequate preparation as the most common di culty in oral presentation and EFL learners have to prioritize it to master the subject matter. Moreover, the nding also discovered that learners have to build self-con dence for presentation to present very well. EFL learners have to increase con dence to speak and present in front of an audience in a well-managed presentation, and try to con dence levels. This result was con rmed by Hanifa and Yusra (2018) in which speakers seemed con dent using humors and joke amidst oral presentations. Likewise, when it comes to strategies coping with di culties, majority of the participants in this research agreed on concentrating more on phonetics and phonology of language. This nding seem to be consistent with El Enein (2011) who found that EFL learners have to inevitably consider phonetics and phonology of language to make the oral delivery more effective.
Furthermore, the results of this study discovered that lecturers are required to design a special course for EFL learners to develop their oral presentation skills. EFL learners strongly agreed that speci c course for strengthening oral presentation skills would assist them become experienced presenters in the future.
This nding corroborates with Brooks and Wilson (2014) who suggested EFL lecturers to accommodate optional classes for EFL learners and train them to become skillful presenters. Additionally, the results of this study revealed that lecturers need to show some videos from professional presenters to contribute EFL learners in becoming quali ed presenters. EFL learners believed that their oral presentation skill will have improved if they are facilitated with various videos of speakers with decent presentation skills. In accordance with the present result, Karimkhanlooei (2017) reiterated that presenting number of realistic videos of expert presenters will have a great deal contribution in boosting EFL learners' oral presentation skills. Another key nding this research found was that lecturers should allow learners to select their own presentation topics. This means that EFL learners will have less anxiety and fear during delivery if they are given the opportunity to decide on their favorite issues for presentation. The nding observed in this study mirror that of previous result by Ait Atmane and Ahouari-Idri (2016) who advised EFL lecturers to provide freedom to EFL learners by choosing oral presentation topics.

Conclusion
The purpose of the present study was to determine EFL learners' perceptions toward the di culties in oral presentation, some coping strategies for decrease of these di culties and lecturers' role in improving their oral presentation skills. The researcher collected the data through the questionnaire, where the following conclusions can be drawn from the present study that EFL learners uency, accuracy and pro ciency as well as range of pronunciation are the di culties in mastering oral skills, they feel frightened when a lot of people are watching them, they are afraid of being assessed by their classmates and they have low self-con dence. Furthermore, the study also found the strategies in decreasing these di culties. The results of this investigation also indicated that learners have to get prepared properly before oral presentation, they have to build self-con dence and concentrate on phonetics and phonology of language. Finally, regarding to the role of lecturer in improving oral presentation, this research has several suggestions for lecturers to design a speci c course in teaching oral presentation skills for EFL learners, show learners videos of good speakers for enhancing their presentation skill and lecturer has to permit learners to choose their own topic that lowers their anxiety.

Limitation and Recommendations
A number of important limitations need to be considered. First, the study was conducted on a small sample size. Second, this study could not be generalized to all EFL learners of public universities in Afghanistan, therefore it could only be generalized to EFL learners of one public university. Third, due to the instrument used in this research, there might be issues of dishonest responses, rushed responses which may affect the ndings. The researcher should have included EFL classroom observation to more reliable data collection because this research is about oral presentation.
Based on the limitations of this study, recommendations for future studies on the same topic are listed as below.
1. The current study recommends to conduct interviews with the participants to obtain in-depth information and deeper reasons pertaining to this topic.
2. For further researches, it would be better to observe EFL classrooms during oral presentations and also to consider EFL learners in other public universities.

Abbreviations EFL: English as a Foreign Language
Declarations