challenges and strategies in teaching english speaking and writing skills to young learners: perspectives of pre-service versus in-service teachers in iran

In this research, the problems that english teachers face in teaching speaking and writing skills to young learners were examined from the perspective of pre-service and in-service teachers. the related challenges and strategies were explored to gain a better insight into teaching productive skills in language education.  the authors adopted a case study research design and interviewed six english (three pre-service and three in-service) teachers. the pre-service teachers were selected from a university, and the in-service teachers were chosen from instructors who had been teaching english to young learners at elementary proficiency levels. for data collection, in-depth interviews and class observations were conducted to triangulate the data. the problems highlighted by the teachers were a lack of motivation, autonomy, a lack of positive attitude toward language learning, and an insufficient tendency to participate in learning english in classes. the challenges also included pronunciation problems, managing class, poor role model teachers, a lack of confidence-building in learning english, a lack of appropriate technology in classes, and a lack of appropriate and entertaining materials. this research has implications for language teaching to young learners in iran.