The role of motivational strategies on motivating Iraqiefl students to speak in English

Motivation determines the degree of students' desire to learn English. Thus, the current research is discovering the role of motivational strategies to improve Iraqi learners' speaking skills. The problem of the study is that Iraqi learners (EFL students) at the departments of English at Salahaddin University are normally not motivated enough to learn English. Three research questions were designed according to the aims of the study which are: finding out the types of the motivational strategies used by university teachers to improve the students' speaking skill, the extent to which teachers of English language use motivational strategies and the students' attitude toward motivational strategies in speaking classroom. The instruments included questionnaires and interviews. The participants of the study consisted of 113 EFL students in different years of study; second, third and fourth year at salahaddin university-college of languages-department of English language. Also, 18 EFL teacher whose teach English language at the same college participated in the current study. So, the questionnaires and interview were administered to both groups of the participants. Finally, after collecting and analyzing the data, the findings indicated that the strategies such as applying role-play, debate and problem-solving, employing group/pair work discussion and providing friendly learning environment are very important to engage students in speaking activities. The teachers also reported that providing students with different activities, asking them to do presentation, adopting student-centered approach, paying attention to individual needs and preventing students from using L1 are among strategies teachers can use to help students engage in speaking activities. Also, the majority of the students was motivated and thinks that motivational strategies are important to improve speaking skills. Also, they think that friendly relationship, group work and creating enjoyable atmosphere are the most effective motivational strategies to develop the students' speaking skills. Finally, some recommendations shown are; motivational strategies are important to encourage the learners to speak, the learners must rely on different motivational strategies to master their speaking skills and it is necessary to use different types of motivational strategies in class.