فرزانه رضایی دوست

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.