Introduction Along the history of foreign language teaching and learning, speaking has always been considered as the most essential skill to be mastered for several reasons. First, approaches and methods for teaching speaking have long been major focuses of language teaching researches and conferences. Second, a huge number of conversation and other speaking course books, audios and videos are continuously published. In addition, many language learners regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing a language. They define fluency as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write, or comprehend oral language. They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire.
At present, the need for speaking mastery in English has been dramatically increasing due to the strengthening position of English as a language for international communication. Its use as the working language in 85% of international organizations (Crystal 1997) and its function as the main gate to get a better job, especially in multinational companies have motivated a great number of people around the world to learn English as a second language (henceforward ESL) or and as a foreign language (henceforward EFL) in order to be able to speak in it. Graves (2008) accentuates ―the purposes of learning a language in TL-removed contexts are varied, but the thrust is to learn language to communicate, to improve one‘s economic prospects, to expand one‘s horizon‘s both literally and/or figuratively to be a global citizen‖ (p. 156). In relation to this, Richards and Renandya's (2002) assert: "A large percentage of the world's language learners study English in order to develop proficiency in speaking" (p. 201). The tendency to prioritize the mastery of speaking is also reflected in the tendency of society to make speaking skills as a measure of one's mastery of English. In fact, many students consider language fluency to communicate verbally with others is often considered more important than the ability to read or write. They argue that speaking is the most important language skills that need to be controlled, and they assess learning achievement based on mastery of speaking skills (Burnkart, 1998).
Realizing the high importance of speaking skill in EFL programs, it is very important to find and use the best instructional methods, materials, activities, media, and other requirements that will help the learners master speaking skill. However, although a great number of studies aimed to help learners master speaking skill has been conducted, many EFL learners still find speaking it very difficult to master. In addition to the view that speaking is ―the most complex and difficult skill to master‖ (Hinkel, 2005, p. 485), another cause is possibly that those studies still mainly dealt with the linguistic aspects of second language acquisition. Little research has been carried out regarding students‘ perspectives on the learning of speaking in the EFL classroom,