T eachers involved in developing spoken language skills in EFL learners often find themselvesin a paradoxical situation. There seems to be a conflict between, on the one hand, the learner’sperception that fluency and naturalness are the key to success and, on the other, theirdisinclination to participate in activities designed to develop competent speaking skills. Thissuggests a need to reexamine our practice to see how we can exploit the motivation inherent inthe learner’s positive perception of the ability to speak English fluently.T eachers involved in developing spoken language skills in EFL learners often find themselvesin a paradoxical situation. There seems to be a conflict between, on the one hand, the learner’sperception that fluency and naturalness are the key to success and, on the other, theirdisinclination to participate in activities designed to develop competent speaking skills. Thissuggests a need to reexamine our practice to see how we can exploit the motivation inherent inthe learner’s positive perception of the ability to speak English fluently.